back to article Cray profits literally go up in smoke after electrical incident

Cray has revealed that its products' Q2 profits have literally gone up in smoke. The company this week announced second quarter revenue of US$100.2m, down from $186.2m in 2015's corresponding quarter. That dip meant the company incurred a loss of $13.1m compared to last year's $5.8m profit. Things aren't going to be much …

  1. hplasm
    Happy

    Electrical Smoke Event?

    "It blew up and stopped working..."

    Magic smoke escaped.

    1. Dr Who

      Re: Electrical Smoke Event?

      Exactly! Why does everything have to be an event these days?

      Severe weather event = big storm

      Seismic event = earthquake

      Unanticipated landing event = plane crash

      Morning ablution event = shit/shower/shave

      It's the bloody yanks again I tell you. They started it.

      1. David Pollard

        Re: Electrical Smoke Event?

        At first glance I'd imagined a new sort of communal vaping device, or maybe an overloaded bong at the directors' meeting.

      2. Fungus Bob

        Re: Electrical Smoke Event?

        "It's the bloody yanks again I tell you. They started it."

        Now, now, Dr, there is absolutely no need for a Blamestorming Event...

      3. blame.exe

        Re: Electrical Smoke Event?

        Recently the governor of bangkok in effort to run interference obscuring the fact that little has been done to rectify the tendency for flooding. Has taken to referring to flooding as "Water waiting to be drained", which on the flip side, I wonder if the drought is "water waiting to arrive"

      4. Not That Andrew

        Re: Electrical Smoke Event?

        Dont forget battery fire on the Boeing 787 = thermal runaway event

  2. DropBear

    I'm left wondering exactly how thick a smoke needs to be to actually _damage_ something other than it's own source - and my guess is they're not talking about ruining the paintjob, they should be able to swap out a case quickish-like... unless the issue is that then they need to redo all the acceptance testing they might have done already.

    1. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

      Even internal 'cosmetic' damage from smoke drawn in through a cooling system might be enough. If you'd spent a few $m on a new computer, and when you opened the crate the system smelled of burnt-electrical-component smoke, would you accept it? It's not an easy smell to get rid of.

      1. hplasm
        Joke

        It's not an easy smell to get rid of.

        1. Get jetwash

        2. Fill with bleach and lavender

        3. ----

        4. Install Magic Tree (TM)

        5. Profit!

        1. PNGuinn
          Joke

          Re: It's not an easy smell to get rid of. @ hplasm

          3. Obtain can of genuine Lucas smoke on Ebay.

          4. Install Magic Smoke.

          There - FIFY.

          1. quxinot

            Re: It's not an easy smell to get rid of. @ hplasm

            "3. Obtain can of genuine Lucas smoke on Ebay.

            4. Install Magic Smoke."

            That stuff is known for leaking, though. For such an expensive build, they'd be wise to stump up for the better smoke.

      2. Chairo
        Pint

        Water detected in drive A

        Forget about the smell - my guess is that the damage was not so much caused by the smoke itself, but rather by what happened after the smoke detectors were triggered.

        Imagine all those beautiful computers hosed down by some overeager fire fighter. Or perhaps less dramatically just the sprinkler system setting them under water.

        Best fluid to quench a fire ->

    2. Linker3000

      Carbon is conductive. Small particles can cause real problems among tiny surface mount components and high frequency circuits.

  3. smartypants

    Amazing correct use of 'literally' on the Internet.

    I mean, like, my head, you know literally* exploded on seeing it!!! (insert emoji and beard)

    (best said in a faux American accent)

  4. Commswonk

    That didn't hurt, did it...

    "Things aren't going to be much easier in Q3, due to “a very recent electrical smoke event caused by a failed manufacturing facility power component a fire that will delay the Company's ability to deliver on some customer contracts in 2016, including an impact on anticipated third quarter revenue.”

    There; that's a bit better.

    1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      Re: That didn't hurt, did it...

      Re you saying there's no smoke without fire?

  5. Steve Aubrey
    Flame

    I can't decide

    Which joke would be better - the firewall one, or the fire sale one?

    Flame icon because - just because.

  6. J. Cook Silver badge
    Boffin

    Heh- that Press release reminded me of a phrase I used in some fiction a while ago: "The device experienced a thermal reluctance anomoly (I.e., it overheated and melted into an expensive puddle of silicon, carbon, and bits of metal.)

    1. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

      RUM - rapid unscheduled meltdown

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Coat

        A bit of a rum-do eh?

  7. biolo

    Still, I quite like the launch industry description of "Rapid unscheduled disassembly", aka the rocket exploded.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like