Article Abstract:
Seymour R. Cray, who developed the first transistorized computer and the world's first supercomputers, died on Oct 5, 1996, from head injuries received in an automobile accident. He is most noted for his early work on the Control Data 6600, 7600 and Cray 1 supercomputers. Cray's singular focus was to increase the performance of every system he designed. He was always on technology's cutting edge and had a dramatic influence on the computer industry. He founded Cray Research in 1972, which became the world's leading supercomputer vendor. He left Cray Research in 1989 and subsequently formed Cray Computer Corp, a venture that ended in bankruptcy in 1995. Cray announced the formation of a new company, SRC Computers, in Aug 1996, and planned to develop the Cray 5 supercomputer. Cray's most significant contribution to computing was vector processing, but he was also known for developing a component packaging technique that reduced the time required for electrical signals to travel between circuits.
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Article Abstract:
The US National Science Foundation has awarded NEC of Japan the right to enter into final negotiations with the US government on a hotly-contested contract to supply the agency with a supercomputer. The contract is estimated to be worth between $13 million and $35 million, depending on the extent of the final order, and it marks the first time in US history that a Japanese computer firm has been awarded such a contract. However, Cray Research alleges that NEC has offered the supercomputer at a price below its own cost, a practice known as "dumping," and is officially disputing the awarding of the contract. Cray Research has been the traditional supplier of supercomputers for US, European and Canadian military, engineering and scientific applications. Cray has sold more than 100 of its supercomputers to the Japanese government.
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Article Abstract:
Civilian scientists say they are having to compete with military researchers and one another for the use of supercomputers, because the Federal Government is rapidly shifting its investment shift to weapons research. This development is impacting disciplines such as meteorology, cosmology, astrophysics and complex chemistry, which require supercomputers' help to produce adequate solutions. The Government underwrites about 19% of US-built supercomputers annually, as well as all top-end machines that offer new innovations in speed and power. Both civilian and military scientists shared roughly the same supercomputer access time since the cold war, but the Government is changing the research time. The military, which gained a 2-to-1 ratio in 1996, will own a 5-to-1 margin in 1999.
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