Cray and Other Timeline documents

The history of Cray branded computers is long and has a few twists along the way. Beginning as a classic start-up in 1976 and building to a multi-million dollar company Cray Research Inc went through cycles of boom, innovation, not-quite-bust, buyout (three times), occasional refocus and of course a split with the founder.

A few timeline posters have attempted to cover the history of the Cray machines and major events in the company lifecycle some of these posters are presented here. Most show the Cray systems within a linear timeline, but the journey of the Cray branded machines was more complex. Other companies were bought to compliment the in-house technology (FPS, OctigaBay) other parts were sold off (chip Foundry & CraySoft) and Cray Computer Corporation was spin off to accommodate Seymour Cray and the Cray-3 Project. Along the way Cray branded supercomputers changed the world providing computational solutions in such complex problem areas as molecular chemistry, weather & climate prediction, fluid dynamics, complex structural analysis and discovering occasional very large prime numbers. Supercomputing is largely about the machines and these posters start to give a taste of how technology evolved over the nearly 50 years of development.

Cray Family tree

This poster covers the timeline of machines released between the Cray-1 Serial number 1 up to the year 2022. Each swimlane shows a sequence of related machines. See the Cray machine families page for more details.

 

 

Corporate Timeline write up.

Charlie Clark came across this very clear and detailed write up of Cray Corporate history over on Encylopidia.com

Or click through for a better view of these posters ….

Timeline posters


Recent full view from 1970 to 2010

 

Vector History behind SV1

 This poster may have been brand adjusted 🙂

 


   Timeline_HistoricalOverview_1974 to 2004


Timeline_HistoricalTimeline_1972 to 2007


Timeline_1972 to 2010


Wide format version up to 2009



 HPE history of systems page on https://www.hpe.com/us/en/compute/hpc/cray.html

 


 From the Cray Corporate Computer museum in Chippewa Falls now CFMIT 1946 to 1991


Supercomputing at General Motors Corporation and other motor corporations

Table 1. Summary of the History of Supercomputing at GM

1968–72

GMR-Control Data cooperative work on STAR-100 project with STAR 1-B prototype at GMR

1979–80

Investigate research and production needs for corporate supercomputer

1981–82

Benchmarking CDC CYBER 205 and CRAY-1S

1982–83

Use Boeing Computer Services CRAY-1S

1984–86

CRAY-1S/2300 at GMR

1985

CRAY-1S/1000 at Adam Opel in Germany

1986–89

CRAY X-MP/24 replaces CRAY-1S/2300 at GMR

1988

CRAY X-MP/14 replaces CRAY-1S/1000 at Adam Opel in Germany

1989–90

CRAY Y-MP4/232 replaces CRAY X-MP/24 at GMR

1990

CRAY X-MP/14 upgraded to X-MP/18 at Adam Opel in Germany

1991

CRAY Y-MP4/332, upgrade of one additional CPU at GMR CRAY Y-MP4E/232, EDS machine at their Auburn Hills, Michigan, center

1992

CRAY Y-MP4/364, upgrade of 32 million words at GMR

Cray Supercomputers in the Worldwide Auto Industry as of 1991

Ford

Y-MP8/7128 (Y-MP C90, 4Q 92)

Nissan

Y-MP8/664, X-MP/12

GM/EDS

Y-MP4/364, Y-MP4E/232, X-MP/18

Honda

Y-MP8/364

Volkswagen AG

Y-MP8/364

Mercedes

Y-MP4/232, X-MP/28

Mazda

Y-MP2E/232, X-MP/216

Toyota

Y-MP8/232, X-MP/116

BMW

Y-MP8/232

Mitsubishi

Y-MP4/216

Fiat

Y-MP4/216

Peugeot

Y-MP2/232

Isuzu

Y-MP2E/232

Chrysler

Y-MP2E/232 (Y-MP8i/464, 2Q 92)

Daihatsu

Y-MP2/216

Kia Motors

Y-MP4/116

Hino Motors

Y-MP2E/132

Yamaha Motors

Y-MP2E/116

Renault

X-MP/216

a   In addition to the above, Saab Scandia uses a CRAY X-MP/48 at the Swedish National Supercomputer Center, and Porsche uses the CRAY-2 at the University of Stuttgart.


NCAR Timeline of computer systems

Thanks to Laura at NCAR for sending these photos. (Apparently other supercomputers are available)

 


Oak Ridge National Lab

 

 


This interesting chart derived from Top500 supercomputer listing data shows the longevity of the Cray T3E.

 


 

 

  Graphics of computer owned by Meteo France


German Weather site DKRF Partial history


 

 

And just for fun here is a programming languages timeline.

I am very tall
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