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

To: JC who wrote (3581)	11/17/1997 5:50:00 PM
From: Esvida	Respond to of 14451

>> * Sun, SGI's chief competition (at least for the time being) is >> putting themselves in a corner alone by pursuing their anti-NT >> stance. I wish that life is more forgiving and that at the most needy time we can have the cake and eat it too. Sun can't provide a credible alternative OS if it also hedges its offerings with a me-too NT. If one looks at everything that Sun is doing altogether, one will not conclude too readily that Sun is in a corner. I will not disagree if someone concludes that at this point Sun is alone; but being alone is not the same as being cornered. And, outside of the computer makers Sun does have a few allies. Solaris on Unix will soon be expanded to provide NCR's enterprise-level Unix features. (Once that is done, I wonder how much longer after that the real heavy duty Data Warehouse DBMS will also run on Solaris. I have a lot of vested interest in this wishful thought.) Solaris is now going on to Intel and it will probably get Intel into the glass houses in the VOLUME at the upper end of the food chain soon before NT can. On the client side, needless to say Java will make a run at Windows even though at this point the jury is still out on this battle; but if popularity indicates anything, it does indicate not-too-wishful hopes. A few weeks ago, I saw a block diagram of the Merced chip in the paper. I didn't think it would be too hard for Intel to expand the 'interface' to make it compatible with other chips besides the HP Risc chip. Intel may need that if as Bill claims at Comdex his new Hypra NT will reduce the demand for fat clients DRAMATICALLY. SGI is in a fix and it has to find a way out. Allying with NT may be it, but one has to wonder in the long run whether the medicine's after effects will be worse than the disease. I'm new to Sun and not in any position to speak officially for it. But, the impresssions I get from the people around here is that the SGI competition has always been good for Sun. There's nothing better to keep one's sharpness than a worthy and decent competitor. The chief and most threatening competition for Sun is now MSFT. This one is much more formidable because of its dominant status. It would be much more fun if Sun only has to compete against it on OS software. Sun is trying even though the odds is stacking against it. BTW, there is a long article about Unix vs. NT on SJ Mercury today. According to the author, it's not as hopeless for Unix as most people think. But of course it would be so much more hopeful if Unix people united to defend this wonderful product. -Al

To: JC who wrote (3581)	11/17/1997 8:51:00 PM
From: Mathon Dabasir	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14451

JC: All valid points. Especially your contrarian stance. However, all this talk about NT saving SGI's future seems foggy at best to me. My take is, SGI is excellent in UNIX markets where there is little or no competition. Sun Microsystems? They own the UNIX server and client market in applications where critical graphics aren't requisite. But they're also hitting the ceiling with UNIX. So that leaves SGI entering into an NT marketplace where companies like Digital, Intergraph, Micron, Compaq & Dell have been honing their survival skills in a very competitive arena for years. The NT high-end market will pulsate big when NT 5.0 arrives on the scene running a DEC Alpha chipset tooled for its 64bit architecture. You want to see an NT workstation and/or server that -rocks- today? Go see an Alpha 500MHz system. As an aside, Digital's stock isn't doing that bad these days either. SGI's balance sheet and future management team? They're going to need them both -in spades- if SGI is to dodge any more bullets. Like you say, they do have lots of cash. Maybe they'll use it to bring-in a topflite management team. If they want to grow again they're sure gonna need it... Mathon