Ascent Media Group (AMG), a long-time customer of Silicon Graphics (OTC: SGID) and an industry leader in content creation, post-production and distribution of film and television, selected SGI(R) server, storage and networking technology as the heart of a new state-of-the-art facility in Burbank, Calif. The SGI hardware and software is part of AMG’s data-centric production network solution, known as ProdNet, which offers studio clients ultra-secure methods for accommodating a large variety of deliverables. With content piracy estimated at $3.5 billion annually, the 100,000-square-foot building, which was gutted to the walls, has been rebuilt to be one of the most modern, most secure, all-digital facilities in the world. SGI Professional Services worked hand in hand with AMG to design and integrate the ProdNet system, which is dedicated to manufacturing, repurposing, and distributing large media assets in huge volumes, with no concession to bandwidth limitations.
More

Silicon Graphics (OTC: SGID) announces that Sony DADC, a leading producer of optical disc media, has purchased an SGI(R) InfiniteStorage SAN solution to increase throughput, ensure scalability, and improve data management in the automated mastering facility at its Terre Haute, Indiana plant. The plant, which is the flagship Sony disc production facility for the U.S., produces 2.4 million music CDs, DVDs, and UMD game discs in a typical day and provides services that range from postproduction to distribution. Production will increase substantially when Sony DADC begins production in 2006 of 25GB Blu-ray discs, which can contain a complete movie in HDTV format. The company is adding 90,000 square feet to its 700,000-square-foot Terre Haute plant to house Blu-ray production.
More

da Vinci and SGI have completed qualification testing of SGI InfiniteStorage Shared Filesystem CXFS on a SAN (storage area network) with da Vinci Systems’ Resolve digital mastering suite.
Resolve is da Vinci’s digital mastering suite, featuring da Vinci’s Emmy Award-winning image enhancement expertise and familiar interface packaged with nonlinear conforming tools.
Designed to process extremely large files such as those used in DI processes, Resolve delivers exceptional workflow flexibility and performance fully realized with a high-performance network. The recently completed testing shows that SGI CXFS filesystem delivers the performance benchmarks to confirm that Resolve is able to run two streams of 2K data simultaneously in real time over a SAN using CXFS. SANs can be configured with CXFS to provide enough bandwidth to satisfy the needs of multiple Resolve systems as well as other editing, compositing, and creative tools in a facility.
More

XCOR Aerospace, Inc. announced today Silicon Graphics (OTC Bulletin Board: SGID) has provided an SGI(R) Altix(R) 3000 server for aerodynamic analysis and preliminary design of its Xerus suborbital vehicle. XCOR is developing the Xerus to take passengers and payloads to the edge of space.
More.

The man at the top at Silicon Graphics may have changed, but the commitment to the existing product line has not.
Dennis McKenna, the new CEO of Silicon Graphics, has confirmed the company’s commitment to its existing aggressive product roadmap for the coming year. McKenna, who took over as president, CEO and chairman of the board on Jan. 31, announced that SGI will deliver new innovations and enhancements to customers throughout its server, storage and visualization product lines, along with expanded global professional services.
More