Editing Minisupercomputer (section)

{{Distinguish|Superminicomputer}}
{{more references|date=July 2008}}
'''Minisupercomputers''' constituted a short-lived class of [[computer]]s that emerged in the mid-1980s, characterized by the combination of [[vector processing]] and small-scale [[multiprocessing]]. As [[scientific computing]] using vector processors became more popular, the need for lower-cost systems that might be used at the departmental level instead of the corporate level created an opportunity for new computer vendors to enter the market. As a generalization, the price targets for these smaller computers were one-tenth of the larger [[supercomputer]]s.

Several notable technical, economic, and political attributes characterize minisupercomputers. First, they were architecturally more diverse than prior mainframes and minicomputers in hardware and less diverse in software. Second, advances in [[Very-large-scale integration|VLSI]] made them less expensive (mini-price).  These machines were market targeted to be cost-effective and quickly manufactured. Third, it is notable who did not manufacture minisupercomputers: within the USA, IBM and the traditional mainframe makers, outside the USA: the Japanese supercomputer vendors and Russia (despite attempts to manufacture minicomputers).

The appearance of even lower-priced scientific [[workstation]]s (e.g., Dana Computer/Ardent Computer/[[Stellar Computer]] (the merger of these companies)) based on [[microprocessor]]s with high performance [[floating point unit]]s (FPUs) during the 1990s (such as the [[MIPS Technologies|MIPS]] [[R8000]], [[IBM]] [[POWER2]]), and [[Weitek]] eroded the demand for this class of computer.

The industry magazine ''[[Datamation]]'' coined the term "'''Crayette'''" which in short order meant instruction set compatible to [[Cray Research]], Inc.