Superminicomputer

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Not to be confused with Minisupercomputer .
For other uses, see Supermini (disambiguation) .
A superminicomputer (Interdata 7/32) preserved in a museum

A superminicomputer , colloquially supermini , is a high-end minicomputer . [1] The term is used to distinguish the emerging 32-bit architecture midrange computers introduced in the mid to late 1970s from the classical 16-bit systems that preceded them. [2] [3] The development of these computers was driven by the need of applications to address larger memory. [1] The term midicomputer had been used earlier to refer to these systems. [4] [5] Virtual memory was often an additional criteria that was considered for inclusion in this class of system. [6] The computational speed of these machines was significantly greater than the 16-bit minicomputers and approached the performance of small mainframe computers . [7] The name has at times been described as a "frivolous" term created by "marketeers" that lacks a specific definition. Describing a class of system has historically been seen as problematic: "In the computer kingdom, taxonomic classification of equipment is more of a black art than a science." [8] There is some disagreement about which systems should be included in this class. The origin of the name is uncertain. [1]

As technology improved rapidly the distinction between minicomputer and superminicomputer performance blurred. [9] Companies that sold mainframe computers began to offer machines in the same price and performance range as superminicomputers. [10] By the mid-1980s microprocessors with the hardware architecture of superminicomputers were used to produce scientific and engineering workstations . [11] The minicomputer industry then declined through the early 1990s. [12] The term is now considered obsolete [13] but still remains of interest for students/researchers of computer history .

Notable companies [ edit ]

Notable manufacturers of superminicomputers in 1980 included: Digital Equipment Corporation, Perkin-Elmer, and Prime Computer. [14] [15] Other makers of systems included SEL/Gould and Data General. [16] Four years later there were about a dozen companies producing a significant number of superminicomputers. [17] ( see table below )

DEC VAX-11/780 superminicomputer [18]
Companies and percentage of the superminicomputer market in 1985 [17]
Company Percent
International Business Machines (IBM) 41.9
Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) 27.6
Data General 6.0
Prime Computer 5.6
Perkin-Elmer , formerly Interdata 3.4
Wang Laboratories 3.4
Gould , formerly SEL 2.6
Hewlett-Packard 2.2
Honeywell 2.2
Harris Computer Systems 1.7
(other) 3.4

Perkin-Elmer spun off their Data Systems Group in 1985 to form Concurrent Computer Corporation which continued making these systems. Nixdorf Computer , Norsk Data , and Toshiba also produced systems. [10]

Significant superminicomputers [ edit ]

  1. ^ The VAX-11/780 was the standard by which the performance of other supermincomputers and small mainframes were compared. [7] [18]
  2. ^ The design engineering of the Data General Eclipse MV/8000 was chronicled in The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder , a 1981 Pulitzer Prize winning book. [22] [23]

External links [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

  1. ^ a b c Connolly, James (September 30, 1985). "Superminis: Dynamic machines evolving to new uses" . Computerworld . p. SR/4, SR10 . Retrieved 5 December 2019 . No one can say with certainty who coined the word 'superminicomputer' and to what systems he meant it to apply, but consensus is emerging that a supermini is nothing more than a minicomputer ? a high-end mini, but a mini nonetheless.
  2. ^ Flowers, Jeff (1982). "The Use of the 32-Bit Minicomputer for Data Acquisition". IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science . 29 (1): 927?931. Bibcode : 1982ITNS...29..927F . doi : 10.1109/TNS.1982.4335992 . S2CID   28156759 .
  3. ^ a b Supnik, Bob (July?August 2004). "Simulators: Virtual Machines of the Past (and Future)" . Queue . 2 (5). ACM: 52?58. doi : 10.1145/1016998.1017002 . Thirty-two-bit computing broke out of the mainframe category with the introduction of the 'supermini' Interdata 7/32 in the mid-1970s and then the VAX in 1977.
  4. ^ Yates, Edward H. (August 1980). Interrelationships of Technology, System Performance, and Prices for Mini/Midicomputers (PDF) (Report). Office of the Secretary of the Army. p. 3. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 14, 2019 . Retrieved 14 December 2019 .
  5. ^ Burr, William E.; Gordon, Robert (October 1977). "Selecting a Military Computer Architecture". Computer . Vol. 10, no. 10. IEEE. pp. 16?23. doi : 10.1109/C-M.1977.217522 .
  6. ^ Storassli, Olaf O.; Vidal, James B.; Jones, Gary K. (1982). "An evaluation of superminicomputers for thermal analysis" (PDF) . Computational Aspects of Heat Transfer in Structures . NASA technical memorandum (83284). Washington, DC: NASA: 2. Bibcode : 1982caht.nasa..437S .
  7. ^ a b Wallich, Paul (1985). "Minis and mainframes: Superminicomputers push mainframe performance, mainframes operate at supercomputer speeds, and supercomputers reach 400 million operations per second". IEEE Spectrum . 22 : 42?44. doi : 10.1109/MSPEC.1985.6370525 . S2CID   27187801 . The manufacturers of the new processors all measure their machines against the venerable Digital Equipment Corp. VAX 11/780, which performs somewhat more than a million operations per second.
  8. ^ Stiefel, Malcolm L. (July 1978). "Superminis: What's In The Name?". Mini-Micro Systems . Vol. 11, no. 7. pp. 29?42. At first blush, the word 'supermini' seems to be a contradiction in terms, like 'bittersweet.' There is a temptation to dismiss it immediately as a frivolous pun - the fruit a fertile Mad Ave. mind. In a sense, this gut reaction has merit; the term was obviously coined by marketeers to describe succinctly a class of machines without being too specific.
  9. ^ Vardalas, John N. (2001-07-27). The Computer Revolution in Canada: Building National Technological Competence . MIT Press. ISBN   9780262264983 . As circuit densities and performance increased and prices dropped, the demarcation between minicomputers and superminicomputers and that between low and middle ranges of mainframes began to blur.
  10. ^ a b Supercomputers . Oxford: Elsevier. 1991. p. 3. ISBN   9781483296197 .
  11. ^ Joy, W.; Gage, J. (1985). "Workstations in Science". Science . 228 (4698): 467?470. Bibcode : 1985Sci...228..467J . doi : 10.1126/science.228.4698.467 . PMID   17746877 . S2CID   9058777 .
  12. ^ a b Bell, Gordon (2014). "STARS: Rise and Fall of Minicomputers" . Proceedings of the IEEE . 102 (4): 629?638. doi : 10.1109/JPROC.2014.2306257 . S2CID   21352766 .
  13. ^ "superminicomputer". Oxford English Dictionary . Oxford University Press. June 2012. 268008. Now historical.
  14. ^ Steinberg, Michael A. (1979). "Promoting computer literacy". Proceedings of the 7th annual ACM SIGUCCS conference on User services - SIGUCCS '79 . p. 83. doi : 10.1145/601889.601932 . ISBN   0897910060 . S2CID   17187367 .
  15. ^ Rosenberg, Ronald (30 Apr 1980). "Unveiling a 'supermini' ". Boston Globe .
  16. ^ "HP to enter supermini stakes?" . Electronics & Power . August 1981. ISSN   2053-7883 . Retrieved 5 December 2019 .
  17. ^ a b Davis, Bob (22 Jan 1985). "Prime Computer's New Model Heats Up Race To Construct the Fastest Superminicomputer". Wall Street Journal .
  18. ^ a b Zorpette, Glenn (1985). "The beauty of 32 bits: This near-optimum bit width has unprecedented potential for the well-informed designer of microprocessor-based systems". IEEE Spectrum . 22 (9): 65?71. doi : 10.1109/MSPEC.1985.6370815 . S2CID   34626939 .
  19. ^ Rosenberg, Ronald (3 Mar 1983). "...'we never look over our shoulder' ? Digital". Boston Globe .
  20. ^ "Firm's Sales on Rebound Thanks to Supermini". Computerworld . Jul 27, 1981.
  21. ^ Rosenberg, Ronald (2 Nov 1985). "Data General does it with class". Boston Globe .
  22. ^ Borins, Sandford; Herst, Beth (2018). "Insanely Great: The Dominant IT Fable". Negotiating Business Narratives . pp. 13?22. doi : 10.1007/978-3-319-77923-2_2 . ISBN   978-3-319-77922-5 .
  23. ^ Kidder, Tracy (1981). "The Microkids and the Hardy Boys: An inside look at how a maverick team from Data General 'rescued' the company by designing a competitive 32-bit superminicomputer in record time". IEEE Spectrum . 18 (9): 48?55. doi : 10.1109/MSPEC.1981.6369813 . S2CID   5650132 .
  24. ^ Rosenberg, Ronald (16 Sep 1983). "2 mid-sized computers are introduced by IBM". Boston Globe . 'They even called the new 4361 a multi-application superminicomputer, a term they never used before.'
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