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◈ALB Atlas

Control Data Corporation Dead

Control Data Corporation
KindCompany
Founded1957
Defunct1992
StatusDead
FoundersWilliam Norris
FieldSupercomputers
Also known asCDC
Sourcebitsavers.org ↗

The company Cray built the 6600 for — supercomputers and the PLATO education system. Broke itself into pieces in 1992; Ceridian is its survivor.

Created CDC 6600
Notable people Seymour Cray

William Norris founded CDC in 1957 with Sperry Rand colleagues. Seymour Cray's 6600 (1964) — built in a secluded Wisconsin lab — was the fastest computer on Earth and coined 'supercomputer'; the 7600 followed.

The PLATO system (UIUC, 1960–2006) pioneered forums, message boards, online education, and multiplayer games decades early. Norris was a famously ethical CEO ('social responsibility'), but the 1980s were brutal; CDC dissolved itself into Ceridian in 1992.

Sources

  1. bitsavers.org/pdf/cdc/
  2. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_Data_Corporation