Comments on: What does SGI want with LNXI, anyway? http://insidehpc.com/2008/02/18/what-does-sgi-want-with-lnxi-anyway/ HPC News Without the Noise for Supercomputing Professionals | insideHPC Sun, 19 May 2013 10:46:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.1 By: SGI Unveils New Multi-Vendor Support Portfolio | insideHPC http://insidehpc.com/2008/02/18/what-does-sgi-want-with-lnxi-anyway/#comment-37790 SGI Unveils New Multi-Vendor Support Portfolio | insideHPC Wed, 27 Feb 2008 19:51:26 +0000 http://insidehpc.com/2008/02/18/what-does-sgi-want-with-lnxi-anyway/#comment-37790 [...] What does SGI want with LNXI, anyway? [...] [...] What does SGI want with LNXI, anyway? [...]

]]> By: HPCer http://insidehpc.com/2008/02/18/what-does-sgi-want-with-lnxi-anyway/#comment-36287 HPCer Thu, 21 Feb 2008 17:09:36 +0000 http://insidehpc.com/2008/02/18/what-does-sgi-want-with-lnxi-anyway/#comment-36287 SGI seems to be moving past the tenuous value propositions of its past, including "TCO of an Altix is lower than a cluster" (repudiated by the market) and "SGI's existence is critical to national security" (history says the government dole may keep a super company on life support, but won't get it well). LNXI had a great product, but they were never able to compete effectively on price, and a few stumbles in execution really hurt them. The sum of the SGI+LNXI isn't a big win but there are some benefits. LNXI understood management software, still a weak link for industrial clusters (though LNXI's "boot off the head node" model has to go). SGI still enjoys many religiously loyal customers who have to ditch their Altix but would dearly love their cluster to be purple. Whether SGI can eat into the market share of the big players remains to be seen though. SGI seems to be moving past the tenuous value propositions of its past, including “TCO of an Altix is lower than a cluster” (repudiated by the market) and “SGI’s existence is critical to national security” (history says the government dole may keep a super company on life support, but won’t get it well).

LNXI had a great product, but they were never able to compete effectively on price, and a few stumbles in execution really hurt them. The sum of the SGI+LNXI isn’t a big win but there are some benefits. LNXI understood management software, still a weak link for industrial clusters (though LNXI’s “boot off the head node” model has to go). SGI still enjoys many religiously loyal customers who have to ditch their Altix but would dearly love their cluster to be purple. Whether SGI can eat into the market share of the big players remains to be seen though.

]]> By: scalability.org » Blog Archive » A good question http://insidehpc.com/2008/02/18/what-does-sgi-want-with-lnxi-anyway/#comment-35517 scalability.org » Blog Archive » A good question Tue, 19 Feb 2008 02:42:39 +0000 http://insidehpc.com/2008/02/18/what-does-sgi-want-with-lnxi-anyway/#comment-35517 [...] at the always interesting InsideHPC asks a very important question, that, oddly, I think I can [...] [...] at the always interesting InsideHPC asks a very important question, that, oddly, I think I can [...]

]]> By: Anonymous http://insidehpc.com/2008/02/18/what-does-sgi-want-with-lnxi-anyway/#comment-35456 Anonymous Mon, 18 Feb 2008 19:27:57 +0000 http://insidehpc.com/2008/02/18/what-does-sgi-want-with-lnxi-anyway/#comment-35456 I think SGI's improving by doing less hardware development in-house, and actually OEM'ing solid solutions and packaging for customers. They're securing large contracts by offering a total package approach, like what CSC or IBM would do for organizations (e.g. NASA comes to mind). While I'm not saying that I think that they're doing enough, I do think that they've made progress. SGI needs a "killer app" and different management to get back on track though (IMHO). I think SGI’s improving by doing less hardware development in-house, and actually OEM’ing solid solutions and packaging for customers. They’re securing large contracts by offering a total package approach, like what CSC or IBM would do for organizations (e.g. NASA comes to mind). While I’m not saying that I think that they’re doing enough, I do think that they’ve made progress. SGI needs a “killer app” and different management to get back on track though (IMHO).

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