Sikorsky selects SGI to power next generation helicopter design

17 Jan 2012 Fremont - Sikorsky Innovations, the technology development organisation within Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, has selected an SGI UV 1000 high performance computing (HPC) system with 576 cores and 1.5 TB of RAM, powered by Intel Xeon processor X7500 series, along with additional SGI storage and services, to enhance its digital prototyping and virtual design capabilities.

The three-rack, 576 core system will consist of six blade enclosures, each with 96 cores and 256GB RAM, with the ability to run either independently and securely or as one large system. The system will include 36 internal SAS drives, which will be integrated with existing SGI InfiniteStorage 220 storage arrays already in operation. The company has also contracted for four years of SGI FullCare support, along with integration services from the SGI Professional Services organisation.

Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation, is a world expert in the design, manufacture and service of advanced helicopters for commercial, industrial and military application, and is a longtime SGI customer. Sikorsky Innovation will install the SGI UV solution at its Bridgeport, Connecticut, facility to support computer-aided engineering design and analyses of current and future aircraft systems. The programmes that will utilize the new HPC system include Sikorsky's latest development programs such as the S-97 RAIDER, CH-53K, S-76D, variants of its H-60 and S-92 helicopters, and other special programmes.

"The SGI UV 1000 meets our stringent requirements for computing power, scalability, programme security and configurability, all within our control", stated Joseph Pantalone, technical fellow and chief engineer of Special Programmes at Sikorsky Innovations. "With this computing platform we conduct iterative design and analyses of highly detailed aircraft subsystems as well as full helicopter models and simulations, greatly reducing our iterations in hardware."

The high performance architecture of SGI UV servers and InfiniteStorage storage solutions allow Sikorsky Innovations to meet the complex computing and security demands associated with serving multiple government clients. "National security policies mandate that all projects be compartmentalized so that no one project becomes associated with any other", Joseph Pantalone stated. "Most servers can support one project at a time, but the flexibility of the UV architecture allows Sikorsky Innovations to apply the power of the entire server to one large program, or separate the system's CPUs into separate stand-alone partitions, providing the needed compute power to multiple programmes simultaneously."

"We're proud to be continuing our work with Sikorsky", stated Jim Brinker, president of SGI Federal. "Now spanning several generations of the SGI UV product family, Sikorsky should be able to leverage the system's flexibility and scalability, and extend the value of their investment well into the future."