Fifty Years Ago .... from the pages of Computer Weekly
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October 1975 computing, compiled by TNMOC volunteer archivist, Brian Aldous.
A selection of stories from Computer Weekly from November 1975. 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.
Whitbread plans mini network:
One of the biggest Honeywell users in the UK, the Whitbread brewery group, is planning a multi-million pound facelift for its ageing computer equipment. Plans include mini-based on-line ordering and transaction systems at each of its regional centres and the replacement of mainframes at these centres with Level 64 machines. The order processing systems each of which will serve a number of depots will be based on H-725 minis, linked to Raytheon-Cossor VDUs via Racal-Milgo modems, and are to be installed in London, Liverpool, Sheffield, Cheltenham, Portsmouth and Maidstone. The order processing procedures were originally developed on a Honeywell 316 mini and tried out in Maidstone. Whitbread has between 40 and 50 depots throughout the country, most of which will be equipped with multiple VDU-printer installations with 9,600-baud lines to their nearest centre. An estimated 150 VDUs will be required from Raytheon-Cossor, which is also supplying GE Terminet printers. Racal-Milgo is supplying 68 modems, worth over £200,000 making it the biggest order ever won by the company in the UK. In all, 13 Honeywell 725 minis are involved. (CW 470 6/11/1975 p1)
Program to combat oil spillage:
A program designed to fill an important role in protection of beaches and seas against oil spillage has been demonstrated in London to the International Government Maritime Consultancy Organisation (IMCO), a branch of the United Nations. The software was developed by the Canadian Department of the Environment, in collaboration with APL time sharing specialist I. P. Sharp Associates, and was run from London through Sharp’s Toronto based network. Known as Neels (National Emergency Equipment Locator System), the program in its present form controls a database of locations throughout Canada where oil-controlling equipment, ranging from detergent to physical barriers, is stored. Given the location of an oil spillage, the nearest stores of appropriate equipment can be easily identified. There would obviously be little difficulty in extending this system outside Canada, and eventually setting up a worldwide database, provided a significant number of bodies volunteered information. The UN body was reported to have shown interest in such an idea. (CW 470 6/11/1975 p9)
Honeywell Hiway for process control:
A new control system architecture has been announced by Honeywell which offers a considerable extension of the principle of distributed processing in the field of process control. Called TDC, for Total Distributed Control, the system includes a wide variety of microprocessor based hardware modules, and the first package of hardware and system software has been announced as the TDC 2000. The system, developed over five years in the US, Canada, Japan and the UK, is built around the General Instruments CP 1600 16-bit microprocessor, which was designed specifically to meet Honeywell’s requirements. The key elements of the system are a universal coaxial cable link dubbed by Honeywell a “Data Hiway”, and microprocessor driven controllers and VDUs. The TDC 2000 can be combined with process control minis such as Honeywell’s HS 716 and HS 4400, and the “Hiway” makes for big savings on wiring costs. The CP 1600-based controller allows push-button selection of functions, and uses digital methods in applications where analogue instruments are used at present. The data path is automatically controlled by a device called the “hiway traffic director” and overall systems control is provided by grouping three VDU operator stations together. The elements of the system are designed to plug in to the “privacy”, eliminating the need for electrical connections. (CW 471 13/11/1975 p1)
EIN packet switching accepted:
The packet switching system for the European Informatics Network, EIN, passed its acceptance tests on time on November 3. The system, designed by Logica of the UK in conjunction with SESA of France, was designed around CII Mitra 15 minis under a fixed price contract with the European Commission. The packet switching systems are to be installed at the five nodes at present planned for the network, at NPL in London, Iria in Paris, the Euratom site at Ispra in Northern Italy, and research and educational institutions in Milan and Zurich. The tests involved connecting two packet switches via a 48K-baud link, and the next phase in the project will involve getting the nodes running. SESA and Logica are developing the software for the network, and also designing High-level Data Link Control line interface hardware. Further nodes may be added to EIN in the future, and one site under consideration is CERN, the European centre for nuclear research on the Franco-Swiss borders. (CW 471 13/11/1975 p1)
HP’s data station:
Described by Hewlett-Packard as a mini data station, its model HP 2644A is a VDU terminal capable of carrying out program preparation, editing, tape copying and tape-to-printer operations. The terminal incorporates 230,000 bytes of built-in mass data storage and two integrated tape transports, which will use the latest 3M mini cartridge, a storage medium that is something of a novelty in itself. Said to have resulted from close cooperation by Hewlett-Packard and 3M, the mini cartridge in use with the 2644A records 115,000 bytes of serial information on the cartridge’s 140 feet of tape. A wide range of functions are possible on the new mini data station, both on-line and off-line. Forms can be easily compiled by means of the special character types for simulated graphics. These forms can be held on cartridge and retrieved at high speed, estimated average access time being 10 seconds. Off screen storage facilities permit the use of forms over 24 lines in length with facilities for scrolling, page select and tabulation. It has a number of editing capabilities including character line insert and delete. Cursor sensing and positioning can also be carried out. The terminal is sold as a single unit at a price of £3,000, and with the option of additional character sets at £3,360; in quantities of six, the terminal will cost from £2,600. Price of the new mini cartridge is £7, almost twice as much as the conventional cartridge. However, it is said to have an exceptionally low error rate. (CW 472 20/11/1975 p46)
IAL system to control networks:
Operators of various sized networks are offered a Medius modular data communications control system by International Aeradio Ltd which has automatic line switching, monitoring and testing capabilities. Lloyds Banks is installing the first big system, which it commissioned last year, before the system was christened Medius. Medius hardware comprises three main modules, all based on what IAL describes as a family of compatible PC boards and sub-assemblies, each one designed to perform a different control or switching function either locally or remotely. One unit, called the peripheral module, can be located anywhere in a network and performs switching, monitoring and looping functions. A medium peripheral module capable of handling 16 V24 lines measures 8 inches high and can be housed in a standard 19 inch wide rack. Operators of small networks can install and manually operate the peripheral module as an independent unit. Bigger networks require several peripheral units to be linked to a local controller, called the system module, which would in turn be linked up to a Master Control Module, MCM, located at the mainframe site, to form a complete hierarchical network control system. The MCM can be a custom-built hardwired unit, offering terminal address translation facilities in its more sophisticated versions, such as the system being installed by Lloyds at its London computer centre. (CW 472 20/11/1975 p46)
Triad to market the NPL Scrapbook system:
Many ingenious software products are hatched quietly within government and university research departments and are regrettably never commercially exploited. As a refreshing exception to this rule, the National Physical Laboratory’s novel Scrapbook textual information handling system is now to be generally released through Triad Computing Systems. The software has already gained one prestigious user, the National Water Council, and could possibly be another contender for the House of Commons information retrieval project for which tenders are expected to be invited soon. Triad is working on an appropriate “commercial” version of Scrapbook, to operate on a stand-alone Computer Technology Modular One. The NPL’s original implementation was designed to work in connection with its own network software. Other Triad improvements will be in the security and recovery areas. The company has, however, the right to sell the original version and such other tailored versions as users may request. The appropriately named Scrapbook is basically a storage and retrieval system for passages of unformatted text. It has been in use within the NPL for over two years, and is now accessible through a network of visual display terminals extending to most of the laboratory’s departments, and based on two Modular Ones. Text passages, each consisting of one or more VDU “pages” are stored and retrieved according to user-specified keys. One passage may be linked to a number of others via additional keys. Thus a passage may include a questionnaire allowing the immediate retrieval of further relevant text according to the user’s reply. Such a strategy, Triad points out, lends itself to a variety of information retrieval applications. (CW 473 27/11/1975 p9)
On-line banking by CMG:
One of the biggest UK based service bureaux, the CMG Group, is now offering a comprehensive on-line processing service, INTABS, International Terminal Accounting and Banking Service, to the London branches of Continental banks. CMG also intends to link the London banks to their head offices on the Continent via the SWIFT international funds transfer network when it goes live next year. CMG reveals that 20 big Continental banks are already seriously interested in INTABS, which can handle current account and foreign exchange transactions in real time, as well as loan and deposit processing and general accounting work. Depending on their size, clients could install a Burroughs TC 500 intelligent terminal and B771/772 RJE system, linked on-line to the CMG bureau centres at Croydon or Greenford, Middlesex, both of which have Burroughs B4700 mainframes. (CW 473 27/11/1975 p9)
