Vast untapped business markets mean little to Cray Research Inc. unless people in these markets un derstand what supercomputers can do. So along with its surge into industry, Cray has been developing university accounts, which it sees as a fertile training ground for future corporate scientists. Larry Swan, director of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois, explains just how important this strategy is to the development of future markets for Cray. "The number of corporations that require supercomputing power is vastly greater than the number of companies that currently own a supercomputer. The problem is that researchers and strategic planners in the corporations don’t know how to use supercomputers on problems of critical interest to the individual corporation.”
This should change quickly. Universities will account for nearly 20% of Cray’s revenue in 1988, versus 12% last year and just 5% five years ago. Cray’s marketing ...
