"Computers are useless. They can only give you answers"
Pablo Picasso
What some do not know about the twin cities is this - it has always been a hotbed for the computer industry. At least it was some time ago. A young engineer from Nebraska named William (Bill) Norris entered the young and fledgling computer business shortly after the second World War. He and a team of Navy cryptographers formed a company called ERA, with a plan to build scientific computers. The company did well, was sold to Remington Rand in the the 1950's, and then Rand merged with Sperry. Through continued mergers, the new division of Sperry Rand merged with UNIVAC, and the company became known as Sperry Univac. It developed a business niche for the defense industry, and due in large part to the many fine universities in the area, it set up headquarters in the twin cities.
The new company of Sperry Univac did not go the direction that the forward thinking Bill Norris wanted to. He and group of like minded engineers traveled a few miles away to Bloomington, Minnesota and started a new company called Control Data. Unlike Sperry Univac, Control Data wanted to have a strong commercial presence as well as maintaining a modest defense business. The company continued to grow and in short order developed a national reputation for innovation in both computing and storage technologies.
Enter the next phase of development. Seymour Cray was a young engineer from Wisconsin who followed a similar path as Bill Norris. He worked at the young Sperry Univac and then followed Norris over to Control Data. Whereas Norris was interested in a myriad of different applications with this new technology, Cray was only interested in computing - very, very large scale computing. He was instrumental in helping to develop Control Data's mainframe business and it soon was competing with the giant IBM. However, in the early 1970's, Cray became restless with the direction that Norris was taking Control Data and left to go back to Wisconsin to set up his own company - Cray Research.
We will now flash forward to today. Sperry Univac continued to go through mergers, downsizing and so on. Finally, what was left of it was bought by Lockheed Martin. A few years ago, Lockheed Martin sold the last building which had once been a part of the Sperry Univac empire in the twin cities. A very sad day indeed.
Control Data is no more. After trying to be too many things at once, it outgrew itself. Many layoffs, sales, and mergers followed. A proud company which at one time employed tens of thousands and had a world wide reputation is now nothing more than a mention in business history books.
Cray on the other hand, can still be found. The most recent computer that wears the Cray name is the Titan. As the old cigarette commercial once said, "we have come along way baby!". This new super computer can perform at 17.6 petaFLOPS, which is almost 18 quadrillion calculations per second. This month, the Titan was ranked as the top computer in the world, narrowly beating out IBM's Sequoia. The Titan now resides at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and is in involved in numerous scientific experiments.
A bit a disclosure before I finish. In my varied career, I had the opportunity to spend over 22 years working at Sperry Univac, Control Data and IBM. All three companies gave me great experiences, great insight. I had no regrets about working for any of them. While at Control Data, I heard Bill Norris speak more than once. I knew it was an honor to listen to this great and inspiring Minnesota legend.
With Cray Research being around for 40 years and going from zero to 18 quadrillion calculations per second, what does the next 40 years hold? Back in the 1950's, some thought the computer industry might end up being flop - instead it now measures things in petaFLOPS. Buckle up folks, I think this ride is far from over.
The new company of Sperry Univac did not go the direction that the forward thinking Bill Norris wanted to. He and group of like minded engineers traveled a few miles away to Bloomington, Minnesota and started a new company called Control Data. Unlike Sperry Univac, Control Data wanted to have a strong commercial presence as well as maintaining a modest defense business. The company continued to grow and in short order developed a national reputation for innovation in both computing and storage technologies.
Enter the next phase of development. Seymour Cray was a young engineer from Wisconsin who followed a similar path as Bill Norris. He worked at the young Sperry Univac and then followed Norris over to Control Data. Whereas Norris was interested in a myriad of different applications with this new technology, Cray was only interested in computing - very, very large scale computing. He was instrumental in helping to develop Control Data's mainframe business and it soon was competing with the giant IBM. However, in the early 1970's, Cray became restless with the direction that Norris was taking Control Data and left to go back to Wisconsin to set up his own company - Cray Research.
We will now flash forward to today. Sperry Univac continued to go through mergers, downsizing and so on. Finally, what was left of it was bought by Lockheed Martin. A few years ago, Lockheed Martin sold the last building which had once been a part of the Sperry Univac empire in the twin cities. A very sad day indeed.
Control Data is no more. After trying to be too many things at once, it outgrew itself. Many layoffs, sales, and mergers followed. A proud company which at one time employed tens of thousands and had a world wide reputation is now nothing more than a mention in business history books.
Cray on the other hand, can still be found. The most recent computer that wears the Cray name is the Titan. As the old cigarette commercial once said, "we have come along way baby!". This new super computer can perform at 17.6 petaFLOPS, which is almost 18 quadrillion calculations per second. This month, the Titan was ranked as the top computer in the world, narrowly beating out IBM's Sequoia. The Titan now resides at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and is in involved in numerous scientific experiments.
A bit a disclosure before I finish. In my varied career, I had the opportunity to spend over 22 years working at Sperry Univac, Control Data and IBM. All three companies gave me great experiences, great insight. I had no regrets about working for any of them. While at Control Data, I heard Bill Norris speak more than once. I knew it was an honor to listen to this great and inspiring Minnesota legend.
With Cray Research being around for 40 years and going from zero to 18 quadrillion calculations per second, what does the next 40 years hold? Back in the 1950's, some thought the computer industry might end up being flop - instead it now measures things in petaFLOPS. Buckle up folks, I think this ride is far from over.
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