Thinking Machines
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{{Otheruses4|the supercomputer manufacturer|the race of sentient computers in the [[Dune universe]]|Thinking machines (Dune)}}
[[Image:Thinking Machines Connection Machine CM-5 Frostburg 2.jpg|right|thumbnail|Thinking Machines [[CM-5]] "[[FROSTBURG]]" at the [[National Cryptologic Museum]]]]
'''Thinking Machines Corporation''' was a [[supercomputer]] manufacturer founded in [[Waltham, Massachusetts]] in 1982 by [[W. Daniel Hillis|W. Daniel "Danny" Hillis]] and [[Sheryl Handler]] to turn Hillis's doctoral work at [[MIT]] on [[parallel computing|massively parallel computing]] architectures into a commercial product called the [[Connection Machine]]. The company moved in 1984 from Waltham to [[Kendall Square]] in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]], close to the [[MIT AI Lab]] and Thinking Machines' competitor [[Kendall Square Research]]. Besides Kendall Square Research, Thinking Machines' competitors included [[MasPar]], which made a computer similar to the [[Connection Machine|CM-2]], and [[Meiko Scientific|Meiko]], whose CS-2 was similar to the [[Connection Machine|CM-5]].
:''"We're building a machine that will be proud of us."'' – Thinking Machines' motto
==Products==
Thinking Machines produced a number of Connection Machine models (in chronological order): the CM-1, CM-2, CM-200, CM-5, and the CM-5E. The CM-1 and 2 came first in models with 64K (65,536) bit-serial processors (16 processors per chip) and later smaller numbered versions (16,384 (16K) and 4,096 (4K) processors). The Connection Machine was programmed in a variety of specialized languages, including [[*Lisp]] and CM Lisp (derived from [[Common Lisp]]), [[C*]] (derived from [[C (programming language)|C]]), and CM [[FORTRAN]] (using a special compiler to translate standard Fortran code to the parallel instruction set of the machine). The CM-1 through CM-200 were examples of [[SIMD]] architecture (Single Instruction Multiple Data), while the later CM-5 and CM-5E were [[MIMD]] (Multiple Instructions Multiple Data) using commodity [[SPARC]] processors using a "[[fat tree]]" interconnect. Thinking Machines also introduced the first commercial [[RAID]] disk array, called the [[DataVault]], in 1985.
The CM-2 required a [[Symbolics]] 3600 LISP machines as a [[front-end]] processor; later models used [[Sun Microsystems]] workstations or [[VAX]] minicomputers.
A claim was made that a small CM-5 was once placed aboard a nuclear submarine, but this claim has not been substantiated.
Thinking Machines developed the C* programming language as an extension of the C programming language for the Connection Machine data parallel computing system.
==Business history==
Thinking Machines became profitable in 1989 thanks to its [[DARPA]] contracts,{{Fact|date=March 2008}} and in 1990 the company had $65 million (USD) in revenue, making it the market leader in parallel supercomputers. In 1991, DARPA reduced its purchases amid criticism it was unfairly subsidizing Thinking Machines at the expense of other vendors like [[Cray]], [[IBM]], and in particular, [[NCUBE]] and [[MasPar]]. By 1992 the company was losing money again, due to lack of business; CEO [[Sheryl Handler]] was forced out in the face of public criticism.
Thinking Machines filed for [[Chapter 11]] bankruptcy in August 1994. The hardware portion of the company was purchased by [[Sun Microsystems]], and TMC re-emerged as a small software company specializing in parallel software tools for commodity clusters and [[data mining]] software for its installed base and former competitors' parallel supercomputers. In December of 1996, the parallel software development business was acquired by [[Sun Microsystems]], forming the basis of Sun's entry into High Performance Computing.
Thinking Machines continued as a pure data mining company until it was acquired in 1999 by [[Oracle Corporation]].
The program [[Wide area information server|WAIS]], developed at Thinking Machines by [[Brewster Kahle]], would later be influential in starting the [[Internet Archive]] and associated projects including the [[Rosetta Disk]] as part of Danny Hillis' Clock of the Long Now.
Key architect [[Greg Papadopoulos]] later became Sun Microsystems, Inc.'s Chief Technology Officer.
==Dispersal==
Many of the hardware people left for [[Sun Microsystems]] and went on to design the [[Sun Enterprise]] series of parallel computers. The [[Darwin datamining toolkit]], developed by Thinking Machines' Business Supercomputer Group, was purchased by [[Oracle Corporation|Oracle]]. Most of the team that built ''Darwin'' left for [[Dun & Bradstreet]] soon after the company entered bankruptcy.
Thinking Machines alumni ("thunkos") were instrumental in forming several parallel computing software start-ups, including [[Ab Initio]] Software and Applied Parallel Technologies. [[Ab Initio]] is still an independent company; Applied Parallel Technologies, later renamed to [[Torrent Systems]], was acquired by [[Ascential Software]], which was in turn acquired by [[IBM]].
Besides Danny Hillis, other noted people who worked for or with the company included [[Greg Papadopoulos]], [[David Waltz]], [[Guy L Steele, Jr.]], [[Karl Sims]], [[Brewster Kahle]], [[Bradley Kuszmaul]], [[Charles E. Leiserson]], [[Marvin Minsky]], [[Carl Feynman]], [[Cliff Lasser]], [[Alex Vasilevsky]], [[Doug Lenat]], [[Stephen Wolfram]], [[Eric Lander]], [[Richard Feynman]], [[Mirza Mehdi]], [[Alan Harshman]], [[Alan Mercer]], [[James Bailey (executive)|James Bailey]] and [[Jack Schwartz]].
[[DARPA]]'s Connection Machines were decommissioned by 1996. [http://www.cisl.ucar.edu/computers/gallery/index.jsp]
==External links==
*[http://www.inc.com/magazine/19950915/2622.html The Rise and Fall of Thinking Machines], ''Inc. Magazine'', September 1995
*[http://www.longnow.org/views/essays/articles/ArtFeynman.php 'Richard Feynman and The Connection Machine' by W. Daniel Hillis]
*[http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Thinking-Machines.aspx Thinking Machines] by Alex Papadimoulis in Tales from the Interview
==See also==
* [[FROSTBURG]] — a CM-5 used by the [[NSA]]
[[Category:Defunct computer companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Companies based in Massachusetts]]
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