http://www.sgi.com/Headlines/1995/April/americas_cup_newzealand.html (Einblicke ins Internet, 10/1995)
By using networked Silicon Graphics workstations and servers to test the yacht designs for speed under a wide variety of wind and sea conditions, Team New Zealand effectively constructed a virtual wind tunnel and water tank. The computers also enabled the syndicate to run structural analysis simulations, providing comprehensive design verification before prototypes were constructed. With these types of analyses, Team New Zealand was able to reduce the number of expensive quarter-scale models it usually builds for tank and wind tunnel testing, saving the syndicate considerable expense and time while producing better results.
"Our yachts are going faster than ever before because of this program," said Peter Blake, Team New Zealand's syndicate head. "The Silicon Graphics systems enabled us to accurately test hundreds of design iterations for speed and structural integrity before building them onto the yacht. Having the computers on-site during the races has encouraged a lot of post-race interaction between our design engineers and our crew. As a result, new design ideas could be tested literally overnight and implemented as early as the next series of races."
"Computers are now an essential part of creating competitive designs for world-class yacht racing," said David Bagshaw, vice president of marketing for Silicon Graphics. "Competitive racing teams are able to quickly process large amounts of fluid dynamics and structural analysis information and view the results graphically. Team New Zealand is a classic example of a customer using Silicon Graphics technology for time-critical engineering and product development, where the time-to-market is fixed, the stakes are high, and the margins for error are razor-thin."
Team New Zealand employed a network of Silicon Graphics computers including a POWER Indigo2 Extreme workstation and three POWER CHALLENGE M supercomputing servers. The combination of advanced graphics and supercomputing performance allowed Team New Zealand to complete computationally-intensive analysis, view visual representations of the results and modify the designs for additional analysis.
The syndicate's innovative designs were achieved using a number of software packages including Pro/ENGINEER® from Parametric Technology Corporation and MECHANICA® from Rasna Corporation.
Silicon Graphics, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of high-performance visual computing systems. The company delivers interactive 3D graphics, digital media and multiprocessing supercomputing technologies to technical, scientific and creative professionals. Its subsidiary, MIPS Technologies, Inc., designs and licenses the industry's leading RISC processor technology for the computer systems and embedded control markets. Silicon Graphics has offices worldwide and headquarters in Mountain View, California.
Silicon Graphics and the Silicon Graphics logo are registered trademarks and POWER Indigo2 and POWER CHALLENGE are trademarks of Silicon Graphics, Inc. Extreme is a trademark used by Silicon Graphics, Inc., under license MIPS is a registered trademark of MIPS Technologies, Inc. Pro/ENGINEER is a registered trademark of Parametric Technology Corporation Rasna and MECHANICA are registered trademarks of Rasna Corporation
