Quadrics has been around for ages, since 1996 according to Wikipedia. Their problem was that the market for high-end interconnect has been shrinking. Infiniband got to the point where it was suitable for small to mid sized clusters, and there's only a couple of machines built per year that need scalability beyond what could be done with Infiniband hardware. Apparently missing out Juropa supercomputer was the final nail for them.

This is actually rather sad, since Quadrics was the last independent interconnect vendor that offered something beyond Infiniband. Now the only options are Infiniband or a complete system from Cray etc.

"...this recession isn't that big a deal other than govt forcing tax payers to foot the bill for greedy failed capitalists instead of letting them go down like they deserve."

Should read:
"... to foot the bill for greedy failed capitalists WHO ARE THEIR FRIENDS AND CAMPAIGN OWNERS instead of letting them go down like they deserve."

They just gave the UAW a multi-billion dollar present.

Evidently these particular failed companies did NOT make big enough campaign contributions to label them "Too Big To Fail" or some such non-sense.

Just an observation.

I do agree with some of what Negatron said. Inadequate business models are doomed for failure. However, it does not help either with the Recession influencing market behaviors. That must not be ignored.

Most people have been saving money while millions have been out of a job. People are switching from wants to needs... buying necessities only.

Companies like MetaRam only provide for wants... and wants will be the first thing to go when budgets are on a crunch.

Are some kind of spoiled child? Your attempt at cutting down Negatron really ticked me off. You say this is one of the worst recessions but it's not even close. Early 1900s people were starving, there were children running wild without anyone to care for them. Unless your living in a 3rd world country, this recession isn't that big a deal other than govt forcing tax payers to foot the bill for greedy failed capitalists instead of letting them go down like they deserve.

There is a saying: when ignorance is bliss, tis folly to be wise.

I only mention it cause maybe its just *slightly* tougher than you appear to think out here in the Real World?

Tell you what, when you get out of third grade economomics and grow up and start running your own business, let us all know how you get on with your new startup against entrenched, established competition *at all*, let alone in one of the worst recessions in history.

Good luck with that.

There is a saying: when ignorance is bliss, tis folly to be wise.

I only mention it cause maybe its just *slightly* tougher than you appear to think out here in the Real World?

Tell you what, when you get out of third grade economomics and grow up and start running your own business, let us all know how you get on with your new startup against entrenched, established competition *at all*, let alone in one of the worst recessions in history.

Good luck with that.

The problem is none of these companies had anything meaningful to contribute, they would have been sold for scraps sooner or later in any market condition.

It's even more true during a recessing that a company offering a better service/product is more likely to succeed against inferior competition. Recession is a convenient excuse for an inadequate business model.

Oh wow, didn't know MetaRam had died!. I have been waiting for products from them. PC's memory slots are so limiting if you want a lot more ram. MetaRam offered a chance to get more memory far cheaper than before. For small but powerful server building, MetaRam was very exciting news. I bet someone will sit on their patents preventing such a cheap solution being created by other companies.