Control Data Corporation
defunct supercomputer firm
Control Data Corporation (CDC) was a mainframe and supercomputer company that in the 1960s was one of the nine major U.S. computer companies, a group which included IBM, Burroughs Corporation, Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), NCR Corporation (NCR), General Electric, Honeywell, RCA, and UNIVAC.
For most of the 1960s, CDC's strength was the design work of the electrical engineer Seymour Cray who developed a series of some of the fastest mainframes in the world. During the 1970s, Cray left CDC to found Cray Research (CRI) to manufacture supercomputers. In 1988, after much financial loss, CDC began withdrawing from mainframes and sold several of its affiliated companies.
In 1992, CDC went out of business after dividing its assets between two new companies, Ceridian and Control Data Systems, Inc. The remaining affiliate companies of CDC do business as the software company Dayforce.
Background
Communications Supplementary Activity - Washington (CSAW)
During World War II, the U.S. Navy in 1942 assembled a team of engineers called Communications Supplementary Activity - Washington (CSAW). Their mission was to use code breaking machinery developed by NCR to decipher secret Japanese and German codes. Their main targets were German U-boats using the Enigma machine. The CSAW staff included the electrical engineer Seymour Cray and the cryptographer William Norris. These two men would be key figures in the establishment and growth of CDC.
When the war ended in 1945, NCR advised the Navy that it was ceasing production of code breaking equipment.
The public source identifies “Control Data Corporation” as defunct supercomputer firm. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Control, Data and Corporation.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Control Data Corporation”, the useful work is to connect “defunct supercomputer firm” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1129191. VIAF identifies the subject as 137143356. The Library of Congress control number is n80033969. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1988, 1992, 1942 and 1945.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Control Data Corporation”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Control Data Corporation primary sources, Control Data Corporation archive and Control research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Control Data Corporation”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Control Data Corporation” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.