Short for Silicon Graphics Incorporated, a company based in Mountain View, California that provides computer hardware and software. SGI was founded by Dr. James Clark in 1982 and had its initial public offering in 1986. It is best known for products used to develop computer graphics such as those used to create special effects and animation in motion pictures.
The company has over 10,000 employees world-wide and had sales of $2.9 billion in 1996. SGI formed Silicon Studio in 1994 to serve the interactive digital media market. The company merged with MIPS Computer Systems in 1992, Alias Research and Wavefront Technologies in 1995, and Cray Research in 1996.
SGI provides a wide range of hardware and software products that include high-performance workstations and servers to meet the needs of those developing complex computer graphics or manipulating video images. New products include World Wide Webauthoring tools and servers.
