Silicon Graphics targets Middle East for delivering breakthrough technology

SGI has expanded its core specialty areas to meet the next-generation demands of businesses and governments, with a new focus on earth science, manufacturing, entertainment and media industries as well as sciences. The new move is designed to consolidate companies established core strengths of offering mission critical solutions targeted specifically at five key sectors of government & defence, sciences, manufacturing, energy and media sectors.

Detailing the new strategy at a press conference held in Dubai, Philippe Miltin, Regional General Manager for France, Middle East and Africa, SGI, said: "Major governments and business organizations in the Middle East have displayed a strong commitment to high technology in recent years, creating a critical need for the type of speciality solutions provided by SGI, a company with unmatched reputation for developing next generation technology that creates highly significant and creative breakthroughs in various fields. The region is witnessing major developments in SGI's core areas. We have, therefore, realigned our strategies to give greater importance to these emerging markets."

"As a leader in high-performance breakthrough computing for high-end clients, SGI is committed to bringing the next generation innovations to the Middle East, spurred by several positive developments that reflect the huge potential for our kind of specialty products and solutions," added Miltin. "The booming economies and the growing trend among global corporations to open offices in the Middle East are the right indicators for SGI to consolidate its presence in this market."

SGI has carefully selected its new focus areas. Earth science concentrates on earth simulation research programs studying global climate, seismology and natural resources. Manufacturing focuses on breakthroughs in collaborative design and movement towards Six Sigma process improvements. Homeland security is a critical area of innovation for governments globally. Entertainment and media industries are witnessing a transition towards digital broadcasting and digital film mastering. Sciences, which include medical and pharmaceutical fields, are exploding with innovation today.

"With the leading edge technology that SGI brings to the Middle East, companies like ADNOC, Qatar Petroleum, Petroleum Development Oman and Kuwait Oil Company, solve their toughest problems in their quest to optimize their oil and gas exploration and production." said Gilbert Soufan, Territory Manager for Middle East & Africa, SGI. "The computing power that our machines deliver are at least a couple of years ahead of the standard trends in computing. In addition, SGI is renowned for its powerful graphics. Most of the 3D graphics that are viewed on TV stations during the coverage of the Iraq war is generated by SGI machines," added Soufan.

Philippe Guardia, Territory Manager for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, SGI, said: "The huge potential for SGI's products in the region can be gauged from the company's growth in Saudi Arabia, where several leading companies, including oil companies, are adopting SGI's next-generation solutions for a variety of applications. The mission critical solutions of SGI provide technical professionals with superior performance and scalability. The result is that SGI scores over standard computing products by several times, because they have been purpose-built to address specific environments, with high performance as the core value. With the aggressive new focus on the region, we expect SGI products to gain a large clientele among the region's innovators, whether from private companies or governments."

SGI allocates between 12 and 15 per cent of its total revenues to Research & Development, enabling it to have a competitive edge as it constantly innovates to provide cutting edge technology to its high profile clients.

SGI's top-end products include high production servers and supercomputers that provide technical professionals with high performance solutions; visualization systems that allow speed decision making, decrease prototyping costs and quick flaw detection; advanced workstations for creative and technical professionals and data management solutions that optimize workflow and manage most complex data. The company offers highly advanced solutions for medical imaging and weather forecasting.

SGI's name has been associated with several breakthrough technologies such as pioneering visual effects for Hollywood movies; the visual grid computing for Stephen Hawking's Cosmos Project; the first all-digital aircraft design system for Boeing and the first Visible Human project which allows the creation of anatomically detailed volumetric and 3D models of the entire human body at microscopic levels.
Known for initiating next-generation solutions and innovations worldwide, SGI is poised to tap the niche market for its core specialities in scientific, engineering and creative markets, encouraged by several positive developments taking place in the Middle East and spurred by the booming economies of some countries in the region.

SGI serves a US$15 billion market and is poised for higher growth due to the unabated demand for high performance computing products. Its customers include some of the world's leading corporations, research institutions and government & defence markets, including 40 per cent of the Fortune 500 companies.