Imprimis Technology

Control Data Corporation
Company type	Public
Industry	Computer hardware, Supercomputers
Founded	September 1, 1957; 69 years ago
Founder	William Norris, Seymour Cray
Fate	Ceased computer manufacturing in 1988; formed Control Data Systems, Inc. in 1992; remaining units operate under Dayforce
Headquarters	Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Key people	William Norris (CEO), Seymour Cray (Chief Designer)
Products	Mainframe computers, Supercomputers, Peripheral devices, Tape transports, Card readers and punches, Printers

Adapted from the English Wikipedia article Imprimis Technology, available under CC BY-SA 4.0Updated 8 August 2025

Control Data Corporation (CDC) was a leading American company in the mainframe and supercomputer sectors during the 1960s, competing alongside industry giants such as IBM, Burroughs, DEC, NCR, General Electric, Honeywell, RCA, and UNIVAC. Its reputation was largely built on the innovations of electrical engineer Seymour Cray, who created some of the era’s most advanced computing systems. Cray departed from CDC in the 1970s to establish Cray Research (CRI). Following financial difficulties, CDC ceased computer manufacturing in 1988 and divested various subsidiaries; by 1992, it had formed Control Data Systems, Inc.. The remaining business units now operate under the software firm Dayforce.

Background: World War II – 1957

During World War II, a secretive U.S. Navy engineering group was assembled to develop machines capable of decrypting Japanese and German codes. To preserve this team after the war despite military budget reductions, the Navy facilitated their employment with John Parker at Northwestern Aeronautical Corporation in St. Paul, Minnesota, where they worked in a military glider production facility. This effort eventually led to the creation of Engineering Research Associates (ERA) in 1946, a contract engineering company responsible for projects such as the ERA Atlas, an early stored-program computer for military use that influenced the design of the Univac 1101 series.

In the early 1950s, political disputes over Navy oversight weakened ERA’s financial standing. In 1952, Parker sold ERA to Remington Rand, which later merged with Sperry Corporation to form Sperry Rand. ERA became part of Sperry’s UNIVAC division, contributing to several projects but encountering setbacks when the UNIVAC II development was shifted there.

Frustrated by Sperry’s restrictive corporate management style that limited autonomy, several prominent engineers—including William Norris and Seymour Cray—departed to establish Control Data Corporation in September 1957. CDC was based in Minneapolis near Sperry’s St. Paul facilities. Norris assumed the role of CEO; Cray joined as chief designer after completing a transistor-based prototype computer for the Naval Tactical Data System (NTDS), known as the M-460.

Early designs and Cray's big plan

Initially, CDC focused on marketing subsystems such as drum memory units to other firms. Cray joined the company shortly thereafter and designed a compact transistor-based 6-bit machine called the "CDC Little Character" to experiment with concepts applicable to larger systems. This prototype proved successful.

In 1959, CDC introduced the 48-bit transistorized CDC 1604, an updated version of the ERA-Univac 1103 architecture, with its first installation delivered in 1960 to the U.S. Navy’s Naval Postgraduate School. The designation "1604" is commonly associated with CDC’s original address and Cray’s earlier development work, though company insiders dispute this origin.

A smaller 12-bit model, the CDC 160A, launched in 1960 and is recognized as one of the earliest minicomputers; it was notably integrated into a conventional office desk. The architecture of the 1604 later evolved into the CDC 3000 series, which enjoyed sales throughout the early to mid-1960s.

Cray set out to create the fastest computer worldwide—targeting a speed fifty times that of the 1604—which necessitated groundbreaking design innovations. As this project extended over four years, management increased its supervision. In response to these pressures, Cray insisted on having a separate laboratory located remotely in 1962 or threatened resignation. Founder Bill Norris consented, relocating Cray and his team to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, where access to this facility was tightly controlled—even Norris required an invitation to enter.

Peripherals business

In the early 1960s, CDC moved its operations to the Highland Park area of St. Paul, where Norris resided. To counter IBM's dominance, Norris pursued an assertive acquisition approach aimed at achieving a "critical mass" and broadening CDC's range of peripheral devices. The objective was to develop products that would surpass IBM’s offerings by approximately 10% in both speed and cost-efficiency, although this target proved difficult to attain.

One of CDC’s initial peripheral products was a tape transport, which sparked internal discussions about pricing strategies for other divisions. Rather than distributing devices at cost, the company adopted a profit-sharing system that was eventually implemented across all departments.

Subsequently, CDC introduced the 405 Card Reader and 415 Card Punch, along with proprietary tape drives and drum printers. The printing segment began through a partnership with Holley Carburetor near Detroit, resulting in Holley Computer Products; Holley later divested its share back to CDC, leading to the establishment of the Rochester Division.

CDC collaborated with NCR and ICL in forming Computer Peripherals, Inc. (CPI), focusing on train and band printers, with CDC holding the majority stake. In the early 1980s, CPI merged with Centronics, a manufacturer known for dot matrix printers.

Norris sought to challenge IBM’s dominance in punched card technology by acquiring Rabinow Engineering, a frontrunner in optical character recognition (OCR). The plan was to replace punched cards with OCR-readable typed documents to increase data density and reduce expenses. Despite initial advancements in OCR technology, persistent technical difficulties led to the closure of Rabinow’s facility in 1976 and CDC’s withdrawal from the OCR sector.

Acknowledging that punched cards would continue to be relevant, CDC purchased Bridge Engineering to obtain faster and more economical card punch equipment. After Bridge’s relocation, card-handling operations were transferred to the Valley Forge Division. Tape transport manufacturing followed suit. Both Valley Forge and Rochester divisions were spun off into CPI as a joint venture with National Cash Register (NCR), which was later joined by ICL to share development and manufacturing expenses. In 1982, Centronics acquired the Rochester Division.

Norris’s diversification efforts extended to establishing service bureaus aimed at smaller firms lacking access to computers. These centers operated at a loss; despite management's recommendations to close them in 1965, Norris declined and instead enforced company-wide cost reduction measures.

Control Data Institute

From the mid-1960s through the late 1980s, Control Data operated an international technical and computer vocational training network known as the Control Data Institute. By the late 1970s, it maintained sixty-nine centers globally, educating approximately 18,000 students.

CDC 6600: defining supercomputing

At the Chippewa Falls laboratory, Seymour Cray, Jim Thornton, and Dean Roush led a team of 34 engineers developing an innovative computer design. Utilizing faster silicon transistors from Fairchild Semiconductor, they overcame speed constraints by employing a compact architecture combined with refrigeration technology. Released in 1964, the CDC 6600 delivered performance roughly ten times greater than its competitors. More than 100 units were sold at $8 million each (in 1964 dollars), earning recognition as a groundbreaking supercomputer.

The 6600 incorporated a transistor-based CPU operating at 100 nanoseconds with multiple asynchronous functional units and ten external I/O processors that offloaded routine input/output tasks from the CPU, enabling it to concentrate on data processing. It utilized core memory and achieved approximately 500 kiloFLOPS when using compilers and up to one megaFLOPS with optimized assembly programming. A lower-cost serial processor version was introduced as the CDC 6400, alongside a dual-processor model called the CDC 6500.

A FORTRAN compiler named MNF (Minnesota FORTRAN) was created for the 6600 by Lawrence A. Liddiard and E. James Mundstock at the University of Minnesota.

Following the release of the 6600, IBM took notice and launched the ACS-1 project in 1965 aiming to exceed CDC’s performance benchmarks by assembling 200 engineers on the U.S. West Coast. However, efforts to ensure compatibility with IBM's successful System/360 series compromised performance goals, resulting in project cancellation in 1969 without any commercial release. This failure contributed to significant talent losses within IBM's high-performance computing divisions.

Meanwhile, IBM announced its System/360 Model 92 promising speeds comparable to the CDC 6600, causing CDC sales to decline as customers awaited this new model. In response, CDC chairman Norris initiated an extensive antitrust lawsuit against IBM that culminated in an $80 million settlement. As part of this agreement, CDC acquired IBM's subsidiary Service Bureau Corporation (SBC), which complemented CDC's existing service bureau operations.

During development of the 6600, CDC also initiated Project SPIN focused on creating high-speed hard disk storage solutions. The project explored both fixed and removable disk technologies and ultimately produced a fixed 28-inch disk along with a smaller multi-platter removable disk-pack system. This endeavor laid the groundwork for CDC’s future prominence in hard disk manufacturing.

CDC 7600 and 8600

In the same month that CDC prevailed in its legal battle against IBM, it unveiled the CDC 7600 (initially called the 6800). This system's clock speed was nearly quadruple that of the 6600, operating at 36 MHz compared to 10 MHz, with a clock cycle of 27.5 ns. It achieved over four times the throughput by extensively employing pipelining techniques.

Despite its advanced design, the 7600 experienced lackluster sales due to the economic slowdown in the U.S. during 1969 and reliability challenges stemming from its complexity. It lacked full compatibility with the 6000-series and required users to adapt to a new, rudimentary operating system. Although financially it broke even, the project negatively impacted CDC’s reputation. Its architecture featured separate primary and secondary memory that demanded manual management by users but enabled it to remain the fastest uniprocessor from 1969 until 1976. Several dozen units were acquired by supercomputing centers globally.

Following this, Cray developed the CDC 8600, which incorporated four processors similar to those in the 7600 within a compact enclosure. This reduced size facilitated higher clock speeds and quicker memory access, enhancing overall performance. However, its traditional construction using soldered components caused significant cooling difficulties and maintenance challenges, resulting in reliability issues that ultimately required a redesign.

The STAR and the Cyber

While redesigning the 8600, CDC also created the CDC STAR-100 under Jim Thornton, who had previously collaborated with Cray. Contrary to the multi-processor strategy of the 8600, the STAR introduced an innovative vector processor, significantly boosting mathematical computations despite being slower than the 7600 in general tasks. This specialization was aimed at meeting particular customer demands.

During a period of constrained funding in the late 1960s, Norris determined that CDC could not fully support both initiatives; consequently, Cray departed in 1972 to establish Cray Research. Norris continued as a supporter and investor in Cray's new company. The STAR was launched in 1974 as the Cyber 203, but its actual performance did not meet expectations. Its lead designer Thornton subsequently left to found Network Systems Corporation.

In 1975, a STAR-100 was installed at a CDC service center, marking the first supercomputer deployment within a data center environment. William C. Norris spearheaded a widely publicized event in collaboration with Guinness, promoting it as "The most powerful and fastest computer" listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. This exposure attracted major media attention and customers including oil companies conducting reservoir simulations for projects such as Kuwait oil fields and hydropower turbine maintenance in Norway.

Throughout the 1970s, CDC repurposed various systems based on the 6600/7600 architecture into multiple price/performance categories under the CDC Cyber brand, which became its flagship product line. An enhanced version of the STAR architecture, known as the Cyber 205, offered improved capabilities but still lagged behind competitors like Cray Research’s Cray-1, which employed similar vector processing methods but delivered superior performance on shorter vectors.

Despite disappointing sales of the STAR models, CDC continued producing successors such as the Cyber 200/205 series that competed with Cray Research offerings. Additionally, CDC pursued specialized projects including limited-run black project machines like the Advanced Flexible Processor (AFP), also referred to as CYBER PLUS.

Another development was the "Cyber 80" initiative targeting a 1980 launch; this model aimed to provide backward compatibility with legacy software alongside a new 64-bit architecture intended to facilitate customer migration. Development extended beyond its initial timeline with eventual releases under alternate designations.

To expand beyond hardware sales alone, CDC also promoted services such as the PLATO computer-aided learning system, which operated on Cyber hardware and pioneered early technologies like bit-mapped touchscreen terminals.

Magnetic Peripherals Inc.

A number of major Japanese companies ventured into the supercomputer arena, which was too limited in size to sustain numerous competitors. This situation led CDC to diversify into other industries, such as the hard disk drive (HDD) sector.

Magnetic Peripherals Inc., which was later renamed Imprimis Technology, was founded in 1975 as a collaborative enterprise with Honeywell for HDD manufacturing. CII-Honeywell Bull acquired a 3% share from Honeywell, and in 1983, Sperry joined with a 17% stake, resulting in ownership divided as CDC (67%), Honeywell (17%), and Sperry (17%). MPI functioned primarily as an internal supplier, distributing OEM products exclusively to its parent companies, while CDC retailed MPI drives under its own branding.

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, MPI emerged as a key contender in the HDD market, leading global innovation in 14-inch disk drive technology with its SMD (Storage Module Device) and CMD (Cartridge Module Drive) product lines. The Brynmawr facility in South Wales operated continuously around the clock and by 1979 had produced over one million disk drives along with three million magnetic tapes. CDC also broke new ground with eight-inch drives through its MPI branch in Oklahoma City; the CDC Wren series gained traction among premium customers but fell short compared to emerging competitors like Micropolis, Maxtor, and Quantum in terms of capacity and speed. Collaboratively with Compaq and Western Digital, CDC helped develop the widely embraced Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) standard, which facilitated cost-effective integration of lower-performance drives.

To advance 3.5-inch drive technology based on Wren designs, CDC established the Rigidyne division in Simi Valley. Marketed under the "Swift" brand, these drives were among the earliest high-performance 3.5-inch models introduced in 1987.

In September 1988, CDC consolidated Rigidyne and MPI into a single entity named Imprimis Technology. The following year, Seagate Technology purchased Imprimis for $250 million in cash, 10.7 million shares of Seagate stock, and a $50 million promissory note.

Investments

Control Data held equity positions in various enterprises including computer research firm Arbitron, Commercial Credit Corporation, and Ticketron.

Commercial Credit Corporation

In 1968, Commercial Credit Corporation (CCC) faced an aggressive takeover bid from Loews Inc., which had acquired close to 10% of CCC's shares with intentions to dismantle the company. To thwart this move, CCC secured financial backing from Control Data to retain control, unexpectedly resulting in CDC owning a diverse portfolio of assets. During the 1980s, Control Data encountered financial challenges and began divesting holdings. In 1986, Sandy Weill convinced CDC to spin off Commercial Credit to prevent liquidation. Subsequently, Weill expanded Commercial Credit into what evolved into Citigroup. The company was renamed CitiFinancial in 1999, and its US operations were rebranded as OneMain Financial in 2011.

Ticketron

In 1969, Control Data acquired a majority interest of 51% in Ticketron for $3.9 million from Cemp Investments. By 1970, Ticketron had become the exclusive provider of computerized ticketing services within the United States. Control Data increased its investment further in 1973. Ticketron also supplied ticketing equipment and systems for parimutuel wagering and multiple state lotteries including those of New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Washington, and Maryland.

By the mid-1980s, Ticketron represented Control Data’s most lucrative division with revenues reaching $120 million; nevertheless, CDC contemplated divesting it amid wider financial losses. In 1990, most of Ticketron’s assets were acquired by The Carlyle Group, which then sold the company to competitor Ticketmaster in 1991—except for a small antitrust carve-out related to Broadway's "Telecharge" service.

ETA Systems, asset divestiture, and company wind-down

CDC sought to establish itself within the high-performance computing sector; however, Norris perceived the firm as lacking momentum and incapable of swiftly delivering competitive hardware. In 1983, he launched the subsidiary ETA Systems with an ambitious objective: to develop a processor capable of achieving 10 GFLOPs, approximately 40 times the speed of the Cray-1. While the project never fully reached its intended performance benchmarks or matured completely, ETA Systems nonetheless manufactured some of the era’s fastest machines, distributing seven liquid nitrogen-cooled units alongside 27 smaller air-cooled models over several years. These systems incorporated innovative CMOS technology that produced less heat. The initiative was discontinued due to modest sales results; by 1989, most ETA personnel had been laid off, and remaining employees were reintegrated into CDC.

Despite possessing valuable technological advancements, CDC experienced substantial financial setbacks in 1985 ($567 million loss) and again in 1986 amid corporate restructuring. In 1987, it divested its PathLab Laboratory Information System to 3M. Facing diminishing returns in hardware manufacturing, CDC initiated its withdrawal from the computer market in 1988, beginning with the sale of Imprimis. Additional holdings such as VTC—a semiconductor manufacturer affiliated with MPI—and non-computer ventures like Ticketron were also sold off.

By 1992, CDC underwent a corporate split into two autonomous entities: Control Data Systems, Inc. (CDS), which focused on computing operations, and Ceridian Corporation, dedicated to information services. CDS acquired ICEM Technologies, known for ICEM DDN and ICEM Surf software products; this division was later sold to PTC for $40.6 million in 1998. Subsequently, in 1999, CDS was purchased by Syntegra, a subsidiary of the BT Group, and incorporated into BT’s Global Services division.

Ceridian evolved into a prominent outsourced IT company specializing in human resources. Its Energy Management Division—responsible for overseeing up to a quarter of worldwide electricity consumption—was transferred during the split to Ceridian, rebranded as Empros, and sold to Siemens in 1993. In 1997, General Dynamics acquired Ceridian’s Computing Devices International Division, originally CDC’s Government Systems Division focused on defense electronics.

In March 2001, Ceridian underwent another division: the original Ceridian Corporation adopted the name Arbitron Inc., while retaining the human resources services and Comdata units under the Ceridian brand. A further separation occurred in 2013 with the establishment of Ceridian HCM Holding Inc. (human resources services) and Comdata Inc. (payment solutions), marking the final partitioning of CDC’s legacy assets.

System release chronology

CDC 1604 series – models including 1604, 1604-A, 1604-B, 1604-C, and 924 (a simplified variant of the 1604)
CDC 160 series – models such as 160, 160A (160-A), and 160G (160-G)
CDC 3000 series – comprising models 3100, 3200, 3300, 3400, 3500, 3600, and 3800
CDC 6000 series – including models like 6200, 6400, 6500, and 6700
CDC 6600
CDC 7600
CDC CYBER – encompassing models such as Cyber17, Cyber18, Cyber71–76, Cyber170–176, Cyber203, Cyber205, Omega/480, and Cyber700
CDC STAR-100

1957 – Company founded
1959 – Introduction of model 1604
1960 – Launch of model 1604-B
1961 – Release of model 160
1962 – Debut of model 924 (a 24-bit variant of the 1604)
1963 – Models introduced: 160A (160-A), 1604-A, 3400, and 6600
1964 – Rollout of models: 160G (160-G), 3100, 3200, 3600, and 6400
1965 – Introduction of models: 1604-C, 1700, 3300, 3500; also models 8050 and 8090
1966 – Launches included models: 3800, 6200, and 6500; plus Station 6000
1968 – Debut of 7600
1969 – Release of model 6700
1970 – Introduction of STAR-100
1971 – Cyber models Cyber71–76 released
1972 – Models introduced: 5600 and 8600
1973 – Releases included Cyber17 and Cyber170–175 (also Cyber172–174)
1976 – Launch of Cyber18
1977 – Models Cyber171 and Cyber176 along with Omega/480 introduced
1979 – Release of Cyber203 and series including Cyber720, Cyber730, Cyber740, Cyber750, and Cyber760
1980 – Introduction of Cyber205
1982 – Rollout of advanced models: Cyber815, Cyber825, Cyber835, Cyber845, Cyber855, Cyber865, and Cyber875
1983 – Launch of ETA10
1984 – Introduction of models: Cyber810, Cyber830, Cyber840, Cyber850, Cyber860, Cyber990, and CyberPlus
1987 – Release of models: Cyber910, Cyber930, and Cyber995
1988 – Debut of Cyber960
1989 – Launches included Cyber920 and Cyber2000

Note: The early-1980s Cyber series (models in the ’8xx’ & ’9xx’ range) constituted the sophisticated advanced Cyber180 lineup featuring a virtual memory system running CDC’s NOS/VE operating system. While their Peripheral Processors remained at a width of sixteen bits, these machines were commonly designated as "180/xxx," although shorter forms like Cyber990 were frequently used.

Peripheral Systems Group

During the 1970s and 1980s, Control Data Corporation's Peripheral Systems Group functioned as a division dedicated to both hardware and software development, concentrating on IBM-compatible platforms. This group created and distributed operating system software tailored for IBM environments, aiming to strengthen CDC's foothold in the mainframe sector.

A prominent offering from this unit was CUPID, an acronym for "Control Data's Program for Unlike Data Set Concatenation," engineered specifically for IBM's MVS operating system. Designed with systems programmers in mind, CUPID provided sophisticated configuration capabilities along with user-accessible control blocks to facilitate intricate data management tasks within IBM infrastructures.

Film and science fiction references

Mars Needs Women (1967) – a CDC 3400 computer is depicted managing radio communications and coordinating military responses against Martian spacecraft.
Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970) – early CDC machines and tape drives appear in the opening sequences.
The Mad Bomber (1973) – law enforcement utilizes a CDC 3100 to develop a profile of the bomber.
The Adolescence of P-1 (1977), authored by Thomas Ryan – Control Data computers attract the attention of the young protagonist P-1.
The New Avengers – In episode 2-10 ("Complex", 1977), the character Purdey operates a CDC card reader.
Mi-Sex – Computer Games (1979) – band members are shown inside the Control Data North Sydney facility interacting with CDC hardware.
Tron (1982) – scenes filmed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory feature a CDC 7600 alongside a Cray-1 supercomputer.
Die Hard (1988) – the film’s computer room includes operational Cyber 180 systems and a fabricated ETA-10 supercomputer, supplied by CDC Demonstration Services after another vendor withdrew; these units were transported to Hollywood and later documented in corporate archives for cinematic use.
They Live (1988), directed by John Carpenter – an advertisement for Control Data Corporation appears when the protagonist dons special sunglasses; the film’s credits express "special thanks" to CDC.

External links

Control Data Corporation Records housed at the Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota; these CDC archives were donated by Ceridian Corporation in 1991 and include historical timelines, product chronologies, and lists of joint ventures.
Oral history interview with William Norris covering ERA years, acquisition by Remington Rand, Univac File computer development, and formation of CDC at the Charles Babbage Institute.
Oral history interview with Willis K. Drake discussing Remington-Rand, Eckert-Mauchly Computer Company, ERA, and CDC origins at the Charles Babbage Institute.
[http://purl.umn.edu/104327 Panel discussion moderated by Neil R. Lincoln featuring eighteen CDC engineers on computer architecture and design topics including CDC 1604, CDC 6600, CDC 7600, CDC STAR-100, and contributions of Seymour Cray. Hosted by the Charles Babbage Institute.
Information regarding Commercial Credit’s spin-off from CDC led by Sandy Weill
Details about Control Data’s CDC 3800 Computer exhibited at the National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.
Private collection featuring historical documents related to CDC
Library of Control Data User Manuals hosted by Computing History
Historical computing records detailing use of CDC systems between 1970–1985
German archive covering CDC, Cray, and other major computer systems