Short Take: SGI forms spinoff for federal business

High-powered computer specialist SGI has formed a subsidiary to deal with U.S. government customers such as the Navy and nuclear weapons labs. These customers need computers that can perform large simulations of weather or nuclear weapons explosions. But selling to federal customers can be tricky because their purchasing cycles are so slow, SGI executives have said. Anthony Robbins, a nine-year SGI employee who most recently was vice president of SGI's federal systems area, has been named president of the SGI Federal.