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superminicomputer

{{Short description|Historical computer form factor}}

{{Distinguish|Minisupercomputer}}

{{Other uses|Supermini (disambiguation)}}

File:Living Computer Museum IMG 0002 (9636198071).jpg

A superminicomputer, colloquially supermini, is a high-end minicomputer. 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. The development of these computers was driven by the need of applications to address larger memory. The term midicomputer had been used earlier to refer to these systems. Virtual memory was often an additional criteria that was considered for inclusion in this class of system. The computational speed of these machines was significantly greater than the 16-bit minicomputers and approached the performance of small mainframe computers. 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." There is some disagreement about which systems should be included in this class. The origin of the name is uncertain.

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

Notable companies

Notable manufacturers of superminicomputers in 1980 included: Digital Equipment Corporation, Perkin-Elmer, and Prime Computer. Other makers of systems included SEL/Gould and Data General. Four years later there were about a dozen companies producing a significant number of superminicomputers. {{See below|table below}}

File:VAX 11-780 intero.jpg

{{table|sort}}

|+Companies and percentage of the superminicomputer market in 1985

!Company!!Percent

International Business Machines (IBM)

| style="text-align:right;"|41.9

Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)

| style="text-align:right;"|27.6

Data General

| style="text-align:right;"|6.0

Prime Computer

| style="text-align:right;"|5.6

Perkin-Elmer, formerly Interdata

| style="text-align:right;"|3.4

Wang Laboratories

| style="text-align:right;"|3.4

Gould, formerly SEL

| style="text-align:right;"|2.6

Hewlett-Packard

| style="text-align:right;"|2.2

Honeywell

| style="text-align:right;"|2.2

Harris Computer Systems

| style="text-align:right;"|1.7

(other)

| style="text-align:right;"|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.

Significant superminicomputers

  • Interdata 7/32, 1974
  • Digital Equipment Corporation VAX-11/780, 1978{{efn-ua|The VAX-11/780 was the standard by which the performance of other supermincomputers and small mainframes were compared.}}
  • Prime Computer 750, 1979
  • Data General Eclipse MV/8000, 1980{{efn-ua|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.}}
  • IBM 4361, 1983
  • AT&T 3B20D, 1984{{Cite news |last=Pollack |first=Andrew |date=1984-03-28 |title=A.T.&.T. OFFERS ITS COMPUTERS |language=en-US |pages=D1 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/03/28/business/at-t-offers-its-computers.html |access-date=2023-02-14 |issn=0362-4331}}
  • IBM 9370, 1987

{{notelist-ua}}

External links

  • {{Wiktionary-inline}}

References

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite journal |doi=10.1109/TNS.1982.4335992 |title=The Use of the 32-Bit Minicomputer for Data Acquisition |journal=IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=927–931 |year=1982 |last1=Flowers |first1=Jeff |bibcode=1982ITNS...29..927F |s2cid=28156759 }}

{{cite journal |last1=Storassli |first1=Olaf O. |last2=Vidal |first2=James B. |last3=Jones |first3=Gary K. |date=1982 |series=NASA technical memorandum |number=83284 |title=An evaluation of superminicomputers for thermal analysis |journal=Computational Aspects of Heat Transfer in Structures |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19820015624.pdf |location=Washington, DC |publisher=NASA |page=2 |bibcode=1982caht.nasa..437S }}

{{cite journal |doi=10.1109/MSPEC.1981.6369813 |title=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 |journal=IEEE Spectrum |volume=18 |issue=9 |pages=48–55 |year=1981 |last1=Kidder |first1=Tracy |s2cid=5650132 }}

{{cite news |last=Rosenberg |first=Ronald |date=3 Mar 1983 |title=...'we never look over our shoulder' — Digital |work=Boston Globe }}

{{cite news |last=Rosenberg |first=Ronald |date=2 Nov 1985 |title=Data General does it with class |work=Boston Globe }}

{{cite news |last=Davis |first=Bob |date=22 Jan 1985 |title=Prime Computer's New Model Heats Up Race To Construct the Fastest Superminicomputer |work=Wall Street Journal }}

{{cite news |author= |date=Jul 27, 1981 |title=Firm's Sales on Rebound Thanks to Supermini |work=Computerworld }}

{{cite news |last=Rosenberg |first=Ronald |date=30 Apr 1980 |title=Unveiling a 'supermini' |work= Boston Globe }}

{{cite book |doi=10.1145/601889.601932 |chapter=Promoting computer literacy |title=Proceedings of the 7th annual ACM SIGUCCS conference on User services - SIGUCCS '79 |pages=83 |year=1979 |last1=Steinberg |first1=Michael A. |isbn=0897910060|s2cid=17187367 }}

{{cite magazine |last=Connolly |first=James |date=September 30, 1985 |title=Superminis: Dynamic machines evolving to new uses |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MmR2XHzI9yoC&pg=PA64 |magazine=Computerworld |page=SR/4, SR10 |access-date=5 December 2019 |quote=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.}}

{{cite journal |doi=10.1126/science.228.4698.467 |pmid=17746877 |title=Workstations in Science |journal=Science |volume=228 |issue=4698 |pages=467–470 |year=1985 |last1=Joy |first1=W. |last2=Gage |first2=J. |bibcode=1985Sci...228..467J |s2cid=9058777 }}

{{cite journal |doi=10.1109/JPROC.2014.2306257 |title=STARS: Rise and Fall of Minicomputers |journal=Proceedings of the IEEE |volume=102 |issue=4 |pages=629–638 |year=2014 |last1=Bell |first1=Gordon |s2cid=21352766 |doi-access=free }}

{{cite journal |doi=10.1109/MSPEC.1985.6370815 |title=The beauty of 32 bits: This near-optimum bit width has unprecedented potential for the well-informed designer of microprocessor-based systems |journal=IEEE Spectrum |volume=22 |issue=9 |pages=65–71 |year=1985 |last1=Zorpette |first1=Glenn |s2cid=34626939 }}

{{cite magazine |author= |title=HP to enter supermini stakes? |url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/5185572 |magazine=Electronics & Power |date=August 1981 |issn=2053-7883 |access-date=5 December 2019 }}

{{cite book |author= |title=Supercomputers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UkCjBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 |location=Oxford |publisher=Elsevier |page=3 |date=1991 |isbn=9781483296197 }}

{{cite encyclopedia |title=superminicomputer |encyclopedia=Oxford English Dictionary |date=June 2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |id=268008 |quote=Now historical.}}

{{cite journal |doi=10.1109/MSPEC.1985.6370525 |title=Minis and mainframes: Superminicomputers push mainframe performance, mainframes operate at supercomputer speeds, and supercomputers reach 400 million operations per second |journal=IEEE Spectrum |volume=22 |pages=42–44 |year=1985 |last1=Wallich |first1=Paul |s2cid=27187801 |quote=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.}}

{{cite book |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-77923-2_2 |chapter=Insanely Great: The Dominant IT Fable |title=Negotiating Business Narratives |pages=13–22 |year=2018 |last1=Borins |first1=Sandford |last2=Herst |first2=Beth |isbn=978-3-319-77922-5 }}

{{cite news |last=Rosenberg |first=Ronald |title=2 mid-sized computers are introduced by IBM |work=Boston Globe |date=16 Sep 1983 |quote='They even called the new 4361 a multi-application superminicomputer, a term they never used before.'}}

{{cite book |isbn=9780262264983 |title=The Computer Revolution in Canada: Building National Technological Competence |last1=Vardalas |first1=John N. |date=2001-07-27 |publisher=MIT Press |quote=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.}}

{{cite journal |doi=10.1145/1016998.1017002 |title=Simulators: Virtual Machines of the Past (and Future) |journal=Queue |volume=2 |issue=5 |pages=52–58 |date=July–August 2004 |publisher=ACM |last1=Supnik |first1=Bob |quote=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.|doi-access=free }}

{{cite magazine |last=Stiefel |first=Malcolm L. |date=July 1978 |title=Superminis: What's In The Name? |magazine=Mini-Micro Systems |volume=11 |issue=7 |pages=29–42 |quote=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.}}

{{cite report |last=Yates |first=Edward H. |date=August 1980 |title=Interrelationships of Technology, System Performance, and Prices for Mini/Midicomputers |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a109946.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214223638/https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a109946.pdf |url-status=live |archive-date=December 14, 2019 |publisher=Office of the Secretary of the Army |page=3 |access-date=14 December 2019 }}

{{cite magazine |last1=Burr |first1=William E. |last2=Gordon |first2=Robert |date=October 1977 |title=Selecting a Military Computer Architecture |magazine=Computer |volume=10 |issue=10 |pages=16–23 |publisher=IEEE |doi=10.1109/C-M.1977.217522 }}

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{{Computer sizes}}

*Super

Category:Classes of computers