MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- SGI has sold a 256-processor SGI Altix 3000 supercluster to the exploration and production department at Total, the major French oil and gas company. Intended for seismic processing applications, the system will complement the company's already existing SGI infrastructure and will be integrated into its storage area network environment, which is based on The SGI CXFS shared filesystem. To be installed at Total's technical center in Pau, France, the SGI Altix system is designed to help Total's 44 exploration and production subsidiaries identify and develop onshore and offshore oil and gas prospects. Seismic analysis, which generates a digital image of the subsurface structure of the prospect or field under evaluation, is one of the energy industry's most effective prospecting methods. The system, comprising 256 Intel® Itanium® 2 processors at 900 MHz, with 1TB memory and 16TB of disk storage, will provide Total with additional processing power of close to 1 TFLOPS. This new machine will allow Total to reduce processing times, thereby optimizing decisions concerning drilling or the acquisition of assets within new areas. Launched in January, the SGI Altix 3000 supercluster is the only system on the market to deploy an optimized Linux® environment capable scaling to 64 Itanium 2 processors on a single Linux node and to hundreds of processors in a cluster configuration. It comprises an exclusive suite of tools and functionality designed to offer maximum performance for the most demanding scientific and technical applications. Total's Arnaud Althabegoity, head of geoscience information systems, said, "We have chosen to continue to work with SGI, one of our closest partners since 1998, because the new Altix 3000 supercluster is by far the most suitable to run our applications." Added SGI's Steve Coggins, senior vice president and general manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, "The SGI Altix 3000 system provides oil and gas companies around the world with an unbeatable combination of powerful high-performance computing technologies in a Linux environment. Total's purchase underscores SGI's commitment to developing and bringing to market the tools necessary for the breakthrough achievements of the 21st century." SGI Technology Solutions provided the integrated services and support to deliver a complete end-to-end solution for Total. By integrating hardware, software, services, consulting, training and support, SGI Technology Solutions helps customers achieve their goals and optimize their investment in SGI® products.