Press Release

On Latest Top500 List, SGI Altix Ice Leads the Way Among Industry-standard Supercomputers

Silicon Graphics Systems Rank Among Most Powerful and Efficient Supercomputers on Earth

AUSTIN, Texas, Supercomputing 2008, Booth 1009 (November 17, 2008) — Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI) (NASDAQ: SGIC) today announced that its SGI® Altix® ICE platform ranks as the most powerful and energy efficient of all industry-standard systems on the new Top500 list, the globally recognized roster of the world's fastest supercomputers. The acclaimed integrated blade platform, which is based on Intel® Xeon® processors, also leads the list's top-ranked industry-standard systems in performance efficiency.

The new Top500 list reveals how SGI Altix ICE leads the way among industry-standard systems:

• Fastest industry-standard supercomputer. With the debut at No. 3 of the new NASA Pleiades system, SGI Altix ICE maintains its position as the performance leader among industry-standard clusters. (See related announcement.)
• Leading energy efficiency. SGI Altix ICE powers the two most energy-efficient industry-standard systems in the list's top 20 (NASA at No. 3 and Total Exploration Production at No. 17).
• Leading performance efficiency. Among industry-standard systems in the top 20, three SGI Altix ICE systems deliver the best LINPACK benchmark performance efficiency (NASA at No. 3, Grand Equipement National de Calcul Intensif — GENCI at No. 14, and Total at No. 17). All three systems deliver 80 percent or better of their peak performance when running the LINPACK benchmark.

"Since its introduction last year, the SGI Altix ICE platform has shown what can be achieved by combining innovation with industry-standard technologies," said Dave Parry, senior vice president, server products and operations at Silicon Graphics, Inc. "The No. 3-ranked NASA Pleiades and many other SGI Altix ICE systems lead the Top500 in energy and LINPACK performance efficiency. Just as importantly, they managed all these achievements without resorting to specialized accelerators. Just imagine if they had."

Compared to the most recent Top500 list released in June, Silicon Graphics led the industry with a 40 percent increase in the number of SGI® systems appearing in the Top 50, and a 300 percent increase in its Top 20 systems. The entire list is available at www.top500.org.

Demonstrations at SCO8:

• Silicon Graphics will demonstrate its high-productivity compute, storage and visualization solutions in Booth 1009 at the SC08 International Conference, Nov.15-21 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas.

Silicon Graphics, Inc.
Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI) (NASDAQ: SGIC), is a leader in high-performance computing. SGI delivers a complete range of high-performance server and storage solutions along with industry-leading professional services and support that enable its customers to overcome the challenges of complex data-intensive workflows and accelerate breakthrough discoveries, innovation and information transformation. SGI solutions help customers solve their computing challenges whether it's enhancing the quality of life through drug research, designing and manufacturing safer and more efficient cars and airplanes, studying global climate, providing technologies for homeland security and defense, or helping enterprises manage large data. With offices worldwide, the company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and can be found on the Web at www.sgi.com.

Note: SGI corporate phone numbers have changed. The new main number for SGI corporate headquarters is 408-524-1980. Effective immediately, all numbers featuring the 650 area code are no longer in service.

© 2008 SGI. All rights reserved. SGI, the SGI cube, Altix and the SGI logo are registered trademarks of SGI in the United States and/or other countries worldwide. . Intel and Xeon are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.