The Silicon Graphics name lives on, albeit in an abbreviated form:
SGI Lives — Or at Least Its Name Does
By Ashlee Vance
New York Times
May 11, 2009, 5:55 pm
SGI’s brand didn’t do much to save SGI. Will it do better for Rackable Systems?
Rackable received bankruptcy court approval on April 30 to close its purchase of SGI, although it had to raise its original $25 million offer to $42.5 million.
On Monday, Rackable announced that the deal had closed and that the combined company would be called SGI -– short for Silicon Graphics International instead of the original Silicon Graphics Inc. — and continue to use the Rackable brand on some products.
It’s a curious turn of events, considering that Rackable has come to represent the new guard in the server market, while SGI has struggled for years.
“There may be some preconceived notions about whether this brand is a good brand,” said George Skaff, the chief marketing officer at Rackable — er, SGI. “They obviously had some problems. This is where we as a company are stepping in to resolve some of the issues and turn it around.”
SGI began selling speedy machines adept at handling graphics back in 1982 and became one of the fastest-growing technology companies of all time. As a result, it used to have one of the best brands in the business.
Over time, however, SGI came to be known for a cocky attitude and overpriced equipment. Its sales collapsed as cheaper, more general-purpose machines began to handle its once-specialized tasks well.
Rackable, by contrast, was founded in 1999 and has morphed into one of the darlings of the Web 2.0 era. It sells compact, cheap, energy-efficient servers to the likes of Yahoo and Microsoft.
The large server makers have all mimicked Rackable’s server designs in one way or another and put plenty of pricing pressure on the Silicon Valley upstart. As a result, Rackable’s margins have suffered, along with its share price, in recent years.
Mr. Skaff maintains that the SGI brand is more familiar overseas, and he says that the company has gained greater reach through SGI’s services business.
The new SGI plans to keep going after Internet companies and place even more emphasis on businesses like banks, oil and gas firms and biotech companies that tend to purchase slim, fast computers en masse.
The revival of the SGI brand will certainly please people in Silicon Valley with a historical bent. The company has been one of the area’s true icons. But its signature purple logo will be no more. The new SGI logo takes on the green and blue hues favored by Rackable, and one of Rackable’s fonts.
New York Times story link |
