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To: Scumbria who wrote (73972)	2/18/1999 3:55:00 PM
From: Tony Viola	Respond to of 186894

S, >>>NT stinks part VI<<< The way these posts are going, you'd think I wrote the damn thing. Hey, I'm a hardware guy. Tony

To: Scumbria who wrote (73972)	2/18/1999 4:33:00 PM
From: Tenchusatsu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

<NT stinks part VI> Hey Scumbria, I'm sure you've heard the news already, but it seems that IBM is now supporting Linux with some of their computers: news.com On a related note, I finally installed Red Hat Linux 5.2 on my home computer. I haven't done much with it, but I hope to be logging in to work from home using Linux instead of Exceed and Windows 98. Oh yeah, and don't take this as an official word of support from Intel, but some guys in Willamette-ville are rumored to be trying out Linux at work, and they seem to love it. Tenchusatsu

To: Scumbria who wrote (73972)	2/18/1999 6:44:00 PM
From: Tony Viola	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

Scumbria, >>>NT stinks part VI<<< SGI doesn't think so: intel.com Better late than never. That little turn of phrase aptly describes the reaction to the long-awaited 320 and 540 workstations from Silicon Graphics. Equipped with Intel® Pentium® II and Intel® Pentium® II Xeon™ processors, these affordable Microsoft Windows* NT-based workstations mark an important transition for the Mountain View, California, company. For the first time, SGI is selling workstations not based on the Unix operating system and MIPS Rx0000 line of processors. Prompting the change: A rapidly growing market of workstation-class applications tailored for the Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Workstation operating system. "A big factor in there was the availability of professional applications," says Geoff Stedman, manager of market development for SGI. "Recently most of them have begun to become available on Windows NT. As that application availability moves, our customers are looking for solutions from Silicon Graphics." There were some delays while SGI tuned its newest product line. Ship date slipped from the first half of 1998 to the January 11 launch, giving competitors such as Intergraph and Hewlett-Packard time to establish their latest Intel-based workstation lines. "It has taken us some time to put these systems together and bring them to market." says Stedman. "We had one chance at this and we wanted to make sure we got it right." Market Moves Kathleen Maher, managing editor of The Peddie Report, a newsletter published by graphics industry research firm Jon Peddie Associates, says SGI has succeeded in its efforts. Praising the "sleek, elegant look" of the new machines, Maher says that, "right now, SGI has the edge in price-performance. They are aggressive." The late start may be forgiven once power-starved engineers and cost-conscious IT managers try out the new 320 and 540 systems. Both workstations feature SGI's proprietary Cobalt graphics engine, which provides high-performance OpenGL 3D graphics acceleration and a fast 3.2GBps connection from the graphics subsystem to system memory. Maher says that this graphics subsystem gives SGI a significant performance lead in graphics performance under Windows NT. "The people that SGI is targeting are the people for whom graphics are paramount. I think the integrated graphics that SGI is offering are significantly faster than competing systems." IT managers, meanwhile, will be drawn by the potential for cost savings and streamlined management. The 320 workstation features one or two Intel Pentium II processors running at 350, 400, and 450 MHz and starts for under $3400. The high-end 540, meanwhile, offers one, two, or four Pentium II Xeon processors running at 400 and 450 MHz and costs as little as $5995. Stedman says that loaded, quad-processor versions of the 540 will cost "in the neighborhood of" $15,000 to $20,000. More importantly, the new SGI systems give IT managers an opportunity to move demanding workstations into a highly-managed environment based on Intel hardware, the Windows NT operating system, and Wired for Management technology. "They've been suffering with split systems, with some of their designers on UNIX and some on NT," says Maher. Applications Critical SGI may be looking to tap into a red-hot Windows NT market, but the vendor's new position should help further transition workstation applications to the Intel platform and Windows NT. "One of the things I was struck by at the rollout," says Maher, "was that the SGI announcement could help broaden the workstation segment. Unix is staying for a long time, but too ignore the NT segment would be equally crazy." Stedman says that SGI will support a dual-platform strategy. Many vertical market segments still cater to UNIX, while NT support in other segments and applications is sometimes less than complete. "One of the segments that is still primarily UNIX is the oil and gas marketplace. I don't think that has made as much of a transition as some other areas," says Stedman. "Some of the NT products are parts of the UNIX products, but they haven't ported every one of their features." SGI expects to address vertical markets with its UNIX products running on MIPS Rx000 processors. But with the 320 and 540, the company has clearly set its sights on the volume market enabled by Windows NT and fast Intel Pentium II Xeon and soon Intel® Pentium® III processors. "These are our volume products. And we expect that these products will represent a big part of the growth of the company, particularly from a volume perspective," says Stedman. "We're right in the throes of the upward trend in the marketplace." Related Information The WTX Platform