SGI must have realized that they can't beat the competing x86 boxes (which are very competitively priced) with Itanium based boxes, so if you can't beat them, join them.
Some customers want a single vendor HPC solution which
includes both a scale up component and a low cost cluster
component. Without an x86 offering SGI can't go as low in
price on the cluster component and could lose the whole
deal to IBM which can bid a POWER5 and e326 combo.
That's the only scenario that makes sense for SGI to want
an x86 offering. The only benefit x86 brings to the table is
very low pricing
It may turn out to be quite a bit more than that. It will be sitting on top of what AMD calls Direct Connect Architecture 2.0, which will likely help commodity x86 boxes scale up... Maybe that is what SGI is really after, and they are just getting their feet wet.
ROFL. SGI has its Numaflex technology which scales to levels
AMD can't even dream about for HT.
Maybe you also believe Iran really is enriching uranium just
to keep its poor citizens from freezing in the dark.
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