On April 4, 1994 Silicon Graphics, Inc. and EDS announced that they have signed a multi-year strategic alliance agreement. The alliance will deliver high-performance decision support databases and multimedia information management solutions to consumer-focused companies worldwide.
The prime focus of the alliance is the emerging commercial database parallel processing market, estimated at $5.5 billion in 1998 by industry analyst Howard Richmond, director of high-performance computing for Gartner Group. Each of the two companies has targeted a goal of $250 million in sales from this alliance over the next three years.
EDS will fuse its database consulting services, systems integration services and EDS' new, high-performance database product line, dbINTELLECT(tm), with Silicon Graphics' symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) Challenge(tm) network resource servers and high-performance database technology and expertise. Through this integration, EDS and Silicon Graphics will offer data-driven companies a highly-accessible, high-performance database environment that can dramatically reduce the processing time required to capture, combine and manage information. EDS and Silicon Graphics plan to target their products and advanced technologies at the telecommunications, transportation, media, manufacturing, retail and financial services industries.
"An increasing number of commercial users need high-performance systems for managing very large databases, as well as assistance in implementing and managing multimedia information systems," said Thomas Jermoluk, president and chief operating officer of Silicon Graphics. "EDS's established position and leadership in commercial systems integration will enable Silicon Graphics to continue to drive its Challenge line into these new emerging markets.""Today, by leveraging EDS' command of advanced technology to understand consumer dynamics and measure targeted marketing responses with Silicon Graphics' server line, we will provide value to our customers by increasing the accuracy and productivity of their promotional advertising and direct marketing campaigns," said John R. Harris, group executive responsible for EDS' Communications Industry Group. The new EDS database product line, dbINTELLECT, will run on Silicon Graphics' highly scalable Challenge server line, the only binary-compatible line that spans from single-processor workgroup servers to enterprise-wide SMP systems with up to 36 MIPS(r) RISC processors. Challenge servers run all major open systems relational database engines and provide unmatched database price/performance for customers seeking to implement open systems solutions. In November 1993, Silicon Graphics announced a record-breaking TPC-B benchmark of 1,786 transactions per second -- with a cost of $1,610 per transaction -- by running the Oracle7(tm) database software on a 28 processor Challenge server. EDS has operations in more than 30 countries, employs approximately 70,000 people and is the leader in applying information technology to meet the needs of businesses and governments around the globe. Stock reflecting EDS' performance is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol GME. EDS reported revenues of $8.6 billion in 1993.
