[1st-mile-nm] NM Supercomputing Announcement

[Richard Lowenberg]

Following are two news reports on the just announced New Mexico
supercomputing contract with SGI.
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Friday, November 2, 2007 - 4:18 PM MDT
Supercomputer to be housed at Intel
New Mexico Business Weekly

A California company will build a supercomputer here that will be housed
at Intel Corp. in Rio Rancho.

SGI of California has been awarded an $11 million state contract to build
the computer. Businesses, governments and schools will be able to use the
facility, to be called the New Mexico Computing Applications Center, to
model complex problems, according to Gov. Bill Richardson's office. These
range from creating new products to modeling scenarios for New Mexico's
future water supply.

"This is part of my effort to strengthen New Mexico's economy," Richardson
said in a prepared statement. "We will recruit companies to partner with
us and move their research, development and manufacturing operations to
the state, creating more high-wage jobs in New Mexico."

The supercomputer is projected to operate at 172 teraflops per second. One
teraflop represents one trillion calculations per second. It will be
powered by 14,336 Intel Xeon processor cores and as much memory as 28,000
office computers.

The New Mexico Department of Information Technology will manage the
project. Formal partnerships have been established with Los Alamos
National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories, the University of
New Mexico, New Mexico State University and the New Mexico Institute of
Mining and Technology. SGI has formed a separate partnership to keep the
computer at the Rio Rancho plant owned by Intel (NASDAQ: INTC).

"By seizing this opportunity, the governor has, in a single act, ensured
that New Mexico will become a region of unbridled innovation and
opportunity," said Bo Ewald, chief executive officer of SGI (NASDAQ:
SGIC).

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New Mexico Announces Supercomputer Project

Nov 2, 2007, Government Technology News Report

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson today announced that New Mexico will soon
host one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world.

"This is a major part of my effort to strengthen New Mexico's economy,"
Richardson said. "This project proves New Mexico is serious about
developing its high-tech economy, and represents a crucial investment in
our state's future. Our supercomputing center will be a world-class
research facility. We will recruit companies to partner with us and move
their research, development and manufacturing operations to the state,
creating more high-wage jobs for New Mexicans."

SGI, a California company, has been awarded an $11 million state contract
to build the supercomputer, which will be housed at Intel Corp. in Rio
Rancho. Businesses, governments and schools will be able use the New
Mexico Computing Applications Center to model complex problems --
everything from creating new products to modeling scenarios for New
Mexico's future water supply.

The supercomputer is projected to operate at 172 teraflops per second. One
teraflop represents 1 trillion calculations per second. It's powered by
14,336 Intel Xenon processor cores, and has enough memory for 28,000
office computers.

Supercomputers are often used for modeling, or quickly calculating how
difficult problems play out. For example, companies could use the
supercomputer to develop new airplane designs, simulate crash tests for
new cars and design life-saving drugs. They're also used to model
hurricanes and global warming.

"Supercomputing has just now reached the point where we can simulate the
world so well that we can find the best answers to complex problems before
we spend time and money," said Tom Bowles, chief science advisor for
Richardson. "This project will attract international interest to New
Mexico."

The New Mexico Department of Information Technology will manage the
supercomputer project. Formal partnerships have been established with Los
Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories, and the University of New Mexico,
New Mexico State University and New Mexico Tech. SGI has formed a separate
partnership to keep the computer at Intel's Rio Rancho plant.

Governor Richardson and the New Mexico Legislature created the New Mexico
Department of Information Technology in 2007 to provide leadership,
efficiency and accountability for state government technology needs. The
department approves computer and technology purchases, manages state
communications, and oversees construction of new technology infrastructure
for the state.


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Richard Lowenberg
P.O.Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504
505-989-9110,  505-603-5200 cell

New Mexico Broadband Initiative
www.1st-mile.com/newmexico
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