Parallel Computers, Inc. was an American computer manufacturing company, based in Santa Cruz, California, that made fault-tolerant computer systems based around the Unix operating system and various processors in the Motorola 68000 series.

Parallel computing is a type of computation in which many calculations or processes are carried out simultaneously. Large problems can often be divided into smaller ones, which can then be solved at the same time.

parallel processing

parallel processor

<parallel> A computer with more than one {central processing unit}, used for parallel processing. (1996-04-23)

In computational complexity theory, the parallel computation thesis is a hypothesis which states that the time used by a (reasonable) parallel machine is polynomially related to the space used by a sequential machine. The parallel computation thesis was set forth by Chandra and Stockmeyer in 1976.

<company> A UK computer manufacturer, part of the {Acorn Computer Group} plc. Acorn was founded on 1978-12-05, on a kitchen table in a back room. Their first creation was an electronic slot machine. After the Acorn System 1, 2 and 3, Acorn launched the first commercial microcomputer - the ATOM in March 1980. In April 1981, Acorn won a contract from the BBC to provide the PROTON. In January 1982 Acorn launched the BBC Microcomputer System. At one time, 70% of microcomputers bought for UK schools were BBC Micros. The Acorn Computer Group went public on the Unlisted Securities Market in September 1983. In April 1984 Acorn won the Queen's Award for Technology for the BBC Micro and in September 1985 Olivetti took a controlling interest in Acorn. The Master 128 Series computers were launched in January 1986 and the BBC Domesday System in November 1986. In 1983 Acorn began to design the Acorn RISC Machine (ARM), the first low-cost, high volume RISC processor chip (later renamed the Advanced RISC Machine). In June 1987 they launched the Archimedes range - the first 32-bit RISC based microcomputers - which sold for under UKP 1000. In February 1989 the R140 was launched. This was the first Unix workstation under UKP 4000. In May 1989 the A3000 (the new BBC Microcomputer) was launched. In 1990 Acorn formed Advanced RISC Machines Ltd. (ARM) in partnership with Apple Computer, Inc. and VLSI to develop the ARM processor. Acorn has continued to develop RISC based products. With 1992 revenues of 48.2 million pounds, Acorn Computers was the premier supplier of Information Technology products to UK education and had been the leading provider of 32-bit RISC based personal computers since 1987. Acorn finally folded in the late 1990s. Their operating system, RISC OS was further developed by a consortium of suppliers. Usenet newsgroups: news:comp.sys.acorn, news:comp.sys.acorn.announce, news:comp.sys.acorn.tech, news:comp.binaries.acorn, news:comp.sources.acorn, news:comp.sys.acorn.advocacy, news:comp.sys.acorn.games. Acorn's FTP server (ftp://ftp.acorn.co.uk/). {HENSA software archive (http://micros.hensa.ac.uk/micros/arch.html)}. {Computers Ltd.phudv/">Richard Birkby's Acorn page (http://csv.warwick.ac.uk/Acorn Computers Ltd.phudv/)}. RiscMan's Acorn page (http://geko.com.au/riscman/). Computers Ltd.rhh01/Main.html">Acorn On The Net (http://stir.ac.uk/Acorn Computers Ltd.rhh01/Main.html). {"The Jungle" by Simon Truss (http://csc.liv.ac.uk/users/u1smt/u1smt.html)}. [Recent history?] (2000-09-26)

Computers can be classified, or typed, in many ways. Some common classifications of computers are given below.

A parallel study is a type of clinical study where two groups of treatments, A and B, are given so that one group receives only A while another group receives only B. Other names for this type of study include "between patient" and "non-crossover".

<company> A US computer manufacturer. Quarterly sales $544M, profits $49M (Aug 1994). (1994-09-26)