Convex unwraps its first grown-up supercomputer
Convex Computer Corp.'s new supercomputer family is even more of an industry blockbuster than its first system. At a tenfold jump in performance, it's far from just an incremental upgrade over its first minisupercomputer, the C-1. The heart of the new family, the new C-2 processor, churning at 50 million floating-point operations/s, spawns a group of systems whose performance could pass for some fancy supercomputers-namely those of the Cray Research Inc. family. When added to the C-1, Convex's five new supercomputers create the C series, a six-member product group offering a performance range from 20 to 200 Mflops. They mark an important transition for Convex from a one-product high-tech startup to a multinational company with a wide-ranging product line. It's a tough transition but the Richardson, Texas, company seems to be doing it. The extended product line propels Convex into the upper end of the minisupercomputer class and nudges it into the low end of the big supercomputers. It positions Convex in an uncrowded segment of the market in the $500,000 to $1 million range offering 50 to 200 Mflops of performance. The company is making this move because the minisuper area, which it pioneered, quickly became crowded with new vendors, causing prices and gross margins to drop drastically.
- OSTI ID:
- 6449888
- Journal Information:
- Electronics; (United States), Journal Name: Electronics; (United States); ISSN ELECA
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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