SGI bids for revival with name change

Software Vendor revises name in effort to shrug off graphics image.

Silicon Graphics has shortened its name to SGI in an attempt to shake off its image as a niche graphics workstation vendor.

The name change marks the latest stage of chief executive Rick Belluzzo's quest to turn around the company's flagging financial performance. Even though it is commonly referred to as SGI, the firm said research found that it was still perceived as a niche-oriented, high-performance graphics workstation provider because of the Silicon Graphics name.

SGI added it had little recognition in the servers and supercomputers area, even though these sectors accounted for 50 per cent of its product revenue.

Belluzo said: 'Accurately aligning the perceptions of the sector and potential customers with what the company has to offer is fundamental to effective marketing. The move to create a corporate identity that reflects our position is a logical next step in the company's turnaround.'

But the name Silicon Graphics will not disappear completely. It will become instead one of SGI's three sub-brands, alongside SGI servers and services and Cray supercomputers.

Branding specialists Landor Associates, which conducted the research and created the brand image, said the market SGI operated in required a flexible brand.

Clay Timon, chief executive of Landor, said: 'In markets evolving as rapidly as those of graphics workstations and servers, a brand has to be flexible enough to expand into different categories and communicate messages, while remaining memorable and distinctive enough to stand out from its hi-tech competition.'

SGI's financial belt-tightening saw the vendor's most recent financial performance beating analysts' expectations. In January, SGI reported a net loss for its second quarter of 1999 of $20.3 million, or $0.11 per share. Wall Street analysts had predicted a loss of $0.19 per share.