Silicon Graphics
Silicon Graphics (SGI) was a high performance graphics and computing company founded in 1982 by Jim Clark after leaving his faculty position at Stanford University. It was responsible for many innovations in computer graphics, foundational in the contributions to the early Linux kernel (particularly in the 2000s) and had many close relations with similar companies from the same time period such as Sun MicroSystems, Hewlett Packard, and Digital Equipment Corporation.
Early Years
SGI in its early years was responsible for the Geometry Engine (The first Very Large Scale Implementation of a geometry pipeline) and its early IRIS Terminals and Workstations share many similarities with the early Sun Multibus systems (and similarly, Sun has its roots in Berkeley University, just as SGI was founded by Stanford faculty and students). The company purchased MIPS Computer Systems and the MIPS CPU architecture in 1992, after several years of partnership with their R2000 and R3000 CPUs. In 1988, their 4D1 UNIX system was renamed to IRIX which retains a massive cult following among UNIX enthusiasts.
Success and Growth
SGI was responsible for the major CGI developments of the mid-1990s to the early 2000s, as films like Jurassic Park, Titanic, Men in Black, Starship Troopers and Fight Club were all produced using SGI hardware for visual effects. Pixar also made use of SGI hardware after ditching NeXTSTEP in the late 1990s. Ed McCracken (CEO from 1984-1997) was fired in 1997, leading to replacement by Richard Beluzzo. This led to extreme corporate decline as Beluzzo's decisions were chaotic and erratic.
Decline
SGI continued to hemorrhage money as the purchases of Cray and other organizations were seen as mistakes. Despite Richard Beluzzo's departure in 1999, the company was essentially bankrupt by 2005, and under restructuring, sold the MIPS line and ended SGI development, embracing the Itanium alliance. Under continuous pressure, SGI went through a chaotic three years, before filing for bankruptcy in 2009.
Sale to Rackable Systems
Rackable Systems purchased SGI in 2009, immediately assuming its identity and taking several of its executives for itself. Rackable, DBA "Silicon Graphics International" was purchased in 2016 by Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
