Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: Nandu who wrote (5689)	1/30/1999 1:31:00 AM
From: djane	Respond to of 14451

Impact on SGI? Compaq, IBM make major moves on high-end servers infoworld.com By Ed Scannell InfoWorld Electric Posted at 5:56 PM PT, Jan 29, 1999 Trying to soften skepticism about its commitment to the core technologies acquired from Digital, Compaq next week will introduce a speedy 64-bit server fueled by the Alpha chip, and the company is rebranding Digital Unix to reflect its own name. Not wanting Compaq to hog the entire 64-bit limelight next week, IBM will also announce an updated version of its RS/6000 SP server, commonly known as Deep Blue. The new server is the first to feature IBM's Power 3 RISC processor and will target both the scientific and commercial markets. Billed by Compaq as the fastest dual-processor server now available, the DS20 server supports two 500-MHz 21264 Alpha processors. The system also features a new switched-based architecture that provides a CPU-to-memory bandwidth of 5.2GBps over two 256-bit buses. Company officials said they believe the new system is well-suited to run industrial strength server database applications from Oracle and data-mining applications from SAS Institute. "I think these [DS20] machines are good at pinch hitting for mission-critical applications where users are running a PeopleSoft or SAP box,'' said Steve Severson, Compaq's product manager of the AlphaServer line. "The cross-bar switch allows it to go from any CPU to any memory, and establishes its own dedicated path for doing that." Compaq also hopes the system will appeal to larger shops looking to host some Web applications. To that end, the company is bundling a suite of Internet software including Netscape's Enterprise Server, the Apache Web server, and a handful of mail and news server applications. Pricing for the DS20 with 128MB of memory and a 4GB hard disk starts at $19,900. Users can expand its memory to 4GB of Very Large Memory. Compaq will make "Linux-ready'' versions of the system available for an expected street price of $15,000. To back up these products Compaq will shortly launch a major marketing campaign to pound the message home that it is serious about being a force in the Unix arena. As part of its campaign, starting next week Digital Unix will be called Compaq Tru64 Unix. To make way for the new systems, Compaq will cut prices on its Unix servers by as much as 33 percent, affecting most of its AlphaServer line. The company also reduced by 25 percent prices on the memory used in the AlphaServer 800 and 1200. IBM hopes the server version of the Power 3 chip will further boost the company's efforts to establish the RS/6000 line in commercial as well as scientific markets. The company first introduced the Power 3 on its first 64-bit workstation line in November 1998. "The [RS/6000 SP] can now be better configured so users can run complex simulations like a car crash, or just do data mining,"said one company official. "They can each use the underlying technologies but change the personality of the machine for different applications." The first server to use the new chip is due Feb. 26. As of press time company officials said they had not established pricing for the system. More information for each product can be found at www.rs6000.com or www.compaq.com. Ed Scannell is an InfoWorld editor at large. Go to the Week's Top News Stories Please direct your comments to InfoWorld Deputy News Editor, Carolyn April Copyright © 1999 InfoWorld Media Group Inc. InfoWorld Electric is a member of IDG.net \| SiteMap \| Search \| PageOne \| Reader/Ad Services \| \| Enterprise Careers \| Opinions \| Test Center \| Features \| \| Forums \| Interviews \| InfoWorld Print \| InfoQuote \|

To: Nandu who wrote (5689)	1/30/1999 10:28:00 PM
From: hmbsandman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14451

<<Are you kidding? This whole run up has been without the company making a single penny in profit for many quarters. Wait till they actually start making money. >> Folks, There were some fundamental problems at SGI. I would wait for a quarter or 2 of positive earnings flow before cracking open the champagne. That being said, I really hope the people who've been faithful to this dog for so long recoup at least some of their losses. Regards, Sandeep Cariapa