SGI history

The story of Silicon Graphics began in 1979, when James Clark, an electrical engineering professor at Stanford University, assembled a team of six graduate students to study the possibilities of computer graphics.

Clark patented the Geometry Engine, and in 1982 he and his team left Stanford to found Silicon Graphics.

In 1983 the company released its first products: the IRIS 1000 graphics terminal and an accompanying software interface known as the IRIS Graphics Library.

The first prototype of SGI’s computer workstation was given free of charge in 1984 to George Lucas, the creator of the Star Wars series of movies.

The next year Silicon Graphics released its first workstation, the IRIS 1400, and followed it in 1985 with the IRIS 2400, a workstation with a window manager.

In 1987 it became the first computer company to make use of MIPS Computer Systems' innovative reduced instruction-set chip, or RISC, when it incorporated RISC architecture into its new IRIS 4D/60 workstation.

These early entries in the IRIS series targeted the middle range of the graphics workstations market--those selling for $45,000 to $100,000--and accounted for over 50 percent of all 3-D graphics workstations sold by 1988.

In 1990 sales volume topped $420 million.

Also in 1991, Compaq Computer agreed to acquire a 13 percent stake in Silicon Graphics for $135 million, giving Silicon Graphics a much-desired infusion of capital.

In 1992 it purchased MIPS Computer Systems, which designed SGI’s RISC microprocessors.

By mid-1993 the company was able to ship the new R4400 microprocessor, and MIPS employees who survived layoffs seemed productively integrated into the Silicon Graphics organization.

In 1995 the first feature-length animated movie to be entirely computer-generated, the Disney Company’s Toy Story, was created with SGI’s computers.

Major Acquisitions Continued, 1996--97

In 1997 Silicon Graphics acquired ParaGraph International Inc., a leading vendor of Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) for Web graphic tools.

Fiscal 1998 (ending June 30) was a poor year for Silicon Graphics due to market conditions, poor operational execution, and missed opportunities.

O’Connor joined the company in 2001 as a Chainman/Party Chief.

Dosen joined the company in 2004 as a future partner with Mr.

Also part of the real estate business is a 75-room budget hotel Casa Bocobo in Manila which started in 2008.

In 2011, the company launched ‘ my׀house’ its own brand of Modular Technology structures to provide a new approach in building houses, schools, offices and shops quickly, safely and cost-efficiently.

2014 welcomed Green Sun, formerly Solid House in 2285 Don Chino Roces Ext. in Makati.

The SGI-USA was one of the organizing groups for the first-ever Buddhist conference at the White House, held in May 2015.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise acquired Silicon Graphics International in 2016.