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Cray Research - Definition and Overview |
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Cray Inc. was founded by Seymour Cray in 1972 as Cray Research.
The company was famous for its supercomputers, starting with the 1976 Cray-1 vector computer.
In 1989, Cray Research spun off Cray Computer Corporation separating its Cray 3 product line from the other products.
Cray Research merged with SGI in February 1996.
SGI set up a separate Cray Research Business Unit in August 1999 in preparation for detachment. On March 2, 2000, the unit was sold to Tera Corporation. Tera Corporation was then renamed Cray Inc. when the deal closed on April 4, 2000. Cray Inc. is based in Seattle, Washington.
Trivia
- As the Cray computers were extremely expensive machines, they were sold in relatively low volumes (compared to ordinary mainframes). Thus, most sites with a Cray installation considered it quite prestigious to be a member of the "exclusive club" of Cray operators. This extended to countries as well. To boost the perception of exclusivity, Cray Research's marketing department had promotional neckties made with a mosaic of tiny national flags illustrating the "club of Cray-operating countries". Also, in at least one instance (a Cray X-MP sold to SINTEF/NTH in Norway), Cray delivered the machine equipped with the purchasing institution's national flag mounted on top of the main unit.
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