WestGrid Selects SGI and YottaYotta for Remote Visualization and Geographic Data Grid Services.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., & EDMONTON, Alberta -- Silicon Graphics (NYSE: SGI), the world's leader in high-performance computing, visualization and storage, and YottaYotta(R), the high performance NetStorage(R) company, announced today that WestGrid has successfully deployed the SGI InfiniteStorage Shared File System CXFS(TM) in conjunction with the YottaYotta NetStorager(R) System across a distance of over 1,000 kilometers.

WestGrid (Western Canada Research Grid) is a $50-million project to operate grid-enabled high performance computing and collaboration infrastructure at institutions in Alberta and British Columbia. Its resources are provided at no cost to researchers across Canada. Westgrid selected SGI and YottaYotta to deliver remote visualization and geographic data grid services to Simon Fraser University (SFU) and the University of Alberta (UofA).

"WestGrid has created an environment for world class computational research with resources located at universities across Western Canada," said Dr. Rob Simmonds, chief technology officer of WestGrid. "The addition of the YottaYotta system greatly simplifies the task of exploring massive data sets generated on computers located more than 1,000 kilometers from our primary SGI visualization server."

Together, SGI and YottaYotta provide the capability to deploy a single shared file system across thousands of kilometers, permitting customers to intelligently share a consistent data image at local SAN rates - enabling compute, storage, and visualization resources to be leveraged across multiple distributed sites.

"This project demonstrates that data grids do not have to be limited to single site or campus deployments," said Martin Pinard, President SGI Canada. "The SGI and YottaYotta solution will allow users spread across the WestGrid environment to experience transparent and secure access to shared data, even if it's physically located thousands of kilometers away."

The SGI/YottaYotta Data Grid Solution

Together SGI's clustered file system, CXFS and YottaYotta's Global Block Services offer a new standard in data grid service. The combined SGI/YottaYotta solution provides access to a globally consistent name space at local performance rates. A common way to share data between sites is to duplicate it by using FTP to copy files from storage at one site, to storage at another site. This model suffers from excess data duplication, excess WAN traffic, and increased challenges with version management. With the SGI/YottaYotta solution, the user experience is fundamentally different from the traditional FTP model. Rather than having to log on to a remote server, initiate an FTP session, and download files, the user is provided with transparent local access to remote files as if they were sitting on his or her desktop.

"The deployment of the SGI/YottaYotta data grid solution validates that distributed data processing across geography is now a viable option as opposed to duplicating compute and storage infrastructure," said Wayne Karpoff, chief technology officer and co-founder of YottaYotta.

SGI: The Source of Innovation and Discovery(TM)

SGI, also known as Silicon Graphics, Inc., is the world's leader in high-performance computing, visualization, and storage. SGI's vision is to provide technology that enables the most significant scientific and creative breakthroughs of the 21st century. Whether it's sharing images to aid in brain surgery, finding oil more efficiently, studying global climate, or enabling the transition from analog to digital broadcasting, SGI is dedicated to addressing the next class of challenges for scientific, engineering, and creative users. With offices worldwide, the company is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., and can be found on the Web at www.sgi.com.

About YottaYotta

YottaYotta provides a suite of Global Block Services that deliver Global Data Sharing and Fully-Active Continuity of Operations (COOP). The NetStorager System localizes access to globally coherent data, enabling organizations to leverage their entire storage infrastructure across multiple distributed sites while providing a significant reduction in WAN traffic. The result is increased utilization of IT resources, SAN performance over the WAN, and continuity of operations despite site failures and network disruptions. Founded in January 2000, YottaYotta is privately funded with offices in Edmonton, AB and Alexandria, VA.

About WestGrid

WestGrid is a $50 million project to operate grid-enabled high performance computing and collaboration infrastructure at institutions across Alberta and British Columbia. A second stage of the project, dubbed WestGrid II, envisions an infrastructure that will include all research universities and major research institutes using computation resources in western Canada. WestGrid can be found on the web at www.westgrid.ca.

Silicon Graphics, SGI, XFS, the SGI cube and the SGI logo are registered trademarks and CXFS and The Source of Innovation and Discovery are trademarks of Silicon Graphics, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries worldwide. YottaYotta, NetStorage, and NetStorager are registered trademarks of YottaYotta, Inc. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.