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Minisupercomputers constituted a class of computer
Computer

A computer is a machine that manipulates Data according to a list of Code .The first devices that resemble modern computers date to the mid-20th century , although the computer concept and various machines similar to computers existed earlier....
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 design where the instruction set includes operations that can perform mathematical operations on multiple data elements simultaneously....
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 that is at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation. Supercomputers introduced in the 1960s were designed primarily by Seymour Cray at Control Data Corporation , and led the market into the 1970s until Cray left to form his own company, Cray Research....
s.






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Minisupercomputers constituted a class of computer
Computer

A computer is a machine that manipulates Data according to a list of Code .The first devices that resemble modern computers date to the mid-20th century , although the computer concept and various machines similar to computers existed earlier....
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 design where the instruction set includes operations that can perform mathematical operations on multiple data elements simultaneously....
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 that is at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation. Supercomputers introduced in the 1960s were designed primarily by Seymour Cray at Control Data Corporation , and led the market into the 1970s until Cray left to form his own company, Cray Research....
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 CPU 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....
.

The appearance of even lower-priced scientific workstations based on microprocessor
Microprocessor

A microprocessor incorporates most or all of the functions of a central processing unit on a single integrated circuit . The first microprocessors emerged in the early 1970s and were used for electronic calculators, using Binary-coded decimal arithmetic on 4-bit Word ....
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 R8000
R8000

The R8000 is a microprocessor chip set implementing the MIPS architecture instruction set architecture jointly developed by MIPS Technologies , then a subsidiary of Silicon Graphics, Inc....
 and IBM
IBM

International Business Machines Corporation, abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue" , is a multinational corporation computer technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, New York, United States....
 POWER2
POWER2

The IBM POWER2 microprocessor was released in 1993 as the successor of the POWER1. The POWER2 ran from 55 to 71.5 MHz and improved on the POWER1 design by featuring an extra Arithmetic Logic Unit and floating point unit, increased cache sizes and new instructions....
) eroded the demand for this class of computer.

Notable minisupercomputer companies (Alphabetically)

  • Alliant Computer Systems
    Alliant Computer Systems

    Alliant 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)
  • Convex Computer
    Convex Computer

    Convex Computer was a company that produced a number of Vector processor minisupercomputers, supercomputers for small-to-medium-sized businesses....
     (founded 1982 as Parsec; acquired by Hewlett-Packard
    Hewlett-Packard

    The Hewlett-Packard Company , commonly referred to as HP, is a technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, United States....
     in 1995)
  • Cydrome
    Cydrome

    Cydrome was a computer company started in 1984 in Milpitas, California, California whose mission was to develop a numeric processor for its primary customer, Prime Computer....
     (founded 1984)
  • Elxsi
    Elxsi

    Elxsi 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 Computer
    Encore Computer

    Encore 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 Computer Systems, and the most similar systems Sequent Computer Systems a...
     (founded 1983; acquired by SEL)
  • Floating Point Systems
    Floating Point Systems

    Floating 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)
  • Multiflow Computer
    Multiflow

    Multiflow Computer, Inc. , founded in April, 1984 near New Haven, Connecticut, was a manufacturer and seller of minisupercomputer hardware and software embodying the VLIW design style....
     (founded 1984; ceased operation in 1990)
  • Scientific Computer Systems (founded 1983; switched to high-speed network development in 1989; now defunct)
  • Supertek Computers
    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 Cray-compatible minisupercomputers....
     (Founded 1985; acquired by Cray Research 1990)