News release

Compaq and UT Austin Partner to Enable Spectacular New Computer Visualizations

Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE: CPQ) and The University of Texas at Austin Center for Computational Visualization (CCV) have entered into a cooperative research relationship in advanced visualization techniques using high-performance computers and complex display equipment.

Researchers can use the new tools to simulate events that take place at very large scales like the explosion of a star, galactic motion or the theoretical collision of black holes. They also can simulate extremely small-scale events at the subatomic scale. Computerized images such as strata underneath the earth's surface can be used to predict the production of oil reservoirs. And researchers can examine the human body layer by layer or cell by cell.

"Simulation technology allows you to manipulate the scales of time," explained Dr. Tinsley Oden, director of the Texas Institute for Computational and Applied Mathematics (TICAM) at the University of Texas at Austin. "You can look at events that take place over thousands of years. You can look at events that may take place a thousand years in the future. You can study events that take place in a microsecond. In essence, you slow down time, or you speed it up—whatever is necessary to model and study the phenomena of interest."

Testing complex theories in geophysics, astronomy, medicine and other scientific disciplines produces such large amounts of data that scientists often find it difficult to see the solution.

"That's where visualization is of enormous benefit," said Dr. Oden. "It becomes the indispensable tool in interpreting results and making sense out of these calculations."

"Imagine being flown around the Grand Canyon, experiencing its expanse and magnificence, and having that combined with the additional ability to ask for a closer look or increased lighting at certain choice scenic spots while this is instantaneously displayed with stunning detail on a big wall," said Dr. Chandrajit L. Bajaj, director of the CCV and holder of the CAM Chair in Visualization. "That is one example of the potential this technology promises."

Examples can be seen at http://www.ticam.utexas.edu/ccv.

Powering the lab's extensive computer processing requirements is a cluster of Compaq SP750 workstations. The 130 workstations and disk drives are networked using Compaq ServerNet II high-speed, low-latency interconnect technology.

"UT Austin chose Compaq because Compaq is continually developing state-of-the-art networking and data storage technology in addition to faster computers," said Dr. Bajaj. "Compaq's research and development of all facets of computing technology mirror UT Austin's roles in computational research and education."

Mike Humke, Compaq director of higher education said, "Compaq's collaboration with the UT Austin CCV is enabling pioneering visualization research that promises to touch many lives. We foresee this leading to noninvasive diagnostic medical tests. Manufacturers may use it to create new substances that are lighter or safer or stronger. The possibilities are endless," Humke added.

"This is a showplace for the innovation that can result when inspired minds are freed by Compaq technologies," Humke noted. "We are understandably proud of the fact that Compaq's leading industry-standard clustering and computing technologies are helping to create a new generation of application development around advanced visualization."

"With the PC cluster, high-speed networking and graphic capabilities provided by Compaq, the UT Austin CCV lab will become the leader among high-performance facilities at universities," Bajaj said. "The relationship with Compaq will help maintain the CCV's position on the leading edge of visualization—not only in the United States but also in the world. The CCV lab is by far the premier place for research and graduate study in the visualization sciences," he said.