The Cray EL90 series was an air-cooled

vector processor In computing, a vector processor or array processor is a central processing unit (CPU) that implements an instruction set where its instructions are designed to operate efficiently and effectively on large one-dimensional arrays of data called ...

supercomputer first sold by

Cray Research Cray Inc., a subsidiary of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, is an American supercomputer manufacturer headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It also manufactures systems for data storage and analytics. Several Cray supercomputer systems are listed ...

in 1993. The EL90 series evolved from the

Cray Y-MP EL The Cray Y-MP was a supercomputer sold by Cray Research from 1988, and the successor to the company's X-MP. The Y-MP retained software compatibility with the X-MP, but extended the address registers from 24 to 32 bits. High-density VLSI ECL tech ...

minisupercomputer Minisupercomputers constituted a short-lived class of computers that emerged in the mid-1980s, characterized by the combination of vector processing and small-scale multiprocessing. As scientific computing using vector processors became more popu ...

, and is compatible with Y-MP software, running the same

UNICOS UNICOS is a range of Unix and after it Linux operating system (OS) variants developed by Cray for its supercomputers. UNICOS is the successor of the Cray Operating System (COS). It provides network clustering and source code compatibility la ...

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...

. The range comprised three models: * EL92, with up to two processors and 64 megawords (512 MB) of

DRAM Dynamic random-access memory (dynamic RAM or DRAM) is a type of random-access semiconductor memory that stores each bit of data in a memory cell, usually consisting of a tiny capacitor and a transistor, both typically based on metal-oxi ...

in a deskside chassis: dimensions 42×23.5×26 inches or 1050×600×670 mm (height × width × depth) and 380 lb/172 kg in weight. * EL94, with up to four processors and 64 megawords (512 MB) of DRAM, in the same cabinet as the EL92. * EL98, a revised Y-MP EL with up to eight processors and 256 megawords (2 GB) of DRAM in a Y-MP EL-style cabinet (62×50×32 inches or 2010×1270×810 mm, 1400 lb/635 kg in weight). The EL90 series Input/Output Subsystem (IOS) was based on the

VMEbus VMEbus (Versa Module Europa or Versa Module Eurocard bus) is a computer bus standard, originally developed for the Motorola 68000 line of CPUs, but later widely used for many applications and standardized by the IEC as ANSI/IEEE 1014-1987. ...

and a Heurikon HK68

Motorola 68000 The Motorola 68000 (sometimes shortened to Motorola 68k or m68k and usually pronounced "sixty-eight-thousand") is a 16/32-bit complex instruction set computer (CISC) microprocessor, introduced in 1979 by Motorola Semiconductor Products Sect ...

-based processor board (or IOP). The IOP also provided the system's

serial console One meaning of system console, computer console, root console, operator's console, or simply console is the text entry and display device for system administration messages, particularly those from the BIOS or boot loader, the kernel, from the in ...

. All EL90 models could be powered from regular mains power. The EL90 series was superseded by the

Cray J90 The Cray J90 series (code-named ''Jedi'' during development) was an air-cooled vector processor supercomputer first sold by Cray Research in 1994. The J90 evolved from the Cray Y-MP EL minisupercomputer, and is compatible with Y-MP software, runn ...

series.

References

Fred Gannett's Cray FAQ
*

Computer-related introductions in 1993 El90 Vector supercomputers {{super-compu-stub