Thank You For Visiting Our Site
This site is dedicated to highlighting books and publications written by Martin H. Weik and bringing additional online resources for related books & publications.
 
 
BOOKS BY MARTIN H. WEIK
COMPUTER SCIENCE AND      COMMUNICATIONS DICTIONARY
FIBER OPTICS STANDARD DICTIONARY
COMMUNICATIONS STANDARD      DICTIONARY
FIBER OPTICS AND LIGHTWAVE      COMMUNICATIONS STANDARD      DICTIONARY
A FOURTH SURVEY OF DOMESTIC      ELECTRONIC DIGITAL COMPUTING      SYSTEMS
 
PUBLICATIONS
A FOURTH SURVEY OF DOMESTIC      ELECTRONIC DIGITAL COMPUTING      SYSTEMS
A THIRD SURVEY OF DOMESTIC      ELECTRONIC DIGITAL COMPUTING      SYSTEMS
THE ENIAC STORY
 
 
   
THE YOUNG LIEUTENANT
The Young Lieutenant covers the down to-earth, exciting and captivating true life experiences of a young U.S ...
   
   
COMPUTER SCIENCE AND COMMUNICATIONS DICTIONARY
The Computer Science and Communications Dictionary is the most comprehensive dictionary available covering ...
   
   
FIBER OPTICS STANDARD DICTIONARY
This invaluable reference dictionary covers every facet of fiber optics science and technology ...
   
 
PUBLICATIONS & RESOURCES


A THIRD SURVEY OF DOMESTIC

ELECTRONIC DIGITAL COMPUTING SYSTEMS

Martin H. Weik

This report supersedes BRL Report No. 1010

Department of the Army Project No. 5803-06-002

Ordnance Management Structure Code No. 5010.11.812

BALLISTIC RESEARCH LABORATORIES


ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, MARYLAND



ASTIR AVAILABILITY NOTICE
Qualified requestors may obtain copies of this report from ASTIA.

BALLISTIC RESEARCH LABORATORIES
REPORT N0. 1115
March 1961

A THIRD SURVEY OF DOMESTIC ELECTRONIC DIGITAL COMPUTING SYSTEMS
Martin H. Weik
This report supersedes BRL Report No. 1010 (Public
Bulletin 1119968, U. S. Department of Coerce, Office of
Department of the Army Project No. 5B03-06-002
Ordnance Management Structure Code No. 5010.11.812
ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, MARYLAND



BALLISTIC RESEARCH LABORATORIES
REPORT N0. 1115
MWeik/vjc
Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.
March 1961 A THIRD SURVEY OF DOMESTIC ELECTRONIC DIGITAL COMPUTING SYSTEMS

ABSTRACT
Based on the results of a third survey, the engineering and programming characteristics of two hundred twenty-two different electronic digital computing systems are given. The data are presented from the point of view of application, numerical and arithmetic characteristics, input, output and storage systems, construction and checking features, power, space, weight, and site preparation and personnel requirements, production records, cost and rental rates, sale and lease policy, reliability, operating experience, and time availability, engineering modifications and improvements and other related topics. An analysis of the survey data, fifteen comparative tables, a discussion of trends, a revised bibliography, and a complete glossary of computer engineering and programming terminology are included.

This report supersedes BRL Report No. 1010 (Public Bulletin 1119968, OTS, U. S. Department of Commerce).



ACKNOWLEDGMENT
On behalf of the Computing Laboratory of the Ballistic Research Laboratories, the author wishes to extend his appreciation for the excellent spirit of cooperation displayed by the various representatives of government and industry who have devoted their time and effort in responding to the survey inquiries.

Many valuable suggestions were received from the engineering and mathematical staff personnel of the Computing Laboratory of the Ballistic Research Laboratories.

The Data Systems Research Staff, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Comptrollers devoted much effort during the conduct of the survey, particularly as pertains to coordination within the Armed Services. It is the expressed intent of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Comptroller, to reprint this report at the Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., for sale and distribution to the public.

The greatest individual assistance was rendered by WAC Staff Sergeant Violet J. Confer. An undertaking as comprehensive as this national survey, requires that a large quantity of data be acquired, correlated, transcribed and checked. Particular attention must be paid to accuracy and detail. We are heavily indebted to Staff Sergeant Confer for the major role she has performed in all phases of preparation of this report. She has been responsible for the general conduct of the survey, the control of communications with respondents, the preparation of correspondence, screening returns, sorting returns, preparing the layout of all pages, and doing all the art work, typing, titles, and photo arrangements.


CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION
PURPOSE OF THE SURVEY REPORT

Before any major decision can be made regarding the acquisition, installation, operation, improvement or retirement of computing equipment, first hand technical information must be obtained concerning the characteristics, availability, cost, operational problems, capability and useful life of available systems. Efficient management requires that the experience of others be exploited wherever such exploitation is beneficial. The present trend in the rapidly changing computing and data processing hardware field is toward. higher operational speeds, increased memory capacity and reliability, and solid state electrical components, including a widespread use of semi-conductors and the advent of the use of thin magnetic films in standard commercial systems. However, only existing or readily available equipment may be utilized for the immediate solution of scientific and commercial data processing problems.

Many persons in the computing and data processing field continually seek answers to many different questions simultaneously. Some of these questions are: Can present methods, practices and procedures used in a given organization be accomplished by automatic computing and data processing equipment? Will investment in such equipment reduce costs, provide improved service, conserve manpower or save time? When shall existing computing equipment be modified, supplemented or replaced? Of all available equipment, what type of system is best suited for the solution of a given problem or a given group of problems? Is the maximum possible return being obtained from a given investment in computing equipment? Does a given problem require specially built equipment or is a solution to be found with comercially available standard equipment? Should computing equipment be rented or purchased? Should a system be installed "on the premises" or should computer time be purchased elsewhere? The purpose of a surveillance and evaluation program is to provide answers to these and similar questions.

Government agencies, particularly Department of Defense agencies, and their contractors, require the latest technical information concerning computing and data processing equipment in order to properly establish their policy regarding acquisition, installation, operation, improvement and retirement of equipment. The purpose, therefore, of this survey report is to allow government agencies and their contractors to benefit from the results of the computing system surveillance and evaluation program conducted by the Ballistic Research Laboratories.

In 1955, a survey of electronic digital computing systems was conducted by the Ballistic Research Laboratories in order to provide technical data for the evaluation of the then existing computing machine complement of the Laboratories. The results of that survey were made available in BRL Report Number 971, M. Weik "A Survey of Domestic Electronic Digital Computing Systems". The report was well received by persons in government and industry. The U. S. Department of Commerce undertook further printing and distribution of the report under cover of Public Bulletin 111996, Office of Technical Services.

A new survey of electronic digital computing systems was conducted during October, November and December 1956 and January 1957 by the Computing Laboratory of the Ballistic Research laboratories. The new survey was conducted as part of the continuous surveillance and evaluation program of the Laboratory. The results were published as BEL Report Number 1010, June 1957. This report covered the results of the new survey and superseded EEL Report 971. The U. S. Department of Commerce undertook further printing and distribution of this report also under cover of Public Bulletin 1119968, Office of Technical Services.

Due to the great interest which has developed in these survey reports, the Department of Defense has co-ordinated this activity among the Armed Services. This report contains the results of a third survey of domestic electronic digital computing systems.



SCOPE OF THE SURVEY REPORT
This report is limited to commercially available and existing operational electronic digital computing and data processing systems manufactured or operated within the United States. Large, inter- mediate and small scale systems are included, regardless of whether the determination of "scale" is based on size, weight, cost, storage capacity or any reasonable criterion. An attempt has been made to include both general purpose and special purpose equipment. It must be borne in mind that there is no clear-cut line of demarcation between systems designated as special purpose computing machines and certain "on-line" control applications, in which a computer is used to determine operational control- commands, based upon data received by the system from instruments measuring the results of the commands. These systems usually have analog input and output with internal digital computation and transformation of information to and from digital form.

Among the items not covered by this report are analog computing systems, foreign systems or separate computing system components, such as analog-digital converters, separate storage units, arithmetic units, input-output units, and data recording units, except when these are associated with specific complete systems. Many recording media converters, such as magnetic tape-to-card converters, card-to-paper tape converters, etc., are not specifically covered, except again as they are used with specific complete systems. By a "complete system" is meant an electronic digital computing system with input, output, control, arithmetic and/or logical and storage units.

PROCESSING OF THE SURVEY DATA
A consolidated system description was prepared from data made available by the user and the manu- facturer. Information concerning each computing system was divided into the following sub-headings:

Applications Programming and Numerical System Arithmetic Unit Storage Input output Circuit Elements of Entire System Checking Features Power, Space, Weight and Site Preparation Production Record Cost, Price and Rental Rates Personnel Requirements Reliability,Operating Experience and Time Availability Additional Features and Remarks Future Plans Installations The large volume of technical data processed for this report will make errors unavoidable, particu- larly in correlating and transcribing information. It will be appreciated if errors are brought to the attention of the Ballistic Research Laboratories. Statements, claims and criticisms were screened as much as possible. Every endeavor was made to insure that the information included in this report is factual. To a large extent certain superlative adjectives used in describing equipment, were deliber- ately eliminated as a matter of fairness and in order to avoid implication in sales activities.

INTERPRETATION OF THE SURVEY DATA
The interpretation of the data included in this report is perhaps the most difficult aspect of all, therefore much of this activity is left to the reader. In Chapter II, the data are grouped under alphabetically sequenced computing systems descriptions. The charts and tables in Chapter III have been prepared in order to. show various relative characteristics, features and trends. A brief analysis and interpretation of the -data accompanies these tables. It must be emphasized again that data concern­ ing computing systems taken out of context or disassociated from other related data, can be misleading. Because of this, the information contained in this report, particularly the tabular data of Chapter III, must be used with appropriate caution.

It is recommended that the prepared tables in Chapter III be used only as generalizations to show trends. Data on specific systems should be taken from the systems descriptions rather than from the prepared tables. Further details must be obtained from manufacturers or users directly. This report does not constitute an indorsement of any of the products described within it.

USE OF THE SURVEY REPORT
As has been previously stated, the computing field is a dynamic and rapidly changing one. From a technological point of view, some of the information contained in this report is obsolete. Certain computing systems may be considered obsolete when they are installed. However, in most cases, manufact­ urers are accepting orders and will continue to produce, the systems described in this report for quite a number of years. Chapter II contains engineering and programming descriptions of 222 different types of computing systems. Persons who are interested in the acquisition of systems will find useful infor­ mation on applications, cost, personnel requirements, and power and space requirements for specific systems. Operators may find useful suggestions on modifications and improvements. The question of reliability, a particularly difficult one to resolve, has been answered to some extent under the sub­ heading: Reliability, Operating Experience and Time Availability. Under each sub-heading, the source of information is given. When a source is not stated, the manufacturer is the source of data. A List of References and a revised Glossary are given in Chapters IV and V. It is hoped that enough general and specific technical data have been compiled in the following four chapters to permit anyone involved in the computing and data processing field to draw at least some general conclusions and find answers to the questions which may be occupying his mind at the present time.

MARTIN H. WEIK JR.
 
MARTIN H. WEIK © COPYRIGHY INFORMATION 2010 | ALL RIGHT RESERVED