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Thinking Machines Corporation

From Alfawiki
Thinking Machines Corporation
Company typePrivate
IndustrySupercomputers, Artificial intelligence, Computer hardware, Software
FoundedJanuary 1, 1983; 43 years ago (1983-01-01) in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States
FounderSheryl Handler, Danny Hillis
Defunct1994 (1994)
FateBankruptcy; hardware division acquired by Sun Microsystems; software division later acquired by Sun Microsystems and then Oracle Corporation
SuccessorSun Microsystems (hardware division), Oracle Corporation (software division)
Headquarters
Cambridge
,
United States
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Sheryl Handler (CEO), Danny Hillis (Founder), Greg Papadopoulos (CTO at Sun Microsystems post-acquisition)
ProductsConnection Machine (CM-1, CM-2, CM-200, CM-5, CM-5E), DataVault RAID system, parallel software tools, data mining software

Thinking Machines Corporation was established in 1983 in Waltham, Massachusetts, by entrepreneurs Sheryl Handler and Danny Hillis. The firm specialized in supercomputers and artificial intelligence (AI), commercializing Hillis's doctoral research at MIT on massively parallel computing architectures through its primary product, the Connection Machine. In 1984, the company moved to Kendall Square in Cambridge, close to the MIT AI Lab, which strengthened its ties within the technology sector.

By 1993, Thinking Machines had secured a leading position in the supercomputer industry, with its Connection Machines ranking among the four fastest computers worldwide. Despite pioneering technology and a forward-thinking business approach centered on parallel computing hardware and software, the company declared bankruptcy in 1994. Following this, its hardware and software divisions were acquired by Sun Microsystems, marking a major shift in its corporate trajectory and market role.

Supercomputer products

The company produced multiple Connection Machine variants, including the CM-1, CM-2, CM-200, CM-5, and CM-5E. The initial models such as the CM-1 and CM-2 incorporated up to 64K bit-serial processors (16 per chip) with smaller versions featuring 16K and 4K processors. These systems utilized a single instruction, multiple data (SIMD) architecture paired with a hypercube interconnection network designed to reduce latency. Later iterations—the CM-5 and CM-5E—transitioned to a multiple instruction, multiple data (MIMD) framework that integrated commodity SPARC processors alongside proprietary vector processors within a fat tree network topology.

Programming for these machines required specialized languages like *Lisp, CM Lisp (a derivative of Common Lisp), C*, and CM Fortran, all compiled using proprietary compilers optimized for parallel instruction execution. Each Connection Machine was supported by a serial front-end processor, typically a Sun Microsystems workstation; earlier setups occasionally employed a Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) VAX minicomputer or a Symbolics Lisp machine.

Beyond supercomputing hardware, Thinking Machines launched the DataVault around 1988—an early commercial application of a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) level 2 disk array that improved data storage reliability.

Business history

In May 1985, Thinking Machines became the third organization to register a .com domain name (think.com). The company achieved profitability by 1989, largely due to contracts from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). By 1990, it had generated $65 million in hardware and software sales, dominating the parallel supercomputer market. Its chief competitor was Cray Research, alongside firms such as nCUBE, Kendall Square Research, MasPar, and Meiko Scientific. However, in 1991, DARPA and the United States Department of Energy reduced procurement amid allegations of favoritism, while tightening export regulations constrained sales of its high-end Connection Machines. Financial difficulties culminated in CEO Sheryl Handler’s departure by 1992.

Thinking Machines filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August 1994. Sun Microsystems purchased its hardware division, while Thinking Machines restructured into a smaller company concentrating on parallel software tools for commodity clusters and data mining applications targeting both its existing customers and competitors. In December 1996, Sun Microsystems also acquired Thinking Machines' parallel software division.

The company operated solely as a data mining enterprise until Oracle Corporation acquired it in 1999. Oracle’s subsequent acquisition of Sun Microsystems reunited much of Thinking Machines' intellectual property portfolio.

Significantly, the wide area information server (WAIS), developed at Thinking Machines by Brewster Kahle, played an influential role in establishing the Internet Archive and related initiatives. Additionally, architect Greg Papadopoulos later served as chief technology officer (CTO) at Sun Microsystems.

Dispersal

A significant number of hardware engineers from Thinking Machines joined Sun Microsystems, where they played a role in developing the Sun Enterprise line of parallel computing systems. The Darwin data mining software, originally created by Thinking Machines' Business Supercomputer Group, was acquired by Oracle; most members of that group had relocated to Dun & Bradstreet following the company's 1994 bankruptcy.

Former Thinking Machines employees, often referred to as "Thunkos," went on to establish multiple startups focused on parallel computing. Notable among these were Ab Initio Software and Applied Parallel Technologies, which later became Torrent Systems. Torrent Systems was eventually purchased by Ascential Software, which itself was acquired by IBM.

Prominent individuals linked to Thinking Machines included Robert Millstein, Greg Papadopoulos, David Waltz, Guy L. Steele Jr., Karl Sims, Brewster Kahle, Bradley Kuszmaul, Carl Feynman, Cliff Lasser, Marvin Denicoff, Alex Vasilevsky, Allan Torres, Richard Fishman, Mirza Mehdi, Alan Harshman, Richard Jordan, Alan Mercer, James Bailey, and Tsutomu Shimomura. The company also counted early corporate fellows such as distinguished entrepreneurs and scholars like Marvin Minsky, Douglas Lenat, Stephen Wolfram, Tomaso Poggio, Richard Feynman, and Jack Schwartz. Later additions included notable figures such as Charles E. Leiserson, Alan Edelman, Eric Lander, and Lennart Johnsson.

By 1996, DARPA had phased out its use of Connection Machines.

References in popular culture

Thinking Machines Corporation's supercomputers have been featured as cultural symbols across various media outlets, highlighting their impact on the industry. In the 1993 movie Jurassic Park, several non-operational Connection Machines appear in the control room of the park. The character Dennis Nedry mentions "eight Connection Machines," and a video within the film references "Thinking Machines supercomputers."

In the 1996 film Mission Impossible, there is a scene where "Thinking Machine laptops" are requested to infiltrate the CIA's supercomputer system. Tom Clancy’s novels Rainbow Six and The Bear and the Dragon cite Thinking Machines supercomputers as essential NSA resources capable of sophisticated cryptographic analysis.

The 2008 video game Fallout 3 includes a fictional company named Think Machine, credited as the pre-apocalypse supplier of computing hardware for Vaults, demonstrating the enduring recognition of the brand.

See also

External links

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