''As it is important for us to articulate our value-proposition, there is no dependency on high-volume channel partners''

Bill La Rosa is keen on identifying partners who can take SGI's technology
either individually or together to the market. But he wants to partner with only
those solution providers who have the technical capabilities of dealing with
high-performance computing and are already involved in the storage business. He
tells Channels India that he does not mind playing the waiting game to get
capable partners, rather than going on a channel engagement spree.

What is the channel strategy that SGI pursues in India?

In India we have a go-to-market strategy that is direct as well as indirect.
It is important to articulate our value-proposition, as we cater only to
high-end computing needs. As a result, there is no dependency on high-volume
channel partners. Our model is predominantly a direct model.

Since we are a relatively small company compared to the opportunities out
there, we use our channel partners to give us access to expanding markets. In
India, we have had long-standing channel partnerships with companies like Tata
Elxsi and PCS.

Are you planning to expand this partner network?

We are extremely interested in identifying partners who can take our
technology individually or together to the market. Although our Altix platform
is a great database server, it was not designed to do that. So we would like
systems integrators and resellers to take this product to the banking and
insurance sector.

Why did SGI decide to exit the desktop business?

We are celebrating our 22nd year. In the past few years, we knew what we
were doing, but we did some mistakes, especially in the commodity desktop
business. A big mistake we made was to build a big infrastructure and a
corporation around the desktop business. Another mistake was to grow our revenue
and appoint employees rapidly.  

Bill La Rosa

Data sprinkled with intelligence gives you information, information sprinkled
with experience is knowledge and knowledge sprinkled with mistakes gives you
wisdom. The wisdom of mistakes, knowledge and experience has created the SGI of
today.

What is the focus of SGI today?

The focus of our market is the top-end of the computer industry. The IT
industry is trifurcated into three different areas. At the low-end is the
commodity computing, which is typified by products like PCs, laptops, cellphones
and PDAs.

The second segment of the industry deals with Small and Medium Businesses (SMB)
businesses and the vendors provide customers with the application software to
run their business.

Our focus is on the niche segment of the IT industry - the technical
computing market. We estimate it to be roughly $10 billion, globally. It
comprises 10 million scientists, technologists and creative designers. We focus
on this market.

The needs of this industry can be aptly summed by the adage 'A thousand
bicycles can't meet the needs of a truck'. If you need a truck, you got to
buy a truck.

What are the characteristics of the machines that are used for high-end
computing?

At the high-end, machines that drive the business have certain
characteristics. Because of the huge amount of data to model, let's say
climatological changes or a pharmaceutical product, there is a multiplicity of
data points. There could be data coming in from a satellite or from a field site
or from another point. Sometimes, the scientist might need to see all this data
come in simultaneously to come up with a result.

So the ability to scale the input/output (I/O) of the data is the key
characteristic at the higher-end computing end. The second characteristic is the
ability to scale the memory, depending on how big the data sets really are.
Lastly, the ability to scale the number of processors that are required to
compute all this information, is also very essential.

High-performance computing is often equated with high price, which is one
reason why enterprise customers are wary of it. How are you going to change this
perception?

When a platform is optimized to meet the needs of a specific industry or
scientist, you have to pay more. But with our Altix range, we have provided
customers with a custom solution where they can independently scale the I/O,
memory and processors, which is delivered at commodity-level pricing.

This is because we are using the components in our systems which are
virtually commodity components. Instead of using proprietary CPUs, we are using
Intel. Instead of using proprietary OS, we are now using Linux.

With the new Altix platform, what do you propose to do with the earlier
Mips-Irix platform?

We still have the Mips-Irix platform of the past that we provide to our
legacy customers. For those interested in making a transition to our new Intel
and Linux-based platform, we have the Altix range.

What are your plans for the Altix platform?

This platform was introduced in January 2003. It represents a majority of
the services we offer today. It has overcome the Mips-Irix platform and become
the predominant server platform that we are delivering to the market today.

VINITA BHATIA in Mumbai