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Technology Stocks : Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dr. Arvind who wrote (3236)	10/28/1997 12:51:00 AM
From: vincent bilotta	Respond to of 14451

a new standard developed by SGI will speed up the comoditization of supercomputing nytimes.com A New Standard to Govern PCs With Multiple Chips By JOHN MARKOFF SAN FRANCISCO -- A group of developers of the fastest hardware and software for scientific and engineering computing will announce a new technical standard, perhaps as early as Tuesday, that is intended to make it easier for complex programs to operate on different types of computers. The new standard, Open MP, is designed for computers that use either the Unix or Windows NT software operating systems and employ multiple microprocessors for parallel computing. In parallel computing, complex tasks are broken into simpler pieces that multiple microprocessing chips can tackle simultaneously. Such capabilities were once the sole province of supercomputers costing millions of dollars but more recently are being designed into top-of-the-market work stations and personal computers that sell for thousands of dollars. The new standard is designed for a type of parallel computer that permits all processors to share a single pool of computer memory. Open MP will permit programmers to write a single version of their software rather than having to tailor a version for each different manufacturer's machine. One effect of the Open MP standard will be to increase the shift of complex scientific and engineering software development from the supercomputer world to high-end desktop work stations. "Developers are finding that desktop parallel systems are a breakthrough in allowing real-time use of complex software on low-cost platforms," said David Kuck, a computer scientist and an expert in parallel computing. The computer makers that have agreed to support Open MP are Compaq Computer, Digital Equipment, Intel, IBM and Silicon Graphics. The new standard, developed by researchers at Silicon Graphics and Kuck & Associates, a consulting firm in Illinois, is significant because it should make possible the rapid creation of a broader market for the type of commercial computer programs that previously had to be custom designed for each machine. "The software developers have been wanting this for the last 15 years," said Steven Wallach, a computer industry pioneer and consultant. The software breakthrough comes as the computing industry awaits the arrival next year of Intel's Merced microprocessor family, designed for high-performance computers. In recent days and weeks, computer makers including Digital Equipment, Silicon Graphics and Sun Microsystems have said they intend to offer Merced-based computers or to adapt their machines' software to work with Merced-based computers. Such increasingly powerful hardware and software can be expected to create new export-control problems for the government. Congress moved Monday to re-establish export controls over high-performance computers shipped to countries that have nuclear development programs. The legislation, which was reported out of an Armed Services conference committee Monday, would force U.S. computer makers to notify the government if they plan to sell machines with supercomputer performance to any of these countries. But experts say the new standard will make it increasingly simple for overseas entities to build machines with supercomputer performance from off-the-shelf components.

To: Dr. Arvind who wrote (3236)	10/28/1997 2:16:00 AM
From: Al	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14451

Here's what MSNBC had to say regarding the rumor mill's circulation of the 'pending' sale of SGI: "Some industry executives, however, say that the company's Cray computer unit, which relies on long-term contracts, makes it unpalatable to many potential suitors. Moreover, the direct overlap of SGI's products with those of Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard and others also tend to dampen somewhat the speculation of an imminent sellout." If interested, you could find this article at: msnbc.com I just hope this market will have some rationality left by the end of this week. If not, investors should start buying the stock of the manufacturers of Peptol-Bis, as most of Wall Street will be needing them to aide them with all those sell orders. With luck to all (awaiting the big conf. on Thurs) Al