Editing Control Data Corporation (section)

== ETA Systems, wind-down and sale of assets ==
CDC decided to fight for the high-performance niche, but Norris considered that the company had become moribund and unable to quickly design competitive machines. In 1983 he set up a spinoff company, [[ETA Systems]], whose design goal was a machine processing data at 10 GFLOPs, about 40 times the speed of the Cray-1. The design never fully matured, and it was unable to reach its goals. Nevertheless, the product was one of the fastest computers on the market, and 7 [[liquid nitrogen]]-cooled and 27 smaller air cooled versions of the computers were sold during the next few years. They used the new [[CMOS]] chips, which produced much less heat. The effort ended after half-hearted attempts to sell ETA Systems. In 1989, most of the employees of ETA Systems were laid off, and the remaining ones were folded into CDC.
{{pic|Control Data Systems logo.svg|Logo of Control Data Systems}}
Despite having valuable technology, CDC still suffered huge losses in 1985 ($567 million<ref name=allen/>) and 1986 while attempting to reorganize. As a result, in 1987 it sold its PathLab Laboratory Information System to [[3M]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.3m.com/us/healthcare/professionals/wound_care/downloads/3m_healthcare_history.pdf |title=3M Health Care History |access-date=2012-07-02 |website=3m.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130618161834/http://www.3m.com/us/healthcare/professionals/wound_care/downloads/3m_healthcare_history.pdf |archive-date=2013-06-18 |url-status=dead }}</ref>  While CDC was still making computers, it was decided that hardware manufacturing was no longer as profitable as it used to be, and so in 1988 it was decided to leave the industry, bit by bit. The first division to go was Imprimis. After that, CDC sold other assets such as VTC (a chip maker that specialized in mass-storage circuitry and was closely linked with MPI), and non-computer-related assets like Ticketron. 

In 1992, the company separated into two independent companies – the computer businesses were spun out as Control Data Systems, Inc. (CDS), while the information service businesses became the [[Ceridian]] Corporation.<ref>{{cite news |author1=Lawrence M. Fisher |title=Control Data to Separate Into Two Companies |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/28/business/company-news-control-data-to-separate-into-two-companies.html |newspaper=The New York Times |page=D4 |access-date=25 April 2023 |date=28 May 1992}}</ref> 

CDS later became owner of ICEM Technologies, makers of ICEM DDN and [[ICEM Surf]] software and sold the business to [[PTC_(software_company)|PTC]] for $40.6m in 1998.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2000 |title=PTC Annual report |url=https://investor.ptc.com/static-files/c9f5253f-0564-40c4-af52-a5d895502202 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190927132130/https://investor.ptc.com/static-files/c9f5253f-0564-40c4-af52-a5d895502202/ |archive-date=2019-09-27 |publisher=PTC}}</ref> In 1999, CDS was bought out by [[BT Global Services|Syntegra]], a subsidiary of the [[BT Group]], and merged into BT's Global Services organization.

Ceridian continues as a successful outsourced [[IT company]] focusing on [[human resources]]. CDC's Energy Management Division, was one of its most successful business units, providing control systems solutions that managed as much as 25% of all electricity on the planet, and went to Ceridian in the split. This division was renamed Empros and was sold to [[Siemens]] in 1993.<ref>{{cite web |title=SIEMENS GETS CERIDIAN's EMPROS |url=https://techmonitor.ai/technology/siemens_gets_ceridians_empros |website=Tech Monitor |access-date=25 April 2023 |date=16 March 1993}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/SIEMENS+ACQUIRES+EMPROS+SYSTEMS+INTERNATIONAL+FROM+CERIDIAN+--...-a013128247|title=SIEMENS acquires EMPROS from CERIDIAN}}</ref> In 1997, [[General Dynamics]] acquired the Computing Devices International Division of Ceridian, which was a defense electronics and systems integration business headquartered in [[Bloomington, Minnesota]] – originally Control Data's Government Systems Division. 

In March 2001, Ceridian separated into two independent companies, with the old Ceridian Corporation renamed itself to [[Nielsen Audio|Arbitron]] Inc. and the rest of the company (consisting of human resources services and Comdata business) took the Ceridian Corporation name.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ARBITRON INC (Form Type: 8-K, Filing Date: 03/30/2001) |url=http://edgar.secdatabase.com/1436/110465901500188/filing-main.htm |access-date=2023-04-25 |website=edgar.secdatabase.com}}</ref> Ceridian was later split again in 2013, with formation of Ceridian HCM Holding Inc. (human resources services) and Comdata Inc. (payments business), marking the end of CDC assets split for good.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ceridian Forms Separate HCM and Payments Businesses {{!}} @CloudExpo |url=http://cloudcomputing.sys-con.com/node/2821563 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180106063819/http://cloudcomputing.sys-con.com/node/2821563 |archive-date=January 6, 2018 |access-date=January 5, 2018 |website=cloudcomputing.sys-con.com}}</ref>