IBM and Thinking Machines to Develop New Technology

International Business Machines said Monday that it has signed a joint-development agreement with Thinking Machines Corp. that strengthens a new technology for the world’s largest and most powerful computer systems.

Thinking Machines, a small Boston-area company, pioneered “massively parallel” processing, in which hundreds or thousands of microprocessor chips simultaneously solve pieces of a large problem.

The technology has been fighting to gain legitimacy in a race with traditional supercomputers built by companies such as Cray Research and Japan’s NEC. The involvement of IBM, the world’s largest computer company, will give the technology a major boost.

The research and development agreement will combine IBM’s mainframe computer experience with Thinking Machines’ knowledge of the technology. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Sheryl Handler, Thinking Machines’ president, said her Cambridge, Mass., company is interested in IBM’s semiconductor and computer-disk technology.

IBM does not sell supercomputers, the world’s most powerful computers. They are used for weather forecasting, economic modeling and other calculations that involve huge figures.

IBM has several internal development projects for supercomputers under way as well as a research and development agreement with Steve Chen, a former Cray Computer Corp. scientist who runs Supercomputing Systems Inc. The Chen agreement involves conventional supercomputer technology.