Maui High-Performance Computing Center to Install 5,120-Processor Cluster Using Dell's Ninth Generation Servers; Texas Advanced Computing Center Doubles Size of Its Dell Cluster Using 9G Servers

MHPCC is a national resource chartered to help solve complexcomputational problems for the United States Department of Defense andother government users. The new cluster, made up of 1,280 DellPowerEdge(TM) 1955 blade servers with dual-core processors, willincrease computational capability to more than 60 teraflops.

"The computational capacity provided by Dell will advance MHPCC tothe forefront of high performance computing and re-establish it amongthe leaders in the Department of Defense research and developmentcommunity," said Gene Bal, executive director of MHPCC. "The newsystem will complement the Department of Defense High PerformanceComputing Modernization Program's array of high performance computingresources."

TACC Enhances Research, Benchmarking Capabilities

In related news, the Dell benchmarking center at Texas AdvancedComputing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin recentlyannounced that it has upgraded its Dell supercomputing cluster,Lonestar, using Dell PowerEdge 1955 blade servers. Doubling in sizefrom 650 nodes to 1,300, the cluster will possess a peak performanceof more than 55 teraflops when the system achieves full productionstatus this fall.

"As one of the world's most powerful computing systems, the newDell cluster, Lonestar, will extend researchers' capabilities forsolving some the most interesting and challenging problems in science,while also enabling new research and development activities in areassuch social sciences and humanities," said TACC director Dr. JayBoisseau. "It will also be used by TACC researchers collaborating withleading companies to integrate advanced computing techniques intotheir research and development and improve their efficiency,productivity and competitiveness."

The benchmarking center helps customers understand how theirdatasets run on applications for scientific research, oil and gasexploration and finance modeling. Renowned computer scientists loadthe information on an operational cluster in a real-life environment,the performance is measured and customers learn how to optimize theirenvironment.

Dell 9G Servers Deliver Price/Performance Leadership, ReducedComplexity

Dell's ninth-generation PowerEdge servers feature the mostcomprehensive enhancements ever to the widely installed product lineand support the company's strategy to reduce complexity and drive morecomplete and cost-effective enterprise technologies across a varietyof customer environments.

Customers now can order PowerEdge 1950, 2950, 2900 and 1955 bladeservers with the Intel(R) Xeon(R) processor 5100 series that helplower power consumption by up to 25 percent(a) and can deliver up to a152 percent performance increase(b) over the previous generationdual-socket Dell PowerEdge server.

Services Help Customers Simplify Deployment and Support

In addition to easy deployment, customers buying High performanceComputing Clusters can also purchase HPCC Enterprise support, whichincludes highly trained Dell engineers specializing in HPCCenvironments. HPCC Enterprise Support also includes support on thesoftware stack and technical account management escalation forcritical incidents within the HPCC environment.

About the Maui High Performance Computing Center

The Maui High Performance Computing Center is an Air ForceResearch Laboratory Center managed by the University of Hawaii. MHPCCis an Allocated Distributed Center of the Department of Defense (DoD)High Performance Computing Modernization Program, providingcomputational resources to the research and development, test andevaluation, and warfighter communities.

About the Texas Advanced Computing Center

The Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) is a research center atthe University of Texas at Austin. TACC provides advanced computingresources and services to enable computationally-intensive researchand conducts research and development to enhance the capabilities ofthese resources. The center's mission is to enhance the research andeducation programs of the University of Texas at Austin and itspartners through research, development, operation, and support ofadvanced computing technologies.

About Dell

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) listens to customers and deliversinnovative technology and services they trust and value. Uniquelyenabled by its direct business model, Dell sells more systems globallythan any computer company, placing it No. 25 on the Fortune 500.Company revenue for the past four quarters was $56.7 billion. For moreinformation, visit www.dell.com. To get Dell news direct, visitwww.dell.com/RSS.

(a) Based on testing performed by Dell Labs in May 2006 using theSPECjbb2005 benchmark on a PE2950 with two dual core Intel Xeon 5160(3.0Ghz Woodcrest) processors, 4GB 667Mhz and 533Mhz FBD memory, 2xSAS 73GB/15k rpm HDDs, Windows Server 2003 Enterprise x64 Edition OSas compared to a PE2850 with two dual core Intel Xeon 2.8Ghz Paxvilleprocessors, 4GB 400Mhz DDR2 memory, 2x SCSI 36GB/15K rpm HD's, andWindows Server 2003 Enterprise x64 Edition OS. Actual performance andpower consumption will vary based on configuration, usage andmanufacturing variability.

(b) Based on the SPECjbb2005 benchmark test performed by DellLabs in December 2005 and April-May 2006 on a PE1950 with two dualcore Intel Xeon 5160 (3.0Ghz Woodcrest) processors, 8GB 667Mhz FBDmemory, 1x SATA 80GB/7.2K rpm HDD, and Windows Server 2003 Enterprisex64 Edition OS as compared to a PE2850 with two dual core Intel Xeon2.8Ghz (Paxville) processors, 8GB 400Mhz DDR2 memory, 1x SCSI 36GB/15Krpm HDD, and Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition, SP1 OS. Actualperformance will vary based on configuration, usage and manufacturingvariability.