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║Article:Latest "dinosaur CRAY cold-║
"of the new war" leaves the stage; ║
║Text: Vorozhkin Alexander. ║
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At the end of February 1996 it was announced
that the last independent producer
CRAY RESEARCH supercomputer tel.
children acquired bldg. SILICON GRAPHICS
INC. The total transaction amount will be 783 million.
dollars. The decision to merge was approved by the councils
directors of both corporations. Completion
formalities require government approval
stva and is expected no later than June 30.
When two years ago the executive di-
Rector of CRAY RESEARCH stated that the industry
The world of supercomputers has entered a period
decline, and in a couple of years there will remain significant
There are significantly fewer companies specializing in
in this area, he apparently did not realize
what a sad prophecy his
words.
The supercomputer industry has experienced a
a short, but short-lived period of prosperity and
almost completely disappeared, despite the post-
steady growth in demand for high-productivity
body systems. Analysts believe that
companies that focus only on pro-
production of supercomputers, do not have any
what are the chances of surviving in the conditions of price
competition in the commercial market. In the area
ty technical computing leadership seized
brought down morecheap workstations
such manufacturers as HEWLETT-PACKARD,
SGI,SUN MICROSYSTEMS and IBM. According to
SMABY GROUP, business volume is highly productive
driver computers increased annually
is 7.7%.
However, the 295 million-strong computer market
worth more than 5 million dollars per one
device on which CRAY dominates with
shares of 51%, decreasing annually by 7.5%
The Prosperity of the Supercomputing Industry
The 80s were based on dizzying
significant investments in it by military departments.
Since global warming
political climate undermined the budget
PENTAGON, several have already gone bankrupt
supercomputer companies, including
KENDALL SQUARE RESEARCH and THINKING
MACHINES (the latter was recently revived
in a new role as a software manufacturer
software). CONVEX COMPUTER Corporation,
primarily held second place
for the production of supercomputers, was absorbed
Puppy last year by HP.Last
in the fall, she “committed suicide”
corporation from CRAY RESEARCH
CRAY COMPUTERA is the latest brainchild of the image
supercomputer reteller Seymour Cray
(SEYMOUR CRAY). Recently in the right
government circles expressed concern
concern about the fate of the building. CRAY RESEARCH.
The SGI Initiative may be the solution
problems provided that CRAY subsequently
vii canfunction as a separate
enterprise.
With the acquisition of CRAY, SGI,
currently in third place on the market
ke workstations following SUN and HP,
will become the market leader in cost-effective computers
with a capacity of more than 1 million dollars with an annual income
with a flow of 4 billion dollars. In 1995, the total
SGI's income was $2.2 billion. Good
The biggest asset for SGI will be the service
CRAY technical support and service,
also a talented development team
kov software. It is also important that CRAY and
SGI will together represent two of
three existing 64-bit operating systems
systems.CRAY has experience in selling su-
percomputers for commercial companies,
such as CITICORP and BANK AMERICA, using
who used them for forecasting due to
changes in the stock market or to work with
corporate databases. In this way
So, by purchasing CRAY, SGI inherits the mechanics
low level of sales of large computer systems
business structures.
However, purchasing CRAY will also bring with it
new challenges for SGI.
Observers predict significant
difficulties in integrating the products of both
companies related to the fact that CRAY machines
support four different architectures
microprocessor systems, including SPARC
produced by SUN and ALPHA corp. DIGITAL.
New versions of supercomputers will be used
use MIPS microprocessors, developed
data provided by the SGI branch- MIPS TECHNOLOGIES.
In this regard, it should be noted that
INTEL processors in some cases can
can compete with low-level
MIPS chips. Although performance
new INTEL PENTIUM PRO 200 processor
MHz is for special graphics
some tasks only 57% productivity
new MIPS R10000 chip, in business
applications, both processors have the same
great performance indicator. In general,
today a workstation from SGI costs
$40,000 is not that much better
cars on PENTIUM PRO for $15,000 to
justify such a price difference.
INTEL's semiconductor spike threatens
positions of the new conglomerate and on the other
hand, with more than ten years of experience
work on massively parallel computers
yuter systems. Lately
INTEL combines its activities in the field of
supercomputer industry with the release of computers
commercial servers, but continues to ostracize
build custom supercomputers with high
who's level?
Japanese supercomputer manufacturers
ditch, such as NEC and FUJITSU, do not constitute
there is serious competition in the American
market where many buyers are partly fi-
subsidized by the state. Despite
years of effort, they managed to sell in
The USA has only one supercomputer. However,
global market for systems worth more than $5 million.
they own a 30% share. TrumpJapanese-
which systems have a price advantage
through use in processors
CMOS - air cooled technology
tion instead of the preferred CRAY bipolar
new technology with freon cooling.
Analysts remain cautious, saying
about the prospects of unification, about whether it can
will SGI eventually turn into a "mi-
world leader in high-performance
body computers" using the now
the gold standard is the Cray brand, but is considered
ut that in any case SGI will do it
more competitive in terms of
his direct opponent -
HEWLETT - PACKARD.
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