Caltech, USGS Dedicate Dell-Powered Earthquake Media Center; National Media Attend Earthquake Workshop to Prepare for the Next 'Big One'

The media center, housed in Caltech's Geosciences ComputationalFacility, uses some of the latest technology to translate complexearthquake data into 2-D graphics -- an advance that will help themedia report earthquake news in a timely, easy-to-understand manner.

"Seismological technology has vastly improved to the point thatwithin less than an hour we can now create a 2-D animation of seismicwaves radiating out from the epicenter on a topographical map," saidDr. Jeroen Tromp, director of the Caltech Seismological Laboratory andMcMillan Professor of Geophysics. "We call these animations'ShakeMovies' and they will be one of the new offerings that the labis introducing to the media at this event."

In a video statement, Dell Chairman Michael Dell will explain howsimulations and findings enabled by the facility's 1,024-node Dellsupercomputing cluster are fed into two Dell Precision(TM)workstations, and then projected onto a custom visualization wall inthe media center.

"We are excited to see the positive impact this high-performancecluster and new media center will have on helping the public betterunderstand and visualize the impact of earthquakes," Mr. Dell says.

Speakers from Caltech and the USGS will also discuss what mighthappen to Los Angeles' tall buildings in a major quake, real-timeEarth science, and how Caltech can provide the media with informationand graphics immediately after a quake.

The Geosciences Computational Facility's supercomputing cluster ismade up of 1,024 Dell PowerEdge(TM) dual-processor servers. Dellpre-assembled the cluster for easy implementation, and Dell Servicesworked on campus to complete the installation.

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.