[jan-jaap]

Just one question:

Why was the RM10 more expensive than the RM11?

- HU-VRM-256      add. 256 MB Texture Memory  € 66.483
- $55,000 013-3126-005 BOARDSET ASSY RM11

€ 66.483 is quite a bit more than $55,000!

I'm not in sales & marketing, but there's 5 years between the two. You shouldn't really compare prices of spare parts with prices of options on new systems. A price chart for educational customers may have discounts applied already. And of course a lot of things are negotiable.

It's probably best to compare numbers only within a single price sheet. From late 2006:

Code:

$30,000 013-2464-002 PCA SET RM9 & TM7-64 FR
$45,000 013-2954-001 PCA SET RM9 AND TM8-256 FR
$55,000 013-3126-005 BOARDSET ASSY RM11 FR

(RM9 + TM7-64 is an RM9 a.k.a. IR2E, and RM9 + TM8-256 is an RM10 a.k.a. IR3)

Origin/Onyx 3K were introduced when -- 2000 or 2001? These were the prices of parts for those looking to service or upgrade their by then ~ 6 or 7 year old Onyx2. Also remember, most people with such is a system in active service would have it covered with by maintenance contract. The cost are non-trivial, but management likes fixed annual rates better than the risk to fork out $55K when you least expect it when a system you depend on craps out. You could even say these numbers are meant to scare people into taking a maintenance contract.

One thing is certain: it was all very expensive.