Ford Motor Company has selected Silicon Graphics systems as one of the key components of its new Global Studio. Global Studio is a networked computing environment that enables Ford engineers in Europe, America and Asia to share visual information and work concurrently on 3D models and designs. In addition, the automaker has agreed to use Silicon Graphics equipment for its first mainstream product being designed completely on a computer.
Ford has purchased more than 70 Onyx RealityEngine2 graphics supercomputers as well as desktop systems and servers, making it the largest installation of Onyx computers in the world.
"Our systems enable Ford not only to build highly realistic and interactive computer models rather than costly prototypes, but also to test a car's aesthetic, ergonomic and safety features in the digital realm and make real-time modifications," says Joe DiNucci, SGI's vice president of Manufacturing Industry Sales. "No other computer company offers what we can to this industry."
DiNucci credits SGI's Michigan sales office for building up the company's visibility within Ford over the years. In order to compete with the likes of IBM, H-P and DEC, SGI concentrated on selling applications that ran exclusively on SGI platform or ran better on them. Typically, these applications required visual computing, an area in which SGI has always excelled.
The deal started taking shape with a meeting of the chief executives of both companies at the Autofact'92 tradeshow in November 1992. In June of 1993, several Ford engineers and executives visited SGI's Mountain View headquarters. However, the potential of collaborative computing was brought to light when they had a chance to see it in action. Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) studios in San Rafael, California, was using collaborative computing technology to send clips of "Jurassic Park" back and forth between San Rafael and Poland via computer network. Director Steven Spielberg was filming the movie "Schindler's List" in Poland while supervising the post-production work of "Jurassic Park" from there.
DiNucci feels that the future for SGI in the auto industry is bright because SGI systems are iideally suited to two of the industry's most pressing needs: they can handle the most complex engineering problems and, at the same time, enable designers to cater to the aesthetic needs of the consumer market.
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