“The World’s Greatest Salesman”

Born a country boy in upstate NY in 1874 He tried teaching and accounting… … then became a traveling salesman for pianos and then sewing machines

One day he was working, took a break, got drunk and lost his horse and carriage. He was fired and couldn’t get another job. Tom learned a lesson and always had strict rules for his company.

Watson joined the Computing Tabulating Recordingthe Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation (CTR) on May 1, When Watson took over as general manager, the company had fewer than 400 employees. In 1924, he renamed the company International Business Machines. Watson built IBM into such a powerful force that the federal government filed a civil antitrust suit against them in IBM owned and leased more than 90 percent of all tabulating machines in the United States at the time.Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation (CTR)May International Business Machines

Taking the advice of a professor, Cray ventured down the street to Engineering Research Associates… ERA *ERA was one of the first computing facilities in terms of digital circuits. *Cray started out working on the 1100 series computers for the government which later turned out to be Univac. * Since the company was so new, Cray spent a great deal of time researching what computing should be and how it works. …..Cont’d

*The first computer Cray designed by himself was the 1103 computer, the first commercially successful scientific computer, based on simplicity. *After being a member of a design group for the development of two computers, Cray was set on his own for the development of the next computer. *Cray worked odd hours to avoid distractions from coworkers and became a permanent part of his life.

*After a couple of years, ERA was purchased by Remington Rand. *When Remington took over, the focus of products switched to commercially attractive computers. *Eventually, Cray and his scientific computers were phased out, so Cray decided to join Bill Norris and help start Control Data Corporation.

“I could understand the goals and direct my efforts towards that.” * He moved to Chippewa Falls and had a research and development facility where his first project at CDC was the1604 Computer. *Next for Cray came the 6600 and the 7600 *In 1972, Cray realized that the market for large scale scientific computers had become small so soon CDC would be discontinuing their efforts in this area. Thus was the beginning of Cray Research Inc..

*Cray used the newest technology to build Cray 1(super computer). *Cray went on to design the next successful Cray Research computer, the Cray 2. *The Cray 3 computer could reach speeds up to 500MHz but none were ever sold. *The Cray 4 was twice as fast as the previous but was never completed.