5 years ago... SGI to sell Cray supercomputer unit

12.08.99: Silicon Graphics says it will cut 1,500 jobs and sell its Cray supercomputer unit.

Chairman and CEO Rick Belluzzo reports he's already in talks with potential buyers for Cray.

The company will undergo a restructuring that will include a move away from Microsoft software and a shift towards Linux. It will also focus on three market segments: high performance servers, visual computing and a new independent focus on broadband internet systems

12.08.04: SGI managed to sell off Cray by March 2000 to a small supercomputer maker called Tera Computer. This route was taken after SGI tried and apparently failed to find a financial partner that would allow Cray to be spun off and make it on its own.

Along with three supercomputer lines, an installed base of 600 supercomputers and a total of 200 customers, Tera bought the Cray moniker and renamed the combined company Cray, Inc.

These days Cray is fighting it out in the supercomputer market with the likes of IBM, Hewlett-Packard and former owner SGI. In the most recent list of the 500 fastest supercomputers, 4.2 per cent were SGI machines while 2.6 per cent were made by Cray. IBM came out on top, with 44.8 per cent of the fastest systems.