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.