Newsgroups: comp.parallel,comp.sys.super From: jss@Think.COM (Joshua Spiewak) Subject: Thinking Machines Corporation files plan to emerge from bankruptcy protection Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation Date: Thu, 9 Nov 1995 17:27:35 GMT Message-ID: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE THINKING MACHINES CORPORATION FILES PLAN TO EMERGE FROM BANKRUPTCY PROTECTION Restructured and refocused, the company plans to bring its software to the mainstream BEDFORD, Mass. (November 8, 1995) -- Thinking Machines Corporation, with the support of its creditors' and equity holders committees, today announced that it has filed a plan to emerge from its Chapter 11 reorganization as a recapitalized company focused on software, networking, and applications for multiprocessor computing. The plan, which is subject to Bankruptcy Court approval, calls for the recapitalization of the company by a $10 million infusion of working capital from private investors. Since filing for Chapter 11 protection in August 1994, Thinking Machines has cut costs and begun transforming operations to market its parallel software to add value and new levels of performance to mainstream computing systems. Thinking Machines' software extends the power and flexibility of these systems by allowing users to solve many small problems as well as big complex problems, including the mining of very large databases. The company has had four consecutive profitable quarters since October 1, 1994. "The market spoke loud and clear, and told this company that building some of the world's fastest computers was not, by itself, enough to sustain growth," said Robert L. Doretti, Thinking Machines' president and CEO. "We took a hard look at our core competencies and quickly realized that we had substantial expertise in the software that harnesses the power of multiprocessor computers. We believe there's a huge untapped market for this capability, and this is our strategic focus going forward." "Thinking Machines' core competencies position the company to capitalize on two powerful industry trends -- the market demand for scalable architectures, and the migration of high-performance technologies into commercial environments. The company's skill set answers the industry's call for expertise in providing solutions for data-intensive problems," said Debra Goldfarb, Director, Workstations and High-Performance Systems, International Data Corporation. On behalf of the company's creditors and current equity holders, the proposed plan also provides for the creation of a separate business entity to realize its patent rights. Thinking Machines owns patents to a variety of technologies, some of which have become standards in the computer industry. Founded in 1983, Thinking Machines is a pioneer in the supercomputer field known as massively parallel processing, and has created some of the world's most powerful computers. Today, the company's supercomputers are employed in a wide variety of fields, from seismic processing and molecular biology, to operations research and database mining. Thinking Machines will continue to develop enhancements to its Connection Machine family of systems. "Thinking Machines owes a great deal of gratitude to its loyal employees and customers for their support during this difficult period," said Doretti. "As we move forward in implementing our new strategy, I am greatly encouraged by the renewed sense of confidence in the company and the positive reception to our new business directions by the marketplace." In early October, the 180-employee company completed a move of its corporate headquarters from Cambridge to Bedford, Massachusetts. -- /-----------------------------------------------------------------------------\ | Joshua Spiewak E-mail: jss@think.com | | Thinking Machines Corp. WWW: http://www.think.com/tmhtml/users/jss/ | | 14 Crosby Drive Voice: (617) 276-0400 x2790 | | Bedford, MA 01730 Fax: (617) 276-0444 | \-----------------------------------------------------------------------------/