Multiflow Computer Inc, Branford, Connecticut developer of the Trace family of very long instruction word supercomputers is making a strong case for being one of the survivors and thrivers among the current clutch of super start-ups: the company says that it shipped 11 Trace systems in the fourth quarter to December 31, bringing the total shipped since April to 19; customers include researcher and engineer Sachs/Freeman Associates Inc, the department of chemistry at Washington University in St Louis, Procter & Gamble and the US Naval Weapons Center in China Lake, California; the German distributor shipped two systems, one to Steiner Film Studios in Munich, the other to the department of electrical computer-aided design at the University of Erlangen-Nurnberg in Erlangen.