Army Getting BUFFed with SGI System

SGI Prism System

SGI, a Mountain View company also known as Silicon Graphics that specializes in supercomputers to visualize scientific data, is working with the U.S. military. The research is part of the U.S. military’s Brute Force Fusion, or BUFF program to study ways to improve analysis on the battlefield. Using SGI’s Altix servers and Prism visualization technology, BUFF can receive 170,000 intelligence reports an hour adding up to 3 terabytes of data a day. The program is using the SGI systems to study how to quickly bring that vast amount of information into one usable source of information.

Paul Temple, a senior manager for business development with SGI, spent 20 years in the Army with duties including counter-intelligence and special operations. He sees the SGI system as a way for the Army to stay on top of data overload and cut the time between sensor and shooter. The Army began testing the SGI Altix servers and Prism visualization system in January at the Army’s Fort Huachuca battle command lab in Arizona. A prototype system could be ready for use in actual operations in Iraq by the end of the year, according to Temple. He said SGI hopes to eventually sell the Army about 500 servers, portable and fixed, to help analyze and show information to war planners. San Jose Mercury: Company helping coordinate information from battlefield