How the (once) mighty have fallen...
... again.
About six years ago, when closing one of our smaller R&D facilities, I stumbled upon two small SGI workstations and one big one. At the time, I thought "Hey, cool!" Now, not so much.
Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI), the perma-struggling workstation-turned-server-maker, filed for bankruptcy protection today, and was immediately bought by Rackable Systems for $25m cash. Rackable has signed to take on of SGI liabilities. The deal is expected to complete in 60 days. The combined company will target the hyper- …
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...years ago, back in the mid 90's, SG had a 'flagship' HQ in Soho (just across the road from Macca's office as it happens). I went in there, just to ask about courses and was treated to a tour around the building and even allowed to try out a workstation in the classroom. For me, it was an amazing thing to be permitted to use those wonderful machines, albeit I knew nothing then about how to use 3DSMax - just the sheer thrill of getting my hands on what was at the time 'top-of-the-range' graphical computing power was a real privilege. The SG instructor was very kind (he must has guessed I was in no position to pay out for an expensive course), and spent about an hour or so just running through a few basic tutorials and discussing the computers and the software. Happy days.
http://www.sgi.com/company_info/newsroom/press_releases/2009/april/rackable.html
Unless, SGI and Rackable are playing it on us all.
I own a few SGI systems, including Octane2 workstations and Origin200 servers, and they're great kit, but SGI rested on their laurels for too long
Huh? ... hmm.. sounds suspicious. After SGI was saved, its share price jumped at one point to just over 30 times its low point. If someone bought at that low point then sold out before this titsup they would have made a fortune. I'm wondering if that was the plan all along.
Unless this is an April Fools Joke ... In which case, I'm hook, line, sinker and fishing trawler caught out by it. :)
... in which case, I'll get my coat (to hide my shame). :)
Hmmm, my reading of the filing is that RACK is buying only the domestics assets, likely including the brand name, and the intact international operations. It doesn't appear that they are taking over the obligations.
The senior debt holders have first dibs on the $25M and remaining cash. Typically a little is set aside for other creditors -- common so that they accept a few cents on the dollar rather than cost legal fees all around, leaving everyone with zero.
Creditors have 60 days to file with the court. At the 60 day point the already-written plan will likely be rubber-stamped by the court. SGI has already been shopped around, and the filing attorneys probably have fully documented that this is the best deal they could get. A "white knight" could still show up, but they would have to ride in from an alternate financial universe.
It's not in anyones interest that this drags on. SGI has needed frequent cash infusions to continue operating. Even if Morgan Stanley had the desire to continue this, they no longer have the cash to do so.
First Unisys now SGI. The Tukwila 12month delay will cause others to dump it. The volumes just not support having an Itanium system unless you are HP.
Looks like Itanium will be nothing more than an HP-UX PA-RISC replacement.
Rick Beluzzo...why did you force SGI to move to Itanium? If you look at the critical decision that sunk SGI it was hiring the HP Itanium fanboy.
Surely the name must be worth something to a company that makes graphics cards? Shirley? I can see someone like Asus or someone buying up the SGI name and brand for e.g. $1 just for the honour of punting a boutique SILICON GRAPHICS EN9600GT-S RTX+ Asph Di ALPHA MAX SPEC T* graphics card for a slight price premium. The Silicon Graphics name has a certain amount of cachet with elderly people like myself who remember the early 1990s.
...the change in logo.
SGI used to have a fabulous 'cube' logo:
http://www.geniusdv.com/weblog/archives/Sgi_cube_logo.png
then they went all swoopy, touchy-feely and family friendly and the business imploded. Don't blame the hardware, don't blame the software - blame the strategy-oriented synergetic experts.
The cube logo is called "the bug" and it is back on some of the proper high end gear. Last time we bought some of their kit I insisted that the rack come with a bug logo :-)
However the comment is spot on. It was at the time that they changed their name from Silicon Graphics to SGI and brought in the stupid "sgi" logo that the company lost its way. They were right royally rogered by Microsoft over both the failed Intel based workstations (for which Microsoft never delivered the prommised support) and the Farenheight project was simply a great way for MS to delay OpenGL from competing with DirectX. Once the dust settled after these debacles SGI were suddenly behind technically, and never really got the momentum back.
Of course selling the E10000 to Sun was probably the single most stupid thing they ever did. They should have taken the system out to the back of the building and had it, and its designers, shot.