A superminicomputer, or supermini, is “a minicomputer

Minicomputer

A minicomputer is a class of multi-user computers that lies in the middle range of the computing spectrum, in between the largest multi-user systems and the smallest single-user systems...

 with high performance compared to ordinary minicomputers.” The term was an invention used from the mid-1970s mainly to distinguish the emerging 32-bit

32-bit

The range of integer values that can be stored in 32 bits is 0 through 4,294,967,295. Hence, a processor with 32-bit memory addresses can directly access 4 GB of byte-addressable memory....

 minis from the classical 16-bit

16-bit

-16-bit architecture:The HP BPC, introduced in 1975, was the world's first 16-bit microprocessor. Prominent 16-bit processors include the PDP-11, Intel 8086, Intel 80286 and the WDC 65C816. The Intel 8088 was program-compatible with the Intel 8086, and was 16-bit in that its registers were 16...

 minicomputers. The term is now largely obsolete but still remains of interest for students/researchers of computer history.

Significant superminis

• Norsk Data
  Norsk Data
  Norsk Data was a computer manufacturer located in Oslo, Norway. Existing from 1967 to 1992, it had its most active period in the years from the early 1970s to the late 1980s...
  
   NORD-5
  NORD-5
  The NORD-5 was Norsk Data's first 32-bit minicomputer, and is believed to be the first 32-bit minicomputer. The machine used a NORD-1 as its front-end console processor, which ran the majority of the OS....
  
  , first supermini, 1972
• Norsk Data Nord-50, 1975
• Interdata 7/32 and 8/32
  Interdata 7/32 and 8/32
  The Model 7/32 and Model 8/32 were 32-bit minicomputers developed by Interdata, Inc. of Oceanport, New Jersey during the 1970s. They are primarily remembered for being the first 32-bit minicomputers, and the first non-PDP computers to run Unix...
  
   later taken over by PerkinElmer
  PerkinElmer
  PerkinElmer, Inc. is an American multinational technology corporation, focused in the business areas of human and environmental health, including environmental analysis, food and consumer product safety, medical imaging, drug discovery, diagnostics, biotechnology, industrial applications, and life...
  
  
• Systems Engineering Laboratories
  Systems Engineering Laboratories
  Systems Engineering Laboratories was a manufacturer of minicomputers in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It was one of the first 32-bit realtime computer system manufacturers...
  
   32/55
  Systems Engineering Laboratories
  Systems Engineering Laboratories was a manufacturer of minicomputers in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It was one of the first 32-bit realtime computer system manufacturers...
  
  , 1976
• DEC
  Digital Equipment Corporation
  Digital 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-11/780, shipped February 1978
• Data General
  Data General
  Data General was one of the first minicomputer firms from the late 1960s. Three of the four founders were former employees of Digital Equipment Corporation. Their first product, the Data General Nova, was a 16-bit minicomputer...
  
   Eclipse MV/8000
  Data General Eclipse MV/8000
  The Eclipse MV/8000 was the first in a family of 32-bit minicomputers produced by Data General during the 1980s. Codenamed Eagle during development, its architecture was a new 32-bit design backward compatible with the previous 16-bit Eclipse series. The development of the computer and the people...
  
  , 1980
• MAI Basic Four
  MAI Basic Four
  MAI Basic Four refers to a variety of Business Basic, the computers that ran it, and the company that sold them .Basic/Four Corporation was created as a subsidiary of Management Assistance, Inc. in Irvine, California...
  
   MAI 8000, 1983 http://www.answers.com/topic/mai-systems-corporation and MPx http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EKF/is_n1903_v38/ai_12041852/
• Gould Electronics
  Gould Electronics
  Gould Electronics Inc. -- founded in 1884 and based in Chandler, Arizona -- is a company involved in the electronics and semiconductor industries. They make printed circuit materials for use by electronics manufacturers. Having acquired Systems Engineering Laboratories Gould became involved in the...
  
   Powernode 9080
• Gould Electronics NP-1
• Norsk Data ND-500
  ND-500
  The ND-500 was a 32-bit superminicomputer delivered in 1981 by Norsk Data. It relied on a ND-100 to do housekeeping tasks and run the OS, SINTRAN III.A configuration could feature up to four ND-500 CPUs, in a shared-memory configuration....
  
  , 1981
• Norsk Data ND-570/CX, fastest supermini, 1983, at 7.1 Whetstone
  Whetstone (benchmark)
  The Whetstone benchmark is a synthetic benchmark for evaluating the performance of computers. It was first written in Algol 60 in 1972 at the National Physical Laboratory in the United Kingdom and derived from statistics on program behaviour gathered on the KDF9 computer, using a modified version...
  
   MIPS
• Prime Computer
  Prime Computer
  Prime Computer, Inc. was a Natick, Massachusetts-based producer of minicomputers from 1972 until 1992. The alternative spellings "PR1ME" and "PR1ME Computer" were used as brand names or logos by the company.-Founders:...
  
  750