Rebirth in America

CPT Computer Research Institute, it was already 3:30 in the morning, and the lights were still bright.

A man in white with squinting eyes and a handsome face directed his men to work. He was Seymour Clay, the famous computer department director of CPT Company.

He had been with the company for several years, spending the first few years improving the "first generation" transistor computers. While remodeling, I was familiar with the design concept of the "first generation".

Two or three years later, he proposed to his superiors to develop a more advanced computer. He was ambitious and tried to innovate on the basis of the "first generation". He wanted to increase the computing speed of the computer several times while reducing the cost to that of the "first generation". one third of .

Not only that, Seymour also urged Alex to come over to assist in his research work. With Alex joining, he believed that his plan would be completed as scheduled.

Indeed, Alex and Seymour have a very good understanding of each other, and the things they jointly develop are as if they were made by one person. As long as everyone meets and talks for a few words before taking action, the other party will soon be able to figure it out and then split up to do it. This kind of efficiency is not as simple as one plus one equals two, but a geometric increase in efficiency.

This most advanced computer in the world was named "Cray I". In fact, Seymour thought that Alex's name should also be added.

This proposal was rejected by Alex. He just wanted to keep a low profile and try to keep other people out of his way. There is no need to stand in front of the stage and accept the spotlight. If he wants to enjoy this kind of treatment. It would be better to make a few movies to feel more comfortable.

Today is the final testing stage of the "Clay Type I". As long as it passes, it will be announced to the world tomorrow. Their cpt company has stepped in front of others.

"Successful! The test is perfect, Mr. Seymour!" A staff member ran over, waving the final test results in his hand and shouting excitedly.

Seymour breathed a sigh of relief at first. He took the test report in his hand and looked through it carefully. Sure enough, the data above fully met his design requirements. With this report. He could imagine it. When this news spreads around the world, what a reaction it will cause.

"Very good! Everyone has worked hard. You can go back and have a good rest today. We will have a celebration party in a few days, and everyone must not be drunk by then!"

Seymour Clay happily shouted to the others. His words immediately sparked an uproar. Everyone feels that their efforts over the past few years have finally paid off. After this project is completed. There are definitely big bonuses on the way, and there are people who can get promoted.

Alex soon learned about the final completion of the "Cray I" computer, and he quickly rushed to the Computer Research Institute to look through the test data.

The speed of this computer can reach 36.4 MHz. There is a 65K word core main memory and variable L2 cache. It was more than ten times faster than the "first generation" transistor computer, with about 10 trillion floating-point operations per second and up to 36 trillion.

The Cray I computer costs less than $500,000, and if produced in large quantities, the cost will be reduced further. But its price is as high as 10 million US dollars, and this is a discounted price. It can be said to be a huge profit, and the profit is frighteningly high.

This price is not decided by anyone, but by the marketing department. They set such a high price after referring to the prices and performance of various computers on the market.

"Ten million dollars! Oh my god, that's faster than robbing a bank!"

Alex was also surprised by the price, but he did not refuse such a price. The more expensive the computer was, the more money he made.

"So what should we do with our first-generation computers? Will they start to be discontinued?" Regarding this issue, people in the marketing department began to have disagreements.

Some people think: "Of course we can't stop production, we have to continue to sell the first generation! After all, not everyone can afford the Cray I computer!"

Someone immediately retorted: "The Cray I computer is several times more cost-effective than the first-generation computer! For products like the first-generation computer that are about to be eliminated, we should gradually reduce shipments!"

"You can't say that. The price of the first-generation computers is still more suitable for the needs of mid-to-low-end users!"

"But if both models are produced together, it will inevitably lead to competition with ourselves, which will not be worth the gain!"

"Also, we can't allocate too much production capacity to the first-generation computers whose profits are too low. The profit earned from each sale of one Cray I is higher than that of four first-generation computers!"

There are many such debates, and everyone has different opinions, so the decision can only be made by the people above. They found Alex and Seymour Clay and wanted clear instructions. This will inevitably affect the future development direction of the company, so we have to be cautious.

After Alex listened to the marketing department's opinions, he turned back and asked Seymour: "What do you think?"

Seymour thought for a moment and said, "We are businessmen, so of course we are pursuing the most profitable direction."

Hearing this answer, Alex smiled and said to the people in the marketing department: "Continue to produce the first-generation computers, and at the same time, further reduce the price of the first-generation computers. Well, you should study it first and see if you can reduce the price. It should be more or less appropriate. My opinion is that the price reduction range is between 10% and 20%."

"Will we continue to produce the first generation? And the price will be reduced? Why is this?" Seymour asked in confusion.

Alex grinned at him: "Because there is IBM in this market, we may make less by doing this, but in the long run we can make more!"

The people in the marketing department and Seymour were a little surprised, but they soon realized that IBM had always been a competitor of CPT. Although the emergence of the first generation of computers impacted IBM, there was still no way to defeat IBM. After all, the company had a big business and was very powerful.

Now that CPT has a new model and then lowers the price of the first-generation computer, IBM's market share will inevitably be squeezed. It only takes a few years to completely squeeze IBM out of the mainstream computer market. From now on, the computer market will be dominated by CPT, and there will no longer be any fear of any surprises from IBM.

Alex is convinced that there is no suspense in the high-end market. Only in the mid- to low-end market can IBM gain a firm foothold. Now he wants to compete with IBM even in the mid- to low-end market.

The Cray I computer was based on the invention of the integrated circuit board invented by Alex. Although the "first generation" transistor computer also used integrated circuit board technology. However, Alex was manufactured in a hurry and sacrificed a lot of performance in order to meet the technical limitations of the era.

Seymour Cray was different. He got inspiration from the "first generation" and then had in-depth exchanges with Alex. As a result, the "Cray I" computer he created was far better than the "Cray I" computer. "The first generation" is much more advanced.

When the news of the successful development of the "Cray I" computer was announced, it immediately shocked the entire scientific community, and even ordinary people knew the news. People have inquired about the detailed parameters and selling price of this computer.

News agencies around the world reported this important news one after another. Photos of the "Cray I" computer were published on newspaper headlines. Seymour Cray became famous in one fell swoop and had a tendency to become the first person in computer research.

"Los Angeles Times" said: "CPT has another major breakthrough in the computer field! The Cray I is unstoppable!"

"The New York Times" said: "Seymour Cray has increased human computing power tenfold! His machine has made human beings smarter!"

"The Washington Post" said: "CPT struck hard, and IBM failed and was eliminated! The performance of the Cray I computer far exceeded that of the IBM 360 computer, and it was already behind and eliminated before it was even manufactured!"

The Wall Street Journal, which often ranks first in circulation in the United States, is also following this major event. The newspaper, which usually only focuses on financial information, also said: "The birth of the Cray I computer will definitely have an impact on the financial market. The improvement of supercomputers is the driving force for financial development!”

"New York Daily News" said: "Since the birth of the first generation of transistor computers, CPT has always occupied the highest peak in the computer field! Now the emergence of the Cray I has further consolidated their dominance."

"Chicago Tribune" said: "A new king is born, UU Reading www.uukanshu.net The old king is dead! CPT Company is bound to replace IBM Company and become the unique king in the computer field!"

The United Kingdom, as a brother country to the United States, has also reported extensively on this. The Times, the Guardian, the Observer, the News of the World and other British newspapers have made in-depth reports on this.

The Soviet Union, Cuba, China and other countries also reported the news. They reviewed the history of computer development in newspapers and emphasized the importance of computers to the development of human science and technology.

"In terms of weather forecasting, we can use supercomputers to simulate complex air and ocean current changes and predict weather trends, thereby avoiding or slowing down the damage caused by meteorological disasters to humans. In terms of earthquake forecasting, supercomputers can calculate various formation stress changes , simulates the movement of the earth's crust, which will help people explore earthquake prediction methods, thereby reducing the risk of earthquake-related disasters. In addition, it can also conduct wind tunnel testing, car design, and study the mysteries of the universe..."

The U.S. government's scientific research departments were even more ecstatic about the emergence of the Cray I computer. They proposed purchase budgets to the government one after another, hoping to equip the computer as soon as possible. Faced with this general trend, no matter how powerful IBM is, there is no way to prevent others from buying computers from CPT. (To be continued...)