Minisupercomputer
Encyclopedia
Minisupercomputers constituted a short-lived class of computer
s that emerged in the mid-1980s. As scientific computing using vector processor
s became more popular, the need for lower-cost systems that might be used at the departmental level instead of the corporate level created an opportunity for new computer vendors to enter the market. As a generalization, the price targets for these smaller computers were one-tenth of the larger supercomputer
s. These computer systems were characterized by the combination of vector processing and small-scale multiprocessing
.
Several notable technical, economic, and political attributes characterize minisupercomputers. First, they were architecturally more diverse than prior mainframes and minicomputers in hardware and less diverse in software. Second, advances in VLSI made them less expensive (mini-price). These machines were market targeted to be cost-effective and quickly manufactured. Third, it is notable who did not manufacture minisupercomputers: within the USA, IBM and the traditional mainframe makers, outside the USA: the Japanese supercomputer vendors and Russia (despite attempts to manufacture minicomputers).
The appearance of even lower-priced scientific workstations based on microprocessor
s with high performance floating point unit
s (FPUs) during the 1990s (such as the MIPS
R8000
, IBM
POWER2
), and Weitek
eroded the demand for this class of computer.
The industry magazine Datamation
coined the term "crayette" which in short order meant instruction set compatible to Cray Research, Inc.
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
s that emerged in the mid-1980s. As scientific computing using vector processor
Vector processor
A vector processor, or array processor, is a central processing unit that implements an instruction set containing instructions that operate on one-dimensional arrays of data called vectors. This is in contrast to a scalar processor, whose instructions operate on single data items...
s became more popular, the need for lower-cost systems that might be used at the departmental level instead of the corporate level created an opportunity for new computer vendors to enter the market. As a generalization, the price targets for these smaller computers were one-tenth of the larger supercomputer
Supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation.Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling A supercomputer is a...
s. These computer systems were characterized by the combination of vector processing and small-scale multiprocessing
Multiprocessing
Multiprocessing is the use of two or more central processing units within a single computer system. The term also refers to the ability of a system to support more than one processor and/or the ability to allocate tasks between them...
.
Several notable technical, economic, and political attributes characterize minisupercomputers. First, they were architecturally more diverse than prior mainframes and minicomputers in hardware and less diverse in software. Second, advances in VLSI made them less expensive (mini-price). These machines were market targeted to be cost-effective and quickly manufactured. Third, it is notable who did not manufacture minisupercomputers: within the USA, IBM and the traditional mainframe makers, outside the USA: the Japanese supercomputer vendors and Russia (despite attempts to manufacture minicomputers).
The appearance of even lower-priced scientific workstations based on microprocessor
Microprocessor
A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...
s with high performance floating point unit
Floating point unit
A floating-point unit is a part of a computer system specially designed to carry out operations on floating point numbers. Typical operations are addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and square root...
s (FPUs) during the 1990s (such as the MIPS
MIPS Technologies
MIPS Technologies, Inc. , formerly MIPS Computer Systems, Inc., is most widely known for developing the MIPS architecture and a series of pioneering RISC chips. MIPS provides processor architectures and cores for digital home, networking and mobile applications.MIPS Computer Systems Inc. was...
R8000
R8000
The R8000 is a microprocessor chipset developed by MIPS Technologies, Inc. , Toshiba, and Weitek. It was the first implementation of the MIPS IV instruction set architecture. The R8000 is also known as the TFP, for Tremendous Floating-Point, its name during development.-History:Development of the...
, IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
POWER2
POWER2
The POWER2, originally named RIOS2, is a processor designed by IBM that implemented the POWER instruction set architecture. The POWER2 was the successor of the POWER1, debuting in September 1993 within IBM's RS/6000 systems. When introduced, the POWER2 was the fastest microprocessor, surpassing the...
), and Weitek
Weitek
Weitek Corporation was a chip-design company that originally concentrated on floating point units for a number of commercial CPU designs. During the early to mid-1980s, Weitek designs could be found powering a number of high-end designs and parallel processing supercomputers...
eroded the demand for this class of computer.
The industry magazine Datamation
Datamation
Datamation was a print computer magazine published in the United States between 1957 and 1998. When first published it wasn't clear there would be a significant market for a computer magazine given how few computers there were...
coined the term "crayette" which in short order meant instruction set compatible to Cray Research, Inc.
Notable minisupercomputer companies (alphabetically)
- AmetekAMETEKAMETEK, Inc is a manufacturer of electronic instruments and electromechanical devices with headquarters in the United States and over 80 manufacturing sites worldwide....
Another Caltech/Intel based hypercube - Alliant Computer SystemsAlliant Computer SystemsAlliant Computer Systems was a computer company that designed and manufactured parallel computing systems. Together with Pyramid Technology and Sequent Computer Systems, Alliant's machines pioneered the symmetric multiprocessing market...
(founded 1982 as Dataflow Systems; went bankrupt in 1992) - American Supercomputer (founded by Mike FlynnMike FlynnMike Flynn may refer to:* Mike Flynn , American baseball player* Mike Flynn , American basketball player* Mike Flynn , English footballer* Mike Flynn , American football player...
, failed 2nd round funding) - AstronauticsAstronautics Corporation of AmericaAstronautics Corporation of America was established in 1959 and is a major supplier, designer, and manufacturer of avionics equipment to airlines, U.S. and international governments, commercial and defense aircraft manufacturers, and other major avionics systems integrators...
(Division founded by Jim Smith, U. Wisc.) - BBN
- Convex ComputerConvex ComputerConvex Computer Corporation was a company that developed, manufactured and marketed vector minisupercomputers and supercomputers for small-to-medium-sized businesses. Their later Exemplar series of parallel computing machines were based on the Hewlett-Packard PA-RISC microprocessors, and in 1995,...
(founded 1982 as Parsec; acquired by Hewlett-PackardHewlett-PackardHewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
in 1995) - Culler Harris (CHI)
- Culler Scientific
- CydromeCydromeCydrome was a computer company started in 1984 in San Jose, California whose mission was to develop a numeric processor. The founders were David Yen, Wei Yen, Ross Towle, Arun Kumar, and Bob Rau...
(founded 1984) - DECDigital Equipment CorporationDigital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s...
(VAX 9000VAX 9000The VAX 9000, code named Aridus, was a family of high-end minicomputers developed and manufactured by Digital Equipment Corporation using processors implementing the VAX instruction set architecture . The VAX 9000 was positioned by Digital as its first mainframe...
) - ElxsiElxsiElxsi was a minicomputer manufacturing company established in the late 1970s along with a host of other competitors . The Elxsi processor was an Emitter Coupled Logic design that featured a 50 nanosecond clock, a 25 nanosecond backpanel bus, IEEE floating point arithmetic and a 64-bit architecture...
Corporation (founded 1979) - Encore ComputerEncore ComputerEncore Computer was an early pioneer in the parallel computing market, based in Marlborough, Massachusetts. Although offering a number of system designs beginning in 1985, they were never as well known as other companies in this field such as Pyramid Technology, Alliant, and the most similar...
(founded 1983; acquired by Systems Engineering LaboratoriesSystems Engineering LaboratoriesSystems Engineering Laboratories was a manufacturer of minicomputers in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It was one of the first 32-bit realtime computer system manufacturers...
) - Evans & SutherlandEvans & SutherlandEvans & Sutherland is a computer firm involved in the computer graphics field. Their products are used primarily by the military and large industrial firms for training and simulation, and in digital projection environments like planetariums.-History:...
(Computer Division, Mountain View, CA) - Flexible Computer (FLEX) (founded in TX)
- Floating Point SystemsFloating Point SystemsFloating Point Systems Inc. was a Beaverton, Oregon vendor of minisupercomputers. The company was founded in 1970 by former Tektronix engineer Norm Winningstad....
(founded 1970; acquired by Cray Research in 1991) - Guiltech/SAXPY
- HAL Computer SystemsHAL Computer SystemsHAL Computer Systems, Inc was a Campbell, California-based computer manufacturer founded in 1990 by Andrew Heller, a principal designer of the original IBM POWER architecture...
- ICL (DAP)
- Kendall Square ResearchKendall Square ResearchKendall Square Research was a supercomputer company headquartered originally in Kendall Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1986, near MIT. It was co-founded by Steven Frank and Henry Burkhardt III, who had previously helped found Data General and Encore Computer and was one of the original...
- Key Laboratories
- MasParMasParMasPar Computer Corporation was a minisupercomputer vendor that was founded in 1987 by Jeff Kalb. The company was based in Sunnyvale, California....
- Meiko ScientificMeiko ScientificMeiko Scientific Ltd. was a British supercomputer company based in Bristol, founded by members of the design team working on the INMOS transputer microprocessor.-History:...
- Multiflow ComputerMultiflowMultiflow Computer, Inc. , founded in April, 1984 near New Haven, Connecticut, USA, was a manufacturer and seller of minisupercomputer hardware and software embodying the VLIW design style...
(founded 1984; ceased operation in 1990) - Myrias
- Prisma
- Parsytec
- Pyramid TechnologyPyramid TechnologyPyramid Technology Corporation was a computer company that produced a number of RISC-based minicomputers at the upper end of the performance range. They also became the second company to ship a multiprocessor Unix system , in 1985, which formed the basis of their product line into the early 1990s...
- Scientific Computer Systems (founded 1983; switched to high-speed network development in 1989; now defunct)
- SequentSequent Computer SystemsSequent Computer Systems, or Sequent, was a computer company that designed and manufactured multiprocessing computer systems. They were among the pioneers in high-performance symmetric multiprocessing open systems, innovating in both hardware and software Sequent Computer Systems, or Sequent, was...
(if Encore is regarded, then, so too these next two firms) - Solbourne
- SUPRENUM requires German translation
- Supertek ComputersSupertek ComputersSupertek Computers, Inc. was a computer company founded in Santa Clara, California in 1985 by Mike Fung, an ex-Hewlett-Packard project manager, with the aim of designing and selling low-cost minisupercomputers compatible with those from Cray Research....
(Founded 1985; acquired by Cray Research 1990) - Thinking Machines Corporation