Minisupercomputers constituted a short-lived class of

computer A computer is a machine that can be Computer programming, programmed to automatically Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic set ...

s that emerged in the mid-1980s, characterized by the combination of

vector processing In computing, a vector processor or array processor is a central processing unit (CPU) that implements an instruction set where its Instruction (computer science), instructions are designed to operate efficiently and effectively on large Array d ...

and small-scale

multiprocessing Multiprocessing (MP) is the use of two or more central processing units (CPUs) within a single computer system. The term also refers to the ability of a system to support more than one processor or the ability to allocate tasks between them. The ...

. As

scientific computing Computational science, also known as scientific computing, technical computing or scientific computation (SC), is a division of science, and more specifically the Computer Sciences, which uses advanced computing capabilities to understand and s ...

using vector processors 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 A supercomputer is a type of computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS) instead of million instruc ...

s. 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

workstation A workstation is a special computer designed for technical or computational science, scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by a single user, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating syste ...

s (e.g., Dana Computer/Ardent Computer/ Stellar Computer (the merger of these companies)) based on

microprocessor A microprocessor is a computer processor (computing), processor for which the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit (IC), or a small number of ICs. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, a ...

s with high performance

floating point unit A floating-point unit (FPU), numeric processing unit (NPU), colloquially math coprocessor, is a part of a computer system specially designed to carry out operations on floating-point numbers. Typical operations are addition, subtraction, multipli ...

s (FPUs) during the 1990s (such as the MIPS

R8000 The R8000 is a microprocessor chipset developed by MIPS Technologies, MIPS Technologies, Inc. (MTI), Toshiba, and Weitek.Hsu 1994 It was the first implementation of the MIPS IV instruction set architecture. The R8000 is also known as the ''TFP'', f ...

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

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, ...

), and

Weitek Weitek Corporation was an American Microprocessor, chip-design company that originally focused on floating-point units for a number of commercial Central processing unit, CPU designs. During the early to mid-1980s, Weitek designs could be found ...

eroded the demand for this class of computer. The industry magazine ''

Datamation ''Datamation'' is a computer magazine that was published in print form in the United States between 1957 and 1998,

'' coined the term "Crayette" which in short order meant instruction set compatible to

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 i ...

, Inc.

Notable minisupercomputer companies

This list is sorted alphabetically, and many entries here are to companies that no longer exist. *

Ametek AMETEK, Inc. is an American multinational conglomerate and global designer and manufacturer of electronic instruments and electromechanical devices with headquarters in the United States and over 220 sites worldwide. The company was founded in 1 ...

Alliant Computer Systems Alliant Computer Systems Corporation 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 American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

(founded by

Mike Flynn Michael Thomas Flynn (born 24 December 1958) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who served as the 24th U.S. national security advisor for the first 22 days of the first Trump administration. He resigned in light of reports tha ...

, failed 2nd round funding) *

Astronautics Astronautics (or cosmonautics) is the practice of sending spacecraft beyond atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere into outer space. Spaceflight is one of its main applications and space science is its overarching field. The term ''astronautics' ...

(Division founded by Jim Smith, U. Wisc) *

BBN Technologies Raytheon BBN (originally Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Inc.) is an American research and development company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1966, the Franklin Institute awarded the firm the Frank P. Brown Medal, in 1999 BBN received the ...

(Acquired by Raytheon in 2009) *

Convex Computer Convex 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 He ...

(founded 1982 as Parsec; acquired by

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...

in 1995) * Culler Harris (CHI) *

Culler Scientific Culler is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * David Culler (born 1959), computer scientist * Dick Culler (1915–1964), baseball shortstop * Glen Culler (1927–2003), professor of electrical engineering *Marc Culler (born 1953), ...

Cydrome Cydrome (1984–1988) was a computer company established in San Jose, California, San Jose of the Silicon Valley region in California. Its mission was to develop a numeric processor. The founders were David Yen, Wei Yen, Ross Towle, Arun Kumar, a ...

(founded 1984, closed in 1988) * DEC (

VAX 9000 The VAX 9000 is a discontinued family of mainframes developed and manufactured by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) using custom ECL-based processors implementing the VAX instruction set architecture (ISA). Equipped with optional vector proce ...

) (Acquired by

Compaq Compaq Computer Corporation was an American information technology, information technology company founded in 1982 that developed, sold, and supported computers and related products and services. Compaq produced some of the first IBM PC compati ...

in 1998, who was acquired by HP in 2002) *

Elxsi Elxsi Corporation was a minicomputer manufacturing company established in the late 1970s in Silicon Valley, US, along with a host of competitors ( Trilogy Systems, Sequent, Convex Computer). The Elxsi processor was an Emitter Coupled Logic (ECL) d ...

Corporation (founded 1979) (Acquired by Tata) *

Encore Computer Encore Computer Corporation was an American computer company independently active from 1983 to 1997. Based in Marlborough, Massachusetts, the company was an early pioneer in the parallel computing market. Although offering several system designs ...

(founded 1983; acquired in 2002 by Compro Computer Services) *

Evans & Sutherland Evans & Sutherland is an American computer graphics firm founded in 1968 by David C. Evans (computer scientist), David Evans and Ivan Sutherland. Its current products are used in digital projection environments like planetariums. Its simulation b ...

* Flexible Computer *

Floating Point Systems Floating Point Systems, Inc. (FPS), was a Beaverton, Oregon vendor of attached array processors and minisupercomputers. The company was founded in 1970 by former Tektronix engineer Norm Winningstad, with partners Tom Prints, Frank Bouton and Rob ...

(founded 1970; acquired by

in 1991) * Guiltech/ SAXPY *

HAL Computer Systems HAL 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. His idea was to build computers based on a RISC architecture for the ...

(Closed in 2001) *

ICL ICL may refer to: Companies and organizations * Idaho Conservation League, environmental organisation in the United States * Imperial College London, a UK university * Indian Confederation of Labour * Indian Cricket League * Inorganic Chemistry ...

( DAP) (Acquired by Fujitsu in 2002) *

Kendall Square Research Kendall Square Research (KSR) was a supercomputer company headquartered originally in Kendall Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1986, near Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It was co-founded by Steven Frank and Henry Burkhardt II ...

(Closed in 1994) * Key Laboratories *

MasPar MasPar Computer Corporation (later NeoVista Software, Inc.) was a minisupercomputer vendor that was founded in 1987 by Jeff Kalb. The company was based in Sunnyvale, California. History While Kalb was the vice-president of the division of Digita ...

(Ceased operations in 1996) *

Meiko Scientific Meiko Scientific Ltd. was a British supercomputer company based in Bristol, founded by members of the design team working on the Inmos transputer microprocessor. History In 1985, when Inmos management suggested the release of the transputer be ...

(Ceased operations in 1991) * Myrias Research Corporation (Canadian firm, Edmonton, AB) *

Multiflow Computer {{no references, date=June 2019 Multiflow 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. Multiflow, incorporated in ...

(founded 1984; ceased operation in 1990) *

nCUBE NCUBE may refer to: * Ncube (surname), a South African surname (includes a list of people with the name) * NCUBE Corporation, was a parallel supercomputers maker, and later, provider of video on demand solutions, now a subsidiary of Arris Group vi ...

(Acquired by C-COR in 2005) *

Prisma Prisma or PRISMA may refer to: Media * ''Prisma'', 2019 album by Beret * ''Prisma'', 2013 album by Motel * ''Prisma'' (magazine), 1930s Catalan magazine * Prisma (typeface), a typeface designed by Rudolf Koch * Prisma (app), a photo editing soft ...

Parsytec Isra Vision Parsytec AG, a subsidiary of Isra Vision, was originally founded in 1985 as Parsytec (''parallel system technology'') in Aachen, Germany. Parsytec gained recognition in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a manufacturer of transputer- ...

Pyramid Technology Pyramid Technology Corporation was a computer company that produced a number of RISC-based minicomputers at the upper end of the performance range. It was based in the San Francisco Bay Area of California They also became the second company to s ...

(Acquired by Siemens in 1995) * Scientific Computer Systems (founded 1983; switched to high-speed network development in 1989; now defunct) *

Sequent In mathematical logic, a sequent is a very general kind of conditional assertion. : A_1,\,\dots,A_m \,\vdash\, B_1,\,\dots,B_n. A sequent may have any number ''m'' of condition formulas ''Ai'' (called " antecedents") and any number ''n'' of ass ...

(Acquired by IBM in 1999) * Solbourne (Acquired by Deloitte in 2008) *

SUPRENUM SUPRENUM (, ) was a German research project to develop a parallel computer from 1985 through 1990. It was a major effort which was aimed at developing a national expertise in massively parallel processing both at hardware and at software level. A ...

(Started as research in 1985, cancelled in 1990) *

Supertek Computers Supertek 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 Resear ...

(Founded 1985; acquired by

in 1990) *

Thinking Machines Corporation Thinking Machines Corporation was a supercomputer manufacturer and artificial intelligence (AI) company, founded in Waltham, Massachusetts, in 1983 by Sheryl Handler and Danny Hillis, W. Daniel "Danny" Hillis to turn Hillis's doctoral work at th ...

(Acquired by SUN in 1994) * Vitesse Corporation (Closed the computer division in 1987)

References

External links

Book on the history of Multiflow
{{Computer sizes Classes of computers