Sun's Acquisition of Cray: A Game-Changing Deal
A group of engineers from San Diego, many ex-NCR employees, founded a company to build massively parallel computers using Sparc processors. After several acquisitions and restructurings, they were acquired by Cray, culminating in the development of the CS6400 (SuperDragon) server. The CS6400, with innovative features like Dynamic System Domains and Alternate Pathing, gained traction. SGI later sold this Cray division to Sun for $50 million. Sun recognized the technology's potential and, building upon it, developed the Ultra Enterprise Server 10000 (Starfire), achieving phenomenal commercial success and generating billions in revenue for Sun. It's considered one of the best acquisitions since Microsoft bought DOS, showcasing the power of technological innovation coupled with savvy market strategy.