Silicon Graphics seeks bankruptcy protection

Silicon Graphics Inc. has filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code and penned an agreement with its lenders to reduce the company's debt by about $250 million, SGI officials said.The Mountain View, Calif., company plans to file its reorganization plan soon and hopes to emerge from bankruptcy within six months.SGI's non-U.S. subsidiaries, including European, Canadian, Mexican, South American and Asia Pacific subsidiaries were not included in the filing."We want to assure our customers, our employees and our communities that SGI is operating-business as usual," said Dennis McKenna, SGI's recently appointed chairman and CEO.The filings were made today in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. SGI is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif.Recent government business for SGI includes an Army Purchase SGI and VRSim Immersive Virtual Reality Welding Trainer Systems.The Army Ordinance Center and School at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland bought six SGI and VRSim Virtual Reality Welding Trainers to train soldiers and Marines for battlefield repairs, parts repairs and maintenance on armored and other vehicles.The immersive, Virtual Reality Welding Trainer is based on SGI visualization hardware and VRSim simulation software. Designed and integrated by SGI Professional Services, the simulators are for novice and experienced welders alike. The six welding bays are linked to a central console for instructors to monitor trainee performance and store weld information for future training analysis.Another government contract with Naval Surface Warfare Center' Warhead Performance and Target Response Branch was for SGI Altix server and SGI InfiniteStorage solutions to provide quantitative predictions of the vulnerability and survivability of targets for existing and prospective Navy warheads.The Warhead Performance and Target Response Branch at NSWC-Indian Head serves as the principal source of expertise for the U.S. Navy in the area of underwater explosion phenomenology and its application to target damage.(Originally posted May 8 at 11:54 a.m. and updated at 2:23 p.m.)