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The Hong Kong subsidiary of Silicon Graphics Computer Systems has unveiled the first products based on the company's new S2MP architecture.

  The move came 12 hours after the products' official launch in the United States.

  The announcement last week at the Asian IT Expo also marks the 10th anniversary of the firm's operations in Asia.

  The general manager Hong Kong, Steven Lau, said Scalable Shared-Memory Multiprocessing (S2MP) solved one the most important problems in computing.

  For decades computers have relied on architecture that has all the components linked to a bus. But using two components at the same time results in waiting time. With S2MP architecture all components are linked to each other according to the CrayLink Interconnect concept that Cray Research pioneered several years ago. Cray and Silicon Graphics (SGI) merged earlier this year.

  According to SGI, this type of building block architecture design enables almost unlimited scale and reduces the cost of upgrading.

   'Systems can grow in all dimensions, along with the amount of memory and the number of ports,' Mr Lau said.

  The new architecture is a step towards SGI's ultimate goal of merging its technologies with those of its new supercomputing subsidiary, Cray Research, by the turn of the century.

  Mr Lau said all machines were configured to offer total compatibility with most existing applications 'right from the box'.

  The new families of products include Origin, a new line of workgroup servers. Origin200 and Origin2000 take full advantage of S2MP, allowing clients to start with a small system and then expand to a large configuration by using the same architecture.

  'Origin servers are not only changing the way people work, but also their kind of work,' Mr Lau said. Some of SGI's main clients are researchers, and Origin servers are aimed mainly at that market.

  Another new product is Onyx2, a line of visualisation supercomputers that range from Onyx2 InfiniteReality to Onyx2 InfiniteReality Monster. 'Onyx2 allows new levels of visualisation,' said Mr Lau, claiming the machines offered the fastest graphics on the market.

  Most models come with a new 24-inch SuperWide monitor developed in collaboration with Sony and with a complete set of creative tools that enable special effects.

   O2 is a new desktop workstation family which features another new technology pioneered by SGI. Unified Memory Architecture provides systems with high bandwidth and low latency.

  The multimedia workstations are expected to extend the leadership SGI enjoys with its Indy and Indigo2Impact desktop workstations.

  They come with a complete Web integrated user environment.

  02 machines will cost under US$10,000. 'That makes O2 machines accessible to most engineers,' Mr Lau said.

  'SGI philosophy is to introduce high-quality products at a very high end and over time to make the technology in high volume at a relatively low price,' he said.

  At the launch SGI announced various agreements with companies that have already developed applications based on the new architecture.

  SGI's main markets are the entertainment and scientific fields. It hoped the flexibility offered by the S2MP architecture would enable the company to access more commercial applications, Mr Lau said.



New architecture opens up the scale, claims SGI