Parallel Computers, Inc. was an American computer manufacturing company, based in

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz (Spanish language, Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the largest city and the county seat of Santa Cruz County, California, Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city population ...

, that made

fault-tolerant Fault tolerance is the ability of a system to maintain proper operation despite failures or faults in one or more of its components. This capability is essential for high-availability, mission-critical, or even life-critical systems. Fault to ...

computer systems based around the

Unix operating system Unix (, ; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of Computer multitasking, multitasking, multi-user software, multi-user computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Corporation, AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the ...

and various processors in the

Motorola 68000 series The Motorola 68000 series (also known as 680x0, m68000, m68k, or 68k) is a family of 32-bit computing, 32-bit complex instruction set computer (CISC) microprocessors. During the 1980s and early 1990s, they were popular in personal computers and ...

History

The company was founded in 1983 and was premised on the idea of providing a less expensive alternative to existing fault-tolerant solutions, one that would be attractive to smaller businesses. Over time it received some $21 million of venture capital funding. Parallel Computers was part of a wave of technology companies that were based in that area during the 1980s, the

Santa Cruz Operation The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. (usually known as SCO, pronounced either as individual letters or as a word) was an American software company, based in Santa Cruz, California, that was best known for selling three Unix operating system variants ...

being the most well-known of them. Parallel Computers was also one of a number of new companies focusing on fault-tolerant solutions that were inspired by the success of

Tandem Computers Tandem Computers, Inc. was the dominant manufacturer of fault-tolerant computer systems for Automated teller machine, ATM networks, banks, stock exchanges, telephone switching centers, 911 systems, and other similar commercial transaction proc ...

. Other such companies included

Encore Computer Encore Computer Corporation was an American computer company independently active from 1983 to 1997. Based in Marlborough, Massachusetts, the company was an early pioneer in the parallel computing market. Although offering several system designs ...

Stratus Computer Stratus Technologies, Inc. is a major producer of fault tolerant computer servers and software. The company was founded in 1980 as Stratus Computer, Inc. in Natick, Massachusetts, and adopted its present name in 1999. The current CEO and presid ...

Tolerant Systems Veritas Technologies LLC is an American international data management company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The company has its origins in Tolerant Systems, founded in 1983 and later renamed Veritas Software. It specializes in stora ...

, Sequoia Systems,

Synapse Computer In the nervous system, a synapse is a structure that allows a neuron (or nerve cell) to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another neuron or a target effector cell. Synapses can be classified as either chemical or electrical, depending o ...

, Auragen Systems, No Halt Computers, Corinthian Systems, Enmasse, and

Computer Consoles Inc. Computer Consoles, Inc. or CCI was a telephony and computer company located in Rochester, New York, United States, which did business first as a private, and then ultimately a public company from 1968 to 1990. CCI provided worldwide telephone comp ...

Parallel Computers made systems that featured redundant hardware elements from processors and storage to power supplies, and that self-detected error situations. Their systems fit into the supermicrocomputer to minicomputer ranges in size. The difficulties of building fault-tolerant systems were considerable, however, including the unsuitability of Unix in that era for that purpose, and Parallel Systems like the other new companies in the space severely underestimated the engineering tasks involved. Significant product delays resulted as a consequence, as did layoffs, and Parallel Computers changed its chief executive during 1984. By 1986 Parallel had some $6 million in annual sales and employed 40 people. However it had made fewer than a hundred sales, and one industry analyst surmised that the small business marketplace Parallel was targeting was often not sophisticated enough to recognize the value of fault-tolerant solutions. Moreover, the company's sales force was too small to scale up and its manufacturing capabilities were limited. Parallel had OEM agreements with the likes of

Scientific Games Corporation Light & Wonder, Inc., formerly Scientific Games Corporation (SG), is an American corporation that provides gambling products and services. The company is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. Light & Wonder's gaming division provides products such ...

, and used resellers in the United Kingdom such as

Systime Computers Ltd Systime Computers Ltd was a British computer manufacturer and systems integrator of the 1970s and 1980s. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Systime became the second-largest British manufacturer of computers, specializing in the minicompu ...

, but sales were few through these channels as well. Accordingly, Parallel's management decided the company was not viable on its own, and Parallel Computers was sold to

General Automation GA General Automation was an American company, founded in 1968 by Burt Yale and Larry Goshorn (a former marketing executive and a salesman from Honeywell), which manufactured minicomputers and industrial controllers. General Automation was origina ...

in 1987, becoming a wholly owned subsidiary. It was then sold again in 1988, to the British computer manufacturing firm

Integrated Micro Products Integration may refer to: Biology *Multisensory integration *Path integration * Pre-integration complex, viral genetic material used to insert a viral genome into a host genome *DNA integration, by means of site-specific recombinase technology, ...

(IMP), following disappointing sales of the Parallel product. Following that, the Parallel Computers production facility in

Los Gatos, California Los Gatos (; ; ) is an List of municipalities in California, incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population is 33,529 according to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is located in the San Franc ...

was shut down and all manufacturing was moved to the north of England. IMP, by then focusing on telecommunications equipment, was eventually acquired by

Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc., often known as Sun for short, was an American technology company that existed from 1982 to 2010 which developed and sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services. Sun contributed sig ...

in March 1996 for $96 million.

References

{{reflist Defunct computer companies based in California Defunct computer companies of the United States Defunct computer hardware companies Fault-tolerant computer systems Technology companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Companies based in Santa Cruz, California American companies established in 1983 Computer companies established in 1983 Technology companies established in 1983 Manufacturing companies established in 1983 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1988 1983 establishments in California 1988 disestablishments in California Defunct companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area