Technology ´90: minis and mainframes

The rush of developments in large and midrange computers, which continued for a second year in 1989 and showed little sign of letting up, is discussed. Digital Equipment Corporation introduced its first mainframe, and Tandem Computers and Control Data introduced mainframes as well. The US supercomputer industry, for over a decade the province of just two firms, lost one-pioneer Control Data Corporation-but gained another when survivor Cray Research Inc. spun off a competitor. Another supercomputer start-up. Evans & Sutherland´s computer division, came and went in just four months. Digital Equipment revamped its entire superminicomputer line, while some of its smaller competitors laid off thousands of employees or went private to stay afloat