ATPnovel Chapter 101 Technology Decentralization in Professional Markets
Chapter 101 Technology Decentralization in Professional Markets
Chapter 101 Technology Decentralization in Professional Markets
SGI is a new company, but it is definitely not a small workshop.
None of the people who make it in Silicon Valley are pushovers.
But this doesn't mean it has no rivals in its own field.
"Mr. Clark, the geometry engine you created is an absolutely stunning work of art."
The two sat facing each other in the reception room.
Having just escaped poverty with the help of SGI, Jim Clark already exudes the aura of a big shot.
"Mr. Lin, you flatter me. I have studied your company's NovaWonder product and have benefited greatly from it."
Jim was not a businessman; more often than not, he considered himself an engineer.
To be fair, NovaWonder's ingenious architectural design and excellent power efficiency are definitely among the best in the industry.
"I never expected such an amazing work to come from a game company."
He had studied that chip and knew more about GAMENOVA's history; he was truly amazed by their research capabilities.
"Mr. Lin contacted SGI to discuss a collaboration on graphics chips?"
"I guess so. We need some technology transfer from professional markets, and I've noticed that SGI's graphics workstations are quite good."
"It's an honor for a startup like ours to be noticed by Mr. Lin."
The polite formalities served as a way to establish a preliminary understanding between the two parties.
Lin Lixin paused, his gaze sweeping over the middle-aged prodigy in front of him.
Jim Clark
Overall Rating: S (Rising Silicon Valley Star)
[Hardware Architecture]: 143 (Growth Value: S)
[Graphics Skills]: 131 (Growth Value: S)
[Graphic Design]: 81 (Growth Value: A+)
[Administration and Finance]: 103 (Growth Value: A+)
This is an absolute technical backbone with almost no flaws, and also a person with his own pride and persistence.
Money alone might not be enough to convince him to bring the entire SGI team to GAMENOVA.
A highly controlling and emotional individual.
Such labels reminded Lin Lixin of Carmack.
"Mr. Clark—"
Lin Lixin spoke slowly, pondering a suitable entry point, "Have you considered developing the consumer market?"
"Consumer market? You mean the low-cost, lower-tier market?"
Jim looked enlightened.
SGI's current strategy focuses on ultimate performance, targeting major Hollywood clients.
Their industry-leading 3D rendering performance has transformed this fledgling company into the top choice for professionals with relevant needs.
"Someone has already entered the lower-tier market, so there's no need for us to compete with Sun for market share."
In the field of graphics workstations, besides SGI, there are only two other giants that can be considered major players.
Sun and Apollo.
Apollo is a pioneer in the workstation field. This company, which was founded in the 80s, cultivated its own mature customer base much earlier than them.
Their flagship product, the DOMAIN series, is unstoppable in the market.
With its own proprietary operating system DOMAIN-OS, it forms a self-contained closed ecosystem.
To counter them, Jim took a different approach, abandoning general computing performance and focusing entirely on graphics performance, which allowed them to differentiate themselves and survive.
Sun, on the other hand, is a competitor that takes a different path from them.
Motorola's 68000 series processors made Sun's products much cheaper than SGI and ApoIlo. Although it was also a newcomer founded in 82, its growth rate was extremely terrifying, and it was frantically devouring market share.
Jim was well aware of SGI's foundation and wouldn't rashly start a war with Sun.
If we can't win, there's no need to fight.
"So, Mr. Jim, what are your thoughts on the future?"
Lin Lixin was well aware of the future fates of these three veteran Silicon Valley companies.
SGI is definitely the worst performing of the three.
However, by then, Jim had already left SGI.
If the timeline doesn't change much, Apollo will gradually lose its competitiveness in the future due to its closed operating system, and will be acquired by HP in 89.
And Sun————
Lin Lixin's eyes flickered; Sun would be the one to win in the end.
"Mr. Clark, SGI's products are excellent, but they lack the decisive technology that Sun has."
"What?"
Jim's expression changed slightly. Lin Lixin's words were a bit too blunt, practically saying that SGI was no good.
"SPARC processor architecture and Solaris operating system, as well as TCP/IP network protocol standardization."
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Sun's workstations were designed with a lot of forward-looking features for the Internet from the very beginning.
With its unique architecture and exceptional cost-effectiveness, Sun became the undisputed leader in workstations during the 80s and 90s.
SGI can only continue to cultivate its expertise in the high-end graphics field and hold onto its core business.
However, none of these things were too important to Lin Lixin.
The real trump card that drove Sun crazy wouldn't officially debut until 1995.
Its name is Java.
Ta-da! Who would have thought that this insurmountable mountain in the world of computer languages was born in the hands of a company that makes complete computer systems?
Upon hearing Lin Lixin's words, Jim's rebuttal caught in his throat and he swallowed it back.
After a long pause, he spoke again: "Mr. Lin, I know what you want to do. You want to equip the GAMENOVA game console with a top-of-the-line graphics chip like the SGI graphics station."
"However, a game console priced at less than $300 cannot even cover the cost of its development."
Developing top-tier graphics chips is incredibly expensive, and the cost per chip is simply unacceptable for entertainment products targeting the lower-end market.
"You're right, Mr. Clark. I don't want my game console to cost more than an arcade machine."
Lin Lixin nodded; there was nothing to question about that.
In this day and age, 3D chips are already considered cutting-edge technology.
"However, I'm not planning on doing 3D. What I need is a 2D graphics accelerator card, a graphics card that can support more colors and higher resolutions."
"Mr. Clark, the next generation of mainframes will sell tens of millions of units. Compared to the limited market for workstations, I look forward to seeing SGI products enter every household."
"Sun's attention is entirely focused on PCs, and this is our opportunity."
As Jim devoured the promises Lin Lixin made, he suddenly realized that Lin Lixin's meeting with him this time was not just about collaborating on the development of a new graphics chip.
He looked up at Lin Lixin, and their eyes met.
Lin Lixin's lips curled into a bright smile.
"Mr. Clark, believe me, funding is definitely the best problem we've encountered that we can solve."
If simply throwing money at a problem could overcome technological hurdles, Lin Lixin would have developed the PS1 ten years earlier.
Lin Lixin took out several documents from his briefcase one after another.
"What we need to do is set standards. I need more than just a graphics chip; I need a general-purpose graphics accelerator card."
"A dedicated coprocessor that operates independently of the CPU, in parallel, and is specifically designed for large-scale data matrix operations and graphics processing."