Scalable SGI InfiniteStorage Products and Highly Optimized Networked Editing Software Key Differentiators in Selection Process MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. and VIENNA, Austria, Sept. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Seeking to establish a standards-based, central editing storage infrastructure, Austria's public service broadcaster Osterreichischer Rundfunk (ORF) selected a broadcast and server configuration from Silicon Graphics (NYSE:SGI) in June. With a central studio in Vienna and nine regional studios throughout Austria, ORF offers a wide range of TV and radio programs to its national audience on television stations ORF 1 and ORF 2. ORF will use the SGI(R) data-centric environment to speed the production of thousands of hours of original TV and radio programming for the two public stations as well as producing programming for TW1, a local Vienna cable and digital satellite station. As a European Broadcast Union member, ORF receives thousands more hours of programming via satellite; it also operates an extensive digital archive and a comprehensive entertainment guide Internet site. The solution will be installed in phases with full implementation expected by the end of the year. While other server and storage vendors were considered, ORF executives chose SGI to transition its analog studio in Vienna to a data-centric production workflow after visiting two state-of-the-art broadcasters whose facilities were designed and integrated by SGI: Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR) in Copenhagen and Sudwestrundfunk (SWR) in Stuttgart, Germany. "Moving from analog to digital server-based editing is a very important, essential transition that we have carefully considered for two years," said Andreas Winter, project manager, ORF. "We are happy that we found SGI, a partner who is obviously very experienced in delivering the robust and scalable solution we require. From the beginning, we said that we need a technology that is flexible, expandable and open to our in-house production environment. You never know what the future will bring. We wanted to scale and to grow, so we decided on the SGI InfiniteStorage RM660 solution which best meets our requirements in the broadcast market. SGI networked editing software optimizes production speed and flexibility, which was a key differentiator in our purchase decision." Introduced at IBC 2004, the SGI(R) InfiniteStorage RM660 storage system is highly optimized to meet the unique requirements of media production, including high-resolution capture from scanners, digital cinema cameras and telecines, resolution-independent editing and compositing applications as well as the growing number of digital film mastering applications for color grading and digital intermediate facilities. The SGI RM660 system features guaranteed high-bandwidth I/O and low latency, and is designed to be extremely configurable, infinitely scalable, and to seamlessly integrate into an existing storage area network (SAN) or networked attached storage (NAS) environment. To create the central editing infrastructure for 15 Pinnacle Systems liquid editing stations, ORF purchased four SGI(R) Altix(R) 350 mid-range servers, powered by Intel(R) Itanium(R) 2 processors in a Linux(R) environment, to act as NAS servers for a 14TB SGI InfiniteStorage RM660 solution. Connected via SGI(R) InfiniteStorage shared filesystem CXFS(TM), the 15 nonlinear editing (NLE) systems will share the storage resources, with help from SGI networked editing software and two Omneon video servers. In the future, an additional 15 Pinnacle NLE systems will share the media data store. "We are pleased to welcome ORF into the family of SGI-based television production and broadcast facilities around the world that have discovered the solid value and performance of SGI design, networking, integration, hardware and software offerings," said Stephan Schindler, general manager, Silicon Graphics Broadcast Europe. SILICON GRAPHICS | The Source of Innovation and Discovery(TM) SGI, also known as Silicon Graphics, Inc., is a 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, providing technologies for homeland security and defense 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 http://www.sgi.com/. NOTE: Silicon Graphics, SGI, Altix, 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. Intel and Itanium are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in several countries. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners. MEDIA CONTACT Lisa Pistacchio 650-933-5683 Milva Naguib +39-3356267644 SGI PR HOTLINE 650-933-7777 SGI PR FACSIMILE 650-933-0283 DATASOURCE: SGI CONTACT: Lisa Pistacchio, +1-650-933-5683, or , or Milva Naguib, +39-3356267644, or , or SGI PR HOTLINE, +1-650-933-7777, or SGI PR FACSIMILE, +1-650-933-0283, all of SGI Web site: http://www.sgi.com/

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