SGI OFFERS SPECIAL IMPLEMENTATION OF VPRO GRAPHICS FOR IRIX.

SGI (NYSE: SGI) is offering new additions to its VPro graphics family. These new VPro graphics for IRIX are a particularly robust and full-featured implementation developed entirely in-house and specifically for SGI's IRIX customers.

VPro is a family of graphics subsystems for IRIX, Windows NT and Linux desktop workstations. SGI offers two very distinct implementations of VPro graphics. VPro graphics for Windows NT and Linux was developed in partnership with NVIDIA Corporation and is available with the Silicon Graphics 230, Silicon Graphics 330 and Silicon Graphics 550 visual workstations.

The new implementation, called VPro graphics for IRIX, is available only with the new Octane2 visual workstations. VPro graphics for IRIX comes in two configurations, the Octane2 V6 with 32MB of configurable graphics memory and the Octane2 V8 with 128MB of configurable graphics memory.

The SGI-developed VPro graphics for Octane2 leverage SGI's expertise in OpenGL with full hardware acceleration of the OpenGL 1.2 core feature set on a single chip. This patented design, called OpenGL on a Chip, is common to all VPro products and provides an efficient architecture for the quick turnaround of future product enhancements.

Octane2 with VPro graphics features hardware acceleration of the new OpenGL 1.2 ARB (Architectural Review Board) imaging extensions, a functionality that will benefit SGI's advanced imaging customers. Other VPro graphics for IRIX features include the following:

Hardware implementation of specular shading with per-pixel normal interpolation (not texture overlays)

48-bit (12-bit per component) RGBA

96-bit hardware-accelerated accumulation buffer for depth of field, full-scene anti-aliasing, motion blurs and other effects

104MB texture memory capacity

Perspective-correct textures and colors

High-performance hardware clipping

SGI provides a broad range of high-performance computing and advanced graphics solutions that enable customers to understand and conquer their toughest computing problems. Headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., with offices worldwide, the company is located on the Web at www.sgi.com.