Tera Computer Company

Tera Computer Company was an American developer and manufacturer of high-performance computing hardware and software. The company was founded in Washington, D.C., in 1987 by James Rottsolk and Burton Smith, and moved to Seattle, Washington, in 1988. Its work centered on a distinctive approach to supercomputer design that used extensive hardware multithreading to keep processors productive while waiting for memory operations. Tera's principal product was the MTA, a supercomputer architecture built around interleaved or barrel processing. Rather than depending primarily on a conventional data cache to hide memory latency, the system switched among multiple instruction threads. This approach was intended to allow another thread to execute when one thread was stalled, making latency tolerance a central feature of the architecture. The MTA also used a deeply pipelined memory system capable of handling many simultaneous requests and employed address randomization to reduce memory hot spots. The company operated as both a hardware and software enterprise. Its technology was aimed at high-performance and scientific computing workloads that could exploit large numbers of concurrent threads. For processor development, Tera engaged Cadence Design Systems in 1997 to develop CMOS-based microprocessors. Its gallium arsenide central processing unit was manufactured by Unisys, reflecting the specialized semiconductor processes associated with the company's early systems. Tera was publicly traded on NASDAQ under the symbol TERA. Its independent corporate identity ended in 2000, when it acquired the Cray Research division of Silicon Graphics. Following that transaction, the company changed its name to Cray Inc. The Tera name therefore survives primarily as an important predecessor identity in the history of Cray's advanced-computing business rather than as an active standalone brand.

Tera Computer Company emerged from the high-performance computing research and commercialization efforts of James Rottsolk and Burton Smith. It was founded in Washington, D.C., in 1987 and relocated to Seattle, Washington, in 1988. From the beginning, the company pursued a design philosophy that treated concurrency and memory latency as fundamental architectural problems rather than relying solely on the cache-centered techniques common in many conventional processors. Its first major system was the MTA supercomputer. The MTA used interleaved multithreading, also described as barrel processing, to alternate execution among multiple threads. When one thread encountered a memory delay, the processor could switch to another, allowing the machine to tolerate latency through concurrency. The system did not use a conventional data cache for this purpose. Instead, it combined thread switching with a deeply pipelined memory subsystem designed to support many simultaneous memory requests. Address randomization was used to help distribute accesses and avoid memory hot spots. Tera's activities covered both computing systems and the underlying processor technology. The company developed high-performance computing software and hardware, while also arranging external manufacturing and development relationships for its processors. In 1997, it turned to Cadence Design Systems to develop microprocessors for CMOS implementation. Unisys manufactured the gallium arsenide CPU used in Tera's technology. These arrangements illustrate the specialized semiconductor and systems-development model required by advanced supercomputer companies at the time. Tera was listed on NASDAQ under the symbol TERA. Despite its technically distinctive architecture, the company ultimately did not remain independent. In 2000, it acquired the Cray Research division of Silicon Graphics. The combined business adopted the name Cray Inc., transferring Tera's corporate identity into the Cray organization. The transaction connected Tera's multithreaded computing heritage with the longer-established Cray supercomputing business. The later history of the successor company is separate from the Tera brand. Cray Inc. was acquired by Hewlett Packard Enterprise in 2019 for $1.3 billion. Tera Computer Company itself is therefore best understood as a defunct high-performance computing company and as a predecessor to the modern Cray business, rather than as an active independent manufacturer.

• 2000

  Tera becomes Cray Inc.

  [1]Tera Computer Companyen.wikipedia.org

  After acquiring the Cray Research division of Silicon Graphics, Tera changed its name to Cray Inc.

• 1997

  CMOS processor development agreement

  [1]Tera Computer Companyen.wikipedia.org

  Tera engaged Cadence Design Systems to develop microprocessors for CMOS technology.

• 1988

  Company relocates to Seattle

  [1]Tera Computer Companyen.wikipedia.org

  Tera moved its operations from Washington, D.C., to Seattle, Washington.

• 1987

  Tera Computer Company is founded

  [1]Tera Computer Companyen.wikipedia.org

  James Rottsolk and Burton Smith founded Tera Computer Company in Washington, D.C.

• MTA supercomputer is developed

  [1]Tera Computer Companyen.wikipedia.org

  Tera developed the MTA, a supercomputer based on interleaved multithreading, specialized memory pipelines, and address randomization.

High-performance computing and latency-tolerant multithreaded supercomputer architecture

• Supercomputer

  Tera MTA

  The MTA was Tera Computer Company's principal supercomputer product. Its architecture used interleaved multithreading, allowing the processor to switch among threads to tolerate memory latency. Unlike systems that relied heavily on data caches, the MTA used thread switching and a deeply pipelined memory system capable of servicing many simultaneous requests. Address randomization helped reduce memory hot spots, supporting the system's aim of sustaining performance on highly concurrent workloads.

• 2000

  Acquire Cray Research and adopt the Cray nameM&A

  Background

  Tera pursued a combination with the Cray Research division of Silicon Graphics, bringing together Tera's multithreaded computing technology and Cray's established supercomputing business.

  Action taken

  Tera acquired the Cray Research division and renamed the resulting company Cray Inc.

  Aftermath

  The Tera Computer Company name ceased to be used as the standalone corporate identity, while the successor continued operating under the Cray brand.

  Source

• 2000

  Tera acquires Cray Research from Silicon Graphics and becomes Cray Inc.[1]Tera Computer Companyen.wikipedia.org

  M&A · Leadership change

  Tera Computer acquired the Cray Research division of Silicon Graphics and changed its corporate name to Cray Inc., ending the Tera brand's independent corporate identity.

• 1997

  Tera partners with Cadence Design Systems on CMOS microprocessors[1]Tera Computer Companyen.wikipedia.org

  Other

  Tera worked with Cadence Design Systems to develop microprocessors using CMOS technology for its computing systems.

• Tera Computer develops the MTA supercomputer architecture[1]Tera Computer Companyen.wikipedia.org

  Product launch · Product generation

  Tera's first supercomputer product, the MTA, introduced an interleaved multithreading design that used thread switching and a specialized memory system to address processor-memory latency.

1. 1Tera Computer Companyen.wikipedia.org