Silicon Graphics Inc has tapped Thomas Whiteside, director of RISC processor development at IBM Corp, to be president of its MIPS Technologies Inc unit: Whiteside will be responsible for research and development, marketing, and alliances associated with the MIPS open RISC architecture; Whiteside headed IBM’s efforts to develop the PowerPC family of microprocessors; he told Reuter his leaving IBM was not a reflection of his confidence in the PowerPC, and that the new job was a big stretch and real excitement for me – it’s a chance to run a lemonade stand, in terms of operating the business; if you just look at what’s on the market there from MIPS, they’ve got some of the hottest stuff going and have at least hinted at some other things.
