SGI Posts Recent Wins in Broadcast and Production Facilities Making Transition to Digital

(2005-04-19)

Leveraging its expertise with broadcast and production partners and in designing all-digital workflow environments, Silicon Graphics (NYSE: SGI) posted several systems integration wins in the past few quarters.

Among the recent systems integration installations by SGI Professional Services in broadcast and production were:

To add additional news and sports channels and more features for its new 24-hour news channel, Czech Television (CT) public service television in the Czech Republic has purchased additional SGI® InfiniteStorage systems, third-party hardware and software, and integration services from SGI Professional Services for completion of the second phase of its SGI server-based newsroom. On air since January 2004, the Digital News Production System (DNPS) will soon include an SGI® InfiniteStorage TP9500 system with 2.4TB storage, SGI® InfiniteStorage RM610 system with 4.3TB storage, SGI® InfiniteStorage TP900, and an SGI® Origin® 350 central file server. This phase is expected to be completed in May 2005. SGI designed the overall digital architecture and is integrating key multi-vendor technologies including Ardendo LowRes transcode and browse and desktop editing systems, Aveco Master Control, Media Management and Clip Contribution Manager system (for clip exchange over IP between 16 Czech TV regional offices), 11 Pinnacle® Liquid blue editors in Prague, and 16 Liquid purple editors for regional stations. The additional just-purchased storage will enable amazingly fast search and reuse of content and provide a robust central storage with easy, scalable growth and increased bandwidth for the all-digital workflow.

Seeking to expand one of the world's most advanced, workflow-efficient news and sports broadcast facilities to include television program production, Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR) again turned to SGI compute power and integration expertise, as it has done since the SGI and DR digital conversion pilot program began in 1999. For this new stage, SGI, as prime contractor, is currently halfway through the process of enabling DR's asset management and archive system

(co-developed by SGI, Ardendo and DR) to handle workflow for program production which includes SGI integration of 300 Avid DNA-based editing systems. The purchase also includes integrating a third SGI InfiniteStorage TP9500 system, doubling the central SGI server system to 24 and 48 CPU systems, doubling network and Fibre Channel connections, delivering and integrating 15 Ardendo Ardcap dual-channel SDI/SDTI ingest systems and SGI video servers for studio productions, and developing ingest applications that support Panasonic P2 cameras.

To replace its previous tape-based news and news magazine production and playout systems, French public broadcaster France3, part of France Televisions Group, selected SGI broadcast solutions and integration services for three regional news broadcasting facilities; France3 Caen, France3 Lyon and France3 Nancy. France3 purchased three SGI Media Server™ for broadcast systems and three Aveco automation and media asset management systems (one each for each region). Interoperability between SGI Media Servers for Broadcast, the already existing Avid NewsCutter nonlinear editors and Publison audio mixing stations, is made possible thanks to the MXF-based dataflow. SGI Professional Services is providing project management services and integrating all new and existing hardware and software. With the installation of the new broadcast systems, France3 will achieve more efficient workflow allowing for the ingestion and sharing of content at speeds faster than real-time.

To speed up MPEG-2 ingest capabilities and handle greater amounts of data. France Télévisions Publicité (FTP), the advertising-production subsidiary of national broadcaster France Télévisions, purchased an additional SGI Media Server for broadcast system for its central facility in Paris. FTP delivers advertising content to three main channels—France 2, France 3 and France 5—in addition to sixteen thematic channels and twenty two regional channels. Overwhelmed by the amount of videotape and the inherent problems of physically shipping it and storing it, FTP chose SGI two years ago to transform its production to an all-digital environment. Its IT-based workflow—digitally ingesting commercial spot content, editing specific commercial break sequences, and delivering content directly from the central location to the transmission servers—was specifically designed to allow for last-minute schedule changes impossible with a tape-based system. From ingest, video content is distributed as data files to smaller SGI Media Server systems, which provide playout services for the spots at the local transmission facilities. FTP uses an all-digital, disk-based architecture for commercial playout. It runs on SGI Origin servers with two Sony® PetaSite® systems, SGI Media Server for broadcast systems, SGI® InifniteStorage CXFS™ shared filesystem, SGI® DMF and other support equipment.

To create the most flexible, high-performance SAN in Hollywood, Laser Pacific invested in the only infrastructure that will enable its digital intermediate facility to grow clients and grow storage. SGI Professional Services is now installing Autodesk Stone® Shared storage, which incorporates SGI InfiniteStorage RM660 storage and SGI CXFS shared filesystem. This integration will result in easier handling of multiple 2K resolution streams for digital intermediates (DI) to meet the greater requirements of Laser Pacific's customers. The Autodesk Stone Shared solution consists of 19TB Fibre Channel storage and 24TB Serial ATA (SATA) storage. SGI Professional Services is integrating the SAN into the entire digital intermediate workflow, which begins with the Thomson Spirit 4K datacine, and includes 10 real-time 2K clients running a mix of SGI® IRIX® OS and Windows® OS as SGI CXFS nodes. Because of SGI's scalable system architecture, as Laser Pacific's business grows and 4K digital intermediate becomes more in demand, storage capacity can easily grow to accommodate the increased data storage needs.

To meet growing capacity and performance demands caused by the explosion in 2K and 4K film data—and to keep that data always available in real-time for producers and artists—Pacific Title & Art Studio installed the SGI InfiniteStorage TP9700 Fibre Channel array from SGI and Engenio Information Technologies this month. Since implementing the industry's first storage array equipped with a 4Gb/second Fibre Channel interface, Pacific Title's SAN infrastructure sees performance results that are 1.5 times faster. In addition, the SGI® InfiniteStorage TP9700 provides 1.6GB/s of sustained throughput to meet the scanning demands of 4K film, which requires 1.3GB/s. Data throughput and storage demands of scanning negatives into digital format, creating visual effects, performing film restoration and archiving have grown rapidly, leading Pacific Title to this new cutting edge expansion of their existing SGI heterogeneous SAN infrastructure, which incorporates InfiniteStorage TP9500 2Gb/s Fibre Channel arrays from SGI and Engenio, SGI® Onyx® visualization systems and SGI Origin servers for Linux and Windows clients. With the addition of SGI TP9700 4Gb/s technology, Pacific Title is able store and move data without bottlenecks, allowing the studio to deliver 2005 blockbuster projects such as the Fantastic Four, Elektra and War of the Worlds ahead of schedule, avoid overtime costs which occur when producers and artists cannot access data, and meet the future demands of the film industry.

This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding SGI technologies and third-party technologies that are subject to risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in such statements. The reader is cautioned not to rely unduly on these forward-looking statements, which are not a guarantee of future or current performance. Such risks and uncertainties include long-term program commitments, the performance of third parties, the sustained performance of current and future products, financing risks, the impact of competitive markets, the ability to integrate and support a complex technology solution involving multiple providers and users, the acceptance of applicable technologies by markets and customers, and other risks detailed from time to time in the company's most recent SEC reports, including its reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q.

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