The R12000 is a derivative of the R10000 started by MIPS and completed by SGI. It was fabricated by NEC and Toshiba. The version fabricated by NEC is called the VR12000. The microprocessor was introduced in November 1998. It is available at 270, 300 and 360 MHz. The R12000 was developed as a stop-gap solution following the cancellation of the "Beast" project, which intended to deliver a successor to the R10000. R12000 users include NEC, Siemens-Nixdorf, SGI and Tandem Computers (and later Compaq, after their acquisition of Tandem).