SGI pins turnaround on server release

SGI's channel held out hope for a big marketing injection last week as the floundering hardware manufacturer shipped a server range that it expects will turn the company around.

SGI's channel held out hope for a big marketing injection last week as the floundering hardware manufacturer shipped a server range that it expects will turn the company around.

The company announced a three-model series of servers to favourable comments from analysts and endorsements from the channel.

John Webb, commercial and marketing director at Sheffield-based reseller OCF, said the products would suit customers' demand for ever-higher performance. He also praised SGI's open approach to the channel but lamented its lack of presence in the market.

"We interface with them [SGI] at every level - direct sales, indirect sales and distribution. Because of their size they have to engage the channel, and they do so. Their only problem is scale when they are going up against the big boys such as Hewlett Packard and IBM. I just wish they could give me a couple of million for demand generation," he said.

The Origin 3000 series has an entry-level user price of about £36,000 for a dual-chip machine. It uses Numaflex shared memory architecture and scales to 1024 chips. SGI is banking on the success of the modular design, which is configured using component-based 'bricks' such as processors, hard disks and graphics cards.

Stuart Lanyon, UK channel and new business manager at SGI, claimed that SGI UK is doing more business in the channel than ever. "We are happy with the two-tier model and will stick to that," he said. SGI uses GE Access and Northamber as 'master resellers'.

Earl Joseph, IDC research director, said: "Numaflex and its current implementation, in the form of the SGI Origin 3000 product line, should strongly position SGI to regain customer mind share and sales."

First published in Computer Reseller News