Appendix of 50 super-minicomputers, "multis", RISC-based architectures, mini-supercomputers, scalable computers, and supercomputers (c1983-1995).
The following list includes all general and special-purpose minicomputers for, real-time, communications, business etc., sold through QEMs, end users, and bundled for process control and testing, for example. It does not include scores of military, AT&T, European, and Japanese computers. At a later time, Tandem formed and array processing systems were developed for niche markets.
The minicomputer companies of the 1980s era characterized their offerings as Super-Minicomputers to differentiate them from their early smaller relatives. In the early 1980s a score of companies started up to build various supercomputers and mini-supercomputers (also called Crayettes after the Cray-style vector design), but all (e.g. Alliant, Convex that was sold to HP, Cydrome, Multiflow ) failed. See the following section.
2 grew at significant rates and continue to grow
Data General
Prime (aka PR1ME)
8 grew at diminished or declining rates, or found small niches
Adage
Basic 4
Computer Automation
Four Phase
General Automation
Macrodata
Microdata
Modcomp
39 ceased to manufacture
American Computer Technology
Atron
BIT
Cascade
Compiler Systems
Computer Development Corp.
Computer Logic Systems
Computer Property
Datamate
Data Technology Corp.
Datac
Decade
Digital Electronics
Digital Computer Corp. (ultimately merged with DG)
Digital Scientific
Dresser
Electronic Engineering
Foto-Men
GRI
Hetra
Information Technology Inc.
Infotronics
Linolex
Minlcomp
Monitor Data
Multidata
Nanodata
Northeast Data
Nuclear Data
Omnicomp Computer
Omnus
Redcor
Scientific Control Corp.
Standard Computer Corp.
Spiras Systems
TEC
Unicorn Inc.
Unicornp Inc.
Viatron
2 grew at significant rates and continue to grow
Interdata >Perkin Elmer
SEL> Gould Acquired by Encore in 19xx and was sold to SUN Micro in xxx.
2 continued and manufacture niche products for some time
Comten > NCR
Datacraft > Harris
6 stopped manufacturing minicomputers in the merged division
ASI/EMR, Schlumberger
Computer Controls Corp./Honeywell
DMI/Varian
PDS/EAI
SDS/XeroxData System (XDS)/Honeywell
Tempo/GTE
2 made successful minicomputers and grew rapidly
Digital Equipment Corporation Purchased by Compaq in 1998; HP acquired Compaq in May 2002
IBM
2 continued with diminishing success in minis
- Bunker-Ramo
- CDC Ceased operation in 199x
4 stopped manufacturing minicomputers
Burroughs should be added as it attempted to enter the small computer area with the B1700.
GE
Packard-Bell Name was used for PC manufacture 198x-199x; Note PB was started in the early 1960s by Max Palevsky and Robert Beck. They came from Bendix.
Autonetics Recomp
Victor
1 acquired an embryonic company in the design state and formed a division to become a highly successful supplier
HP acquired Dymec as the basis of its computer division using the HP 2100 architecture.
3 continued to build and now supply minicomputers for niche markets All of which subsequently disappeared as general purpose supplies
General Electric
Hughes ?? Continued as a military/aerospace computer supplier
Raytheon
Texas instruments Ceased operation by xxx
21 discontinued building minicomputers
AC Electronics
Bailey Meter
Beckman Instruments
Cincinnati Milling
Clary
Collins
EAI
Fabritek
Fairchild
Foxboro
GTE
Interstate Electronics
Lockheed (SUE) near knock-off of PDP-11 and Unibus
International Telephone and Telegraph
Litton
Motorola Philco-Ford
Nanodata
Nuclear Data
RCA
Singer
Teradyne
Westinghouse
*Bell, C. Gordon, “Mini and
Micro Industries”, Computer, October 1984, pp 14-30.
The startups building a variety of high performance, sometimes scalable, scientific computers covering a wide price range from $50K to $50M that also failed either before or after first product delivery included:
33+ Super-minicomputers including those startups to exploit the RISC ideas, Mini-supercomputers and Personal Supercomputers
Alliant minisuper with up to 8 vector processors
Ametek
AMT
Astronautics ? Smith from U. of WI architected an interesting architecture with independent fetch-execute streams.
Biin (Intel-Siemens joint venture) Based on Intel's ill-fasted 432.
Chopp ?? from Columbia (Herb Bashkow???)
Cogent
Convex C-1,...C-3 (GaAs) were vector processors. Convex built a scalable architecture and the company was acquired by HP.
Culler
Cydrome Bob Rau, Founded as a wide word machine for technical computing. Bob went to HP Labs and was instrumental in the HP/Intel Itanium aka Itanic.
Elexsi ECL smP, proprietary processor. Amdahl was on the board.
Encore c1986 "multi" that built a scalable, hierarchical multi with DARPA's SCI funding. Merged with SEL in early 1990s. Sold to Sun in 199x mainly for patent.
Evans & Sutherland Supercomputers Attempt at a vector processor. One almost worked.
Exa CFD machine coming from x of MIT. Design by Greg Papadapolous
Floating Point Systems (64 processor smP) purchased by Cray, acquired by SGI, and sold to SUN that became their Enterprise server. This transaction is one of the best examples of the saying: "A capitalist is someone who'll sell you the rope to hang himself."
Gould/SEL,
IPM International Parallel Machines Founded by a group residing on Massachusetts Cape. Unclear whether a machine every worked.
Key Research Tom McWilliams fast, scalar smP. Restarted in 2002 to exploit Dobberpuhl's (Broadcom) fast multiprocessor MIPS chip.
MIPS A RISC based chip company founded c1985 by John Hennessy and John Massouris using the basic ideas from Stanford's MIPS research.
Multiflow (Josh Fisher went to HP and this work influenced the Intel Itanium, aka Itanic.)
Pixar Alvey Ray Smith and Ed Catmul
Prisma
Pyramid (c 1985 RISC-based architecture to exploit large register sets and RAM hierarchy)
Ridge (c 1985 RISC-based architecture to exploit large register sets and RAM hierarchy)
SAXPY
SCS
Sequent c1985 "multi" using the National, VAX look-alike chip. Evolved to a scalable DSM architecture using the Intel chips. Purchased by IBM in 2000?
Stardent = (Ardent+Stellar)
Supertek (purchased by Cray)
Synapse first "multi"
Vitec
Vitesse GaAs computer
Wavetracer c1988 SIMD
10 Scalable computers
BBN Supercomputer
Flexible Abortive multicomputer with an ad hoc connection scheme.
Intel iPSC, etc.
KSR Founded by Henry Burkhardt. scalable mP.
Meiko Initially used the Transputer.
Myrias
nCube Colley came from CalTech. Purchased by Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle for database speedup. When this failed, it was converted into a Video On Demand server. The company eventually used PCs as a more cost-effective solution.
Parsytec
Tera Founded by Burton Smith in 1988 to build the Multithreaded architecture acquired Cray Research c199x to become Cray Inc. Their first product MTA1 failed. In 2002 MTA2 is being introduced.
Thinking Machines CM-1, 2 were SIMD. CM5 was a multicomptuer with fat tree switch.
7 High Performance Vector Architectures or R&D Efforts
ACRI (European research effort centered in France)
American Supercomputer ??succeeded in building a scaled down Cray compatible CMOS vector processor that was ultimately incorporated into the SV1 & 2.
CDC (independent of ETA)
Dennelcor founded by Buron Smith to build HEP1, his first attempt at the mutlithreaded architecture
ETA (wholly owned by CDC). Succeeded in building a liquid Nitrogen cooled version of CDC's STAR architecture that had been implemented as the CDC Cyber 205.
Suprenum (German National effort)
Supercomputer Systems Inc. (Steve Chen with IBM backing)