Fifty Years Ago .... from the pages of Computer Weekly
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January 1976 computing, compiled by TNMOC volunteer archivist, Brian Aldous.
A selection of stories from Computer Weekly from January 1976. The full archive of Computer Weekly can be seen at TNMOC, where there are special rolling displays of front pages from 25 and 40 years ago.
IBM’s satellite communications plan develops:
The intention of IBM to carve a niche for itself in the satellite communications business took another step forward on December 22 with the formation of a new company, Satellite Business Systems, SBS. The company is owned jointly by IBM, Comsat General and Aetna Life and Casualty, an insurance firm which joined the IBM-Comsat consortium in September. SBS has now filed applications with the US Federal Communications Commission seeking authorisation for the establishment of an all-digital domestic satellite system serving large industrial, government and commercial users. (CW 478 1/1/1976 p1)
ICL ready with packaged 2903:
The new, smaller 2903, designated the 2903/20 is now expected to be announced by ICL this month. It will be a scaled-down, packaged version of the existing 2903 with a selling price of a little over £25,000 for a basic configuration. The machine will have a basic 16K of 24-bit words, 150 lines per minute printer, 300 cards per minute card reader, console, 10 million characters on disc and one or two local interactive VDUs. (CW 478 1/1/1976 p4)
NCC interface for EPSS tests delivered:
The first of ICL’s interface units for the Post Office’s Experimental Packet Switched Service has been delivered to the NCC in Manchester. Known as the ICL NIFU, Network Inter Face Unit, the device is built around the ICL 7503 peripheral controller, which offers line printer, card reader and magnetic tape facilities. Successful packet exchange experiments were carried out during the summer using the NIFU and the product is being offered by ICL to all 1900, 2900 and System 4 users who intend to take part in the EPSS project. (CW 478 1/1/1976 p11)
3M Laser Beam Recorder released in UK:
The Laser Beam Recorder COM system marketed in Europe since autumn 1974 has been formally launched in the UK. Five units of the LBR have been sold on the Continent since its inception. Its most notable feature is a helium neon laser beam in the filming unit which can be split into as many as seven components to create characters in the form of a seven positions high by five positions wide dot matrix. The LBR can be supplied either as a ‘dumb’, non-intelligent, recorder, or as a minicomputer front ended system which enables standard print tapes from the mainframe computer to be reformatted for COM recording. (CW 479 8/1/1976 p7)
New Look for IBM 360 and 370 systems:
Another product has been added to the range of software developed by Applied Data Research, of New Jersey. Known as Look, the package is a real time performance monitor for IBM 360 and 370 equipment. It is being examined by CAP UK, and its new subsidiary CPP, in Europe. CAP UK and CPP handle most of the ADR range. Since Look is expected to reach the same technical standard, and performance measurement aids are increasingly in demand, a positive decision on UK marketing is very likely. Owing to its real time orientation, said CAP, the product would complement the Boole and Babbage performance measurement software, also marketed by CAP. (CW 479 8/1/1976 p9)
IBM PoS wins London Co-op order:
A second UK order for IBM point-of-sale equipment has been placed. This time the buyer is the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society in London. The sale includes 103 IBM 3653 PoS terminals, 16 IBM 3657 ticket encoders, two 3651 store controllers and at least three 32/75 VDUs. The equipment will operate throughout RACS’ 16 department stores which stretch from Gravesend to Tooting. Although the co-operative society has not placed a price on the order, it is estimated to be worth£750,000. (CW 480 15/1/1976 p3)
CAI minis control petrol pumps:
Self-Service filling stations run by the Arco Petrol Company on the West coast of the United States are now controlled by Naked Minis from Computer Automation. Each minicomputer monitors six petrol pumps and handles cash and credit card sales-transactions. The minis have special slots for credit cards and paper money. The machines are linked to a credit card control centre, where card numbers are automatically checked against a file of stolen cards and bad accounts. When the credit card checking is complete, the customer presses the appropriate button to select the required grade of fuel, and fills his tank. The Naked Mini then prints a receipt, which shows the date, time of day, amount of petrol bought, the type, the price per gallon and the pump number. If change is required it issues a credit note…… Reg Hazelton, CA’s European marketing director for the Naked Mini, says the systems used by Arco could be a foretaste of things to come on this side of the Atlantic. (CW 480 15/1/1976 p26)
Network scheme for world trade:
A packet-switching data transmissions network linking computers run by companies and authorities involved in international trade is one future development suggested in a report on the use of data processing and data communications in this area. This report has been produced by Leonard Griffiths and Associates and was commissioned by the government’s Simplification of International Trade Procedures Board, SITPRO. The packet switching is a long-term proposal but, although the report is described as a preliminary inquiry, the Leonard Griffiths team suggests that two recommendations, port-based cargo control systems and establishment of standard data formats for trade documents, be acted upon immediately. (CW 481 22/1/1976 p1)
Gap filled with cost-effective DEC system-20:
The newest addition to the Digital Equipment product range, the DEC system-20, plugs a gap not only in DEC’s own product range but in the interactive transaction-oriented market as a whole. Priced from under £200,000 to over £400,000, the system is competitive with machines like the biggest ICL 2903, the Univac 90/30, the biggest IBM System 3 and the 370/115. However, DEC believes that the performance and capabilities of the system, particularly in applications with a heavy time-sharing transaction processing load, make it an extremely competitive rival for more expensive machines. At the top end a DEC system 20 can have 256K words of store, eight 100Mbyte disc drives, and eight tape drives. The 20 fills the gap between the largest PDP-11, the 11/70, and the large DEC system-10 with the new KL processor which directly addresses up to four million 36-bit words and competes with the largest 370/158. (CW 481 22/1/1976 p40)
Tymshare and PO link soon:
The Post Office and Tymshare are about to sign an agreement under which the US bureau, through its London link, will provide UK users with access, over the Tymnet network, to a number of large-scale US databases of scientific, technical and commercial information. Tymshare and the Post Office have been talking since early 1974 about this service, in which Tymshare will act as a third-party carrier, saving users the expense of dialling direct to the databases in the US. (CW 482 29/1/1976 p1)
Discs to enhance Philips system:
The latest entrant to the UK key-to-disc market, Philips subsidiary, MEL of Crawley, Sussex, will soon be enhancing the Philips XI150 system, with large scale disc storage, to produce file inquiry configuration, competing with the Inforex 5000 and CMC Reality Systems. The XI150 range is based on the 450 system manufactured in the US by Four Phase of Cupertino, California. Philips uses the powerful Four Phase 24-bit processor in the XI150, expandable up to 96K bytes, but provides most of the other systems components itself, including the operator display systems. (CW 482 29/1/1976 p7)
