"They are planning to sell Intel-based machines running Linux, with the SGI logo stamped on the box. They weren't very clear about the migration path they expect IRIX software to take, but they do seem to be very enthusiastic about Linux in general."
They chose Itanium as the new platform, and used the same technology as Apple did for Rosetta to smooth the transition between instruction sets (and in SGI's case, operating systems too).