Branding - Silcon Graphics Inc. Case Study

1 .Silicon Graphics had created by itself the market for powerful graphics based workstations . Thanks to technology , it was first to market with workstations that utilized powerful SGI developed graphics processing technology . This raw graphics processing power allowed engineers , scientists and animators to work on their designs visually - manipulating and controlling a visual representation of the intended final result . In the 1980s where DOS ' like command line interfaces were the norm for high powered applications , SGI 's innovation seemed to really bring the future of computing to the workstation market p

This status as an inventor /innovator ' was one major strength of the Silicon Graphics brand . A Silicon Graphics machine was futuristic powerful and was the tool of choice in the engineering , science and animation field . While computers were already quite prevalent in this time , the majority of computers that the average public interacted with were mere Intel based DOS or Windows running PC 's - an inferior product to Silicon Graphics workstations both according to industry users and Silicon Graphics itself

Specialization was another value in the Silicon Graphics brand . SGI workstations used MIPS processors , of the Intel processors used in common PCs . SGI workstations used SGI developed (or co-developed processors and graphics units - the two most crucial parts of a graphics crunching workstation . Even the software was specialized . You can forget about using Microsoft Windows with Silicon Graphics workstations (the specialized hardware won 't even run Windows . Even UNIX was too commonplace ' for Silicon Graphics computers which ran an exclusive Silicon Graphics operating software called IRIX . This level of specialization were all aimed at providing superior tuned performance Silicon Graphics computers were not only Mercedes Benz 's , they were custom made and tuned Brabus AMG Mercedes . The specialization of Silicon Graphics hardware and software led to an image of Silicon Graphics computer being esoteric machines . While this condition may not be wanted for consumer products , it worked in favor for the markets of SGI Silicon Graphics workstations may not be PCs but that is just fine for applications that needed a lot more than PCs

As a technology company , the Silicon Graphics brand was strongly related to the market it created - visual computing . Silicon Graphics was what Hollywood used to create special effects , what scientists used to cure cancer and what Boeing used to design airplanes - values which surely helped establish the Silicon Graphics brand . If you wanted to design something , you get a Silicon Graphics computer . In its prime , graphical processing power was a value highly associated with the Silicon graphics brand

Silicon Graphics may be the leader and innovator in the graphics workstation market but they were no HP . They had the status of a technological marvel but they were in no means a technological giant The status of the market at 1996 was also a crucial factor . More and more applications were starting to need powerful workstations . This meant that to expand market share , workstation vendors had to start selling to nontraditional workstation markets - newcomers . These...