Reflections on the (pleasantly upbeat) Silicon Valley CUG

by Tom Baring

T he May 1997 Silicon Valley Cray User Group meeting was pleasantly upbeat, especially after the previous CUG, which had an air of anxiety--due perhaps to uncertainty surrounding both the future of CUG and the future of Cray Research (which had just been acquired by Silicon Graphics). At this point, CUG's future seems secure, though its direction is still under debate (there will be one meeting per year rather than two, and this decision at least seems to have settled with everyone). And the future of Cray also looks good. There has been a milestone reached at Cray. The revenue from the sale of Cray MPP systems exceeded, for the first time ever, the revenue from PVP systems. (This was during one quarter only, but still ...!). The Silicon Graphics/Cray Research merger seems to be going smoothly, and SGI seems to treat Cray quite generously. In his address to CUG, Ed McCracken, CEO of SGI/CRI, stated: "You [CUG attendees] have more impact on us by being here in Silicon Valley than we have on you." This theme was echoed by others. In general, SGI seemed downright grateful that it is teamed with responsible, reputable, grey-haired Cray: They have promoted Robert Ewald, former president and CEO of Cray Research, to be the executive vice president of Computer Systems for all of SGI/Cray, and have relocated him to Mountain View, California. They have also moved Mick Dungworth to Mountain View, where he is director of Customer Service for all of SGI/Cray. They have moved development of the Origin2000 (top of SGI's line) to Eagan, Minnesota, where Irene Qualters, former vice president of Supercomputing at Cray under Robert Ewald, is now president of Cray Research and senior vice president of Technical Computing for SGI/Cray.

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