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SGI India launches NT workstations

The launch marks the entry of SGI into the Windows NT market with a workstation that combines the high-end visual computing, graphics and media capabilities that are the trademark of Silicon Graphics with the affordability and compatibility of the Windows-Intel platform, a company statement claimed.

T O D A Y

• Electronic governance • Cellular weeding • Tata-IBM shifts focus • SGI's NT machines

Starting at Rs 265,000, the 320 will ship this month. The workstations are highly scalable and offer uncompressed multi-stream video capabilities. The 320 scales up to two processors while the 540 scales up to four processors, which is an industry-first in this class.

The 540 will commence shipments in March, starting at Rs 450,000.

The delay of about 60 days in launching these products is likely to affect SGI's earnings in the short term.

In India, SGI expects to sell about 600 units in the remaining two quarters. This would contribute about a sixth of the total revenue of SGI India and about 30 per cent of their revenue from workstations.

Officials indicate that the split between UNIX and NT workstations is likely to stabilise at around 50:50 in a couple of years.

The launch of the 320 and 540 NT workstations is expected to push the current performance levels of NT workstations and drive performance enhancement of UNIX workstations catering to similar markets.

"In this product line, we've put 15 years of graphics experience and 10 years of digital media experience wrapped around industry standard building blocks from Intel and Microsoft,'' claimed Ashok Desai, managing director, Silicon Graphics Systems India Limited.

- Compiled from the Indian media

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