SGI Technology Will Create Largest Cosmology Supercomputer in the U.K. for
World-Renowned Cosmologist

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (Jan. 15, 2002)-SGI (NYSE: SGI) has announced a
contract to provide an SGI Origin 3800 supercomputer to Professor Stephen
Hawking’s Cosmology Group at the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, U.K.
The powerful server will form the core of a new British computational grid
being installed by SGI to support the COSMOS project, which enables experts
to model the history of the universe from the first fractions of a second
after the Big Bang to the present day, more than 10 billion years later.

The SGI server will be installed in February 2002, followed by a larger
technology refresh by mid-2003, creating the largest cosmology supercomputer
in the U.K. SGI has been providing supercomputing and visualization
equipment to the COSMOS project, led by Professor Hawking, since 1997.

The announcement coincides with the “Stephen Hawking 60th Birthday
Symposium,” which took place last Friday, Jan. 11, with SGI as a sponsor.
The event was organized in recognition of Professor Hawking’s work and his
contribution to the world’s understanding of fundamental physics and
cosmology. Scientists from around the world gathered in Cambridge for the
symposium, which included scientific meetings and workshops and culminated
in a lecture by Professor Hawking. For further information, visit
www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/hawking60.

Professor Hawking explained, “A key research area of our consortium is the
scientific exploration of the cosmic microwave background, the relic
radiation left over from the Big Bang fireball, usually just called the CMB.
The COSMOS supercomputer is the main platform on which we are developing
techniques to analyze data from the world’s most ambitious CMB experiment,
the Planck Surveyor satellite, which is due for launch in 2007. This
analysis is very computationally challenging, but it will give us
unprecedented new information about the origin and present state of our
universe.

“Cosmology is a rapidly advancing and highly competitive field, driven by
new observational results. The COSMOS supercomputer has allowed us to turn
our ideas very rapidly into concrete predictions, ensuring that U.K.
cosmologists continue to make leading international contributions. On the
shared-memory SGI Origin 3800 server, we can easily scale up our workstation
codes to tackle really big problems, without all becoming computer jocks. We
get time to think about the universe, not just about programming. We have
benefited from leading-edge shared-memory technology from SGI ever since our
first Origin family computer arrived in 1997, and we plan to continue to do
so.”

SGI Chairman and CEO Bob Bishop added, “It is SGI’s plan to provide the
fundamental computing power that underlies all scientific and creative
progress in the digital world of the 21st century. We are deeply supportive
of Professor Stephen Hawking’s work to model the universe on SGI machines,
and consider this endeavor as one of the greatest challenges that our
equipment will ever face.”

About SGI

Celebrating its 20th year, SGI, also known as Silicon Graphics, is the
world’s leading provider of high-performance computing, complex data
management and visualization products, services and solutions that enable
its technical and creative customers to gain strategic and competitive
advantages in their core businesses. Whether being used to design and build
safer cars and airplanes, discover new medications and oil reserves, predict
the weather, entertain us with thrilling movie special effects or provide
mission-critical support for government and defense, SGI systems and
expertise are empowering a world of innovation and discovery. The company,
located on the Web at www.sgi.com, is headquartered in Mountain View,
Calif., and has offices worldwide.