Modern_Data_1970_07 Modern Data 1970 07

User Manual: Modern_Data_1970_07

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TECHNOLOGY
PROFILE:
DIGITAL
PLOTTERS

It's new.
It's fast.
It's Varian 's 620/ f.

Varian Data Mach in e's new " supe rfast "
comp uter has a 750-nsec cyc le time. That
means it exec utes two and a half t imes
fa ste r than th e well know n 620 / i.

And chec k t hese oth er outstanding
features:
· 100% upward compat ible from the 6201i.
· All 62 0/ i software executes o n th e 620 / f
- yo u can take advantage of th e
ext remely large Ii brary of software
field-proven on th e more t han 1,200
620/ i's in wo rl dwide use.
· Fastest 1/0 in mini comp uters.
· Powerful new address ing modes and
instructions.
· Read -o nl y memory.
· All 620 / i peripherals plus a new low-cost
lin e.
Fo r full detail s, request t he new
hand book. Th e 620/ f-another

development th at keeps us th e big
compa ny in small computers.
U.S. Sales Offi ces: Dow ney, San Dieg o , San
Fra nc isco , Cal if. ; Was h ing to n , D.C.; Atl anta,
Ga.; Chicago , III.; Wa lth a m , M ass. ; Ann Arb o r ,
M ic h .; Al b uqu e rque , N. M ex.; New Roc hel le,
Syrac use , N.Y., Fort Was hin g to n, Pa.; Dall as',
Ho usto n, Tex . Oth e r o ffi ces wo rldwid e.
Vari an Data Ma chines, a Varian sub sidi ary,
2722 Mi c helson Dr., Irvin e, Calif. 92664.
Te lephone 714 / 833 - 2400 .

varian
data machines
The Big Company in Small Computers

All things

to all men
... and to all software.
. . . and to all computer systems.

it unusually powerful for its siZ~ ~ Jt changes
terminal characteristics as needed .

The first CRT display to contain a storedprogram computer, the SPD 10/ 20 introduces
a new dimension in compatibility .. It can be
anything the operator or the system requires.
The magnetic core memory store up to 2048
words and has a 1.6 microsecond cycle time
- plus a repertoire of 58 instructions, making

By val idating , verifying and qualifying data before transmission - SPD 10/ 20 can increase
~
the performance and economy of your OVe{all system . And it will give your operators "a
big lift at the same time.
Now in production. There is nothing else like
it anywhere.

For further information, contact M.R·. Clement, Jr., Vice President of Marketing

~//t/COTERMM.

~ CORPORAT/ON

... the international computer terminals people

Hayes Memorial Drive / Marlborough, MassachuseUe 01752 / (617) 481-2000
Atlanta, Georgia / (404) 451-230,
New York, N.Y. / (212) 868-7557
MODERN DATAl July 1970

CIRCLE NO. 2 ON INQUIRY CARD

;../
r1

.
Jonathan
Swift wrote it,
s.implifying King
James I 's saying :
"He was very valiant
that first adventured on
eating oysters ."
We don 't want to blow your
mind with trivia. We just want
to expand it slightly. With a
reminder : Vermont Research
is the memory company.
We're the company that can
expand the capabilities of
your computer. We make the
best drum and disk memories
that are made anywhere.
When you want to expand
your computer's memory,
talk to us. We're simple
North Country folk,
and we'd love
to talk.

Ve~arch .

:::

Precision Park. Nortb SprllJ gflel~ . Vermont 05150
Tel. (S02) .S8'6-U 56. TWXi 7tO-368-6533

I?RUM AND DISK Ml!~bflleS - CON.TRbl,LEFI$

CIRCLE NO. 3 ON INQUIRY CARD

JULY 1970 •

MODERN DATA
56

VOLUME 3 •

NO. 7

UP THE SYSTEM DOWN -TIME

A disorganized, ramblin g treatment of the state-of-the-mt, systems organizationwise. No realistic solutions to problems are proposed and the entire situation
portrayed probably doesn't bear any similarity to the systems operations in your
company 01' any other company.

LIFE INSURANCE FIRMS LOOKING TO OUTSIDE SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT

SeTVice organizations can help reduce the costs of managing in-house data processing operations.
60

TECHNOLOGY PROFILE
INTERACTIVE CRT DISPLAY TERMINALS
•
Part 3 - Graphic CRT TERMINALS

Part 1 of this series (May ) discussed the present and future of the terminal
market, terminal interfacing techniques and pmblems, and software requirements.
Part 2 (June) covered the hardware characteristics of alphanumeric and limitedgraphic terminals, and p'rovided a tabulation of the important characteristics of
each terminal now being marketed. This mticle describes and tabulates terminals
with full-graphic capability.

SEVEN STEPS TO SIMULATION

The author simplifies the process of developing a simulation model.

72
•

TECHNOLOGY PROFILE
DIGITAL PLOTTERS

This sUTVey article, covering a much-neglected subject, gives a brief history of
the development of digital plotters, describes how a typical plotter works, and
discusses the factors to be considered in selecting a plotter for a particular application. The major pe1'formance characteristics of commercially available digital
plotters are listed in tabular form.

Corporate Profile - COMPUTING AND SOFTWARE, INC.

Communications Clinic - PRIVATE LINE SHARING

System Scene - THE NEW SCAPEGOAT

On-line - BOOB TUBE GRAPHICS

Conference Report - MULTIPLE-ACCESS COMPUTER NETWORKS

Source Data Automation - KEYBOARD-TO-TAPE DATA ENTRY DEVICES

Software Forum - SHOULD ALL PROGRAMS BE GENERAtiZED PROGRAMS?

NEWS ROUNDUP

STOCK TRENDS

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

WHBW DEPT.

ORDERS & INSTALLATIONS

NEW PRODUCTS

DC DATASCAN

NEW SOFTWARE & SERVICES

CORPORATE & FINANCIAL

NEW LITERATURE

INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

READER SERVICE CARDS . . .. . . .. ... . .. . .. .. . .. . . . . ... . .... . . .... . .. . • . . . . . .• . ... . . OPPOSITE PAGE 96
MODERN DATA/ July 1970

We offer an Inexpensive range of systems
for automatic testing of corea, planes and
complete memories. Designed
originally for Dataram's
lJAf!l-nrnWln systems
range of temperature,
environmental
~ tiatel""j.1I
simplified,
CIRCLE R8 #t

DATARAM
CORPORATION
PRINCETON, NEW .JERSEY 08540

I'm interested. Send me data on :

o MEMORY CORES
o PLANES AND STACKS

0
0

CORE MEMORIES
TEST EQUIPMENT

NAME _________________________
TITLE _________________________
COMPANY _______________________
ADDRESS, _______________________
CITY ____________ STATE/ZIP _ _ __

designer's
dream

MODERN DATA
S. HENRY SACKS

PUBLISHER

WILLIAM A. GANNON

ASSOC. PUBLISHER

ALAN R. KAPLAN

EDITOR
ASSOC.

JOHN

EDITOR

MURPHY

DAN M. BOWERS

CHIEF EDITORIAL CONSULTANT

WASHINGTON EDITOR : Harold V. Semling , Jr. WEST COAST EDITOR: Karen Kuttner. FINANCIAL
NEWS EDITOR : James I. Leabman. EUROPEAN EDITOR: Richard Pettersen.
CONSULTING AND CONTRIBUTING EDITORS : Ra lph G. Berglund; J . Reese Brown, Jr.; Richard
T. Bue sc hel ; Larry L. Constantine; Thom as DeMarco; Maurits P. d e Regt; Ken Falor; Ivan Flores;
Michael B. French; Fay Herman; Walter A. Levy; Thur ber J. Moffett; Joseph Popolo; John E. Taft;
Jerome B. We ine r.
Editorial Prod .: Ruth Martin, Manager; Jane C. Austin, Diane Burkin, Sally Haskins, Assts .
Circulation Dept: Carol Grace, Man ager; Stephen E. Hughes, Asst.
Ass't. to Publisher: Donna L. Maiocca
Cover A rti st: William Kwiatkowski
•

ADVERTISING PROD. MANAGER .

• BERNARD GREENS IDE

All correspondence reg ard ing circulation , advert ising , and editorial should be addressed to the
publication offices at :
MODERN DATA
3 LOCKLAND AVENUE
FRAMINGHAM, MASS. 01701
(6 17) 872-4824
Published monthly and copyrighted 1970 by Delta Publications, Inc. , 3 Lockland Ave., Fram ingham, Mass.
01701. The contents of this publ icat ion (in excess of 500 words) may not be reproduced in whole or in
pa rt without written permission.
~;;;:;;;~I

1-1:\ilW

.*'

SUBSCRIPTIONS: Circulated without charge by name and title to U.S.-based corporate

and technical man agement, sys tem s enginee rs, systems analysts , EOP manage rs, soft wa re
specialists, and other personnel who qualify under our qualification procedures . Avail- ..
,
ab:e to others at the rate of $18.00 per year; single issues $ 1.75. Subscription rate for
all foreign subscriptions is $25 .00 per yea r (12 issues). POSTM ASTER: Send Form 3579 to: Circu lation Dept. ,
Modern Data, 120 Brighton Road, Clifton, N.J . 07012 . Con trolled circula t ion postage paid at Concord, N.H.

SALES OFFICES
ROBERT J. BANDINI

SALES MANAGER
NEW ENGLAND
Wm . A. Gannon, 3 Lockland Avenue, Framingham , Mass. 01701

(6 17) 872-4824

NEW YORK
Robe rt J . Bandini, 400 Madison Ave. , Suite 401 , New York, N.Y. 10017
PHILADELPHIA
Don McCann , 116 Haddon Ave., Suite C, Haddonfield, N.J . 08033

(212) 753-0375

(609) 428-2522

MIDWEST
Gerald E. Wolfe, Th e Pattis Gro up, 4761 Touhy Ave., lincolnwood, III. 60646
SOUTHERN CAL & SOUTHWEST
Robert W. Wa lker Co ., 2411 West 8th Street, Los Angeles, Cal. 90057

(312) 679-1100

COMPUTER AUTOMATION'S
PLUG-IN INTERFACES
SAVE DESIGN TIME
AND CUT COSTS.
Now you can select from a line of
control computers that offers an extensive variety of peripheral devices
and I/ O options. By developing a
large family of off-the-shelf interfaces, Computer Automation lets you
design a minicomputer into your system with a minimum of effort, time,
and expense.
A few examples of these peripheral
adaptors include :
• Mini-disc. Fixed head per track.
Storage to 250,000 bytes.
• Line Printer. Eighty column,
350 lines per minute or 132
column, 600 lines per minute.
• Autoload ROM. For remote
startup of computer including
bootstrap loading of memory.
• Magnetic Tape. From 10 ips to
37V2 ips, 556 to 800 bpi,
7 or 9 track read / write or
read-after-write, large or small
reels. Multi-deck operation from
single adapter.
• Memory Protect. Coupled with
the power fail option, this provides
the feature of ROM operation of
core memory, but enables the
ROM portion of the program to be
electrically altered by switch
control. Up to 8K x 16 of effective
ROM core memory is available
using this inexpensive approach.
• Communications Adapters. From
300 baud to 4800 baud (9600 if
not line limited) adapters for use
with most standard modems.
• Communications Multiplexers.
For concentrating up to 32
low-speed lines for relay over a
single high-speed line.
• General Purpose Modules.
A group of 14 (currently) modules
such as Relay Buffers (in and out),
Digital Buffers, Gated Channels,
Analog Adapters, Multi-Purpose
Modules with control lines,
interrupts, buffers, and gated
channels.
The Company's sales operation has
been broadened, too, with new offices
in Washington, D .C. and London,
England.

(213) 387-4388

NORTHERN CAL & NORTHWEST
Robert W. Walker Co. , Hearst Build ing, Room 1232, San Francisco, Cal. 94103

(415) 781-5568

COMPUTER AUTOMATION. INC.

THIS ISSUE OVER 80,000 COPIES

695 West 16th Street · Newport Beach, California
92660 • Phone (714) 642-9630 • TWX 910-596-1377

CIRCLE NO. 4 ON INQUIRY CARD
MODERN DATA/ July 1970

~~No one made a

small, quiet, medium-speed
chain printer for $9500.
So Mohawk did!'
George

c. Hohl) OEM Marketing Director) discusses a new product.

MODERN DATA/ July 1970

"We saw a gap in the printer field.
Either you paid a lot of money to get
a lot of speed and sophistication, or
you could pay a little and get very
little in return. We decided to aim
our printer somewhere in between.
" Chain printers are mechanically simpler, easier to maintain, less
expensive. Their flat face characters
give good print characteristics, too.
"Our design requirements were
rough. We wanted 300 lines- per- _
minute with such niceties as easily
changeable fonts , and yet we wanted
to sell it for less than $1oK. It had to
be small, and yet we couldn ' t lose
accessibility. The design engineers
grumbled, but they made it.
"The changeable font cartridge
is great- an operator can quickly
switch' the font chain- and
we're offering fonts from 16 to 128
characters.
"We designed a disposable
ribbon cartridge to make ribbon

changes quick and clean. Paper
handling is enclosed to stay clean,
too. And everything that could be
nl0dularized, was modularized.
"We considered noise reduction
vital- anyone who has worked in a
printer room knows why. Well, compared to other printers, you 'd hardly
know this one was working.
"We're selling the printer for
$9500 in OEM quantities, and some
variations cost even less. So you get
a lot of performance in a very little
printer-for very little money."
Mohawk Data Sciences Corp.
Herkimer, New York

C!Zm

OEM M AR KET I NG CENTER S, CORPORATE (315) 867·6475; NORTHEAST (617) 891·5870: SOUT H EAST (404) 631·3443; CENT RAL (312) 298-4141; WEST COAST (213) 685·5165.

MODERN DATA/ July 1970

CIRCLE NO. 11 ON INQUIRY CARD

~~Our salesmen

have told people
nottobu~

Mohawk proClucts:'
Al Rage, Vice-President, End-User Marketing, talks service.

MODERN DATA/ July 1970

"Sometimes we study a prospective
client's needs and realize that he
can't really use our equipment- or
we see that another kind of system
is better suited. We tell him to go
elsewhere. Because eventually he'll
have trouble or find out we misled
him, and then how would we look?
No, it's better to lose a piece of
business than to do bad business.
"I believe a salesman should be
able to help a prospective customer
design the most effective, sophisticated peripherals system he can use.
"We've developed many of our
products from listening to our salesmen. Back in the early days, for
example, we had some goo Data
Recorders in the field. Well, our field
people had been watching and
listening to their customers, and had
some suggestions they felt would
improve operator performance. It
meant developing a completely new
backboard module, a -major modi- fication, and then retrofitting those
goo machines. Well, we did it, and
we did it for free. We figured the
machine needed the improvement,
MODERN DATA/ July 1970

and the client shouldn't have to
pay for it.
"A year later, those same salesmen came back with more ideas. We
had to redesign the backboard
module again, and, to make things
worse, this job had to be done at our
plant here in Herkimer. We had
one hell of a logistics problem trying
to get all those Data Recorders back
in here without crimping our customers' operations. But we did it.
And we didn't charge our customers
one cent that time either.
"We're in the business to make a
living, just like anybody else- we're
not playing angel. But the fact is,
the most successful companies in
this business are the ones that look
after their clients-the ones that put
service ahead of hardware, even. If
that's what it takes to get ahead, then
that's the way we do business here. "
Mohawk Data Sciences Corp.

CIRCLE NO. 12 ON INQUIRY CARD

Herkimer, New York

~
9

If \Ve make you \Wit .••
\Ve'll pay the freight.
t3uy or lease our VISTA I alphanumeric display terminal in any model. If we don't
ship it to you within 30 days ARO , we'll air freight it-FREE!
So, if you need a CRT terminal that's fast. silent. easy to read . . . that replaces a
model 33 or 35 teletype with far more efficiency . . . that's compatible with any
mini-computer ... that's a completely self-contained, stand alone unit with keyboard, video presentation, control and refresh electronics-plus a Data Phone interface and power supply . .. AND. if you want it NDW . . . JUST MAIL THIS AD.
'*T HIS OFFER EXPIRES AUGUST 31,1970

r, -----------Specifications

I
I
I
I

Model

Characters/ line

Number of lines

Character size (nominal)

. 15" high .. 10" wide

Lin e spacing

.45 character height

Character spacing

.40 character width

• Cursor co ntrol - up , down. right. left. home
• Start blink. stop blink
• Erase screen

Character format

5 x 7 dot matrix

Cha racter set

64 character ASCII

Cursor

Non -destructive Blinking
underscore

Refresh rate

50/ 60 Hz

Memory

MOS shift registers

I/ O rate

110-2400 BPS standard ; High speed
serial or parallel optional

Communication interfa ce

RS 232C or current loop

Parallel interface

TTL logic. bit parallel. demand response control

•

Pow er

125 watts . 110-220 volts . 50/ 60 Hz

Size

15" high . 17" wide . 27" lon g

Weight

65 pounds

PRICES

PURCHASE

MONTHLY LEASE*

VISTA 1A

$1.495 .00

$ 78 .75

VISTA 1B

$1.995 .00

$ 97 .50

VISTA 1 C

$1 .995 .00

$ 97 .50

VISTA 10

$2.495 .00

$116 .25

I
I
I
I

I
I
I YES!
I
0
I 0
0
I 0
MODEL

I nterfaces
Th e standard interfaces allow connection to modems
up to 2400 baud . Available as options are seria l or
parallel data interfaces up to 800 characters/ second
synchronous. or up to 1500 characters/ second in a
demand-response mode .

Operating Modes
I/ O
Format

Full duplex or Y2 duplex
Roll or page

Options
•
•
•
•

I
I
I
•

I
I

Hard copy output
M agnetic tape input and output
Card or badge reader input
High speed data transmission up to 1500 chara cter/sec . •

SALES TERMS
Term s of sale for the compa ny's products are net 30.
Shipment will be made FOB Burlington , Mass ., pre paid , best way unless otherwise specified by the
custo mer.
WARRANTY
Ninety days warranty on parts and service. Twelve
months on parts manufactured by Infoton . Manufacturer's warranty on all other parts (no less than ninety
days or more than twelve months) .

'include's maintenance for three year lease plan

••
•I

I
I
I
I
I
I
Infoton I

I want to 0 lease 0 purchase the following VISTA I CRT terminals within 30 days ARO.
I understand that if I have to wait . . . you'" pay the freight, air freight.

Name _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ __ __ __

QUANTITY

UNIT PRICE

TOTAL PRICE

VISTA 1A

Title _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ __

VISTA 1 B

Company _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

VISTA1C

Addre ss _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ __

VISTA 10

•

Command Functions

Total Pri ce $ _ _ _ __
Please check one :

110 Baud

300 Baud

Current Loop

MAIL TO: INFOTON INCORPORATED

Mail too slow? Call (617) 272-6660
Sales and Service in United States and Canada represented by MAl

City _ _ __ _ _ _ _ __ _ State _ _ _ _ Zip _ __

P.O.# _

_ __

Authorized Signature _ _ _ _ __ __ ____ _ _ _ __

•----------------- --_ ..
10

Second Avenue, Burlington, Mass. 01803

CIRCLE NO.5 ON INQUIRY CARD

MODERN DATA/ July 1970

CIRCLE NO. 13 ON INQUIRY CARD

over unconditioned lines

bps
only Collins has it
Collins TMX-202 FSK data sets operate at 1800 bps
over full- or half-duplex, unconditioned telephone
circuits. Available as desk top or wall mount,
standard rack mount, or printed circuit modules for
both OEM and end-user applications.
The TMX-202 is another example of the engineering and manufacturing excellence achieved at
Collins through use of the C-System, a computercontrolled system which integrates design and
production-as well as other management control
functions-into a single network.
Call or write Collins Radio Company, Data
Equipment Marketing, Dept. 600, Newport Beach,
California 92663. Phone: (714) 833-0600.

COLLINS

~~
COMMUNICATION / COMPUTATION / CONTROL

CIRCLE NO. 14 ON INQUIRY CARD

MODERN DATA/ July 1970

MAC
Bless our cycle time! Our
hero, MAC the Computer, has
triumphed aga in. It's now
ramrodding a breakthrough
in high-speed X-Y plotting.
In the Xynetics automated
drafting system, MAC 16
controls a unique writi ng
head that zips pen a long
paper at up to 40 ips. Twice
as fast as other

And with resolution of ±0.001". Gad!
Great line-draw ing speed, but how
about that bottleneck: annotation?
Under MAC's control, the amazing
writing head can put down 120 words
per minute in 0.070" characters. Which,
we'll vow, matches the speed of tapecontrolled impact typewriters.
And there's more. All because of a
revolutionary writi ng device and MAC.
MAC, with 1-microsecond cycle time,
an 8K core that works splendidly with
FORTRAN IV, and a surprisingly low price.
.. Hard to believe!" some doubters may
exclaim. They, and you, can get the full story'by
circling our number. That's the way
Xynetics got started .

AND THE

AU TOMAT I
DRAWING
MACHINE
or
The Speediest Pen
on Paper

Lockheed Electronics
Data Products Division
A Division of Lockheed Aircraft Corporation

CIRCLE NO. 15 ON IN.QUlltY CARD

CIRCLE NO. 16 ON INQUIRY CARD

MODERN DATA/ July 1970

KEY-EDIT

reduces data preparation problems
to an absolute minimum
Reduces

Reduces

errors to a minimum

equipment problems

Accu ra cy of source documents is
checked at moment of data entry.
KEY·EDIT s bUilt-in computer filters
out errors with variety of powerful
editing routines.

KEY-EDITs fixed head magnetic
drum is more reliable tha n the
moving head disk found in other
systems, And KEY-EDIT' s fewer tape
drives ensure even further
reliability.

need for verification

Reduces

The powerful edit routines c an
verify your data as it is keyed into
the system, thereby reducing the
cost of duplicate keying for
verification.

personnel turnover
KEY -EDIT provides a far more
pleasant working environment.
This easy-to-learn system is virtually
noiseless , Data handling is minimal.

Reliability is the key to KEY-EDIT.
This most advanced data preparation
system is in operation now at major
high-volume EDP installations. KEY-EDIT
works. It is proven, No "dealing in
futures." Equally reliable is delivery .
KEY-EDIT can be operational for you in
as little as ninety days . This reliability is
ensured by Consolidated Computer's
coast-to-coast staff of experienced
marketing and technical personnel.
For a demonstration, call or write now.
Right now .

Reduces

Boston : 235 Wyman Street. Waltham,

elapsed time and
scheduling problems

data preparation costs

Reduces

Data that requires verification can
be verified by one opera tor while
it is being encoded by another
opera tor-cu ts job time in half.

You don 't have to wait for your big
computer to find source document
errors. Checking and editing
routines drama tically speed-up
work cycle.

Reduces

required floor space

job turn-around time

KEY-EDIT actually saves up to 50%
in fioorspace over keypunc h and
key- to-tape units because of
compact key stations.

Fewer opera tors. Less equipment.
Improved accuracy, Greater
flexib ility and productivity all add
add up to significant savings.

Massachusetts 02 154,
(617) 891·0210
Toronto, Canada :

48 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario.
(416) 366-7643
London, England :

Northdale House, North Circular
Rood, London, N.W. 10,
England. 01-965·977 1

Expect more from

~ CONSOLIDATED COMPUTER

CLEVELAND CHI CAGO DETROIT LOS ANGELES NEW YORK PHILADELPHIA SAN FRANC ISCO WASHINGTON MONTREAL

CIRCLE NO . 17 ON, INQUIRY CARD

You 've got the best computer for the job . ..

Why not buy the
best plotting system?

with me!

Used in a time sharing mpde,
the PTC-4 Plotter/Teletypewriter
Controller linked to the DP-1
Dig ital Plotter provides 11" wide
reproducible graphs, charts, and
drawings at a remote locationdirect from the computer.

DP-5 $11 ,000.

.-.

PTC-4
DP-1

Plotting online Is 4 times faster
with the Ultra High Speed DP-5
Incremental Plotter. Des igned for
computer graphics, it plots at a continu.ous speed of 1200 in crements per second.
No special programs required . Step size is factory
set at .005" or .0025".
•

$5900
$3500

Offline plotting in addition to computer I/O capability
The MTR-9 is a superior system offering faster plotting
yet uses less computer time . New END- STEP,. MODE
software reduces computer time and tape lengths by
10:1. Operates with any speed incremental plotter. Has
high speed search with block selection . 7 or 9 track
IBM form at. Operates with the
DP-1 ,' DP-5 or DP-3 22" wide,
300 increment per second plotter.
Offline plotting is ow
an economic r ItY
with the MTR-2 Magnetic
Tape Reader. I t operates
with . e DP-1, DP-3 and
DP-5 Plotters to form a
complete offline system. The
MTR-2 accepts IBM compati ble tapes.

,.
lJiJ@lliJ~'ili;@1Jl)

Instrument
T E F'I MIN "A L
(7131

MTR-9

$21 ,000.

DP-3

A V E ..,N U E.

ae?

7403

DIVISION OF

BAUBCH&~DMBIil

BEL L A IR E.
CABLE

T E X A B

HOINCO

$6,400.

CIRCLE NO. 18 ON INQUIRY CARD

MODERN DATA/ July 1970

ONLY

300
COPIES
LEFT!
A BASIC GUIDE
FOR TODAY'S
COMPUTER USER:

"KEYPUNCH
REPLACEMENT
EQUIPMENT"
Should you switch from
punched card equipment
to keyboard-to-tape?
This 64-page report

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Section 1 HISTORY OF KEYPUNCH
Keypunch Replacement Cost Factors
Keypunch Replacement Market
Section 2 SYSTEM FUNCTIONS
Encoding • Format Control • Duplication
Interp.retation • Verification and Error Correction
Display • Programming • Search • Data Pooling
Communications • Record Size Expansion
Section 3 KEY-TO-TAPE HARDWARE
Stand-Alone Units
Keyboards • Code Sets • Displays
Continuous Drives • Incremental Drives
Shared-Processor Units
Other Applications
Section 4 OVERVIEW OF SHARED-PROCESSOR
SYSTEMS
Computer-Controller Operation • Software Packages
Supervisory Control • Computational Capability
Interchangeable Keyboards • Configuration Expansion
Options • Data Manipulation

will give you the basic costs
and performance factors involved
in making that decision
ORGANIZED & WRITTEN BY THE STAFFS OF

Section 5 STAND-ALONE UNITS
Equipment available from over 20 manufacturers is
described and tabulated in this section.

BCD COMPUTING CORP.,
PROGRAMMING SCIENCES CORP.,
AND MODERN DATA.

ORDER YOUR COpy NOW
LIMITED SUPPLY AVAILABLE

PRICE: $28.50 PER COPY

USE HANDY COUPON

Section 6 SHARED-PROCESSOR UNITS
Equipment available from 10 manufacturers is
described and tabulated in this section.

r-------------------------------MODERN DATA-REPORTS
0 Payment Enclosed*
3 Lockland Avenue
Framingham, Mass. 01701

0 Bill Me (add 10%. for
postage and handling)

Please send me _ _ copy(ies) of your report entitled "Keypunch Replacement Equipment" at $28.50
pre copy.
Name _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Title _ _ __
Company _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Street Address _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
City _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ State _ _ __
_____
_ ~check
_ _ payable
_ _ _to
_Modern
_ _ _Data.
______
___
_-______ J
*Make
Zip
-

MODERN DATA/July 1970

how to distrib.ute ~~ 65!llb
of computer Information
in a number .10 envelope
It doesn't take long to accumulate 100,000
pages of computer output. But with impact printing,
what do you have? 650 pounds of paper on your
hands. Difficult to decollate, burst and bind.
Impossible to lift by hand, expensive to mail and
store. Unsuitable for the urgencies ofmodern

a computer can have. Moving needed information
to its multiple destinations to improve business.
Keeping fact files fresher up, down, and across
your organization. Disseminating computer
generated reports more immediately to your
customers, stockholders, or others inside or outside

decision making.
With Datagraph iX Micromotion, you can hold

the company.
Compared to impact printing, Micromotion is

the equivalent of 18,000 computer pages in the
palm of your hand. Any page can be accessed
within seconds from the display screen of on inquiry

27 times faster, takes 1 / 18th the computer time,
slashes the cost of paper / carbon consumables 87%,
and reduces 99% of your storage requirements.

station. Providing hard copies on demand. High
volume production printing from film on preprinted
forms at 5,200 pages per hour. Or you can reduce

Only one company offers the complete family

a 1000 pounds of paper printout to a few ounces

of machine systems; service centers; Kalvar dry
film processing ; all associated supplies; systems
and software support; worldwide maintenance.

and mail it over long distances overnight at less
than 50 cents.
Micromotion is more than a 30,000 line-perminute computer printer. It's the best communicator

Discover what Micromotion can do for you.
Contact our local office or
National Sales Manager,
James P. Whitfield.

DubTffruphM'
micromation systems

Stromberg Dotogroph iX Inc . ,

Generol Dyno mics subsidiary, P.O . Box 2449, San Diego, California 92112
CIRCLE NO. 20 ON lNQUIRY CARD

(7141283· 1038

TWX , (9.101 335·2058

"
Undoubtedly your first reaction to us will be a sense of irritation
at a certain loss of revenue.
If that's your only reaction, you'll be making a big mistake.
Allow us to explain.
We, the Dynelec Systems Corp., have developed a unique approach to data communications that is, by conservative estimate,
4000/0 more efficient than that used in other systems now operating.
With our equipment, up to 120 mixed-speed data terminals can
be accommodated simultaneously over each voice-grade line.
This is 4 times as many as in any other system.
Which means that multi-location data communications customers
will be able to concentrate and send far more data, more economically,
to and from their computers than they ever could before.
But substantial reductions in leased line and modem costs alone
are only part of the story. Great additional savings are made through
use of our equipment.
For example, our basic, low-cost
~.
communications multiplexor,
the TMDyneCoM 70W, grows as
customer needs grow.
. . . . . . . .;
Because of its modular design,
a user can start off inexpensively with as
few as 2 channels and plug in additional circuit boards to
handle up to 64 mixed-speed terminals.
Other 70W features include the unit remaining operative despite
channel failure, simple visual diagnostics, self-service maintenance,
up to 4 speeds and any code, and automatic speed selection.
Total annual savings can easily exceed $100,000.
The Dynelec approach opens such vast new vistas in data communications that they far outweigh any AT&T revenue loss that
results from the savings we can help customers enjoy.
For full details, write us or call: (201) 447-0900.

llYneM~CTM
139 HARRISTOWN ROAD, GLEN ROCK, N . J . 07452

MODERN DATA/ July 1970

CIRCLE NO. 21 ON INQUIRY CARD

Computer downtime
could cost this user
his share ofa
multi-billion dollar
market.
That's whyhe depends
on Gerber Scientific
and Hewlett-Packanl.
In the automotive market, being second with a hot new body
design just doesn 't make it. Thafs why car manufacturers
are turning to computerized drafting systems, like those
made by The Gerber Scientific Instrument Company,
South Windsor, Connecticut.
The auto industry knows that computers can mean the margin
of difference-when they're working. But when they're not,
you just might be " last under the checkered flag." Thafs
why trouble-free performance was a key factor in Gerber
Scientific's computer selection for its Series 1200 and 700
controls. These drafting systems make it possible to bring
fresh new auto design concepts to market in record time.
Gerber's systems are also slashing design time and costs
in electronics, aircraft, garments, maps and other detailed
work that used to take weeks of manual effort.
Sure Gerber Scientific chose our 2114 computer because they
knew it could do the job. And was priced right. But more
important, they knew they could count on superb reliability
- and depend on world·wide HP service and support
back-up - if and when needed. We have 141 service centers
in the United States and around the world. For an OEM,
this can be a very reassuring fact.
There are other reassuring fa cts about our small computers.
Like Direct Memory Access, a feature now available with the
new HP 2114B. The DMA option gives you the flexibility
to use high.speed peripherals . And it makes possible the
acquisition of very high·speed data. Yet this computer's base
price is only $8500. If you 're looking for something a bit
more powerful, try the HP 2116B. Ifs the heart of our
popular time·share, real·time executive and disc operating
systems. Cost: $24,000.
Get the fu ll story on computers you can depend on. Call
your nea rest HP sales office or write to Hewlett·Packard,
Palo Alto, California 94304; Europe: 1217 Meyrin·Geneva ,
Switzerland.

HEWLETT", PACKARD
D I GITA L

COMPUTERS

CIRCL E NO. 22 ON INQUIRY CARD

22g42

IN S P IR A LA T IO N

HUMMI N GB IRD

ID EA LI ZE D BRUSH STROKES '--_ __ _ _ _ _ _ __

SPICIAl OfflR!

lull color reproductions 01 computer-generated artwork
Here is a unique opportunity to own a distincti ve and unusual set of four prints from the 1968 Computer Art
co ntest. Eac h print is 12" x 16" and is reproduced in magn ificent full color on heavy weight qua li ty pape r su itab le
for framing. Symbolic of the computer industry, these attra cti ve and interesting prints are idea l for decorating
you r office , den or home. Packaged in a handsome folio, they make distinctive gi ft s for friends or bus in ess associates. Each is imp ri nted on the back with a description of the programm ing technique, computer an d plotting
equ ipmen t emp loye d to produce the art. Everybody in the computer field w ill wan t a set of t hese beauti f ul and
impress ive prints. Send for you rs now. Su pply is li mited.

Comoro
Gentlemen: pl eas e send you r f olio of computer art pri nts.
Enclosed is my 0 check 0 money ord er for $10.00.

1060 KINGS HIGHWAY NORTH
CHERRY HILL. N.J. 08034
609-667-4709

NA ME _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ __ _ _ _ _ __
COMPA N Y___ __

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

_ _ ____

A DDRESS _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
CITY _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ STAT E_ _ _ _ __

_ ____

_ ZIP _ __

For orders of more than 10 sets, write for quantity price list

MODERN DATA/ Ju ly 1970

This beautifully-put-together sample
plot is yours for the asking.

It's a composite plot produced by
Dresser's new Lasergraph ic PIotter-the LGP-2000. On one 30-inch
by 40-inch plot you'll get a glimpse
of the LGP-2000's unique plotting
capabilities. There's a photo of the
earth composed of 1,600,000 points
that's done in 16 shades of gray.
There 's a piece of a contour map
that was originally produced with
3,000 inches of line and 2,000 characters of annotation. And there are
other things like grid squares, alphabets, seismic records and concentric circles that will prove to

you that the LGP-2000 is really a
new dimension in computer
graphics.
There are two things that you
can 't see on the composite plot: the
LGP-2000's speed and its plotting
size capability. It will plot up to 40
inches wide by 100 feet long. And it
will do it as fast as your computer
can feed it data. The LGP-2000
drew the entire 30-inch by 40-inch
composite plot in only 3 minutes
and 10 seconds. No other plotter
can offer you speed like that.

Get your personal copy of this
beautifully-put-together composite plot today. Write Dresser Systems, Inc., P. O. Box 2928, Houston , Texas 77001. Or call us at
(713) 781-5900.

C§RESSEif)
Dresser System_, Inc.
ONE OF THE QRESSER I N OU S TRIES

Th e average reading time for this ad is 30 seconds. In this time Dresse r Systems' LGP-2000 could have pl otted 30, 399 ,690 bits of Information.

MODERN DATA/ July 1970

CIRCLE NO. 23 ON INQU1RY CARD

Concept
and design

Design and
implementation

Inter/ace with
data base language

Documenta tion
An engineer with a B"S. in E.E.
from Michigan State, Ken spent
many years in electronics research
and software review and evaluation before joining Cullinane Corporation.

Anna Marie was literally a co-designer of CULPRIT and the major
implementor. A skilled programmer, Anna Marie was able to perform basic CULPRIT functions in
virtually ri o time, thus making
CULPRIT uhbelievably fast.
Anna Marie was at one time a
member of the staff of Arthur D.
Little, Inc., engaged in product development. Later, she spent a
number of years in software design and development. Mrs. Thron
holds a B.A. degree in chemistry
from Beaver College, Pa.

Gilbert F. Curtis

An honors graduate of Princeton,
Gil Curtis is perhaps the industry's most skilled designer of generalized business software systems. Certainly Curtis-designed
systems are operating very successfully in literally hundreds of
major corporations throughout
the U. S.

Anna Marie Thron

From this experience evolved
the obvious need for a powerful
report generator. One that would
be easy to use, yet so powerful
and fast it could be used as a
report utility as well as for on-de,
mand reports. In other words .. .
CULPRIT.

He authors a monthly column
On software for Modern Data
magazine and knows exactly what
the user looks for in terms of
really effective documentation.

James

J. Baker

jim Bake1:. is an M.LT. g'raduate
(math major and honor society
member) who has completed requirements for his Phd at Harvard,

So when Ken wrote the user's
manual for CULPRIT he put himself entirely in the user's position.
Example: he devoted a major
effort to a self-teaching section
for junior level personnel ... but
at the same time included substantial material for the advanced
CULPRIT user.
Kenneth

Fator

Prior to joining Cullinane Corporation, Jim spent 5 years in advanced software system development at I.B.M. Therefore, Jim was
the logical choice to develop the
IMS/ data language 1 interface
module ... which allowed CULPRIT to enhance the report generator capability of DL 1.
Jim was also a major contributor
to the as version of CULPRIT.

Meet the people behind the most important
software package of 1970: new CULPRIT.
Before many month s are out the chances are
you' ll be using CULPRIT. Wh erever it ha s
bee n shown it has generated intense interes t.
The list of sales is growing quite rapidly. And
it is the type of package literally everyone
needs.
So we thought you'd like to mee t a few of
the more importan t people behind it. There are
others. Perhaps a doze n Cullinane staff members had so me part in CULPRIT. But these are
the four w ho deserve the credit.
CULPRIT brough t us a few surprises. Parti cularly in speed . Whil e we designed it for
fle xibility and ease in use CULPRIT turn ed out
to be mu ch faster than our mos t opti misti c
estimates. Otherwise it performs exactly as
planned.
And w hat we planned was an easy-to-use
report generator and information retrieval system that would allow you to respond to ondeman d report requests regardless of report
compl exity. One tha t was so effici ent it could
be used as the report utility in production systems.
How CULPRIT dillers
Many report generators can produce only
one report from one pass of the data file. Others
produce a Cobol program w hich must be com-

piled, link edited and run before they produce
a report. Some even have both problems.
That's Model T designing!
CULPRIT is a parameter-driven program .
No compiling needed . The program is kept on
the core image library like a utility and produces a report as directed by the parameter
coding . Highly efficient, it produces many reports (up to 99) with a single pass and can extra ct from multip le inpu t files.
CULPRIT req'ui res from 1 / 10 to 1 / 40 the
norm al coding time. This means th at the most
junior-level programmer can request and get
a simple one-time report in minutes. Or many
complex reports in one pass . . . with just a few
hours of coding. Not weeks . Hours! But fast
reports are not all that CULPRIT can do for
yo u.
New Systems
When you design a new system, how
much of it is made up of report editing programs? Half? A third? Then you can put your
new system on the air nearly one-third to onehalf sooner by simply plugging new CULPRIT
into the system to handle the reporting requirements. You not only save programming
time, but the machine time usually needed for
debugging this part of the. system.

Pro cessing speeds are close to those for
well-designed and laboriously hand-coded programs. Remembe( ... this isn 't an ordinary report generator. You just load and go.
Features
CULPRIT has multi-line output for address labels, noti ces, etc. Other options include
head er variables; multiple-lines in headers , detail and tota Is; separately specifiabl e totallin es;
calculation ability on both detail and total
leve ls; use of memonics for working fields; and
many others. Output may be printer, punched
cards, tape or disk .. . permitting program and
test file creation and co nversion.
Find out for you rself!
Send for a comp le te 15 page technical report. Or, if you'd rath er di scuss CULPRIT directl y with one of
th e above people {or equally wellqualified Cullinane staff members},
pick up yo ur phone and diat (617)
742-8656. You really ought to know
about CULPRIT. Don't pass up the
chan ce!

O· .

- - - - - - - - -- - - - - -1
Name ..... . _.. • •.. . . .. ••. •. . . . •• •• •• . ... ...

1
1

Title .

Company.

Address ............ .. .

Cullinane Corporation
60

City ..

..Zip .

..... . State.

Phone ...... ..... .......... .... .. .. .. .... .. ..
- - - - .:.... - - - -

___ _

State St., Boston, Mass. 02109 Phone: (617) 742-8656. Other offices in New York, St. Louis, aild London.
CIRCLE NO. 24 ON INQUIRY CARD

MODERN DATA/ Jul y 1970

• New X-V plotter
• Straight lines at 10 inches per second'*, in any direction ,
any mode
• Driven directly by computer teletype terminals or paper
tape
• Simplicity of operation (no special programming necessary)
• Automatic axis segment mode * (saves 50% data
transmission time)
• On-line or off-l ine modes
• Tiltable bed (0 to 90°)
• Low cost
• Automat ic eq ual d ivision of either the X or Y axis .

omega -t systems incorporated
For more information write:
Omega-t Systems Incorporated , 300 Terrace Village, Richardson , Texas 75080, (214) 231-5121.
MODERN DATA/ July 1970

CIRCLE NO. 25 ON INQUIRY CARD

low cost
group
therapy
---------------------------.
WANG LABORATORIES, INC.
Dept. 7AW, 836 North St., T ewksbury, Mass. 01876
T el., (617) 851-7311

o Please send more information on the 3300. I want to know
how much it can help me in the final analysis.
o Please send a price quotation on a ____ user system.
NAME/TITLE ________________________________
ORGANIZATION _______________________________
ADDRESS,___________________________________
CITy _ _____________ STATE, ________ ZIP______

WANG'S NEW 3300
The First "BASIC"
Time SharingSystem
Under $20,000
The 3300 is a time sharing mini-computer system for only
~ the cost of subscription services or other in-house time
sharing systems. That, in itself, is very therapeutic.
And any anxieties about communicating with a computer
can be eliminated by BASIC. The popular conversational
language, ideal for beginners and experts alike. It's simple
to get involved with a 3300. Begin a system with just one
terminal if you like. Then add hardware as needed to
accommodate up to 16 users, or to broaden system
c~p3,bility. It:s truly ~
mmd expandmg.
~
.I-l.

W' ANG
L.ABORATORIES, INC .

CIRCLE NO. 26 ON 'INQUIRY CARD

How can you determine
the best software package
for your needs?
Look no further!
AUERBACH Software Reports is a new refer-

ence service updated bi-monthly that answers the computer user's pressi ng need for
quick, accurate information. It's being prepared by AUERBACH's staff of computer
analysts with over ten years' experience
gathering and publishing first-hand information behind them. It gives you the facts you
need to decide whether to develop a software system in-house or buy an existing one.
And it enables you to select the right package
for your application from the more than 3000
software programs now being offered.
Here are the facts you've been looking for,
covering over 20 application areas. Definitional Reports and Comparison Charts provide
hardware requirements, operational characteristics, sources, and even the cost for

each package! You'll save weeks of frustrating research. And you'll be able to justify
your decision in less time than it takes to
make a wrong one.
As a complete looseleaf reference service,
AUERBACH Software Reports will be introduced early in the fall. However, the first
two Reports-Inventory Control and Payrol/are now being publ ished as separately bound
editions. If you subscribe now, you'll receive
a full year's service beginning in October
plus free copies of these and other advance
Applications Reports. These 60-120 page
Reports are also available individually at
$90 each.
Use this coupon to order AUERBACH Software Reports. Sign up for the complete service
and get advance Reports FREE!

~-----------------------------------------AUERBACH Info, Inc.

121 North Broad St., Philadelphia , Pa. 19107
Gentlemen :
Please enter my order for AUERBACH Software
Reports, at $490 per year, and send me Inventory
Control, Payroll and other pre·published Reports
at no charge.
D Please mail me the following individual Reports
when ready and bill me $90 each , plus $2 for
mailing and handling.*
D Accounts Payable
Inventory Control (available now)
D General Ledger
D Payroll (available now)
D I nformation Retrieval
D Accounts Receivable
0 Flowcharting

o
D

AUERBACH
First with the last
word on computers

o File Maintenance
o Production Planning & Control

Send me sample pages from current Reports.

NAME _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ TlTLI:..-E_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
COMPANY _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ____
ADDRESS _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _,CITY_ _ _ _ _ _ STATE _ _ _ _ _ ZIP_ __

Bill me

my company

P.O ._ _ _ _ _ _ _ Check enclosed** 0

------;n;;::-:-::~=-----(Please sign)

*Enclose check to save mailing and handling charge. **Pa. residents add 6% sales tax.

Information and Management Consulting available from AUERBACH Associates, Inc.

~-------------------------------------------------~
MODERN DATA/ Jul y 1970

CIRCLE NO. 27 ON INQUIRY CARD

NO SHORTAGE OF CANDIDATES

NEWS ROUNDUP

COMPUTERS COULD ENABLE WORLD
TAKEOVER

"If the present tren d toward centralization and scientific- technological miracles persists for much longer,
we face the very real danger of a rigidly controlled
society," according to Prof. Charles Padden of the
John Marshall Law School· in Chicago. Writing in
The Dec isive Utterance, a publica tion of the school's
Student Bar Association, Prof. Padden claims that
"th e nervous sys tem of such a body politic will be a
highly-integrated national , intern ational, perhaps
even universal, computer network into whi ch will be
plu gged th e human robots of an early tomorrow. "
Wh a t is happenin g, Prof. Padden feels , is that too
mu ch information ab out in dividuals is being assembled, and eventually it all will b e combin ed into the
"electronic howels" of a sin gle data center. The danger, he says, is th at power-hungry people or groups
will gain illicit access to this mass of personal data,
and use it to control whole populations.

DIGITAL EQUIPMENT PDP-8 UNDER $5K
According to Nick Mazza rese, DEC's vice president
for small computers , it was only a matter of time b efore D EC came out with a full-scale mini pri ced under $.5K. The company's lates t entry in th e PDP-8 lin e
of 12-bitters is th e PDP-8 / E , a complete 4K mini
priced at $4990. DEC b eli eves th e 8/ E , which is
fully- compa tibl e with th e rest of th e PDP-8 lin e, will
be received w ith at leas t the sa me enthusiasm as the
company's PDP-8/ S. At $9100, th e 8/ S was th e first
full-s cale mini priced under $10K, and, since its announcement in 1967, has passed th e 1100 mark in
sales.
Th e 8/ E w ill eventu ally phase out both the 8/ I and
8/ L , which comprise DEC's present PDP-8 stable.
Th e 8/ E's opera ting instru ctions are slightly faster
tha n eith er previous model, and I/O transfers on th t.
8/ E are executed in 1 usec. as opposed to 4.25 us ec.
on th e 8/ I or 8 / L. David Chertkow, engineering manager for the PDP-8 series, gives the busing concept
utilized in the 8/ E as the reason for its increased
speed and lower price. The 8/ E backb oards are completely pre-wired to accept all system elements , including the 3-board processor, as simple plug-ins.
This not only contributes to faster speeds along th e
common bus line, but, since it allows all options to b e
pre-wired , redu ces assembly costs significantly. Additional 8/ E features include two new ROM options
and several new instructions. Deliveries are expected
early in 1971.
30

The Los Angeles chapter of the Association for Computer Machin ery reported that a recent job opening
for a college EDP Manager at the California State
Colleges, instead of bringing the expected six applicants, brought 175, and most of these were Ph.Ds.
Nearly 100,000 aerospace workers, many in computerrelated jobs, have b een laid off work in the past 28
months. The ACM points to tightening of the economy, fin ancing difficulties, and government spending
cu t-ba cks as factors contributing to the youthful computer iJldustry's first recession.

HONEYWELL-GE COMPUTER AGREEMENT
Hon eywell's recently-annou nced agreement in principl e with General Electric to combine computer operations is still very much unresolved. The new company, which would include th e present H oneywell
comp uter opera tions and GE busin ess computer
eq uipm ent interest, would be 81- )~%-o wned by
Hon eywell and operated as a Honeywell subsidiary.
The agreement calls for GE to receive 1,500,000
shares of Hon eywell common stock together with
notes totalin g $1l0 million , which would b e interestfree for one year. Still unresolved , however, are such
hurdles as: 1) securing U.S. and foreign government
approval, 2) de termining the final product line mix,
and 3) organizing, staffing, and locating the yet-to-benamed new company. (One sugges ted name: "The
Other Computer Company. ")
Ex cept for GE's time-sharing services and process
control sys tems opera tions, th e proposed subsidiary
would take in all of GE's domes ti c and international
computer interes ts, including GE's shares in the BullGE opera ti ons in France. GE's overseas operations ,
whi ch account for th e larger part of its computer
busin ess, were profitable in 1969. This is an important
fa ctor in GE's appeal, since it complements Honeywell's strong position in the U.K. Other advantages
cited by Honeywell are: • the transaction would
broaden its product lin e substantially since GE has
ex tensive product offerings b oth larger and smaller
than those of H oneywell ; • the resultant company
would give Honeywell a solid "Number Two" positi on b ehind IBM ; and • the marriage of GE and
Honeywell R&D efforts would b e expected to prove
b oth economical and fruitful.
Both companies have b een very tight-lipped about
providing de tails of the intended transaction - an understandable position considering the current sensitivity of both the employment and financi al markets.
(A selling spurt at the time of th e announcement lopped 25 points off the price of Hon eywell stock.) A
sampling of opinion by MODERN DATA, however,
indicates that reactions to th e proposed transaction
have b een generally favorabl e. The consensus of
opinion seems to b e that a strong "Number Two"
would encourage more toe. to-toe ·competiti on with
IBM and thereby contribute toward a healthi er ·mar.ketplace.
MODERN DATA/ July 1970

Interactive Graphics
for the Tektronix T4002
Graphic Computer Terminal
With the introduction of the 4901 Interactive Graphic
Unit and Joystick accessory, graphic input capability
is now available for the Tektronix T4002 Computer
Terminal. The Interactive Graphic Unit is a valuable
aid wherever graph ic analysis of statistical data is
fundamental to: thorough scientific investigationeffective computer-aided instruction-informed decision making.
The 4901 and optional Joystick are software supported. The software permits coordinate identification , display rotation and overlaying, menu picking
and other frequently repeated functions in graphic
formatting .
The new 4901 generates a bright, no parallax, orthogonal crosshair cursor. The cursor is easily and accurately positioned with the desk-top Joystick. You
enter data points and instructions through the T4002
keyboard. This means complete graph ic interface
without removing your hand from the Joystick.

MODERN DATA/ July 1970

Tektronix Application Engineers, especially trained
in the capabilities of Tektron ix Information Display
Products, will discuss with you the full versatility of
the T4002 Graph ic Computer Terminal. A T4002
demonstration provides an excellent opportunity to discuss software support, machine compatibility, interface options and maintenance. Contact your Application Eng ineer through any Tektronix office (57
domestic-48 foreign) or directly by calling (301)
825-9000 Baltimore ; (617) 894-4550 Boston ; (415)
326-8500 Palo Alto. Or write Tektronix, Inc., P. O.
Box 500, Beaverton , Oregon 97005.
T4002 Graph ic Computer Terminal ..... . . . . $8,800
4901 Interactive Graphic Unit .... .. ..... . . . $ 450
Optional Joystick (015-0175-00)

. .. .. . . .. . . . $ 250

U.S. Sales Prices FOB Beaverton , Oregon

The new, no parallax crosshair cursor is
positioned with the desk-top Joystick.

CIRCL'E NO. 28 ON INQUIRY CARD

INTERNATIONAL NEWS
ARGENTINE EDP - The Argentine EDP market remains
brisk in a settin g of high economic activity, according to a
recent on-the-spot survey conducted by the U _S_ Dept_ of
Commerce_ Over 50 percent of Argentine EDP equipment
has been installed in the past four years _ There is a 15
percent annual growth rate forecast, with EDP sales expected to climb to over $19 million in 1975, at which time
the total expenditure for hardware and software is expected
to reach $90 million _ U _S_ companies supply virtually all of
Argent ina's EDP hardware imports _ Labor piracy in not uncommon for trained Argentine EDP personnel. Salaries for
programmers range from $4,300 to $7,000; for analysts
from $5,100 to $8,600; and for operators from about $2,300 to $2,850_

LEASING IN GREECE - Computer leasing is becoming very
popular in Greece _ About 65 government-related agencies
and leading privat e enterpri ses are now lea sing co m puters _
There are five service bureaus in Athens used by smaller
firms _ The value of installed electron ic computers is estimated at $18 million, of wh ich 80-percent is controlled by
American interests _ Because of the lack of trained personnel to operate computers, the Greek Productivity Center has
established a program to train professional programmers_

NOT SO ROSY - Dick H _ Brando n, head of Brandon Computer Services of London and New York, recently told a
London gathering that the market for computer services
was not so rosy _ Accord ing to the Financial Times of london, he said that there has been over-optimism in the computer industry, and that a number of operations, such as
time-sharing, have been overly stressed_ Mr_ Brandon stated
his belief that not a single U _S_ firm was making a profit at
this moment in time-sharing services_

DANISH PRODUCTS The market in Denmark for EDP
equipment was estimated at $27 _2 million in 1969, compared with $25 _3 million in 1968_ Imports were expected to
account for 88 percen(/ or $24 million , of the 1969 market_
Denmark's imports of EDP equipment rose from $15 million
in 1966 to $21.7 million in 1967, an increase of 44 percent_ However, in 1967- and 1968, imports increased by only
about 5 percent annually_ This sharp decline in import
growth rate is attributable mainly to the economic slowdown
which occurred during 1967-68_ The current brisk recovery
should bring a resumption of strong demand_ Imports in
1970 are expected to rise by slightly less than 20 percent to
$28 million and to continue to increase at an annual 20
percent rate through 1973 _ The U_S_ Dept_ of Commerce
estimates that the U _S_share' of the Danish import market for
EDP equipment was approximately 20 percent during the
1966-68 period. In 1968, the U .S. provided $4.3 million, or
about 19 percent, of . imports. This share was surpassed
only by France, which supplied $6.3 million, or 27.8 percent, of the import market. W. Germany and the United
Kingdom followed the U.S. closely, the former supplying $4
million of imports, a 17.7 percent share, and the latter $3.3
million, a 14.6 percent share _

AUSTRIAN PROSPECTS - Prospects for increased hardware sales by the U.S. to Austria are not very promising
since much of this business will probably shift to Europeanbased producers in the future, concludes the U.S. Dept. of
Commerce . In 1967-68, direct exports of U.S_ computers
amounted to only $4.28 m illion. However, USDC believes
that there is a market for customized software and EDP
peripheral equipment that is "virtually untapped_"

BRAZILIAN MARKET - A Commerce Dept. survey estimates
that the Brazilian EDP market will expand at an average
annual rate of 20 percent through 1974, at which time it
will approach $38 million. Imports must fulfill essentially all
Brazilian EDP needs. Presently the U.S. supplies 37 percent
of the hardware market. While the U.S. is the principle
source of EDP suppliers , its share has been declining as the
result of a shift by U.S. suppliers to foreign subsidiaries .

ITALIAN PRODUCTION - The Journal of Commerce reports
that Italy's production of electronic computers in 1969 approached $1.3 billion . Production is expected to continue
increasing at a fast rate as private and state Italian companies, and American and German firms located in Italy,
reorganize in the battle for domestic and international orders. There now are about 2,500 electronic computers operating in Italy. An industry estimate says the number will
reach 3 , 100 by the end of 1970 and over 20,000 by 1980.

QUICKLY AROUND THE WORLD

The Royal Turf of Thailand has ordered a Control Data
3100/3300 interlinked computer system valued at nearly
$1.5 million to process racetrack betting information and
calculate dividends on winning tickets.

Two Univac 9400 real-time computer systems valued at approximately $1 million have been ordered by the Europe
Container Terminus Co., Rotterdam, Holland, to expedite
the rapidly increasing volume of container freight traffic in
the port of Rotterdam.

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and ILTAM, the Government Corporation for Planning and Research, are organizing
the 1970 International Seminar on Advanced Programming
Systems to be held on the campus of the Hebrew University
in Jerusalem for two weeks, from July 26 to August 6_

The battle of the minis intensifies in Britain as the result of
the formation of a new computer company. The new firm,
Database , will offer Clary Datacomp Systems' 404 computer
in most Commonwealth countries and Western Europe, and
has the right to manufacture in the U.K.
MODERN DATA/ July 1970

'It draws about everything but salary.

Being versatile has done a lot to
make CalComp's 718 flatbed pIotter the world's most popular.
Being accurate hasn't hurt,
either.
And in many applications , you'll
never need finer resolution.
But if you do, there's our new
728 flatbed plotter. With the same
huge 27 square foot drafting area.
But with laser-calibrated accuracy. Guaranteed.
Naturally, when you choose from
six different CalComp flatbed plotters and 25 separately-defined systems , you pay for only the precision
you need. On jobs like these .
Mapping . For resource exploration , highway design, and all government and civil engineering.
MODERN DATA / July 1970

Mask design and cutting. For
integrated circuit packaging .
CPM / PERT networks. For space,
military and construction applications .
NC simulation . For numerical
control program verification .
CalComp is the leader in computer graphics. With sales, service
and comprehensive software support in 34 cities around the world .
And with the greatest variety of
computer-controlled plotters anywhere . Drum plotters, COM plotters ,
and since 1966, Flatbed plotters.
So call your nearest
CalComp man today.
And ask him to size
up your drafting
requirements.
CIRCLE NO. 29 ON INQUIRY CARD

Maybe our versatile 718 flatbed
plotter is exactly what you need .
If not, there's our exact 728.

TEACH YOUR COMPUTER TO DRAW.
Ca lifornia Computer Products, Inc .,
Dept. MD-7, 2411 West La Palma Ave nue,
Anaheim, California 92801 .

ORDERS AND INSTALLATIONS
A contract to expand the mainframe memory of Applied
Logic Corp.'s Dual AL-lO (PDP-10) interactive time-sharing
system has been awarded to the Data Products Div_ of
Lockheed Electronics Corp. The contract is valued at more
that $800,000.

United Air Lines announced agreeme nt with IBM on plans
for a new, nationwide passenger reservation center now under construction in Denver, Colo. Over a period of years, the
contract could involve some $50 million for IBM equipment
. and technical se~vices . The United system will use an
S/360 Model 65 which later will be replaced with more
powerful Model 195s. The order follows the cancellation of
a previous contract with Sperry Rand's Univac Division for a
similar system .

Bowles, Andrews and Towne , consulting actuaries, have purchased 1,475 portable KeyPact computer terminals from
Computone Systems, I nco The or.der represents a $1.5 mil lion investment and marks the largest single order for KeyPact terminal equipment to date.

Computer Sciences Corp. has received a contract to provide
extensive services in systems analysis and computer programming to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center at Greenbelt, Md. The $3 million contract covers a one-year period
and contains options for two one-year extensions . The value
of the award has been estimated at $11 million if all contract options are excercised.

A manufacturing contract for $9 .7 million has been awarded
to the Instrument Div. of Lear Siegler, Inc. by Data Input
Devices, a firm that designs and sells digital encoders. The
contract calls for Lear Siegler to deliver the encoders over
an 18-month period.

A $5 million contract calling for the implementation and
management of a computerized information retrieval system
designed to serve the automotive parts distribution industry
has been awarded by Computer Catalogs, Inc. , Boston ; to
Moll Associates, Inc., Watertown, Mass.

Informatics, Inc., Sherman Oaks, Cal., announced a $5 million cost plus fee supplemental agreement award from the
National Aeronautics & Space Administration. The award,
aggregating $5 ,035,000, represents a supplemental agreement under an existing contract with Informatics/TISCO,
Inc., a wholly-owned Informatics subsidiary, for a one-year
continuation of the operation of the NASA Scientific and
Technical Information Facility in College Park, Md.

Wang Laboratories, Inc . received a telegram from Senator
Edward M. Kennedy advising the company that General Services Administration has contracted for an indefinite quantity of Wang 's calculators. The order could result in possible
sales of $4,455,600 if federal agencies purchase according
to presently indicated requirements.
34

Sanders Associates has received a $2.7 million developmental contract from the Federal Aviation Administration
for a basic model of a radar air traffic control display subsystem. The subsystem will be used in human factors and
other design considerations for the enroute portion of the
National Airspace Air Traffic Control System.

Ampex Corp. has received a contract for approximately $1.4
million to supply core memory stacks to Nixdorf Computer
AG West Germany for use in new Nixdorf 800 and 900
series computers . Stack configurations will include 512,
1024, 2048, and 4096 words by 12 and 18 bits.

Shearson , Hammill & Co ., Inc., a Wall Street stock brokerage and investment banking firm, has installed a Control
Data Brokerage Control System valued at nearly $2.5 milli on. The du al CDC 3300 system will provide order matching
and confirmation of customers ' stock market transactions.

International Communications Corp. announced the receipt
of an order in excess of $750,000 from Lufthansa Airlines
for high-speed modems to provide the data transmission
links for Lufthansa's international seat reservation system.
The Lufthansa order brings to ten the number of major
airlines using ICC 's Modem 4400 data sets for their reservation systems.

General Logics I nc o of Dallas, Texas has ordered one Univac
9200 and two Univac 9400 computer systems valued at
approximately $2.4 million. When installed this summer, the
computers will be used to service a nationwide data communications network for industrial applications.

Ampex Corp. has received a $1.1 million order from the
Friden Div. of the Singer Co. to supply digital tape drives
for the Singer's System Ten business computers.

The first of two large·scale GE-635 information systems ordered by the U.S. Air Force Data Services Center recently
was installed in the Pentagon. The Air Force signed a $12.2
million contract last year for two, dual General Electric GE635 information systems and five small-scale GE-115 systems . The GE-115s are scheduled to be installed this fall
while the second dual GE-635 is scheduled for installation
in early 1971.

May Co. announced it will lease and install a new credit
authorization system developed and produced by TRW Data
Systems . The system calls for installing over 1.400 small keyboard terminals beside cash registers in all of the May Co.'s
17 Southern California retail stores.

Computing and Software, Inc. announced the receipt of an
estimated $600,000 facilities management contract with
Systematic Services of California, Inc., Oakland.
MODERN DATA/ July 1970

Bryant develops a line of minicontrollers compatible with leading
mini-computers.
A mini-controller for
maxi-results.
That's the way our new
Bryant Series 720 works
out. It's a compact, lowcost controller that is instantly compatible with
your mini-computer (either
the MAC 16 or I nterdata 3).
But that's only part of
the story. The 720 is instantly expandable from
0.6 million bits to 70 million
bits, depending on which of
th e 8 different Bryant storage memory systems you
utilize. I ncidentally, only
Bryant can offer this wide

range of storage expandability.
Hold it, there's more.
A fully expanded system
can interface two computers with up to eight storage units and two com puters can operate off one
storage system simultaneously. (And they're available in cabinets or can be
rack mounted in your
equipment.)
But thi s is only th e be-

ginning. Two more mlnlcontroller systems (compatible with the PDP-8 and
SEL-810A mini-computers)
will be available later this
year. And by 1971, Bryant
will have systems to interface with most of the major
mini-computers on the
market.
If you're interested in
maxi-results, why don't
you drop us a line. Bryant
Computer Products, 850
Ladd Road, Walled Lake,
Michigan 48088.

Watch for next month 's Bryant Bulletin
and another new Bryant product.

BRYANT
COMPUTER PRODUCTS
A UNIT OF

""XLCY
~~ ®
EX-CELL-O CORPORATION
MODERN DATA/ July 1970

CIRCLE NO. 30 ON INQUIRY CARD

Harold V. Semling, Washington Editor

DC DATASCAN
MAGNETIC TAPE MANAGEMENT - The U.S. Comptroller

CENSUS REPORT - Manufacturers' shipments of elec-

General has reported to Congress that there is a need for
further improvement in the management of magnetic tape
by NASA's Goddard Space Center. The General Accounting Office found that on June 30, 1969, Goddard had
over 900,000 tapes containing data that had been transmitted and received by tracking stations in various parts of
the world . After receiving an earlier GAO report, NASA
established new policies and procedures and agreed to
study ways of increasing Goddard's capacity for rehabilitating magnetic tapes. GAO, however, believes that additional action is desirable since many of the tapes are being
held without plans for eventual processing, or not retrieved
from experimenters after processing.

tronic computing equipment in 1967 were valued at $4,046
million according to a preliminary report just issued by the
Dept. of Commerce's Bureau of the Census. The total number of employees in the industry was 98,000 and payrolls
totaled $798 million. "Value-added-by-manufacture," an
approximation of the value of products shipped less the
cost of materials used was $1,921 million.

TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT - The House Subcommittee
on Science, Research, and Development is holding hearings
on legislation (H.R. 17046), "The Technology Assessment
Act of 1970." The purpose of the legislation, sponsored by
Rep. Emilio Q. Daddario (D.-Conn.) is to provide Congress
with a continuing capability for evaluating technology and
its uses. The new Office of Technology Assessment - which
would be composed of 13 members, including representatives of the House and Senate, legislative agencies, and the
public - would commission various independent organizations to ossess the impact of developing technologies for
the Congress. The technical assessment process is defined
by Rep . Daddario as "a system of improved information
into the legislative process so that management decisions
can insure the realization of full benefits from scientific
knowledge and minimize the unwanted, unintended, and
unanticipated consequences of applied science."

TRAVELER'S FILE - The Senate Constitutional Rights Subcommittee is continuing its survey of federal data banks
containing statistical or administrative personal information
on individuals. The Subcommittee has sent a questionnaire
to the Secretary of Treasury asking for a complete report
on a Customs Bureau computerized data bank on travelers.
The Secretary was asked to submit a report describing the
guidelines governing access to the data and its use by
other agencies; the specific subject areas concerning an
individual's background; the security devices and procedures used to protect confidentiality of the data; and other
areas of interest to the Subcommittee.

CONSTRUCTION UNEMPLOYMENT - To stabilize seasonal unemployment in the construction industry, a joint
Labor-Commerce Dept. report has recommended the development of a local construction labor market information
system. The system would be a cooperative undertaking of
contractors, building-trade unions, and the Dept. of Labor.
Computer matching programs would be utilized to develop
forecasts that would focus on seasonal variations for
specific crafts and locations. If this program proves useful
for the construction trades, it might be expanded to serve
other sectors of the economy with seasonal problems.

POSTAL PREDICTIONS - Mail volume, which last year
reached 82 billion pieces, is expected to more than double
in the next twenty years . Postal projections say the mail
will reach 166 billion pieces in 1991. Increased growth of
facsimile transmission is expected, but the Post Office views
this electronic advancement "as a limited communication
means to specialized business users who need and can
afford the required terminal equipment during the next few
years." Postal officials warn that higher costs per unit are
inevitable without drastic improvements in processing productivity. Radical departures are required in distribution
techniques, mechanization design, and coding practices.

JOB BANK COMPUTERS - For fiscal 1971 the Labor Department has asked for funds to install Job Bank computers
in 81 metropolitan areas across the country. "In addition to
the intrinsic operating efficiencies that should accompany
introduction of these computers, they will permit us to make
available to the disadvantaged a far wider range of jobs
than have been available -t o them in the past," said Under
Secretary of Labor James D. Hodgson.
36

IN BRIEF
Eighteen grants totaling $523 ,800 have been awarded by the Notional
Science Foundation to expand and strengthen a state-wide cooperative
program of educotional computing activities among institutions of higher
learning in Georgia .

The detailed input-output structure of the U.S. economy has been made
available on magnetic tape . More information can be obtained from the
National Economics Division, Office of Business Economics, U.S. Dept. of
Commerce, Washington , D.C. 20230.

The FCC has developed a computer program to recognize seasonal and
geographic differences, and ather variables necessary to evaluate the
trends in telephone service quality .

Theim Industries of Torrance, Cal. has been named the Small Business
Subcontractor of the Year . The small metal·working and precisian machine
shop produces airborne computer module chassis and missile computer

radar.
M0DERN DATA/ July 1970

CORPORATE AND FINANCIAL NEWS

COMPUTER TREND ANALYSIS

NO EDP JOB SHORTAGE

Three major trends will determine
the computer markets, products, and
technology of the 1970s, according to
Quantum
Science
Corp.,
technological information service company with offices in New York and
California. Speaking at the recent International Computer Conference in
Washington, D.C., J. Peter Ross, v.p.
of Quantum Science Corp's Adv.
Technology Div., said that the rapid
introduction of dispersed computer
systems will dictate new product developments in terminals, equipment,
memories, and software. Second, the
movement towards total service because of increasing system complexity
will mean that computer services will
become the fastest growing sector in
the EDP industry, expanding from
$7.9 to $20.1 billion by 1973. The
third factor mentioned was the increasing importance of overseas markets and competition. Quantum Science predicts that foreign markets are
increasing 50% faster than those in
the U.S., and that foreign companies
are preparing to attack world markets . By 1973, 44% of U.S .-based
computer sales will be to foreign markets, according to Mr. Ross.

Even though hiring rates have temporarily declined due to the economic
slow-down, expansion of computer
applications will create 40,000 new
professional and para-professional
data processing jobs this year, according to Source EDP, Inc., Chicagobased EDP recruitment firm. The company's 1970 Computer Salary Survey
and Career Planning Guide predicts
that by year-end, more than 80,000
computers will be used in the U.S.,
with deliveries reaching more than
10,950 units in the 12-month period.
In a summary of new job opportunities in the computer field , the survey shows "more than 10,000 people
will be added to the ranks of computer professionals. Opportunities will
be such that an average of three outstanding positions will exist for each
competent computer professional."

COMPUTER DIMENSIONS SIGNS
$2 MILLION CONTRACT
Computer Dimensions, Inc., a leading
data processing firm announced it
signed a $2,100,000 data processing
contract with Budget Industries, Inc.
of Los Angeles. CDI also has an agreement to acquire a computer firm controlled by Budget. Under terms of the
contract, CDI will take over the entire data processing operation currently maintained by Budget Industries, a '$35 million-a-year conglomerate listed on the N .Y. Stock Exchange,
and move its operations to CDI's Los
Angeles data processing center where
it will handle all of Budget's present
processing requirements. In addition,
Budget currently holds stock and convertible debentures representing 80
per cent ownership in Miller-Ellis
Computer Systems, Inc., a Los Angeles
company. As part of the agreement,
CDI will acquire Budget's interest in
Miller-Ellis on a stock for stock trade.
The total acquisition transaction involves $435,000.
38

ALWAYS ROOM FOR ONE MORE
About to add its name to the everexpanding roster of companies providing keypunch replacement equipment
is Entrex, Inc. of Lexington, Mass.
The company's System 480 line will
consist of CRT-to-disk-to-mag. tape
configurations enabling up to 64
"Data/ Scope" operators to share an
integral computer for data input and
verification. Entrex president Barry M.
Harder obviously believes in hiring
seasoned sales and marketing personnel: his team includes Paul
Landry, formerly regional sales mgr.
for Mohawk and national mktg. mgr.
for Honeywell's Keytape product line;
and Steve Schwartz', formerly promotion mgr. for Key tape -a nd Viatron's
System 21.

ISL EXPERIENCES
CASH FLOW PROBLEM
Information Systems Leasing Corp. of
Jenkintown, Pa. has notified its shareholders that the firm is experiencing
serious financial difficulties and is engaged in merger/acquisition talks
with two companies having compatible interests. In a letter to shareand warrant-holders, Mrs. Mary K.

Hawes, president, said the company
presently "has a critical cash How
problem . . ." and ". . . no sources
of capital sufficient to allow it to continue its operation after June 1,
1970."

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS: Automatic
Data Processing, Inc., a national computer services company, has reached
an agreement in principle to acquire
the Houston computer center and data
processing operations of Petro-Chern
Computing, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Duquesne Natural Gas Company of Houston . . . Academy Computing Corp. has agreed in principle to
merge Compute America Corp_ into
Academy. Both companies are headquartered in Oklahoma City...
Carci Computab Systems, Inc., a manufacturer of business forms for computers, has been merged into Cybermatics Inc., an independent software
company .. .. ITS Computing, Inc.
of Dallas has merged with BMS Data
Processing, Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia.
ITS provides specialized programs for
businesses. BMS offers management
information packages. . . . Computer
Products, Inc. of Ft. Lauderdale and
Scientific Systems Services, Inc of Satellite Beach, Fla. have completed an
agreement whereby Computer Products
has acquired 51% of Scientific Systems Services' stock. . . . Computest
Corp. of Cherry Hill, N.J. has agreed
in principle to acquire "Three Sigma,"
Inc., a Phoenix, Arizona manufacturer
of disk memory test equipment. . . .
Vidar Corp. of Mountain View, Cal.
has agreed in principle on the terms
of Vidar's proposed acquisition by
Continental Telephone Corp., St.
Louis. . . . On-Line Systems, Inc. has
acquired the PDP-lO-based remoteaccess time-sharing business of Davis
Computer Systems, Inc. . . . Redcor
Corp. of Woodland Hills, Cal. and
Penta Computer Associates, Inc. of
NYC jointly announced that an agreement in principle has been reached
under which Redcor would acquire
the assets of Penta on a pooling of
interest basis. . . . Tab Products Co.
of Palo Alto announced the sale of its
Data Input Center division to United
Financial Data Centers, Inc. of Detroit, Mich. . . . Unitech, Inc., of
Austin, Texas plans to merge with Infotronics Corp., of Austin. Unitech is
engaged in conducting studies related
to signal analysis and system design,
and developing computer software
and systems products for industry. Infotronics manufactures a line of digital instruments used in the processing of analytical data .. . Wellington
Computer Systems Inc. of NYC has

MODERN DATA/ July 1970

acquired all of the stock of Advanced
Management Planning, Inc., a Bethesda-based consulting firm. Wellington provides management consultin g and implementation services.
Other Wellington wholly-owned subsidiaries include: T elemax Corp.,
which provides an on-line reservations service, and Wellington Data
Utilities, Inc., a facilities management
and EDP services firm.

RECENT

ENTRIES

THE

COMPUTER

The Boeing Computer Services
Division h as been formed to include all
of Boeing's present computing capabilities located in Philadelphia; Huntsville,
Alabama; Wichita, Kansas; and
Seattle. Initially, over 3,000 Boeing
employees will be assigned to the
new division. As one of the world's
largest users of computer technology,
Boeing's inventory of computer
FIELD:

BOX SCORE OF EARNINGS

.~ii
corn
Company
Beta Instrument
Bresnahan Computer
Computer Dimensions
Computer Microfilm
Computing and Software
Control Data
Corporation S
CUC
Data Architects
Data Documents
Datamation Services
Dataram
Data Systems Analysts
Fabri-Tek
Hewlett-Packard
Management Assistance
Management Data
Mohawk Data Sciences
National Computer Systems
North Atlantic Industries
Planning Research
Sperry Rand
SYS Associates
Technitrol
Tracor Computing
University Computing
Western Union
Xerox

MODERN DATA/ July 1970

Period
Yr.
Yr.
6 mos.
6 mos .
3 mos .
3 mos .
Yr .
11 mos.
3 mos .
3 mos.
3 mos.
3 mos.
Yr.
Yr .
6 mos .
6 mos.
Yr.
Yr.
6 mos.
6 mos .
Yr.
Yr.
9 mos .
9 mos.
Yr.
Yr.
Yr.
Yr.
6 mos .
6 mos .
6 mos.
6 mos.
Yr.
Yr .
9 mos .
9 mos.
Yr.
Yr.
53 wks.
52 wks .
9 mos.
9 mos .
Yr.
Yr .
Yr.
Yr.
3 mos .
3 .mos .
3 mos.
3 mos.
3 mos.
3 mos.
3 mos.
3 mos.
3 mos .
3 mos.

Revenues

12/31/69
916,952
12/31/68
599,503
3/31/70
2 ,980,000
3/ 31/69
1,204,000
3/31-/70
1,216,586
3/31/69
934,314
12/31/69
410,302
12/31/68
30,746
1/31/70
14,440,000
1/31/69
13,986,000
125,539,000
3/31/70
3/31/69
131,730,000
10/31/69
818,837
10/31/68
621,562
3/31/70
3 ,295,031
3/31/69
6,488,595
11/30/69
3 ,505,813
11/30/68
2,845,135
3/31/70
12,151,032
3/31/69
10,252,936
12/31/69
3,638,492
12/31/68
3,957,960
1/31/70
1,580,710
1/31/69
387,588
12/31/69
2 ,073,773
12/31/68
1,612,957
3/27/70
21,200,000
3/27/69
15,800,000
4/30/70
174,068,000
4/30/69
151 ,959,000
3/31/70
32,985,000
3/31/69
36,383,000
2/28/70
8,250,000
2/28/69
5 ,035,000
4/30/70
77,215,000
4/30/69
59,575,000
1/31/70
2,889,904
1/31/69
2,679,252
1/3/70
3,866,221
12/28/68
4,227,926
3/31/70
46,969,220
3 /3 1/69
40,863,053
3/31/70 1,755,443,000
3/31/69 1,607,340,000
12/31/69
844,489
12/31/68
277 ,056
3/31/70
3 ,116,022
3/31/69
2,970,078
3/31/70
1,721,743
3/31/69
1,663,002
3/31/70
37,000,000
3/31/69
19,000,000
3/31/70
101,042,000
3/31/69
95,273,000
3/31/70
402,557,000
3/31/69
338,823,000

Net Earnings :;;
(Loss)
W

=:;

(.76)
(691 ,294)
(.13)
(105,172)
325,000
.17
149,000
.10
85,842
.07
(155,501 ) (.17)
(.08)
(22,339)
(.58)
(144,062)
1,218,000
.31
896,000
.23
1,678,000
.09
16,572,000
1.13
(1,089,201)
(.82)
(.76)
(382,546)
(1 ;071 ,019) (1.26)
(.50)
425,152
72,524
.06
(6,238)
1.01 )
448,906
.96
425,851
.92
(.46)
(516,540)
328,895
.30
85,252
.11
(.38)
(234,918)
81,224
.11
38,130
.06
561 ,903
.18
369,463
.12
11,704,000
.46
11,688,000
.46
(41,000)
(.01)
(.12)
(512,000)
784,000
.80
449,000
.50
6,400,000
1.17
4,745,000
.87
.03
12,258
177,408
.46
86,539
.21
285,745
.70
2,344,119
.49
1,965,945
.44
81,014,000
2.37
77,036,000
2 .26
71,682
.1 5
(265,609)
(.82)
102,379
.07
88,664
.06
(145,015)
1.03)
(454,330)
(.17)
4,206,000
.61
3,690,000
.56
7,163,000
.72
6,133,000
.71
46,046,000
.59
38,401 ,000
.50

equipment is valued at over $100 million. . . . Corporate Presence, Inc., a
fu ll-service
advertising/ sales promotion / public relations agency, has been
formed in White Plains, N.Y. to serve
the data processing industry . . . .
EAST Corp. (Eastern Automated Systems Technology Corp. ) is a new diversified marketing and computer consulting firm with headquarters in
Mineola, N .Y. .. . Formscan, Inc.,
based in P asadena, Cal. , will provide
input au tomation design and consulting services for businesses or computer
installations. . . . Identicon
Corp.,
Waltham, Mass. , will design and
manufacture data processing and automation equipment for materials-handling and control applications. " . . Infoton Inc. has organized ILC Leasing
Corp., an affiliate th at will purchase
and lease Infoton's series of CRT display terminals and OCR systems. . . .
Insurance Systems of America, Inc.
has been formed in Atlanta, Ga. by 15
major life insurance companies to
market insurance application software
and other computer related services
to the insurance industry . . . .
Western Union Corp., Data Research
Corp., and Western Union Computer
Utilities, Inc. have established International Data Terminals, Inc. to engage in the development and manufacture of a line of data-terminal
equipment. IDTI will b e b ased in Ft.
Lauderdale. . . . Intertel, Inc. h as
been formed in Burlington, Mass. as a
supplier of data communications
products. . . . Management
Concepts, Inc. has formed Malt Keyboard
Dynamics, Inc. as a wholly-owned
Chicago-based subsidiary. The new
company will offer professional training programs designed to improve
keyboard operator skills and productivity . . . . Mnemotech Corp., an integrated circuit and core memory
company, has been formed in Levittown. Pa . . . . Larse Corp. of Palo
Alto has announced the formation of
Pacific Telecommunications Laboratories (PTL), a new division . (PTL)
will be responsible for research and
development
of
selected
telecommunications products , including
electronic telephone switching systems and related subsystems, and terminal apparatus . . . . United Software Corp., with offices in the greater
Philadelphia, Minneapolis, and N.Y.
areas, has been formed by several former members of Univac's EXEC-8
management and design team. . . .
University Instruments Corp. , Boulder, Colo., h as been formed as an affiliate of KDI Corp., Cincinnati, Ohio .
One of the company's fi rst products
will b e optical computer communications links.
39

. COMPUTER STOCK TRENDS

SUPPLIES
&

ACCESSORIES

SOFTWARE
&

SERVICES

ADAMS MILLIS
BAL TIMORE BUS. FORMS
BARRY WRIGHT
CAPITOL INDUSTRIES
DATA DOCUMENTS
DATA PACKAGING
DENNISON MFG.
DUPONT
ENNIS BUS. FORMS
GENERAL BINDING
GRAPHIC CONTROLS
LEWIS BUS. FORMS
MEMOREX
3M
MOORE CORP. LTD.
REYNOLDS 8. REYNOLDS
SAFEGUARD INDUSTRIES
STANDARD REGISTER
UARCO
WALLACE BUS. FORMS

NY
OTC
AM
AM
AM
OTC
NY
NY
NY
aTC
aTC
OTC
NY
NY
TSE
OTC
AM
OTC
NY
OTC

APPLIED DATA RESEARCH
APPLIED LOGIC
ARIES
AUTOMA TIC DATA PROC.
BOLT, BERANEK 8. NEWMAN
BOOTHE COMPUTER
BRANDON APPLIED SYS.
COMPUTER APPLICATIONS
COMPUTER ENVIRONMENT
COMPUTER EXCHANGE
COMPUTER INVESTORS
COMPUTER METHODS
COMPUTER PROPERTY
COMPUTER SCIENCES
COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY
CTC COMPUTER
COMPUTER USAGE
COMPUTING 8. SOFTWARE
COM·SHARE
CYBER·TRONICS
CYBERMATICS
DATA AUTOMATION
DATA DYNAMICS
DATA PROC. FIN. 8. GEN.
DATA SYSTEMS ANALYSTS
DATRONIC RENTAL
DEARBORN COMPUTER
DECISION SYSTEMS
DIGITAL APPLICATIONS
DIGITEK
DPA, INC.
EFFICIENT LEASING
ELEC. COMPo PROG. INST.
ELEC. DATA SYSTEMS
GREYHOUND COMPUTER
INFORMATICS
INTL. COMPUTER
INTL. COMPUTER SCIENCES
LEASCO
LEVIN·TOWNSEND
LMCDATA
MGMT. ASSISTANCE
MANAGEMENT DATA
NATIONAL COMPo ANAL.
PLANNING RESEARCH
PROGRAMMING METHODS
PROGRAMMING SCIENCES
PROGRAMMING SYSTEMS
SCIENTIFIC COMPUTER
SCIENTIFIC RESOURCES
SYSTEMS CAPITAL
TIME SHARE
TRACOR COMPUTING
URSSYSTEMS
UNITED DATA CENTERS
UNIVERSITY COMPUTING
US TIME SHARING

AM
OTC
OTC
AM
OTC
OTC
OTC
AM
OTC
OTC
AM
OTC
OTC
NY
OTC
OTC
OTC
AM
OTC
OTC
OTC
OTC
OTC
NY
OTC
OTC
AM
OTC
OTC
OTC
AM
aTC
AM
OTC
AM
OTC
OTC
NAT
NY
AM
OTC
OTC
AM
OTC
NY
OTC
OTC
OTC
OTC
NY
OTC
OTC
OTC
AM
OTC
NY
OTC

565
552
1992
120
1248
6616
264

24642
6693
492
288

901
7042

1585
296
7860

2357

7170
1237

1064
369
559

8853
7913

4396

5596

1177
25509

15.2
21.0
25.3
53.5
35.6
28.6
25 .2
118.2
19.0
30.4
17.2
20 .0
166.6
114.6
38.0
48.4
16.1
30.4
39.2
41.0

8 .2
12.4
7.5
16.4
17.2
9.4
11.4
92.4
12.0
14.0
8.1
11.0
63.4
77.4
27 .6
30.0
7.2
21.0
25 .3
25 .0

10.0
12.4
9.5
26.2
20.4
12.0
13.6
112.7
14.5
19.0
9 .2
13.0
79.0
85.3
30.0
35.4
9 .5
21.4
26.4
30.0

- 1.0
-4.0
-0.4
-8 .2
-3.2
-1.0
-1 .2
3.7-0.1
-2.4
0 .2
-0.4
-0.4
-8 .5
-5 .2
3.4
-1.2
- 2 .4
-2.0
-2.4

1.05
0.92
0.80
2.08
1.82
0.76
1.44
7.35
0.95
0 .76
1.10
0.86
1.71
3.21
1.26
1.27
0 .79
2.13
2.21
2.16

24.2
18.4
8.0
47.6
11.2
25.4
9.4
12.3
14.0
8.2
12.3
2.4
15.2
34.1
12.6
19.0
8.4
75.6
14.6
15.0
14.2
24.0
3.5
32.0
5.4
8.0
24.1
4.2
6.6
4.4
10.3
5 .0
11.4
161.0
14.1
20.4
7.4
3.3
30.4
19.3
3.5
4.0
25.4
8.4
53.2
27.0
16.6
5.4
3.5
14.5
8.0
7.0
7.4
28.0
4.6
99.3
13.4

4 .1
4.6
1.6
22 .1
6.0
12.0
2.2
2.6
3.6
2.4
3.7
1.0
5 .6
7.5
2.2
2.4
4.2
18.5
3.2
2.0
5.2
4 .6
1.2
6.5
2.4
3.0
10.2
1.4
1.4
1.6
3.6
1.6
5 .1
31.0
5 .7
4.4
3.4
1.2
7.7
3.0
1.3
1.5
11.2
3.0
13.5
9.0
3 .2
2.1
1.7
4.4
3.0
2.0
2.1
5.4
2.4
19.4
3.0

5 .2
4.6
1.7
30.3
7.0
12.4
3.0
3.3
4.0
5.4
6.2
1.0
8.0
11 .3
3.0
3.2
4.6
24.6
3.2
3.0
6.4
6 .0
1.4
12.0
3.6
4.0
13.2
2.4
2.4
1.7
5.3
2.2
6.7
36.0
7.4
8 .0
4.6
1.3
11.1
6.5
1.7
2.1
. 14.0
3.2
19.2
13.0
6.2
3.0
2.0
5.4
3.6
2.4
3.2
7.2
3.4
25.1
3.4

-0.4
-1.4
-0.1
-1.7
0.4
-5.4
-0.4
-1.5
-3.4
1.4
-0.2
-0.2
-1.0
-1.5
-1.4
0.2
-1.6
-5.4
-2 .2
-2 .0
-3.4
-1.4
0.0
1.0
0.6
-0.4
-0.6
0.4
0.0
-0.5
0.2
-0.2
0 .7
-29 .0
-0.2
1.2
0.2
-0.3
-2 .0
1.4
0.1
-0.3
-3.1
-0.6
-3.4
0.0
'2.6
0.0
-0.2
-0.4
-0.2
-0.4
-0.3
0.6
-0.1
-8.4
-1.6

(d)0.40
0.59
0.32
1.62

9
13
11
12
10
15
9
15
14
25
8
15
46
26
23
27
11
9
11
13

50
21
7

(d)5 .51
0.08
0 .39

62
15

0.76
0.41
0.12

10
26
25

(d)1 .58
1.19

0 .11

1.23
0.06

9
50

1.86

0.85

0.14
0.39
1.05
0 .09

42
92
6
88

2.51
0.82
(d)O.Ol
(d)2 .07
0.77

4
7
19

0.68

0.16
0.12
(d)0.78

18
16

0.13

0.78

2.58

All sec unty p r ices a n d n e t c h a n ge a r e e xpres sed in do ll a rs and
e i ghth s of d o l l a r s (e. g. 62 . 2 IS 62'1.. \. T r a ding volu m e i s no t gi ve n f o r
o ver th e co u n t e r s t ock s. A LL DA T A COMPUT E D BY SCA NTLIN
E LECTA O N IC S. E XCLU S I V E L Y F O A MODE AN OAT A .

(dJ D el,clI

N e w ' ,s ting In tlll s Issu e

VOl.
(SHARES
EXCH. IN lOa's)

COMPANY

PERIPHERALS
&

COMPONENTS

COMPUTERS

AVERAGES

AMP
AMPEX
APPLIED MAGNETICS
ASTRODATA
ASTROSYSTEMS
BUNKER RAMO
CALCOMP
CHALCO ENGRG.
CODEX
COGAR
COGNITRONICS
COLLINS RADIO
COMCET
COMPUTER COMM.
COMPUTER CONSOLES
COMPUTEST
CONRAC
DATA 100
DA T A PRODUCTS
DATARAM
DATASCAN
DIGITRONICS
ELEC. ENGRG. OF CAL.
ELEC. MEMORIES & MAG.
EXCELLO
FABRI-TEK
FARRINGTON MFG.
GERBER SCIENTIFIC
GRAPHIC SCI.
HI-G
INFORMATION DISPLAYS
ITEL
LOGIC
MILGO
MOHAWK DATA SCIENCES
NORTH ATLANTIC IND.
OPTICAL SCANNING
POTTER INSTRUMENT
RECOGNITION EQUIP.
SANDERS ASSOCIATES
SANGAMO
SCAN -DATA
SEALECTRO
SYKES DATATRON
TALLY
TELEX
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS
VARIFAB

NY
NY
OTe
AM
OTe
NY
AM
OTe
OTe
OTe
OTe
NY
OTe
OTe
OTe
AM
NY
OTe
AM
OTe
OTe
OTe
AM
NY
NY
OTe
OTe
AM
OTe
AM
OTC
AM
OTC
AM
NY
OTC
OTC
AM
OTC
NY
NY
OTC
AM
OTC
OTC
NY
NY
OTC

BECKMAN
BURROUGHS
CONTROL DATA
DATA GENERAL
DIGITAL EQUIPMENT
ELECTRONIC ASSOCIATES
GENERAL AUTOMATION
GENERAL ELECTRIC
HEWLETT-PACKARD
HONEYWELL
IBM
INTERDATA
LITTON INDUSTRIES
NCR
RCA
RAYTHEON
REDCOR
SCIENTIFIC CONTROL
SPERRY RAND
SYSTEMS ENGRG. LABS.
SYSTRON DONNER
VARIAN ASSOCIATES
VIATRON
WANG LABS.
WYLE LABS.
XEROX

NY
NY
NY
OTC
AM
NY
OTC
NY
NY
NY
NY
OTC
NY
NY
NY
NY
OTC
GTC
NY
AM
NY
NY
OTC
AM
AM
NY

COMPUTER STOCKS
DOW JONES INDUSTRIALS

2657
9403
-------2619

------9770
6415

--------

---------------

-------1784
---------------

------.783
493

-------7314

---------------------531
3252
810

------.-------442

-------362

--.---.-

2948

-------24831
8289

--------------6214

------.2864
1108

-------287
----....

-------77263
7467

--------

1136
15594
10222

---.-----

12128
1117
10014
7200
7889
17777

--------

19744
11254
10978
3661

.---.----------

15550
11904
1150
5562

-. __ ._--

3773
1305
24663

NETCHG.
FROM EARN./SHR
(LATEST
MONTH
AGO 12 MONTHS)

HIGH

1970 PRICE
LOW 6-5-70

57.2
48.4
25.4
34.7
9.2
14.4
33.7
5 .0
35.0
94.0
13.6
37 .2
50.0
36.0
22.0
28.3
32 .2
16.6
25.4
15.4
27 .0
13.6
14.5
40.1
27.4
8.2
17.3
38.5
42.2
16.6
20.0
25.4
14.2
40.4
87.0
7.6
52.0
42.6
83.4
29 .7
29 .1
53.0
12.6
9.0
23.0
25 .7
134.4
4.6

41 .0
13.5
10.0
5 .2
2.1
6 .1
13.1
2.2
4.2
39.0
4.0
14.5
8 .0
8.0
7.4
13.4
11 .0
5.4
7 .0
6.2
9.4
5.4
3.4
10.4
19.6
3.6
2.3
12.5
7.4
7.6
6 .0
6 .1
5 .2
15.0
27.6
3.2
16.0
23.5
21.4
9.7
12.3
7.0
3 .6
4.2
10.0
11 .0
79.5
2.0

45 .7
17 .6
14.0
8.0
3 .1
8 .1
18.4
2.2
8 .6
46.0
6 .2
17.2
8.0
12.0
12.0
17.4
13.5
7.0
10.1
7 .0
11.0
6 .2
5.2
15.6
21.3
4.6
4.0
15.0
14.0
9 .3
8.0
9.6
7.2
20.3
33.6
3.4
21.0
26.4
30.0
12.2
15.0
14.0
5.0
7.2
14.0
14.7
83.0
2.4

-3.1
-4 .2
-0.4
-2 .7
-0.7
-1.5
-1 .7
-1.2
0.61
- 4 .01
0.6
-3.2
- 8.0
-5.0
3.6
-4 .5
-3.3
0.0
-4.3
-1 .0
-3.0
-0 .6
-1 .0
-3.3
-3.4
0.0
-0.6
-6.6
2.0
-0 .6
0 .0
-2 .0
0.2
-10.0
-7 .3
-0 .4
-3.0
-6.4
2.0
-1.4
-1.7
0.0
-1.3
1.6
3.0
-5.0
-22.2
0 .0

51.4
172.6
122.4
34.2
124.0
11.5
42.0
775
45.7
152.0
387.0
12.6
38 .0
63.0
34.5
33.5
34.2
8 .6
40.3
49.1
28.5
29.1
50.4
51.6
9.4
115.6

21.5
100.1
35.6
19 .0
57.0
4.1
11.6
602
26.5
73.0
237.0
6.2
16.1
48.6
20.0
16.1
6.0
2.2
24.2
14 .2
8.7
12.1
8 .6
21.1
3.5
70.0

28.5
116.3
42.0
24.0
68.0
5 .2
16.0
665
28.2
89 .0
270.0
6.2
19.0
53.0
22.2
21.6
8.4
3.6
26.2
16.4
12.3
15.1
8 .6
25.4
4.6
80.6

-3.4
-12.5
-2.0
-1 .0
-17 .0
-1 .3
2.4
-46
-13.0
-30.4
-26.6
-1.6
0 .1
-7.4
-1 .6
-1 .6
-5.4
-0.2
-1.4
-9.0
-2.5
-3.3
-10.6
-5.4
-0.6
-4.6

36.2

1S.1

17.7

-18_4%

0.83

21.3

695.03

-S.2%

3.30

12.8

1970

811.31 631.16

2.03
1.44
0.39
0.39
0.34
0 .54
0 .32

------0.26
(d) 1.25
(d)0.22
0.98

------------.------

PI E
RATIO
22
11
35
20
8
14
56
---30

------.
17
----

-------

0.85
1.20
(d)0.97
0.26
(d)0.44

----

-------

----

0.18
(d)0.30
0 .78
2.59
0.19
(d)0.06
0.68
(d)1 .37
0.08

------0.86

----.-.
0.19
1.36

------(d)0.45
0.93
(d)0.51
(d)0.25
0.59

------0.20

----_.(d)2 .73
0.68
3.16

20
10

38
---33

---19
8
21

---22

---112

---10

---105
24

------27

------25

---25

------29
26

-------

----

1.52
3.42
3.19
(d)O.17
1.31
(d)0.86
(d)0.61
307
1.01
4.25
9 .01
0.07
2.13
2.06
2.09
2.39
0.14
(d)2.43
2.37
0.81
1.16
0.91
(d)0.83
0.68
0 .31
2.17

18
33
13

---51
21
27
20
29
85
8
25
10
8
57
---10
19
10
16

---36
12
36

CORPORATE PROFILE
Featured this month:

COMPUTING AND SOFTWARE, INC.

(American and Pacinc Coast Stock Exchanges)

1900 Building, Century City, Los Angeles, California 90067

DIRECTORS: Norman E. Friedmann, chairman of the
board and president; Andrew Chitiea; Robert G.
Sims; Bertin A. Weyl; Charles Crocker; Robert T.
Davis; Roger Lee

BACKGROUN D: Computing and Software, Inc. and its
nationwide divisions and subsidiaries are p rimarily
engaged in the processing and sale of information
products and providing an expanding array of marketing and nn ancial services . C&S was incorporated in
1966, and was listed on the American and Pacinc
Coast exchanges in 1968. During the past four years
the corporation has grown from approximately $6 million in annual sales to about $80 million by the
middle of nscal year 1970.
Management emphasizes development of data bases
which meet requirements of established markets, and
information products which require sophisticated
computing techniques. C&S is involved in acquisitions
of an increasing number of information files, and with
geographic expansion of its computing activities.

FACILITIES: Corporate offices are located at Century
City in Los Angeles. Computing centers and additional facilities are located in principal cities throughout the United States and Canada. Among these are
Chicago, Washington, D .C., New York, Boston, Minneapolis, Houston, Dallas, Kansas City, Honolulu, San
Francisco, Toronto, and Montreal.

PRODUCTS /SERVICES: C&S is service oriented, managing and operating computer centers, and applying
computers to specialized information exchanges. The
company has developed and acquired a variety of
proprietary program packages which are utilized to
provide customers with specialized reports such as
those pertaining to trust and law office accounting;
land investment and joint ventures; oil industry production reporting and accounting; etc. In addition, it
provides complete payroll and general accounting systems, numerous programming projects, and commercial and governmental facilities management contracts. C&S offers marketing services which involve
direct mail techniqu es utilizing applicable data bases.
The company uses computer systems to maintain
mailing lists, process responses to direct mail solicitation, analyze responses, and mass produce personalized computer letters. As part of its financial ser-

vices, C&S provides real estate loan origination and
servicing fun ctions for commercial properties.
The corporation also operates education facilities
for the data processing field, offers skilled temporary
p ersonnel to assist major companies in their conversion of data files to computer processable form,
an d manufactures components for the computer peripheral equipment market.
CURRENT POSITION: During the first half ended April
30, 1970, C&S earnin gs were $0.65 p er share, up 36
p ercent from the $0.47 for the similar p eriod in 1969.
Net income in the nrst half rose to $2,986,000 on sales
of $39,398,000, up from the $2,123,000 on sales of $34,804,000 (excl uding discontinued operations) a year
earlier, after restatement for all pooling of interests .

Computing and Software is in the process
of converting its credit information files on nearly ten
million individuals into computer processable form.
The nrm contemplates eventu al expansion of its data
product activities into the data communications and
display fields, coin cident with its objective to market
information services on a nationwide b asis.
OUTLOOK:

SUMMARY:
The following statment of
earnings depicts consolidated results of C&S operations for four years ended October 31, 1969, after
restatement for busin esses acquired prior to that date
in pooling transactions . Also shown are comparative
interim statements for the current and prior reporting
p eriods which include restatement for all businesses
acquired in poolings prior to April 30, 1970.
FINANCIAL

YEAR EN DED O CTOBE R 31

Year
1969
1968
1967
1966
Six months
(e nded 4/ 30/ 70)
Six months
(e nded 4/ 30/ 69)

Re venues

Net Income

Net Income
Per Share

$64 ,420,000
53,377,000
43,353,000
34,238,000

$4, 155,000
2,687,000
2,071 ,000
1,299,000

$1.11
0.73
0.58
0.38

39,398,000

2,986,000

0.65

34,804,000

2,123,000

0.47

MOD ERN DATA/ July 1970

We designed the
Tl13ATS Sangamodem
·for originate mode
teletype applications
at up to 300 bits/sec.

That's why it's so
reasonably priced.
Sangamo 's T113A TS is a completely solid state
data modem designed for two-wire full duplex
operation . Total price is under $200 . End to end
compatibility with thousands of Western Electric
103A2 or 103E data sets permits immediate
assimilation into existing systems without any
terminal modifications. Since the T113ATS is
electrically connected to the telephone network,
60 db channel separation is guaranteed . And
performance is not degraded by second harmonic
distortion prevalent in other coupling methods .
By designing the T113ATS for a specific application, the cost was minimized. Data set lease
MODERN DATA/ J uly 1970

charges for only 7 months will more than equal
the total purchase price . It's easy to install, with
only a medium sized screwdriver.
For more data on Sangamo's new T113A TS or
any other Sangamodem contact:
Communication Systems

SANGAMO
ELECTRIC COMPANY
P.o. Box 3347, Springfield, Illinois 62708,
(217) 544-6411

CIRCLE NO. 32 ON 'INQUIRY CARD

1701

COMMUNICATIONS CLINIC

PRIVATE LINE SHARING
Communications Clinic is a regular monthly column written by
the staff of Berglund Associates, Inc., consultants in telecommunications. Readers are invited to submit questions on any aspect
of communications or suggestions for future Clinics to :
Communications Clinic
c/o Berglund Associates, Inc.
1060 Kings Highway North
Cherry Hill, New Jersey 08034

In D ecember of 1968, AT&T proposed tariff revisions
to allow large-scale shared uses of voice grade and
narrow band private line services. This rather dramatic departure from historical policies and attitudes
became effective on February 1, 1969, despite vigorously-worded opposition from Western Union. Claiming that the changes would " . . . restructure the communications industry via the introductions of
middlemen , arbitrageurs, etc. , . . . " Western Union
viewed the situation potentially damaging to its own
private line business. The FCC described Western
Union's apprehensions as ". . . highly speculative
. . . ," stating that ". . . charging or resale by the customer. . . would raise serious questions as to whether
the customer would be engaged in a common carrier
servicc requiring certification and the filing of tariffs
.. ." Neither approving nor disapproving the tariff
c:hanges, the FCC simply let them take effect.
With the sharing rights having been available now
for a year and a half, there are no signs of Western
Union's eminent demise from lost private line revenue.
Similarly, there do not appear to be any public signs
of arbitrageurs. We know there are entities that have
considered it, but we know of no substantive moves to
date. We believe this is because few .people understand the provisions or they're afraid that litigation
might ensue as to what constitutes "a common carrier
service requiring certification and the filing of tariffs."
Aside from arbitrageurs, we wonder how much
straightforward sharing there is between end-users.
We don't imagine there is very much among small
users - the ones who might benefit the most - because the small users are not as likely to know of it or
seek it out. Because of this, we thought a review of
sharing might be useful.
Joint use arrangements are furnished under Section
3.1.5 of tariff FCC 260 (All references herein are to
said tariff as of May 1, 1970.) for narrow band and
voice band channels, excepting those voice channels
which may access the switched network, e.g., foreign
exchange service. JOint use is not allowed on any services based in whole or in part on bulk bandwidth
services, that is, a voice channel derived from Telpak
could not be jointly used. A notable exception to this
is that the entire bandwidth of the type 11240 or
11048 channels may be arranged for joint use.
Joint use arrangements are provided to, and in accordance with, the instructions of a "customer" who
also specifies the "joint users." The cost is that for the
44

shared facilities at their normal rates , plus 10%. This
total is billed among the joint users per the customer's
instructions, but the customer remains responsible if
any joint users do not pay. Any facilities used solely
by a joint user, i.e., a service terminal, are also billed
to that joint user, but remain the customer's responsibility.
So far in this discussion, we have implied only an
alternate use of a channel by two or mOre users. As
shown in Fig. 1, for example, first user A transmits
between his stations, A, and A2; then user B transmits
between his stations, B, and B2. This is fine for A and
B and is unsatisfactory only to the extent that A and
B must coordinate or schedule their respective use of
the service. There is, however, another refinement to
joint user provisions which make the possibilities even
more attractive - multiplexing. With multiplexing, a
customer can lease a voice grade line, install multiplexers of appropriate capacity," and let joint users make
use of the narrow band channels so created. This enables the joint users to have continuous use of their
channels, eliminating the need to schedule channel
use between joint users. Also, because of the leverage
available through multiplexing, very substantial communications cost reductions are possible. The problem, of course, is that of initial coordination and funding of the multiplexer. If a user has enough
justification in his own right for a multiplexer, he can

fTERMl

IcPUl

~
~

I'CPUl

rTERMl

I'CPUl

rTEiiMl

CIT Y 11

CITY 1

(Fig . 1)

--v-CIT Y
~

CITY A

(Fig. 2)

ERRATA
In the May Clinic on multiplexing, the equation seeking the mileage at which a four 150 bps channel
FDM system is equal in cost to four separate 150 bps
channels had two errors.
1. The $275 for equipment did not include $13.75
for each of the eight station arrangements required
in type 1006 service.

2. The equation was based on mileage for one 150
bps channel (1 .925x) instead of four such channels
(7.7x).
The effect of these corrections is such as to show that
in the example, the FDM system is cheaper for any
mileage instead of only above 33.1 miles. The point
was valid even though the algebra was poor. We
apologize for any confusion we created.

"See "Go Forth and Multiplex" Communications Clinic,
DATA, May 1970.

~ODERN

MODERN DATA/July 1970

increase his return on investm ent by op ening it up for
joint users . If no system is installed , however, it becomes a matter of someone takin g the initiative to
form and fin ance a joint user group.
An exampl e of this would b e where four companies
are each operating computer centers in City A, with
each C PU being accessed by 150 bps conversation al
termin als in City B, as shown in Fig. 2. In the Commumcations C linic in the May issue of MODERN DAT A
on the subject of multiplexing, as amended by the
Errata notice at the start of this Clinic, we showed that
for on e practi cal set of assumptions, multiplexing four

circuits was cost-effective for any distance at all, that is ,
if the four companies of Fig. 2 got together, they could
save money regard less of the distance from A to B. In
joint usage, however, the .situ ation is slightly different.
Th e multipl exing savin gs are not quite as much because
of the 10% joint use surcharge; the local ch annel
changes from the multiplexers to the CPU's and to the
termin als; and the termina tion changes at those
points. Notwithstand ing these exp enses, it is appar ent
tha t shared multiplexers can b e p owerful cost reducers, and should be considered b y every private line
u~ .

THE SYSTEMS SCENE

THE NEW SCAPEGOAT

The Systems Scene is a reg ul ar month ly column written by
Jerome Wiener and Thomas DeMarco of Mandate Systems, Inc.
Readers are invited to submit comments and questions on new
developments in systems to : The Systems Scene, MODERN
DATA, 3 Lockland Avenue, Framingham , Mass. 01701

As p art of a p anel addressing the recent Spring Joint
Computer Conference, Dr. H erb Grosch made the
statement : "Programmers are jerks." H e went on to
explain that there are no real computer professionals.
As a p ast programmer and member of the panel, I
feel I should say a word or two on the subject. A lot
of money has b een wasted by programmers - that is
for sure. Systems were built tha t never ran . Programs
w ere written wh en there was no need for them. Systems have been tuned and honed to the point of making as many as 1 million mistakes p er second. The
whole concept of GIGO was a great leap forward from
the people who gave you AlGa (Anything In-Garbage Out).
A resume that came to my desk recently gave a
detailed account of building a solitaire-playing program. (The system randomizes the deck and allocates
cards into a solitaire hand , then plays out th e game to
the end; 200 games p er minute.) Imagine spending
$18,000 per month for a machin e that plays with itself. What's a mother to do?
Perhaps the time has come to cease talking of computers in terms of oiling the wheels of business and
talk more about the true role th ey have taken on :
toys. Our sober-minded economy spends about $10
billion per year on computers and has little to show
for it beyond their amusement value. Programmers
are paid fat salaries to play with th ese toys . Will the
real jerks please step forward?
Inherent in all this name-calling is the idea that
wasting large sums of money is somehow reprehensible and - worst of all - an indication of (shudder)
MODERN DATA/ July 1970

incompetence. Clearly, wasting money is one of the
most creative things man does.
Our government wastes roughly $2 million p er hour
in Vietnam, $250 million on a useless census, and
spends $583 million per year to administer forests that
used to administer themselves for free. Are these
p eople jerks? Nonsense! To go through money at that
rate takes brilliance, imagination, big thinking, and,
most of all, nerve.
Dr. Grosch's own National Bureau of Standards,
has an annual budget of $36 million p er year. Think
of it. $36 million!!! Frittered away on such urgently
needed things as Omnitab C ompilers and measurements of thermal conductivities of potatoes. Pure
genuis .
In fact, programmers are not professionals. Programming is not a profession anymore than canoeing,
first aid, or swimming. It's m ore like a m erit b adge.
Because of a temporary shortage, the market has
ascribed a very high valu e to programmers. We now
have a situation in which translation from English to
Fortran costs 50% more than translation from English
to Chinese.
The programmer , because of his inflated salary, is
expected to act like a professional even though he
may have learned his trade in only a few months.
Calling programmers jerks and blaming our condition as a very ex-glamour industry on them is a pointless evasion of responsibility. The failures that have
mattered have b een the conceptual ones. When computer centers exist only to serve status , it is no wonder
tha t programmers find ways to use up machine time.
(After all, computers play solitaire for the same reason
people do: they are bored.) When Mystical Information Systems are built by non-managers' to help bad
managers manage, it is no wonder that failure r esults .
Our industry must come to grips with the same
hard problems of management, economy, cost justification, and control that all industries have to face .
And when mon ey is wasted, in the last analysis, the
biggest jerk is the one that p ays.
~
45

total on-line time:
'divide
••
by twelv~
:0'11 you hav~ a number 'of 110wspeed terminals in your timesnaring system that generate
heavy loads , of on!Jine time, it
may payl!f! dividends to " do the
above arithmetic. The Teletype
Inktronic termi nal is about
twelve times faster.
This electronic, sOlid-state "'terminal will generate 128 ASCII
combinations. Print 93 alphanumerics in upper aI El lower case.
It achieves 1200 Wpm printing
capability. 'Charged ink droplets
are drawn to the page through a
,series of electrodes that @!orm
,the character called for. The ink
supply and guidance system has
only one moving part. So ' the
g;:!nktronic terminal tfE!quires i~l~
"maintenance. A'ld it's rea'ily
quiet.
';
-line operaUses ordi-

Computerized manifest.gdata, compiled In tlie airline's central office, is
sent to departing terminals two hours
prior to each flight. It's used in a variety of ways: A~ a boarding checkl,ist.
In computi ng :~ai rcraft ,)Neightsa,nd
balances. For mE%al deti:fils. To meet
speCial requests for wheelchairs, etc.
At th'e time of departure, "no show"
passengers are deleted from the manifest, standby names on board are
added, and the list resubmitted via
Teletype equipment to central office
computer for updating. lihe computer
then generates the "official" manifest
and sends it to both departure and
arrival terminals involved, at 1050
wpm, The send-re'ceive operation usually is complete before the flight
gets into the air.
Teletype's Stuntronic™, electronic
selective calling station , controllers,
also helped reduce computer port requirements of this system by 90%.

MODERN DATA/ July 1970

on track
with 80,000 cars
Numbers: important in every business. But. no
one has to contend with more of them than a
rai lroad . Keeping the digits straight that identify
rolling stock alone, staggers the imagination.
These numbers represent big money to railroad
and customers alike.
One major railroad uses over 500 high and low
speed Teletype terminals in .its system to provide the type of car 'utilization that means business and profitable operation. The terminals
are linked· to a computer by communications
channels.
The Teletype equipment has parity error detection capabilities. Important in keeping the
identity and location of over 80,000 cars
straight. Teletype solid-state terminal logic
permits the computer to poll stations and
terminals to respond automatically.
Data generated includes immediate
car availability, projected car availability in 1 to 3 days, condition of
cars, what type of goods each can
handle. Locomotive power available. Enabling the railroad to
provide shipper customers the
equipment they need for loading, when needed. The data
system handles over 30 million data bits daily.

recommended
reading
Teletype has a number of brochures
on equipment, applications, and
case history data. A short
description of what is available is
contained in: "How to get answers
to your questions about Teletype
equipment." Write for your copy.
Teletype data communication
equipment is available in sendreceive capabilities of up to 2400
words per minute. Included are
hard-copy, magnetic-tape and
paper-tape terminals, error control
devices, options and accessory
equipment to fit most data
communication system
requirements. For information write:

w: ,

...
_........
_ ®

TELETYPE CORPORATION
Dept. 40-13, 5555 Touhy Ave., Skokie, 111.60076

machines that make data move
Teletype is a trade mark registe.red in th e U.S. Pat. Office

MODERN DATA/ July 1970

CIRCLE NO. 33 ON INQUIRY CARD

THURBER J. MOFFETT, Mgr., Interactive Graphk Systems •

TRW Systems Group, Redondo Beach, California

ON-LINE

BOOB TUBE GRAPHICS

On·Lin e is a regular month ly column conce rn ed w ith var io us
d e velopments in computer technology particularly in the areas
of comp ute r gra phics and compute r·a id ed design . The author,
Thurber J . Moffe tt, is a nationally·recogn ized ex pert in inte ractive gra ph k syste ms. Readers are invited to submit comments
and q uestion s reg a rd ing subjects cove red in Ih is co lumn 10:
On-Line, MODERN DATA, 3 Lockland Avenue, Framingham,
Mass. 01701

When it isn't convenient to h ave a console on-hand,
promoters of computer graphic systems often say, "It's
something like TV," when trying to explain to a potential user what the system looks like and does. To
the guy trying to understand conversational graphic
computing for the first time, this comparison is ample
enough. But to those really smitten with graphics and
who try their hand at it, the similarities between computer graphics and TV soon fall short on substance.
Graphics hardware isn't much like TV hardware at
all, particularly in price.
The idea sounds good, though. Why can't a graphic
terminal be made the way TV sets are, i.e., for a few
hundred rather than a few thousand bucks and with
gray scale or color thrown in? This question, it develops, has been receiving some real attention of late.
IBM's Federal Systems Division has now developed
digital television (DTV) - a computer display technology using industrial grade television monitors. Digital images have high resolution, uniform intensity,
and inherent relative accuracy. Alphanumeric and
graphic data can be mixed with pictorial data from a
television camera, either closed circuit or broadcast.
The image can be black-on-white, white-on-black, or
in color. The viewing screen can be split - a television picture and computer data side-by-side. Since
the hardware is commercial, reliability is high and
maintenance relatively easy.
DTV is a high-speed digital system that converts
alphanumeric or graphic information from a computer into video signals that drive television monitors.

A full alphanumeric/ graphic system has five subsystems. The control subsystem interfaces with the CPU
or communication unit. It contains the logic and timing for the display system. Keyboards and cursors are
interfaced to the CPU for data entry. The symbol
generator receives computer-coded characters from
the control subsystem. It retrieves the appropriate
symbol form at from a self-contained memory and
transfers them to the digital raster store. The vector
generator is a special arithmetic unit designed to calculate, point-by-point, the display elements comprising the best approximation of a straight line connecting the end points of the vector. The digital
raster store is a core memory. E ach element of the
picture tube is associated with a core in the raster
store. Information from the symbol generator sets
cores, ones or zeros, indicating lighted or dark picture
elements. This "core map" is read out in a television
format and transferred to the refresh buffer, which is
a fixed head, digital disk rotating at 30 rps (matching
the TV frame rate) .
The console is equipped with a keyboard and cursor controls - joystick, stiff stick, or direction keys.
Black and white screens are from 8 to 27 inches and
color screens range from 14 to 25 inches. Resolution
levels are from 525-line to 945-line. Addressable elements are the controllable discrete points on the face
of the tube. In the 525-line system, 480 vertical and
640 horizontal elements are used, yielding about 300K
points. 840 vertical and horizontal elements are used
in the 945-line system for a total of 700K points.
DTV is now available to System 360 interfacing
directly into either a multiplexer or selector channel,
or by communication lines. IBM states that device
support access method and diagnostic routines may be
provided with the operating system and hardware
configuration, and that application software support
must be the subject of a separate specification or
user-supplied. A wide range of applications is suggested by IBM, encompassing message switching,
CAl, CAD, MIS, process control, command and control, and signal analysis.
I wonder what they do about the commercials? J;.

MODERN DATA/ July 1970

DAVID G. HAMMEl, Systems Consultant. Raytheon Co ., Bedford, Mass.

CONFERENCE REPORT

INTERDISCIPLINARY CONFERENCE ON
MULTIPLE-ACCESS COMPUTER NETWORKS

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Interdisciplinary Conference on
Multiple-Access Computer Networks, sponsored jointly by MITRE Corp. and the Univ. of Texas at Austin,
was held at the Univ. of Texas on April 20, 21, 22 ,
1970. The theme of the conference was to expand
upon the inter-relationship of computers and communications and to examine the im pact of multipleaccess computer networks on society. This report
summaries the key ideas discussed a t this conference.

The multiple-access computer network to the user
represents computing effiCiency through the sharing
of hardware, software, and personnel. If a remote user
can be serviced in a manner that is indistinguishable
from the service rendered at a computer installation,
he can realize the full power of a large-scale computer complex at costs that can make computer ownership impractical and/or uneconomical.
To those with mutual interests, the network affords
an effective means to communicate remotely and dynamically integrate dispersed activities. The network's
ability to shorten significantly the turn-around-time
allows the user to react to changing problem factors
quickly and thereby produce cost savings.
INTERDEPENDENCE OF COMPUTERS
AND COMMUNICATIONS

The successful optimization of a multiple-access computer network requires the integration of computer
and communication systems to best meet user needs .
This task is complicated by the fact that computers
are capable of handling many communication functions, such as store-and-forward message switching,
multiplexing, and message concentration; and that
communication networks employ digital equipments
that are capable of handling many data processing
fun ctions.
At present, communication carriers are regulated
monopolies and they are restricted from providing
data processing services. On the other hand, computer
companies are unregulated and several of them are
attempting to diversify into microwave communications . In order to resolve the situation the FCC
has adopted a tentative decision as of Apri'l 1, 1970Docket Number 16979.
PRIVACY AND PROTECTION

On the subject of privacy and protection, it was concluded that there is no way to verify completely netMODERN DATA/ July 1970

work harJware, and that software proves to be too
complex to examine all avenues of security. Given sufficient funds and time any security can be broken. The
problem is to determine the cost factor that should be
attached to realizing privacy.

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS

Communication facilities will expand significantly in
the next ten years. It is estimated that the present
communica tion network will be one-half of that in
existence by 1974 and one-sixth of that in existence by
1981. The developments of economical wide band
two-way communications and satellite communications will have great impact on the growth of
computer networks.
As digital logic costs d ecrease, computers will be
developed with greater emphasis given to satisfying
the needs of language designers. Languages will embody fewer restrictions, making them easier to learn
and use. There will also be more standardization of
languages and system primitives to facilitate communications within heterogeneous networks.
With lower cost hardware, more logic will be designed into network terminals to afford greater manipulation of data. This will reduce both systems response time and the communications load to a
network node. One of the more important aspects of
terminal design will be the establishment of more effective information-gathering techniques.

NETWORK TRENDS

The multiple-access computer networks will become
the dominant form of computer usage. In 1969 there
were 156 companies offering time-shared services and
they grossed about 75 million dollars. In 1975 the particip ating companies may not increase in number, but
it is estimated that the gross income will approach 2
billion dollars.
Computer networks will become more specialized.
There will be a growing market for single-application
time-shared systems as typified by banking, manufacturing, distribution, financial, retail, and special service industries. These special systems will grow at a
rate of 35% per year over the next 5 years. At the
same time, the data processor growth rate for all applications is expected to be 10-15%.
49

SOURCE DATA AUTOMATION

KEYBOARD-TO-TAPE DATA ENTRY DEVICES

What do you enVlSlon when someone mentions keyboard-to-tape? Probably a "keypunch-like" device
which records data on magnetic tape. Maybe a little
bit faster because it replaces punched cards with magnetic tape, but essentially a "more electrical/less mechanical" keypunch. You're describing the basic features of original keyboard-to-magnetic-tape d evices
which today constitute only the tip of the proverbial
iceberg of keyboard-to-tape (KBT) varieties available.
All keyboard-to-tape keypunch replacements can be
divided into two basic categories: "free-standing keystations," and data entry systems for "central collection
and control." The keystations in the latter systems
cannot stand alone. They must be connected via either cable or communications facilities to a central
control. Certain KBT options, such as data ~ommu
nications and computer interfaces, create some overlap between the two categories.

SOURCE DATA AUTOMATION is a monthly column provided by
Lawrence A. Feidelman and the staff of FAIM Information
Services Inc. This month 's column was written by Bennett
Landsman , a senior systems analyst with FAIM. Questions from
readers on any aspect of SDA will be answe red as space permits .
Address questions to: SDA, MODERN DATA, 3 Lockland Ave.,
Framingham, Mass. 01701

computer compatible and cassette. The magnetic tape
drive may be either continuous or incremental. Over
70% of the current KBT market uses continuous drive
KBT equipment. Continuous drive devices enter data
in three basic steps, illustrated in Fig. 1.
Incremental tape devices record each data character on tape as it is keyed in. This provides for truly
variable length records. However, error correction and
data edit software requirements are more difficult
than with continuous tape (i.e., fixed record length)
KBT equipment.

FREE-STANDING KEYST ATIONS
Free-standing keystations contain both their own control logic and their own collection medium. The collecting medium generally used is magnetic tape, both

Fig. 1 Data entry flow for
continuous drive KBT device.
Step. 1. Data is keyed into a
buffer memory. Corrections
can be made by backspacing
and overkeying the desired
character or characters. (An
error made with keypunch
equipment would require
punching a new card.) Step
2. The data record, upon
either automatic or manual
record release, is written on
tape . It is also still in the
buffer memory . Step 3. This
involves backspacing the
tape, reading the record just
written, and comparing it w:th the data in the buffer memory (read·
after-write check). This is done to verify that the data keyed in has
been correctly recorded on tape.

foto, Inc. in 1964, Dr. Donald B.
Brick was employed at Sylvania Elec·
tronic Systems as General Telephone
and Electronics Corp .'s fourth senior
scientist and as scientific director of
advanced technology . He received his
A.B., S.M., and Ph.D . degrees in ap·
plied physics from Harvard University.

After graduating from Harvard University in 1962, Edward N. Chase
joined Charles W . Adams Associates,
subseuently becoming technical editor
of Adams' Computer Display Review.
He is presently employed as a software and display specialist for the
Dynamic Processes Branch, Air Force
Cambridge Research laboratories.

EDWARD N. CHASE

TECHNOLOGY PROFILE:
INTERACTIVE CRT DISPLAYS .......... Co nt/d.

jects is customarily available only in terminals
which incorporate a minicomputer controller, but
such terminals as the ARDS lOOA may optionally
provide the feature in hardware. If its make is
known, the terminal's minicomputer and its
memory characteristics are shown in Table 1.

WHEN THE KEY CAPS ARE OFF
MINICOMPUTER TERMINALS

Keyboard Considerations For
Display Terminals

Minicomputer terminals can be much more flexible (and expensive) than those controlled only
with hardware or finnware. They can decode the

JAMES F. COLLIGAN, Pres . • Control Dev ices, Inc., Woburn, Mass.

The ability of most keyboards to provide reliable encoding is taken for granted today whether the keyboards use reed switches or some form of solid-state
signal generation. Specifications may look the same,
but - with an eye to improving display terminalscritical examinati on of keyboards, both on paper
and in person, can pay good dividends. Keyboa rd
touch, for example, is one performance feature that
isn't adequately covered by any manufacturer's description of nominal force . Only an operator's touch
test can answer that question.
Reliability should be judged on the basis of far
more than the number of key closures or the MTBF of
components. For example, if severa l displays or data
entry terminals are to be operated at a single location and from a central computer, the input power
requirements of the keyboard may be a factor . Keyboard performance specifications may be satisfactory, but they become academic if the keyboard fails
to operate because of power line drops . Another
point to remember in reviewing specifications is that
current draw determines heat generated at the keyboard and can affect operating stability.
Operators can also affect reliability by doing such
things as spilling coffee or a cold drink directly on
the keyboard, not uncommon with the tremendous
number of terminal users today. Or they might discharge static electricity to a ke yboard which, in some
cases, could affect data entry. Reliability should include dependable encoding even under adverse operating or environmental conditions.
Encodi.ng accuracy may also be affected by interference from such sources as grou.nd loop or power
line pickup . Keyboards which provide a high-level
DC output (normally 5 volts) overcome this problem.
If they do it without amplifiers, they provide economy
as well.
Streamlined designs put a premium on keyboard
silhouette. Typically, reed switches with their long
elements and designs which incorporate diodes or
other means of encoding in the keys, do not permit
the lowest silhouettes. A design which uses solid-state
techniques to couple the signals, and uses standard
key components, can keep silhouettes as low as %"
and may even make it practical to design the entry
station into work surfaces directly.
Caveat emptor still applies, for, when the keycaps
are off, all keyboards are not the same.

Fig . 1 Lig ht pen in use with Control Data GRID Display

interfacing computer's data structure into the instruction words needed to drive the display, and
can Similarly construct data structure words from
graphical information for transmission to the mainframe. In addition, most have a combination of

Fig . 2 Tektronic Trackball with T-4oo2 Terminal

62-

MODERN DATA/ July 1970

hardware and software that permits view manipulations. These manipulations include scaling and
rotating the entire image and graphic elements
relative to the image, and windowing the data
structure to display only that portion which is
within the visible CRT raster (coordinate grid).
Information Displays' IDIIOM, Adage's AGT
series, and DEC's KV Graphics are sophisticated
enough to expand into self-contained graphic systems. However, this expansion requires a considerable software investment and each manufachlrer's systems package should be carefully studied
to see if it fulfills the intended application.

ware-simulated, it is effective only if relative vectors (X- and Y-coordinate deltas) rather than absolute vectors (X- and Y-coordinate end-of-vector
positions ) can be specified. If th e subpictures return th e beam to its starting point (line AC in Fig.
5) using either relative position or unintensified
relative vector, subpictures may be relative to
each other to form larger subpictures. If curvegenerating hardware is not provided, short vector
instructions p ermit curve approximations with a
significant saving in the number of instruction
words used. Conversely, if long vectors are not
available, several short vectors will be required to
draw a long vector whose larger component length
exceeds the maximum short vector component.

INSTRUCTION WORDS

The CRT image of a programmed scan minicomputer terminal is usually generated by a display processor that accesses buffered and coded
display instruction words from the computer's
memory via a direct access channel ("cycle-steal-

PARAMETERS

SHORT VECTOR

L>. X MAGNITUDE

6.Y MAGNITUDE

'5
RESET

COORDINATE OR DELTA
'5

VECTOR

COORDINATE OR DELTA

'5
JUMP
12-BIT M EMORY ADDRESS

JUMP TO SUBROUTINE

Fig. 3 Computek Tablet

~l_1_11-f1_~o~_~LI,-

K,J

_________'_2-_ B_IT_ M
_.E_M_O_RY_A_D_D_R_ES_S __________

Fig . 4 Illustrative Instruction Words

ing") . A hypothetical set of such words for a 16bit machine is given in Fig. 4 to illustrate the nature of the coding of various display functions.
Storage tube terminals generally have simple byteoriented instructions: two bytes for a short vector
and control bits, four bytes for a long vector.
Certain features, if implemented in the display
instruction words, can reduce software requirements and enhance display performance. One
such feature applicable to buffered displays is the
jump-to-subroutine instruction, which permits
one subpicture subroutine to be accessed many
tim es, with th e beam positioned at different places
on th e CRT for each access. Regardless of
whether subroutining is in hardware or is softMODERN DATA/ July 1970

Fig. 5 Closed Subrouting

TECHNOLOGY PROFILE: INTERACTIVE CRT DISPLAYS . ........ Cont'd.
TABLE 1 • GENERAL-PURPOSE GRAPHIC CRT TERMINALS
Manufacturer

ADAGE

COMPUTEK

Model

AGT/I O

AGT/30

AGT/50

400/10

400/1

Screen Size, In.

12x12

12x 12

12x12

8 .3x6.4

8.3x6.4

Ref resh Rate

40 hz

stora ge tu be

storage tube

Vectors Per Frame

2940

1.0 msec w ri te time

1.0 msec w rite time

Characters/ Frame

optiona l 1950

optional 1950

optiona l 1950

none

0.5 msec write time

Characters Per LIne

none

Lines of Charaders

none

Insert By:

line

N/ A

none

De lete By:

line

N/A

none

Tabulation

ye5

yes

N/ A

none

Page Roll

N/ A

Formatting

N/ A

Pointers

light pen, optional ta·
b let, ioystick, trackball
& d ials

same

opti onal ioystick @
$1000, tab let @ $2700

same

Obiect Construct

yes

View
Manipulations

2D zoom, shift & roo
tate

3D zoom, shift & rota.le

3D zoom, s hift & rotate

none

Visible Raster

1024x l024

1024x l 024

1024x l024

1024x800

Pos itioning

abso lute & relative

absolu te & relative

abso lute & rel ative

rel ative

a bso lu1e & relative

Vector Modes

abso lute & relative

re lative .......

absolute & rel ative

Maximum
Component

32768 ru

63 ru

1023 ru

Display Method

analog

ana log

a nal og

ana log

Character Codes

M AS CJJ, " 96 optional

64 ASCII , 96 optional

64 ASC II , 96 optional

N/A

96 ASCII

Character Met hod

optional stroke

optiona l stroke

optional stroke

none

ana log curve & st roke

Computer

Adage DPR2

Adage DPR 2

Adage DPR2

no ne

none

Memory

4K 3O-bit
usec

none

Phosphor

P7 (wh.te)

P7 (white)

PI (green)

PI (g reen )

Interface Type

RS23 2B o r parallel

RS2328 or paralle l

RS232B or para ll e l

RS232B

Duplex Mode

full

f u ll

full, opt io nal half

Bit Rate

up to 50,000

up to SO,OOO

up to 50,000

up to 20,000

Options

8K-32K
core,
mass
storage, s lave CRTs,
hard copy,
programmabie il"\tensity

16K-32K
core,
mass
sto rage, slave CRTs,
ha rd copy, 3 D clipping

32K co re, mass storage, slave eRTs, har d ·
copy, 3D clipping

vertica l CRT, para lle l
interface,
cassettes,
s lave CRTs

same,
plus
specia I
sym bol generato r for
up t o 230 symbols

Purchase Price

$60,000 (no

$ 125,000 (no interface)

$ 175,000 (no interface)

$6,700

$8,400

Monthly Lease

Remarks

Hybrid
computer
dri ves CRT. 20 t ra ns fo rmation matrix of
view and of any items
in v ie w. Upwa rd com ..
patib le.

3 D t ransfo rmat ion with
intensi t y
cued
to
depth. AI D converte r
on
t ransfo rm
ar ray
permits decoding cemplex figu res.

Includes hardware for
high-speed curves of
sho rt vecto rs & s haded
obiects.
3D
wit h
depth-cued intensity.

Upwa rd
compatible.
No keyboa rd. 300 1inch vecto rs pe r second at 1200 bps.

FORTRAN soft wa re for
graphic & te xt manipulation by interfacing
computer. Nice characters.

Modes

core,

2.0

interface)

8K 3O-bit
usea

core,

2.0

16K 3O-bit
usec

core,

2.0

NOTE : Purchase prices are fo r standard te rmi nal configurations (inc luding keyboard and interface) without
maintenance. l ease prices include maintenance. See text for a complete ex planation of p ricing.

MODERN DATA/ July 1970

TABLE 1 • GENERAL-PURPOSE GRA PHIC CRT TERMINALS
COMPUTE K (cont' d )

Man ufact u rer

COMPUTER DISPLAYS

CORNING
DATA SYSTEMS

CONTROL DATA

DATA DISC

Model

400/ ~

ARDS 100A

240

904

6500

Screen Size , In .

8.3x6.4

6.4x8.3

12x12

8.5x11

7x9'

Refresh Rate

storage tube

50 or 60 hz

photochromic

Vectors Per Fram e

1.0 ms ec write 1ime

2 msec write time

2000 at 50 hz

Cha r acters/ Frame

0.5 msec write time

1.2 msec write time

4000 at 50 hz

3.2 msec write time

Characters Per Line

Li nes of Characters

64-

Insert By:

none

optional line

·Delote By:

none

optional line

Ta bu lation

none

horizontal & vertical

Page Roll

Formatting

o pti o nal

Pointers

same

o ptional
mou se
@
$395, joystkk @ $360

light pen

mou se

storage

video disc

N/A

or joystick

0.4 msec write time

$350

Object Construct

optio na l @ $1 295

yes

View
Manipulations

none

N/ A

Visible Raster

1024x8oo

1081 x1415

1024x 1024

793 x1024

512x 51 2 o r 256 x51 2

Positioning

absolute & relative

absolute

absolute & relative

relative

absolute

Vector Modes

absolute & relative

i'elative

absolute & relative

Ma xi mum
Component

1023 ru

255 ru

511 ru

Display Mothod

analog

d igital d ot

ana log

digital

video (see

Character Codes

96 ASC II

94 ASCI I

64 ASCII, o ptio nal 128

full ASCII

64 ASC II

Characler Method

analog curve & stroke

7x9 dot

digital stroke

5x7 dot

5x7 video, 7x10 optional

Computer

none

no ne

special

none

no na

Momory

none

4K 12-bit
useQ

none

976K-bit d isk

Phosphor

P1 (green)

P31 (green)

N/ A

P39 (green)

Interface Type

RS2 32~

R5232B

RS232B o r para llel

R5.232 B

16-bit pa rallel

Duplex Mode

f ull , optiona l ha lf

ha lf, full & echo

full

half & full

in put on ly

Bit Rate

up to 20,000

1200, optional 50,000

110,300 & 1200

Options

same as 400/ 15

cassette s, 11 30
fa ce @ $3300,
co py ca me ra @
ma rg in detect @

Un buffe red I/ O channel, 8K-1 2K core

IBM 1130 & 1800 interfaces, paper tape,
overlay sli de kit

minicomded icated
puter processor, character readback, color
multiplex

Pu rchase Price

$ 12,400

$8,485

$68,900 (pa ra llel inte rfa ce)

$19,650

4 units un de r $27,000

Mo nth ly lease

$1,515
face)

$820

Re marks

Inc ludes analog curve
gene rator using endpoi nt & slope data. FORTRA N softwa re for specifying curve segments.

30 vectors or 120 cha racters per second at
1200 bps . 200 vectors
or 800 characters per
second at 50,000 bps.

Dashed vectors, blink
mode & rotated text
provided.

Optical system permits
nonstoring cursor &
slide overlays. Price ineludes photohardcopy.
82 vecto rs/ sec at 1200
bps.

Multiterminal
system ;
32 units under $102,000. Hardware writes
rectangles, including
horizontal & ve rtical
lines .

Modes

interhard$274
$280

core,

(pa rallel

relative

1.2

inter-

absolute (see REMARKS)

REMA RKS)

NOTE: Purchase prices are for standard te rminal configurations (incJuding keyboard and interface) without
maintenance. Lease prices include maintenance. See t.ext for a complete explanation of pricing .

MODERN DATA/ July 1970

TECHNOLOGY PROFILE: INTERACTIVE CRT DISPLAYS . .. . ... . . Cont'd.
TABLE 1 • GENERAL-PURPOSE GRAPHIC CRT TERMINALS . . . . . . . Cont/d.
DIGITAL EQUIPMENT

Man ufa ctu rer

HENDR IX

IMLAC

INFORMATION DISPLAYS

Model

KV G.raphics

5100

POS-1

101lOM

Screen Size, In .

6.5x8.3

13x11

8x8 (adiustable)

16x 12 o r 13x 13

16x 12 o r 13x13

Refres h Rate

storage tube

40 (a diustab le)

Vadon Per Frame

4.9 msec w ri te t ime

500

1450

Characte rs/ Frame

3.0 msec w rite t ime

1,040

3300

Ch aracters Per Lin e

72'

100, 80, 60 or 40

128 (ad iustab le)

128

Lines of Characters

24, 30, 40 or 60

64 (adiust a bl e)

Insert By:

line

line & cha ract e r

li ne & cha racter

line & cha racter '

none

D. lete By:

l ine

line & cha racter

li ne & characte r

line & character

none

Tabulation

horizonta l

horizontal & ve rtical

ho rizonta l

none

Page Roll

yes

o ptiona l

no ne

Formatt ing

yes

none

Point ers

ioystick

light pen @ $900

light pen

lig ht pen

Object Const ruct

yes'

yes

ye.

Vi ew

shift & sca le (not dy.
namic)

N/A

'lone

shift

none

M anipul ation s

Vis ible Raster

800x1024

256x256

2048 x2048

1024x1024

Positioning

absolu te & fe lative

absolute

absolu t e

abso lute & relative

absolute & re lat ive

Vector Modes

abso lute & re lat ive

abso lute

re lative

relati:ve

re la t ive

Maxi mu m
Compon ent

1023 ru

255 ru

ru
3
sca lab le
crements

1023 ru

Displ ay Method

ana log

digita l stroke

dig ita l stroke

ana log

Ch ara ct er Code s

64 ASC II

64 ASC II, 96 optional

96 ASCII, to orde r

62 ASC II , 96 @ $2700

62 ASC II , 96 @ $2500

Ch ara cter Me thod

software

digita l stroke

7x9 st roke, others op·
tlonal

ana log

a nalog

Compute r

DEC POP-8/l

none

Imlac POS,

Va ria n 620/i

none

Me mMY

4K 12·b it core

4K 16·bit
usee

Phosp ho r

P1 (g re e n)

P39 (green)

P3 1 (gree n)

In ter face Ty pe

RS232B

RS232B,
tiona I

RS232 B or any other

R5232 B,
tiona l

Duplex Mode

ha lf & fu ll

ha lf, ful l & echo

hal f, fu ll & echo

fu ll

N/ A

Bit Rat e

2400, higher opt iona l

up to 9600

Options

any POP-8 / l computer
option

drum, d isk, magtape,
specia l
characters
ha rdcopy , b li nk, ita l·
ics, supe rscr ipt

4K core @ $3800, TTY
inte rface @ $750, pa ·
per tape reade r int e rlace @ $350

8K core @ $ 13,720,
pape r tape reade r @
$3,390, photoha rdcopy
@ $43,285, disk @
$23,7 10, ot hers

monito r @ $11 ,100,
p hotohardcopy
@
$40,000, microfi lm @
$30,000

Purchase Price

,$ 20,200

$8,845

$95,050

$39,440

Mo nthly Lease

$329

$3 ,485

Ha rdware g rap h, circle

Cursors bracket text to
be t ransmitted.

Softwa r e.cont r o ll ed
fea t ures permit compatibi lity with al l e x ist·
ing a lphanume ric dis·
plays, plus grap hi cs.

Includes 4 character
sizes, bli n k, 4 lirie
types, ci rcle 8< graph
gene rators,
funct ion
keys with coded overlays.

An
ID II OM w it hout
co m pute r.
101
a lso
builds custom d isp lays .

Modes

in-

Rema rks

& arc generators. Graph.

ic executive software
for nested ' disp lay lists
& text editing.

others

op·

core,

2.0

4K 16-bit
usee

core,

paralle l

1. 8

none

P31 (g ree n)
op·

TTL 16-bit parallel

NOTE : Purchase prices are for standa rd te rmina l configu rations (includ ing keyboard and interface) without
maintenance. Lease p, ri ces include maintenance. See text for a comp lete exp lanation of pricing.

MODERN DATA/ July 19 7 0

TABLE 1 • GE NERAL-PURPOSE GRAPHIC CRT TERMINALS
MON ITOR DISPLAYS

Manufacturer

SANDERS ASSOC IATES

TEKTRONIX

UN IVAC

Model

8100

ADDSo/ 900

T-4oo2

1557/1558

Scr.en Size, In.

12x 12

14x 14 (960 CRT)

8.3x6.5

12x12

Refresh Rate

30 (programmable)

storage tube

Vectors Per fra me

5,000

4,166

10 msec write time

3300

Characters/ Frame

2,000

4,800

.5 msec w rite time

3300

Characte rs Per Line

112

Lines of Characters

Insert By :

line & character

none

Delete By:

line & character

none

Tabulation

hor izontal

Page Roll

none

Formatti ng

none

Point. rs

lig ht pen

light
pen,
optional
joyst ic k,
trackba ll ,
mouse or ta blet

joystick @ $700

optional light pen

Object Construct

yes

none

View
Manip ulatio ns

none

opt ional sh ift & rotate

Visib le Raster

1024x1024

1024x742

1024x1024

Posit ioning

absolute

absolute & re lative

absolute

absolute & relative

Vector Modes

relative

absolute & relative

absolute

absolute & relaHve

Ma ximum

1023 ru

127 ru

1023 ru

Display Method

ana log

analog

digital stroke

Character Codes

64 ASC11

64 ASCII, 96 optional

96 ASCII

64 ASCII

Cha racter Method

digita I stroke

digital stroke

7x9 dot

digital stroke

Comput . r

Varian 620/ i

Varian 620/ i,
available

others

none

special

Memory

8K 16-bit
usee

8K 16-bit core, 1.8 &
1.3 usec

none

8 K l8-bit core, .7 usee

Phosphor

P3 1 (g reen )

P31 (green)

P1 (green)

P3 1 (g reen)

I nte rface Type

optional R5232 B

RS232B or para llel

RS232 B or Univac 11 08

Duplex Mode

half & full

Bit Rate

up to 40,800

Options

magtape, disk, paper
tape reader & pu nch,
plotter, photo ha rdcopy, second CRT

video mix , conic g en·
erator, AID convertor,
13 & 21-inch CRTs,
projection dis pl ay

Purchase Price

$65,000

$ 100,400 (no interface )

$8,800

$126,000

Mo nthly Lease

$3,640

Pushlist display sub·
rou tin ing . Graph mode.
line types & 8-level
gray sca le, 4 character
stzes & italics.

2 character sizes, 4 po·
sitions for left margin .

Controller drives 1-3
consoles . 2 intensities
& 3 line types.

Mode.

N/ A

Componen t

Re m at"ks

core,

1.8

Includes circ le & arc
generator,
90 "
ccw
characters,
4
line
t ypes, display subrou·
tining.

PDP-8 interface @ $75
e xtra , camera @ $400

4K memory

NOTE : Purchase prices are for standard terminal configurations (including key board and interface) witho ut
maintenance . Lease p rices include maintenance. See tex t for a complete explanation of p ricing.

MODER N DATA/ J uly 1970

TECHNOLOGY PROFILE: INTERACTIVE CRT DISPLAYS . ... . .... Co nt/d.

TABLE 2
SPECIAL-PURPOSE AND SEMI-CUSTOM
GRAPHIC CRT TERMINALS

"FAILE 3 • REFERENCE Ul'RAIUII
For more information on " .

"'ic

OtT cIiipIay

terminal. clescriHcJ in Table& I .". .2# . , . on
Manufacturer

Model

Interfacing -

Priced
Under

Control
Data

250

CDC 3000 & 6000 series

$ 140K

reader. ilKfuiry carel tlte

mQMI'-'",..,. '""""'"

tIte

list9cl

...........,

below. -

Company.

Co'" NumbeI'

Control
Data

1744/274

CDC 1700

$90K

Control
Data

3344/274

CDC 3300 & 3500

$90K

Digital
Equipment

Graphic-15

DEC PDP-15 memory access

$20K

Corning Data ·Systems Inc., Raleigh, N.C. ..••. 244

LDS-l

DEC PDP-9 & PDP-l0,
o r 10 order

$200K

Data Disc Inc., Palo Alto, Cal. .. . . . . . . . . . . .. 245

Evans &
Sutherland

240

Computek -Inc., Cambridge, Mass•.......... 241
Computer Displays Inc., Waltham, Mass. .. .. . 242
Control Data Corp., Minneapolis, Minn. •••••. 243

246

Digital Equipment Corp., Maynard, Mass.
Evans & Sutherland Computer,

Information

Displays

Adage Inc., Boston, Mass.

CM 10000

order (modu lar design)

$40K

Salt Lake City, Utah . .................
International
Business
Machines
International
Business

2250
Mode ll

IBM Syslem / 360 series

$120K

Hendrix Electronics Inc., Londonderry, N.H ..
IMlAC Corp., Waltham, Mass.

2250
Mode l 3

•

••

$280K

$120K

8 190

16-bil parallel to order

$20K

Stromberg-.
DatagraphiX

1090

parallel 10 orde r

SEL 800 series or
16-bil paralle l 10 order

7580

XDS Sigmas 5 & 7
memory port

$50K

248

••••••••

•••

•••••••

Systems Engineering Labs-o, Pt. l.auderdale,

Monitor
Displays

Xerox
Data
Systems

IBM Corp., White Plains, N.Y. '.•...
Monitor Displays, Fort Washington, Pa •.
S
rs Associates Inc., Nashuo, N.H.
Stromberg-DatogrophiX Inc., ~ Diego, Cd!.
o

IBM 1130

Machines

Systems - 816A
Eng ineering Laboratories

•

247

••••••••

2250
Model 4

Information Displays Inc., Mount Kisco, N.Y•..
IBM Syslem / 360 series

Machines
Inte rnational
Business

Fla.

orthogonal and perspective projections. Both displays are designed for highly interactive real-time '
simulation applications.

PRICING -

SPECIAL TERMiNALS

There are two terminals with extraordinary features that deserve special mention. The CRTs' of
the Adage ACT series are driven by. a hybrid computer used as a controller. This provides dynamic
the
three-dimensional
( two-dimensional in
ACT / 10 ) windowing, h-anslation, and ' rotation of.
the image. In addition, intensity is depth-cued intensity to enhance the 3D illusion.i The Evans &'
Sutherland LDS-1 offers similar capabilities with a
digital display processor and analog vector-drawing hardware. The LDS-1 also provides both
68

Terminal purchase prices in Table 1 include the
CRT, controller ( s), alphanumeric keyboard J (if
available), input devices not separately pliiced or
listed as optional, and modem or p arallel interface.
Purchase prices do not include maintenance.
Monthly lease prices ·are for a one-year or the minimum lease period, whichever is greater, and include maintenance.
For more information on the CRT terminals described
in this'mticle, refe1"'to .the reader inquiry number listed '
in Table 3:
MODERN DATA/ J uly 1970-

Melvin Appelbaum, Sr. Operations Res . Consu ltant • Pepsico, Inc. , New York, New York

': SEVEN STEPS TO SIMULATION

Editor's Note: In order to develop the complex b.ut
programmable structure we call a "simulation model,"
we must first simplify an even more complex, "realworld" process. In this article, the author simplifies the
process of developing the model.

gaTde of the systems science' clique use
Thethe avant
term simulate ' to imply the art of mathematical model development. Th e math em atical model is \
merely a set of relationships that · react and/ or interact with a given se t of conditions. E xploration. of. the
environment in which ' the model resides is the quintessence of simulation. It is the model's b ehavioral
responses to directed stimuli in which we are prima rily interested . Thus, simulation is a method which
places a model in a typical realistic situation and exerts forces that manipulate it by deterministic or probabilistic procedures. The development of a computer
simulation model requires the foll owin g seven basic
steps (see Fig. 1).
1. Problem Definition-The problem must b e carefully
defined and the proposed solutions outlin ed . This entails a d escription of the analyses and criteria necessary to develop and satisfy the experiment's objectives.

2. Simulation Decision-After evaluating the objectives of the problem, it may b e fo und that the proposed solution will in cur heavy computer costs and
possible failure to reach the desired objectives with
any degree of confidence. This may result in a decision not to use. a computer simulation until the problem and proposed solutions can b e further refined . .
3. Data ColleCtion and Reduction-The , process of
gathering the facts necessary to solve a problem is
defined as data collection . The classification and prep- ;
aration of th e information collected · is called data reduction. Insufficient data is often the reason simulation models fail. The model's ' w orth is a direct
hmction of its data.

statistical process which the analyst uses to.' develp
fun ctional rela tionships b etween a set of carefully
analyzed variables. These relationships are bonded by
a decision process which de termines th e degree of the
model's complexity and,. in turn , is directly related to
the programming effort required .
5. Model Evaluation-At this stage of development,
the model is tested to ascertain its ability to. reach the
desired goals and to examine the initial assumptions
made in th e model development phase. The approach
consists of, statistically comparin g ' the model's expected responses with historical data. If the variance
p roves significant, the model is rejected.
6. Simulation . Programming-Programming effort b egins only after the model has b een .completely evaluated . The initial p11ase requires a detailed flow chart
describin g- all ma thematical relationships, interactions, logical decision processes, and type of output
report -generator. Next, code is written in a language ·
most suitable to the problem and to the capability of
p resent or anticipated staff.
Standard general-purpose languages, such as For- '
tran and Cob ol, are highly flexible and easy to master.
In addition, they offer compiler availability for almost
any sys tem configuration, high compilation speeds,
and ease of debugging. Their major disadvantage
arises from the complexity of sequencing events
within the model. When thi.s complexity becomes excessive, the analyst should consider using a .version of
one of the recently developed "simulation languages.,"
such as GPSS and Simscript, which aTe designed specifically to overcome this problem.
His most important criter.ia for choosing a .language, h owever, will very likely b e of an economic

Mr. Melvin- Appelbaum is a senior
operati ons resea rch analyst on the
corporate staff of PepsiCo., I nco He
is current ly developing a lo ng range
plan ning m odel to evaluate and select o ptim um .ca pital in vestment opportuniti es: - He is a PH·.D candidate
in operati o ns research at New Y o r k
Uni versity .

4. Model Development-The mode of the model's behavioral response is accomplished by an appropriate
70

MODERN DATA/ July 1970

Fig . 1. Simulation Model Development Procedure

nature, and will depend primarily on such conditions
as: II complexity of the problem in each language as
related to programming time ; II the cost and availability of required hardware and software (speci6cally the computer/compiler ); and II the cost and
availability of trained personnel.
7. Analyzing the Simulated Data-the last phase of
computer simulati on-is by far the most complex
phase. Except for the fact that the output will be in a
time-differenced form (time-series) if th e model is dynamic in character, there are at least as many ways to
interpret simulated data as there are analysts.
This step is simpli6ed to the degree that the analyst
has had an accurate "feel" for the output data at the
project's inception. But any ex tra investment in attempting to predict this data as far back as the problem de6nition and data collection and reduction
phases is risky. On the one hand, the analyst may b e
repaid by acqu iring b etter insight into desired results
and by 'becoming more alert to extreme (exceptional)
cases which might otherwise 'be overl ooked during
th e development and evaluation phases. (The argument being th at the earlier th e analyst is aware of his
output limits, th e more likely he will b e to note conditions which would tes t th em.) On the other hand,
there is the danger that he will place too much value
on preliminary data.
The final analysis, however, is a pragmatic one. Either the system "works" (accurately predicts "realworld" events) or it doesn't. If it does, we accept it. If
it doesn't, we have only one alternative: to start over,
checking each of th e steps we have described. For
regardless of the techniques or procedures we incorporate into a simulation model, its method of de•
velopment remains unchanged.

Everything's clearer
with the flat one!
The inherent advantages of a Zen ith Flat- Face Metal
CRT open up unlimited applications, including a direct
running dia log between man and computer. Letters,
digits , symbols, equations and a variety of data are
displayed as und istorted images on a flat illuminated
surface. Paralla x errors are reduced, and greater safety
is assured with the implosion proof laminated face
plate . Zenith CRTs offer 'superior contrast and resolution up to 2500 TV lines.
High

performance applications

include

light

operations , alphanumeric and analog presentation , reference chart projection through an optional rear port
and more. So , the next time you need CRTs, face up
to the flat one and see what a difference Zenith makes .
For instant service , call (312) 647 -8000 .

;T!1f!,a
ZENITH

RADIO

CORPORATION

THE RAULAND DIVISION
5604 W . JARVIS AVE . • CHICAGO , ILLINOIS 60648
3 1 2 - 647 -8000
CIRCLE NO. 39 ON INQUIRY CARD

MODERN DATA/ Jul y 1970

pen

TECHNOLOGY PROFilE

.D.lGITAL PLOTTERS

One of the most · interesting, but least publicized of
the sub-industries that comprise the computer field
is the digital plotter business. For years, digital . plotters have been util'ized in an impressive array of
applications, 'from the manufacture of tiny pr.inted ·
circuit boards to the design of ' mammoth ships. Stilt
they have never received the kind. of warm. love that '
is offered to minicomputers or' even the widespread
interest enjoyed by their cousins, the line printers.
This article compensates for such neglect and surveys
the characteristics and applications of such plotters.
Within this article, .a digital plotter will be 'defined
as 'equipment that accepts digital inputs from com puters or from off:lin-e storage :media and produc:es' a
perm anent picture that can be viewed directly wi·thout
magnification; Tbis definiti·o n · excludes analog , input
deviees, computer out.put microfilm ' devices, . and
graphic CRT displays - which normally don't produc~
a permanent record. , However, equipment which
plots on film and does not involve magnification is
included. Teleprinters and line printers that have '
plotting capabilities, but-'are not excl.usively employed
as plotters, will also be omitted.

heads, conh·ollers·, input interfaces, software fbr input computers -bad been implemented. Current
developments in plotter technoldgy involve improvements in speed and accuracy at a lower cost.
•
HOW A PLOTTER ' WORKS '

HISTORY

The development of digital plotters closely parallels the development of the .computer. In 1952,' an
EAI ad read: ~' . . .. This new Dataplotter . . . will
automatically plot .a cartesian ourve .composed of
incremental points or symbols from IBM card data
at maximum machine reading. speed." The ad continued : "It will accept data from other inputsmagnetic tape, keyboards, digital computel's"
etc .. ." The list of interfaces · hasn't changed
much over the· years; except that the emphasis has
shifted away from punched card input to on-hne,
magnetic tape, and punched paper tape input.
One of the pioneers· in- the field was California .
Computer 'Products (CaIComp'), which .became,
and remains, the dominant company in the plotter
indushy.
The early plotters were basically analog devices
that were attached· to digital-ta-analog converters.
By the late 50s, plotters designed speeifically for
digital data processing had made their appearance. These accepted command . information . as
well as X, Y coordinates. in the' input stream~ making it possible to program an input computer to
control the plotter. By 1960, all of the fundamental
elements of today's plotting systems - moving plot
72

Fig. 1 shows the system configuration of a' typical
modern-day plotter, the EAr 430. With minor differences, it is identical to the configurations of virtually all digital plotters on the market today. The
major differences occur in the types of equipment
and software .supplied along with the plotter. For
example, EAI will supply a magnetic tape transport, a comp.u ter interface, and plotter software.
Others will offer the computer as part of an integral system: a magnetic tape transport· isn't supplied and the interface to' the computer is internal
to .the system. Options might involve paper tape
ii1puts, card inputs, teletypewriter .inputs, or communication ' facility. inputs in place of, or in addition to, the magnetic tape transport.
The plotting operation begins with a set of input
data to be plotted, expressed as an equation in two
or three variables, either as a set of ·discrete points,
or as any other computer-sensible description of
the picture to be generated. The input data can
also contain · alphanumeric information which is
used to annotate the picture.
The computer interprets the input data and
creates an output sequence of information which
is routed ' either to the ' plotter through interface
circuitry or to an intermediate storage medium for
off-line plotting. ·
When the data · arrives at the plotter, it is . decoded-' and the plotting is performed. The input
usually consists of coordi11ate infOlmation interleaved with commands such as Pen Up, E.en
Down, Draw a Circle, Draw an Arc, Dr.aw a
Straight I:.ine, etc.

MR . STIEFEL is an independent consultant
based in Chelmsford , Mass. Since .1969, he has
been engaged in the' des ign ,.. evaluation, land .
implement-otion of municipal information and

inventory control systems, and has several ' freelance articles .dealing, with computer applica.,
tions to his credit. His background ,includes
over- 10 years in analysis, -design; testing, ,and
evaluation of hospital information ' systems . and military command and
control systems. He received his B.S.E.E.· from th e 'Polytechnic .Institute of
Brooklyn in 1959 and. has' completed graduate work at M.I.T.

MODERN ' DATA/ Juiy 1970

MALCOLM l. STIEFEL, President . M.L. Stiefel Co .

The coordinate information is expressed as an
increment or as an ahsolute value. Ahsolute values
are expressed with rcspect to an origin that is estahlished hy an operator en try or by a preliminary
command. In cremental values are meas ured from
the curren t plotted point position .
The distinction is important in two ways. In applications where a communicati on channel is involved in the plotting system, a cumulative effect
can be caused by an error in a given plotted paint
if th e incremental method is used. That is, suppose
a strin g of data consists of th e points ( 0, 0 ), ( 1,
1 ), (2, 2 ), and (.3, .3). If these coordinates are
transmitted as absolute values, and if the second
value is in error hecause of noise in a communication Hne, then the plotted sequence might
contain the point (9, 9 ), let's say, instead of (1 ,
1 ). The remaining points, ( 2, 2 ) and (3, 3 ), are
unaffeced h y the error. But if incremental coordinates were used, the correctstring would he ( -,- ),
(1, 1) , (1 , 1), (1, 1 ). With the error, the string
wou ld he ( -,- ), (9,9), (1 , 1 ), (1 , 1 ), and the
plotted points are (0,0), (9,9), (10,10), (11,11),
. . . The error affects the entire string following it.
Thus, in time-sharing and similar applications, absolute coordinates are used.
On the other hand, the incremental method uses
the on-line computer and off-line storage more effectively. For the value (X~ - Xl ), the incremental
value is usually much smaller (and occupies less
storage) th an either X2 or Xl; the plotter needs no
hardware to "remember" the location of the origin
so the system is less expensive. Therefore, in cases
where interface noise is not a problem the incremental method is used.
When the plotter has some internal read-write
storage and an appropriate set of logic, it is possible to specify some kinds of plots with relatively
small amounts of data . For example, when plotting
a circle, you can specify, point by point, a set of
coordinates that the plotter can draw to form the
circle. With more advanced logic, which cal1s for
less strain on the input computer, the input specifi es the origin of the circle in incremental or absolute coordinates , and the radius ; the plotter then
draws the circle automatically.
As another exampl e, suppose you want to draw
a dotted lin e. Usually, the input command sequence - whether with absolute or incremental
coordin ates - will define the path to be drawn,
wi th the ( X,Y ) information interl eaved with alternating Pen Up and Pen Down commands. Each
MODERN DATA/ July 1970

stroke that makes up the dotted Hne is defined
with a set of inputs. If a more sophisticated plotter
is used, the input defines the starting point and
th e end point (or th e direction and magnitude) of
the en tire line segmen t, along with a Dotted Line
command.

PLOTTER SOFTWARE

From the·standpoint of the casual user, the central
question is , "How much work do I have to do in
order to get my data plotted?" There are a variety
of answers, depending on the nature of the problem and on the availability of software.
At one end of the spectrum lies the time-sharing
environment, in which the user wants to take a
quick look at a set of data with an absolute minimum of difficulty. In this situation, the software is
simple, and the operation is simple. The user
names the set of data, specifies which variable will
be X and which will be Y, and presses the "Go"
button. The time-sharing computer cranks out the
sequence of coordinates and controls the pen. The
OFF
LINE

INPUT
DATA

COMPUTER
ON
LINE

PLOTTER
SOfTWARE

PLOT
TAPE

EAI MAGTAPE
TRANSPORT

EAI
COMPUTER
INTERFACE

EAI
430
DATAPLOTTER

Fig . 1 Syslem Config ura t io n of Electronics Associates Inc. Model 430
Data P lotter

user may find it necessary to generate each point
to be plotted , unless he has an algorithm for creating the data or unless the data already exists in a
fil e. The plotter will display everything it receives
from the computer, so the user must write programs to filter the data if only a subset of a fil e is
to be plotted .
At the opposite pole, there is the large plotting
facility with a huge in -house flatbed or drum-type
plotter interfaced with a large-scale computer that
has a full complement of software (basic, functional, and application) to support the plotting
function.
Basic software generates coordinate information
73

TECHNOLOGY PROFILE: DIGITAL PLOTTERS . ... ....... . ....... Cant/d.

Fig . 4 Compute r Graphics Corp. Mod e l DPS·7 Fla t.bed Plotter

Fig. 2 Zeta Research Model 230 Plotter

Fig . 3 California Computer Products Model 565 Drum Plotter

and pen control commands. The functional software permits the user to specify complete functions, such as arrowheads, dashed lines, and certain geometric shapes, with a few inputs. The
application software is used for specific jobs, such
as contour mapping. The objective is to reduce the
amount of programming required to generate a
given plot.
With a large plotting facility, a user can produce
an architectural drawing, a printed circuit board
master, a computer program flowchart, or a perspective drawing, assisted by application programs. For example, to draw a PERT chart, the
user need only to identify the PERT program files
to the appropriate application program, and the
chart will be produced automatically, completely
annotated and ready for analysis. The program
controls the plotting completely.
74

Fig . 5 Spatia l Dat a Systems, Inc. Model 50 1·3 3·Dimensional Wire
Plotter

TYPES OF PLOTTERS

Plotters come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes,
and flavors. There are the small time-sharing terminals (Fig. 2), the smalL- to middle-sized drum
plotters (Fig. 3 ), and the small, medium, and
large flatb eds ( Fig. 4), whose combined capabilities satisfy the requirements of virtually all users.
Then there are others like Dresser Systems' LGP2000 and Xynetics' Model 1000, which offer unusually high plotting speeds and unique plotting
techniques; Spatial Data Sys tems' plotter ( Fig. 5) ,
which imbeds steel wires in a board to create an
actual 3-dimensional plot; and Auto-trol, which
markets a combination drum and flatbed plotter.
Perhaps the clearest notion of the power and
versatility of digital plotters may be gained by examining the plots shown in Figs. 6-10.
MODERN DATA/ Jul y 1970

w
>
a:
w
~
a:

..-J

515
16

..-J

oc
a:
w

5\1
\"

a:
536

519

Iif)

185

519

182

11\

>--

531

'!' 518

UE LRKE DRIVE

l" 538

\,,555

551 l"

183 l"

\,,181

+ BLUE LRKE DR

Fig. 6 Real Estate Subdivision Plot (Courtesy of California Computer
Products)

Fig . 8 Printed Circuit Drawing (Courtesy of G erber Scientific Instrument Corp.)

SELECTING A PLOTTER

The poten tial user must go through a careful evaluation process in choosing a plotter. First, he must
establish that a plotted hardcopy outpu t is absolutely necessary for his application. If his need for
graphics is for only a few minutes, he may be better served by a CRT displ ay. When there is a very
large fil e of drawings, and reduction of paperwork
is th e prime consideration, th en a computer output
microfilm system should be used.
Once th e need for a plotter is established, the
evaluator proceeds to consider the type of plotter.
This choice is largely constrained b y three major
factors: cost, the nature of equipment (particularly computers ) already available to th e us er, and
plotting volume. Other constraints - the acMODERN DATA/ J u ly 1970

~410

Fig . 7 Stereo Plot of Lunar Surface (Courtesy of California
Computer Prod ucts)

curacy, resolution, and repeatability of the plotted
ou tput - may not be important.
Cost comparisons usually un cover significant
price spreads among various systems with apparently similar plotting capabilities. The trick is to
find the system that will satisfy all of th e user's
requirements with the lowest cost of ownership
over some period of time (say 5 years) , taking
labor costs into account when compu ting the total
cost. With man-hours included, th e least expensive
hardware may not provide th e least expensive system when more elegant equipment incorporates
labor-saving features.
Cost evaluation should also include maintenance and software. Basic plotter control programs for major manufacturers' computers or for
major languages like Fortran are included in plotter prices, but functional and application s software
is usually extra. The possibility of leaSing must also
be considered; not al1 manufacturers provide it.
In almost all situations, th e user will want to
limit himself to plotters that can interface with his
existin g compu ters. Some plotting systems carry
th eir own computers to get arou nd that problem.
Plotting volum e influences th e acquisition of an
in-house plotter as opposed to th e use of a plotting
service bureau. These bureaus are available in every section of th e coun try and are the logical
choice where th e user's plotting load will be relatively light an d where the bureau has the capability. If th e user can afford th e normally slower turnaround time provided by a service bureau, th en
this can well be th e most effective method of
pl otting. In large organizations, the service bureau
may even be able to match OT improve th e turnaround time th at could be realized in-house!
The importance of accuracy, repeatability, and
resolution are application-dependent. For plotting
75

TECHNOLOGY PROFILE: DIGITAL PLOTTERS . ..... . .. . . .. .. . . . . Cont'd.

TABLE 1

•

DIGITAL PLOTTER CHARACTERISTICS

COMPANY

Arvin Syste ms

Auto-tro l Corp .

Boston Digita l Corp .

Ca lifo rnia Computer Pr od ucts (Ca IComp).

MODEL NO.

1197F2

6030

N/ CV 1105;
N/ CV 2905'

502, 602 , and 702
Series

618 and 7 18 Series

APPLICATIONS

Flight Tr ain ing ;
Artillery Field Use

Prin ted Circu it
Soards;
Highway Cross
Sectioning;
PERT Charts

Drafting;
fication

See Under Other Fea-

See Unde r Other Features

On - or Off-Line

On- Lin e; Punch ed
Ca rd;
Paper Tape; Mag
Tape;
Keyboard

Paper Tape (300
cha r./ sec)

BCD plus sign w ord

Absolute or
I,)crementa I
Coordinates
(± NN .NNN )

9 Channel EIA
Standard Code;
ASC II Option al;
Word Address,
Va ri ab le Block; EIA
Standard Form at

IN PUT
Me d ia

Data Description

INTERNAL LOGIC
P roc es sor

Special Fun ctions

and Center-

line Drawing;

Mirror Image;
tion; Scaling
SO FTWARE
CHARACTERIS:r ICS
Dime nsion s

30" x 30"

lin ear
Interpolation
Circu lar. Optional

On-Line
Mag Ta pe (7- or 9Track)

40" x 40" i 40" x 60";
60" x 60";

Ca lCom p Basic

31" x 34"

54" x 72"

11 " to 36" wid e
drum

11" wide drum x
120' (1105)
28.5" wide drum x
120' (2 905)
90" /m in.

4.2" / sec (502);
3.1" / sec (602);
11 .9" / sec (702)

1.4" / sec (618);
4 .6" / sec (7 18)

10" / sec

Ac curac y

.05 % of full sca le

.005"

Re pe at.a b ility

.0 1 % of fu ll scal e

±.001"

.0005"

$2 1,400 to

OTHER· FEATURES

-Automatic Data Manipulation and Pa rit y Checking (900/ 937/ 618 and /
718)

Ca lComp Ba sic

Plot 10" / sec;. Slew
20"/ sec

PRICE

Maxi mum Spee d

Resolution
(Step, .Incr.ement·
Size)

On-Line
Mag Tape (7- or 9-Track)

Rota-

.005"

$50,000

Combination. Fl atbe d·
and Drum
Plotter
62-Character Printer
4 Maintenance
Centers

tures

Hardwired
Dash e d

N/ C Veri-

$16,775 (n 05)
$20,475 (2905)
Plotters are Ca lComp
Model 565(1 105)
and 563 (2905}

.002" (502); .001"
(602; 702)

- -.

--.0005!'

APPLICATIONS: Interactive Design i Draft ing;
Data Red!Jction ; Real-Time P. lotting; N/ C Ve rification; Mapping ; Graphi ng ; IC Mask Cutting;
Printed Circuit Artwork; Garment. Grad ing
CON FI G UR ATIO NS : Contro ll ers and Interfaces
for Wide Range of Com pu ters; Remote Interface s for Termina ls o r Modems; Mag Tape
Drives for O ff-Li ne O peration
33 Maintenance Centers

MODER N DATA/ July 1970 '

TABLE 1 • DIGITAL PLOTTER CHARACTERISTICS (Cont'd .)
COMPANY
~ODEL

NO .

APPLICATIONS

INPUT
Media

California Computer Products (Cont'd .)
728 Series

563 and 565 Series

663 and 665 Series

763 and 765 Ser ies

1136 Series

See Unde r Ot her Featu res

See Under Other Features

See Under Other Featu res

See Under
tures

On-line
Mag Tape (7- or 9Track)

On-Line
Mag Tape (7- o r 9Track)

On-Line
Mag Tape (7- or 9Track,)

On-Line
Mag Tape (7- o r 9Track)

On-Li ne

Positive/ Negative
Pulse

8-Vector Format,
Posit ive/ Negative
Pulses;
24-Vector Format, 5Bit Command Signals

8·Vector Format,
Positive/ Negative
Pulses ; 24-Vector Format, 5-B it Command
Signa ls; Zip Mode, 5Bit Command Signals

4-Bit Messages; Input
Rate 4 Times Plotting
Ra te

Data Description

INTERNAL LOGIC

Processor

. Spedal Functions

Automa tic Data Manipulation and Parity
Checking
(900/ 937/ 728)

---

Other

Fea-

Y-Ax is Elecron ic External Scaling Capability

CalCo mp Basic;
Co nto ur Mapp ing; IC
Mas ki ng; Su bd ivision
Mapp ing; Cr itica l
Path Network

Simple Fo rtran

Sim ple Fortran

Sim ple Fo rtran

Sim p le Fortran

48" x 72 "

11 " wi de drum x
120' (565)
28.5" wide drum x
120' (563)

11 " wide drum x
120' (665)
28.5 " wide d rum x
120' (663)

11" w ide dr um x
120' (765)
28 .5" wide dr um x
120' (763)

11 " and 34" wide drums
x 120'

Maximum Speed

4.6"/ sec

300 i"cr./ sec; 200
incr./ sec for .010"
incr. (563 only)

450/ 900 incr./ sec;
350/ 700 incr./ sec.
for .010" / .005" (663
only)

450 incr./ sec and
1687 incr./ sec (Zip
Mode); 350 incr./ sec
and 1312 incr./ sec
(Zip Mode) fo r
.010"/ .005" incr.
(763 onl y)

2600 incr ./ sec (Ma x.);
1800 incr./ sec (Abrupt
Cha nges)

Accuracy

.0025" Full Area;
.0012" 20" x 20"
Area

SOFTWARE

CHARACTERISTICS
Dimensions

Repeatability

-~esolution

.0005"

(Step, Increment
Size)

PRICE
OTHER FEATURES

.010", .005", or
.1mm.

.010" / .005" ,
.005" / .0025", or
.0025"/.00125"

.010" /.005" ,
.005" / .0025", or
.0025" / .00125"

.05" / .025"

APPLICATIONS: Interactive Des ign; Drafting; Data Reduction; Real-Time Plotting; Nlc Verification ; Mapp ing; Graphing;
IC Mask Cutting; Printed Circu it Artwork; Garment Grading
CONFIGURATIONS : Controllers and Interfaces for Wide Range of Computers; Remote Inte rfaces for Terminals or Modems;
Mag Tape Drives for Off-Line Operation
33 Maintenance Centers

MODERN DATA/ J uly 1970

TECHNOLOGY PROFILE: DIGITAL PLOTTERS .......... . .. .... Contld.

TABLE 1

•

DIGITAL PLOTTER CHARACTERISTICS (Cont/d:).

COMPANY

Computer
Graphics Corp.

Concord Control, .
Inc.

MODEL NO.

DPS-7; 4021 DM-2

APPLICATIONS :

INPUT
M edi.a

Dr.es ser·Systems • Electronic A:s sociates,
Inc (EAI)
Inc.

Electronic-Data
Display

Un iversal Graphics Pro- XY15 Series,
cessor IUGPf; Mark 8
Models AA,
Coordinatograph
AB, BA and BB

lGP-2000

430/ 100 and 430/ 200
DA TAPlA TTE R

PT- l

Drafting; Mopping;
Data Reduction

Contour Mopping; Car - General Plotting;
tography; ComputerAlphanumerics
Aided Design; Printed
Circuit and IC Artwork

Cartography;
Printe'd Circuit
Artwork

Drafting; Mopping;
Data Reduction

Printed Circuit
Artwork; Business Data Plotting

On- lin e;
Mag Tope 17- or
9- Trocki

Punched Cord; Paper
Top e 1300 char./secl;
Mag Tope;
Keyboard IASR 331

On -line to PDP-IS On-line at
Compute r;
Computer Speeds;
Off- line
Mag Tope

On-line;
Mag Tape·17- or 9-Trackl

On-line;
Teletype

ASCI I ITTY, Paper
Topel
NRZI IMag Topel
Holl erith o r Binary
IPunched Cordi

Incremental

Data De scription Incremental; 6-Bit
Characters;
Manual for Paper
Size Selection;
X and Y Offset

INTERNAL LOGIC
Processor

Special Functions Program Selectabl e Pens

SOFTWARE

Fortran

4K 12-Bit Words;
Expanda ble to 32K
Operates as Platte r,
Digitizer or Interactive
System; On- line Edit o f
Drawings

Digital Equipment C:::orp ..

-Alphanumerics

Fortran

CHARACTERISTICS 30" x 30" 1402 1
Dimensions
DM-21
45" x 60" IDPS-71

Serial Roster Scan;
Block/ White: 4,000/
8,000 bits/ scan
1.0 1" /.005" stepl;
Shades: 16,000/
32,000 bits/ sca n
1.0 1" /.005" stepl

Point and line Plotting;
Alphanumerics; 3ed Order
Polynomial Interpolati on;
Internal " look Ahead"
for Velocity Control

Block and White,
and Gray Shading
in 16. Sca les

Packages for IBM·
360; line, Tone,
Sequential Data
Tra ce, and Seismic
Data Packages

Absolute
X and Y

10" xiS'"

40" x 50" IUGPI;
60" x 60" IMa rk 81

12" wide drum x
40 " wide x 100 '
120' IAA and ABI; film
3 1" wid e drum x
120' IBA and BBI

3 1" x 36" 1430/ 1001;
54" x 76" 1430/200)

Maximum Speed On-line: 3.6"/ sec
Off-line: 3.2" / sec

li ne Trace 1" / sec; Plo t
2"/ sec; Slew 5"/ sec
IUGPI
line Trace 1" / sec;
Point Plot 6"/ sec
IMa rk 81

12,000 steps/ min
IBAI;
18,000. steps/ min
IAA, AB and BBI

1900 scan lines/ min
1.005" stepl;
3800 scan lines/ min
1.0 I" stepl

lin e Trace 2O"/ sec; Curve 13f'/sec
16" / sec; Slew 30"/sec;
Point 30" /mi n 1430/1001;
lin'e Trace 12"/ sec; Curve
12" /sec; Slew 18" /sec;
Po int 23" / min 1430/1001

Accuracy ,

"= .002" IUGPI;
± .00 1" IMark 81

± .05%, X and Y

"= .001" IUGPI;
± .0005" IMork 81

Repeatability

ResoJution
IStep, Inc reme nt
Sizel

"=.05% of fu ll scale
, "= .0 1% of full ..
scale
"= .004"

PRICEr

Sta rts at $26,000
14021 DM-21 and
$31,750" IDRS-71

OTHER · FEA TURES

High-Speed Plotting
Con troller Optional

.02"

-_003" 1430/ 1001; .004"
1430/ 2001

.or"

.00 1" IUGPI; .0005"
IMo rk 81

.01" IAA and BAI
.005" lAB and BBI

.01" /.005", X and Y .001 " 1430/ 1001; .00125"
1430/ 2001

$150,000-$200,000
IUGPI; $225,000$300,000 IMa rk 81

$B,900 IAA and
ABI; $13,400 IBA
and BBI

$100,000 IOn -lin el
$ 175,000 IOff-linel

$33,000-$60,000 1430/ 1001 $4,000'
$50,000-$80,000 1430/ 2001

lose r Beam Plotter

48- Chorac ter Printer
Optiona l

Republic Corp.
Plotter

MODERN DATA/ J uly 1970

TABLE 1

•

DIGITAL PLOTTER CHARACTERISTICS (Cont/d.)

COMPANY

Geo Space Corp.

MO Del NO.

DP-203

723

123 3

2032

2075

APPLICATIONS

Drafti ng ;
Map pi ng ;
Flow Charti ng;
Printed Circuit
Artwo rk; Holog raphic
Ploto

Drafting; N / C Ver iflcation

Drafti ng ; Pri nt ed Circuit an d IC Artw o rk

Drafti ng , Pr inted Circuit a nd IC Artwo rk

Draft ing; l ofti ng; Dig itizing; N/ C Verification

On- or Off-line

Mag Tape; Pa per
Tape ; Teletype

Mag Tape; Paper
Tape; Pun ched Ca rd ;
Teletype

Mag Tape; Pa per
Tape; Punched Card;
Teletype

Mag Tape; Paper Tape;
Punched Cards

Data : 8-Sit Bytes;
Intens ity: 2 Bytes
every 16 msec

Absolute and
Incremental

Absolute an d Incremental; Word Address or Tab Sequen.
tial Format

Abso lute and Incremental; Word Address or Tab Sequential Format

Absolute and Incremental; Word Address
or Tab Sequential Format

4K , 16·Bit CPU

8K, 16-Bit CPU

Variab le Width and
Sol id , Dashed or Dotted li nes; Circles;
Symbols; Alphan umerics; Gray Shading
in 32 Sca les

linear and Circula r
Interpolation

linear a nd Circular
Interpolation

Linear,

Circular and
Pa rabo lic Interpo lation; Alphan u-

linear, Circular and
Parabo lic Interpolation;
Alphanume rics

Fortran Ca lla bl e Rou-

Fortran; Assembler;
Ut ilit ies

Provided for Internal

Provi ded for Inte rn a l

tines

Processor

Proces sor

Prov ided for Internal
Processor

Dimen sion s

40 " x 60"

34" x 44"

24 " x 24"

48 " x 60"

S' x 24' (60" x 188")

Maxi mum Speed

40" x 60" Area in
75 sec at any shading·

600" / mi n

60" / min (axi al )

75" / mi n (ax ial)

750" / min

Accuracy

± .001"/inch or
± .001" / ft

± .OOS"

± .OOOS" (Full
Area); ±.0003" (10"
x 10" ); ± .ooOI"
(3" x 3")

± .0009 " (Full Area);
± .0006" (24" x
24" )

± .004 "

Repeatability

± 1/2 dot over 40" x
60" Area

± .0025"

± .OOOI "

± .0005 "

±.002"

Resolution
(Step, Increment
Size)

100 o r 200
points/ inch

.001 "

.0001"

.0001 "

PRICE

$37,000 (On·line)
$1 25,000 (Off-line)

$58,000

$14S,000

$200,000

OTH ER FEATUR ES

Plots on Paper
Film
Darkroom is not
need ed

Optical Exposu re
Head

Optica l Expos ure
Head o r Variab le,
24-Aperture Photo
Head

INPUT
Media

Data Descri ption

INTERNAL LOGIC

Processo r

Specia l Functions

SOFTWARE

Gerber Scientific Instrument Corp.

merics

CHARACTERISTICS

MODERN DATA/ J uly 1970

$230,000

TECHNOLOGY ' PROFILE:', DIGITAL PLOTTERS ' , . . . .. . ..... , . .. . . Cant/d.

TABLE ·1 • DIGITAL PLOTirER CHARACTERISTICS'
COM PA NY

Graphic Data ·Inc.

Hewlett- Packard · Houston
Inst rum e nt·

M O DEL NO .

II B

7!200A

APPLICA TIONS

, INPU T
M ed ia

I/O ·Syste m s

Kong s be rg Syste m s,
In-c.

Omega-T
System s ,. lnc .

Transplotter

KINGMATI C 1215, 1800
and 2637

FasPlo t

Grophic o.utput for
Computer, Tele~
printer o r Timessharing System

Drafting: Mapping.: Gr.ophic Output for Drafting; Mapping:
Graphing:
Computer, Tele·
Cartography: Electronic
N / C Verificatio n pr in ter, and Time· Artwor1<
shoring System

On·li'ne Multiplexed:
Mag. Tape 17- or
·9· Trackl: Telepock
Interface Modern ·

On·line
T'eletype

On·line:
.Mag Tape:
Teletype:·
Data Set IDP- 121

On·line:
Mag Tape:
Poper lope:
TeletYP'e

On -li ne;
On·tine:
Mag Tape: Paper Tape: . Paper Tape · 130
Punched Card
char/secl: Teletype 18 levell

Absolu te, X and Y:
ASCII

Incremental '

Absolu te ASCII

Binary Vector: EIA:
ASCI I: ISO

Hardwire.d

Sp ecial Function s linear and Circular
Interpolati o n

- linear Interpoia.tion:
Point Plotting

- -

-Point Plotting

- -

Absolute or Incre ,
men tal; ASCII

Fixed lo gic; Hon H316-0 1;
IK, 12-Bit CPU

linea r, Ci rcu lar and Pa rabolic Inte rpola tion; Symbo l Scaling and Storage..

-- -

Fortren IV

11" x 17"

12" wide x 144'
fanf old
23" wide x 144'
fanfo ld IDP-31

11 " x 17~ '

II " x 17"
48" x 60" 112 151:
6' x 5' to 6' x 35' 118001 ;
8' x 12' 126371

Ma xi mum Sp e e d 4"/ sec

1 point or line in
1.1 sec .

3" or 1.5" / sec; 6" Point- to-Poin.t
or 3"/ sec IDP-51
1/ 30 sec:
Slew 3D" / sec '

A ccur a cy

"=.03"

:
CH A RACTERISTICS II " x 17" fed from
Dim e n s ion s
500' roll

Graphic Ou tput for
Computer, Teletype
or Time-shari n g
Systems

Provided fo r Hos·t
Cornputer '

: .SOfTWARE, .

Scien tiJic Info rma tion
Systems: Mopping: .
Geologic Survey

Data Des cr ip tio n Vector Cornrnand
I±AX,8YI:
Alphanumerics
INTERNAL ' LOGIC
Proce ss o r

COMPlOT DP. l,.
DP· 12, DP·.3, DP· 5

{Cont'd~ r

"=.005"

PRICE.

OTHER FEATURES

8.0

$15,000-$25,000

Electros tatic Ma trix
W riting

10"/ sec

.3%

"=.00 1" 112" x 12" on
12151: "=.002" 136" x36"
on 1800 and 26371

± .002" /.00 1":
"= .00 l " /.0005"
IDP-51

.1%

"= .0004" tl2 151,
"=.0008" 11800 a nd·26371

.005"

.01" /,005",
.005" / .0025"
IDP-51

.005"

.00025" to .002"
selec table

$3,300

$3,550 IDP- l l:
$4,550 IDP-1 21,
$6,400 IDP-31,
$ 11 ,000 IDP-51

$3,200

$55,000-$70,000 112 151;
$ 125,000- $ 180,000 .
118001:'
$135,000-$ 160,000 120371

Re sol u.tio n
IStep Inc rem" nt •
Sizel

400"/ min 112151;
600"/ min .
11800 and 26371

Ba sic and Fu nc tional . for Tirnesha ring Syste ms

. "=.0 1"/.005";
"= .005" /,0026"
IDP-51

.007"

Repeatability

and Executive
Routines ..for .Inte,rnal ·
Compute:r

-.01"

MODERN DATA/ July 1970

TABLE 1

TImeshare Device.
Inc.

Time Share
Peripherals Corp.·

Trid•• Electronics

501-3

C/ P 701

TSP-212

AlDRAFT

Hard Copy (3-D)
Plotting

Graphic Output for
Computer, Teleprinter, and Timesharing Systems

Graphic Output for
Computer, Teletype
or Time-sharing Systems

Drafting

Mag Tape (7- or 9Track)

Mag Ta pe (7-Track)

On-Line; Teletype;
Paper Tape

On-line (IBM 27'4 1,
1050); Teletype;
Modem lines

On-line; Mag Tape \1- or
9-Track);
Paper
Tape
(300 char/ sec)

Absolute or Incremental; 2- or 3Axis Data .

Incremental

Absolute, ASCII

Absolute

Word Address Format
(Mag Tape); Word Address or Tab-Sequential
Formet (paper Tepe)

4K, 16-Bit, Expandable

Plugboard Programmabie

Varian 620/i; 8K, 16-B it

Coordinate Transformations; Interactive Operations

Axes Motion Reversal

Perspective
Inc.

MODEL NO.

RECORDOMAT 1250-2

INPUT '
Media

Data Description

INTERNAL lOGIC
Processor

Special Functi.o ns

DIGITAL PLOTTER CHARACTERISTICS (Cdnt'd)
Spatial Data Systems
Ine;.

COMPANY

APPLICATIONS

•

Systems,

,Drafting; Illustrative,
Perspeitive and Axonometric Graphics

SOFTWARE

and 701-4

Fortran for Input
Computer

Basic; Fortran

linear,
Circular
and
Parabo lic Interpolation;
Pe rspective or Iso metric;
Alpfianume rics and .Symbois; Rotation; Da.hed·
line Generator

Basic and Fortran for
Input Computer

Fortran IV Compi ler, Assembler; Utilities; Math
library for Internal Com- .
put.,...

"
CHARACTERISTICS
Dimensions

Maximu.m Speed

30" x 40"

11" x 17" x 3" Volume

3 .2" / sec

Accuracy

8 1/2" x 11" \101);
11" x 17" (701-4)

.3 seel point

.2%

11" x 17"

150

225

5' x 4' to 5' x 24:

lines/

1/256 of full

scale

Repeata bility,

.005"

Resolution
(Step, Increment
Size)

.005"

.01" on X, Y and Z
Axes

1/ 1024

1/5 12 of full scale

PRICE

$84,000

$23 ,500

$3 ,375

$3 ,300 (qu antity discounts)

OTHER FEATURES

Also Serves as
Digitizer

Steel Wires Fixed in
Plott ing Board for
3-D. Image

MODERN DATA/ July 1970

6oo"/ mi n

min

. ± ..004"
±

.002"

-$1 25,000-$200,000

6·Position Pen Turret
90-Position Optical Head
with Variable Area Exposu re

TECHNOLOGY PROFILE: DIGITAL PLOTTERS .... .. . . ..... .. .. Cont'd.

TABLE 1

•

DIGITAL PlOTTER CHARACTERISTICS (Cont'd.)

Universal Drafting
Machine Corp.

University Computing Varian
Co ., -Graphic
Graphics and
Data Systems Div.
Systems Division

MODEl NO.

ORTHOMAT 4000

2000

STATOS-5 Model 500 7530

APPLICA TIONS

Drofting ;
Orthogrophic or
Perspec tive Graphics;
N / C Verificotion

Drafting ; Mapping;
N / C Verifica tion

Geophysical Plotting;
Compu ter Graphics

Graphic Output for Drofting;
Compute r
Lofting;
Mopping;
Charting

INPUT
Media

Teletype ; Paper Tape

On- Li ne; Mag Tape
17 - or 9-Track!; Paper
Tape; Punched Cards

On- and Orr-Line

On-line with XDS
Compu ter

" COMPANY

Data Description Word Address Format

INTERNAL LOGIC
Processor

PDP 8 / L, 4K, 12-Bit

Special Functions linear Interpo lation,
2 of 3 Axis Select;
Ro tation; O rt hographic
and Pe rspecti ve;
Formal Conversion
. SOFTWARE

Incremental

*, Y

Video Raster, 15l'sec/
8-Bit By tes
byte, 8-Bit Parallel, to
128-Bit Serial St ream;
Discrete Inputs of lO-Bit
Binary 1500,000 points/
sec! o r 13-Bit BCD
1166,000 pOints/ sec!

Fixed Logic

Prog rammable Plo tting
Speed an d Stop Size;
Block Data Transfer

Basic Drafting Programs; Bas ic Commands;
Special Application
Functional Subroutines;
Progra ms
Con touring; Charting

CHARACTERISTICS 4' x 6'
Dimensions

Xerox Data
Systems

15.5" wide drum x 500' 11 " wide drum x
120'

Maximum Speed 400" / min

7.07" / sec

4"/sec

Accuracy

±.0025"

±.5%

±.0025"

±1 % of 2000
in creme nt sam ple width

± .001"

± .0025" to .0 1"

.005"

.0 1"

PRICE

$70,000

$16,500 IOn-line)
$47,750 10rr- lin e)

$ 14,900

$ 13,000

OTHER FEATURES

6-Posi tion Pen Turret
Bl ock Data Transfer
Optical Position Locator Allows 1443 incremen ts
in X and Y to be plotted
fr om Singl e Command

Repeatability

Resolution
IStep, Inc reme nt
Size)

Zeta Research

1000

230

3" / sec

End Point
Coordinates

8 K, 16-Bit CPU

Scaling;
Ro totion;
Annotating

Incremental

8.5" x ii "

5' x 8'

lines 56" / sec; 270 steps/ sec
Curves 40"/sec
±.005"

±.001"

.00 1"

---

G ra y Shading

Graphic Output for
Computer, T eletype o r Time -sharing Systems

Mag Tape
Teletype; Modern;
17 - or 9- Track) Accoustic Coupler

Functi o nol Software; Fortran IV for
Applications SubInternal
ro utines from User's Processo r
Group library

29.5" wide d rum fed

± .006"

Xynetics ,
Inc.

$6,250

Marke ted by Tymsha re, Inc.

MODERN DATA/ Ju ly 1970

California COmputer ProductS, Aneheim. Cal. •.•• •
Computer ~ Corp.• MJami, Fla .• . .• • • , .. . . •• •• •. 2.04
Concord C~ b¥., \!ostc>Jl, Mass. ,. . ... .. . . . . .. I
~r

~, ~ard, ~.

205

• ••••• •• •

livStfl11S; lnc.. Houaton, !exu ..... .. . .. •

207

Digital Equipmem

et.ClTonk AaIOt. Inc:;, W. long Branch, N.J . • .. ... . .••. • .

\
Fig. 10 Weather Map (Courtesy of Va ri an-G rap hics and Data Systems '
Division)

THE TABLES

220
221
222
223
224
Xerox Data Systems. $artta Monica, Cal. .....' . . . . . . • . . 225

Xynetics, Inc., Canogif Park. Cal. ... .... .. •..••• • •••.

Zeta Research. Lafayetftl, Cal. . . .. .. . .. •. ..• . . .. . .. . •. 227

External Noise Levels
GE 1/ 6 Engines Takeoff Pwr
From 1/ 16 Scale Model Flaps
Down 35° Octave Band. CPS

-1

rRo~seO~~~t~";~:~g~2) ~

::='0

~
,.---r-~
' ~=---.~'
.. _. "

Fig . 9 J et Aircraft No ise Contour (Cou rtesy of El e ctroni cs Assoc iate s
In c.)

y = f ( X), they usually don't matter ; fo r creating a
printed circuit board master, they are as important
as any other consideration.
The user will also w ant to consider the past performance records of the companies supplying the
plotters. Reliability and quality of maintenance
service are vital elements in any evalua tion.
MODERN DATA/ J u ly" d 970'

The Digital PI-otter Characteris tics' T.able (Table
1) is organized to give the poteI'l tial user a starting
point for selecting a plotter. It furnishes an overview of some of the significant evaluation parameters.
All of the various types of plotters have been
collected in the one table without further breakdowns by category. The reader can readily dis tinguish between large and small units by looking
at plotting surface dimensions; he can distinguish
between expensive and inexpensive systems by exam ining price ranges. This does not mean, as the
foregoing text has tried to indicate, that all plotters
are functionally interchangeable.
In some instances where the manufacturer offe rs a wide variety of confi gurations, a representative sampling of them was made for presentation
in the Plotter Characteristics Ta ble.
The "Special F eatures" of the internal logic are
in addition to the normal plotter control logic
which is incorporated into every digital plotter.
The "Software" describes the programs furnished for the internal processor if the plotting
system has one, or for an interfacing computer.
The tenn "Resolution" may be used interchangeably with "step size." It defines the smallest
distance between successive plotted points.
The p ricing information must be interpreted
with care, since it represents the cost 'of some
equipment configuration or group of configurations defined by the manufacturer.
Table 2 lists digital plotter manufacturers with
each keyed to a 1'eader inquiry number for requesting additional information via reader inquiry
A
card.
83

EWPRODUCTS
MINICOMPUTER
, The OMNUS-l is a minicomputer
system designed for both generalpurpose and dedicated system applications. It uses a high-speed,
full-duplex, single bus structure
(called the Omni-Buss) that is
shared by the processor, arithmetic
unit, processor registers , memory
units, and all I/O controllers. The
machine features: direct memory
addressing to 32,768 16-bit words,
over 1,000 instructions, a large
number of program-accessible registers, register paging, and efficient
memory stacking instructions. Core
is plug-in modular in 2K or 4K increments; 1.2 usec. cycle time.
The instruction set provides for
"transfers": arithmetic, and logical
operations to be performed upon
'c ombinations of the elements connected to the Omni-Buss, including: memory-to-register, registerto-memory,
register-to-register,
register-register-to-register, literalto-memory and register, and selected I/O register to/ from memory
or register, I/O device controllers are logically connected to the
Omni-Buss with a "connect device"
instruction. A connected device
controller data buffer is operated
upon by the computer in the
same manner as a processor accumulator or general-purpose register.
This feature allows for "Dynamic
I/O Processing"; i.e., a singleword instruction not only performs the data transfer, but simultaneously operates upon it. A device controller incorporating a
small read-only-memory (200 ns)
can execute high-speed I/O subroutines or provide a hardware
bootstrap. The basic OMNUS-l includes direct memory access
(D MA) and 16 priority interrupts.
The standard control console displays all system registers, provides
16 data switches, and enables dynamic and step control functions ,
including ~reakpoint ." Price of
the OMNUS-l with 2K words of
core is $5,950. Omnicomp Computer Corp., Santa AM, Cal.

INTERACTIVE DESIGN
SYSTEM
The "Design Assistant" is an interactive graphical system that allows
a user to .generate and work with a
computer representation of circuit
mask layouts. When a composite
layout is complete, the ' system
automatically produces data describing the individual mask levels.
This data is used directly for automatic artwork generation and design documentation. The DeSign
Assistant is available as a complete
hardware/ software system. The
hardware includes a graphics terminal - consisting of a Computek
storage tube display, keyboard and
data tablet - and an · IBM 1130
computer. No user programming is
required and software interfaces
are available for a variety of artwork generation equipment. In a
typical application, the user begins
by retrieving his layout from his
disk file and displaying it on the
storage tube. The user can display
an arbitrary composite of individual levels, any portion of the composite, or some of the composite at
any degree of detail. The user interacts with the D esign Assistant
with freehand symbols drawn on
the data tablet with an electronic

CALCULATOR SERIES
The Wang Series 100 consists of
four self-contained printing units:
two
for
scientific/ engineering
problems, and two for statistical
work. There are both 6- and 14register models, each register capable of adding, substracting, multiplying, and dividing 12-digit
numbers. All units are fully programmable with one or two optional punched card readers (60
programming steps per card). The

,stylus. These symbols give commands to the system and indicate
positions of elements and components. Layout editing capabilities include adding, deleting,
stretching, shrinking, rotating, flipping, and moving of selected components. Changes to a component
are reflected as changes to all individual levels on which the component is defined. For example,
when a transistor is deleted from
the layout, its emitter, base, base
insert, and contacts and contact
cuts are all deleted from the appro. priate levels. The Design Assistant
hardware, including Computek
400/ 20 display, GT50/l0 graphic
tablet, and IBM 1130 interface is
.priced at $17,815. A perpetual license for· software is priced at $45,000. The software is implemented
for the IBM 1.130; a minimum configuration is the IBM 1131 Model
2B CPU ($44,720) with IBM 1442
Model 6 card/ read punch ($14,140) and IBM 1132 line printer
( $11,010 ) . The manufacturer does
not act as a source for IBM equipment, but will arrange for leasing
of the Design Assistant hardware
and software through a third party.
Applicon Incorporated, Burlington,
Mass.
Circle No. 282 on Inquiry Card.

fleX'i bility of the units extends to
their use as adding machines, e.g.,
a "penny mode" treats all entries
with an implied two decimal
places; "roundoff" keys cause pennies or dollars to go to the next
whole significant digit for decimal
fractions of .5 or greater. Function
keys (some optional) permit ::t full
range of trigonometric and power
operations, including power summations and operations with engineering constants. An "underflow"
feature automatically drops off decimal place digits from the right,
insuring 12 significant digits of ac. curacy without blocking the entire
system in ' the event of an overflow.
Size of the units is 12" wide, 18
:iii" deep, and 7 -:iii" high. Wang
Labs., Inc., Tewksbury, Mass.
Circle No. 340 on Inquiry Card.

Circle No. 285 on Inquiry Card.
84

MODERN DATA/ July 1970

If your system goes to pieces, press a button and
our modems,tell you which piece ·went.
ZAP!
You're down. And that's wher.e you
stay until a serviceman finds the trouble
(time! time! time!) and fixes.it.
Before you break down just thinking.
about it, here's a thought to cheer you
up . It doesn't have to be that way. Not
if you get smart and get an Ultronic
modem.
Our modems do everything everybody else's do.
When things are going .fine, they jus,t
sit there; quietly modulating and demodulating.
But when the fun starts, they turn into'
crack troubleshooters. Their panel of
buttons isolates various parts of your
data transmission system. In just a few
minutes; a serviceman can locate the
part that's giving you trouble. Which

saves a lot of time.
Saves .a lot of money, toa. Ultronic
double-duty modems cos-t only about
what you'd pay to lease somebody else's
single-duty jobs for two years.
How. can you go wrong? You've got
Ultronic experience behind you all the
way. The experience that comes from
running ' one of the world's largest. ORline data communications systems . Plus
the experience of over· 300 technicians
in 56 major cities. Just in case anything
ever,d0es gowrong.
Check with us. At Ultronic Systems
Corp. , Mount Laurel Industrial Park,
Moorestown, New Jersey 08057. For a
system or a modem, we've got what you
want. TDM and FDM, multiplexers,
front end controllers.
If you need modems that give you
CI RCLE NO. 41 ON INQUIRY CARD

peace of mind by ' watching each piece
of your system, call us at (609) 2357300.

ULTRONIC SYSTEM"$"

SYLVANIA

GEN ERALTElEPHONE & ELECTRONICS

TWO COMs

NEW PRODUCTS

TWO MINICOMPUTERS
Two minicomputers from Texas Instrumen ts Inc., -designated the
Model 980 and Model 960, are for
general-purpose and. process control
applications,
respectively.
The Model 980 (shown) is a 16-bit
machine with one usec. memory
cycle time, 400 nsec. memory capacity of 4096 words ( expandable
to 65,536 words). Eighty-five instructions, including multiply and
divide, are used in th e computer,
and software includes a real-time
monitor, assembler, and Fortran
compiler. The Model 960 computer
is designed to manipulate bits,
fields , and words. Th e core memory
has the same memory cycl e time,
access time, and capacity as the
Model 980. Expansion is prOvided
for 256 interface card locations ,

each with 16 input and 16 output
lines. An expandable DMA channel
is also builtin. Sixteen 16-bit registers are included for rapid context
switching and mutiple-base register usage. Software includes a programming support monitor, process
automation monitor (with on-line
debugging routines and floatingpoint software), programming system (with a symbolic assembly
language - SAL960 - which
permits assembly on th e Model 960
Model 980, or the System / 360 ):
diagnostics, and utility programs.
Among th e applications for vvhich
the 960 was specifically designed
are discrete control of machin e
tools and ass embly machines, instrument and system control, and
supervi sion and monitoring of discrete event and continuous-flow
. operations . D escribed as th e key to
the Mod el 960's fl exibility is it's
"Communications Register Unit,"
or "CRU," which provides the interface to accommodate a wide variety of application-oriented devices. As many as 4096 input and
output lines may be handled by a
single 960 computer. Each I/O line
may b e addressed independently,
or up to 16 lin es may be addressed
together as a conventional channel.
Texas Instruments Inc., H oListon,
Texas.

Two new computer output microfilm (COM ) units have been introduced by Beta Instrument Corp.
Th e Beta COM 400 includes a 7or 9-track tape transport, a 64-element character set, image rotation
controls, a precision CRT display,
a forms overlay, and a 16mm camera. It is priced at $68,000, and will
be offered on both a sale and lease
basis for delivery in the fourth
quarter of 1970. The second new
addition , the Beta COM 700, utilizes a multi-format camera for the
direct printing of microfiche . The
700 system, which accommodates
70mm , 35mm, and 16mm film includes a gen eral-purpose digital
computer. Th e Beta COM 700
costs $141 ,500 and is also being offered on a rental basis. Beta InstTument C01-p ., Newton Upper
Falls, Mass.
Circle No. 278 on Inquiry Card.

Circle No. 301 on Inquiry Card.
IMPACTLESS PRINTER

PRINTER OUTPUT
MICROFILMER
The ATI Model 1000 Formscopier
automatically transfers computer
printer output data from continuous fanfold forms onto microfilm. The system is not as sophisticated
as
COM
(Computer
Output Microfilm), wh ere magnetic tape triggers a display on a
cathode-ray tube that can th en b e
microfilm ed with an automatic
camera. Instead, the POM, or
Printer Output Microfilm system
consists essentially of an input tray
for stacking fanfold forms , a sprocket · drive for carrying forms
through the copier, a rotary camera with dual lens, and a receiving
or output tray for collecting copied
86

forms. The operator places printed
form s on the input tray, threads
the lead sh eet through the copier,
and stands by while forms are microfilmed . Copied forms stack
automati cally in the receivin g tray.
Th e Formscopier handles printer
hard copy output data at a rate adjustable between 15 and 56 inch es
per second with automatic exposure control. The top speed corresponds to a photo rate of 20,000
lin es per minute, assuming six
printed lin es to the inch . The lower
speed allows easy stacking of forms
at the b eginning of a run. Th e ATI
POM system costs $4800 and leases
for $140/ mo. A desktop version
will sell for $2500. Advanced T erminals In c., Maple Glen, Pa.
Circle No. 279 on Inquiry Card.

The Repco 120 is an impactless
printer for use with minicomputers
and data terminals. Designed to
handle serial ( RS 232B ) or parallel
(TTL levels ) data of 64-character
standard ASCII cod e, th e unit can
b e used as a n input/ output t erminal over telephone or private
wire communication s lines when
interfaced with a modem or acousti c counler. Th e Repco 120 prints
up to 120 cps asynchronously ( 80
characters per lin e, 6 lin es per inch
vertically) on electrosensitive p ap er
in a 5 x 7 dot matrix format. It can
be optionally supplied with an al phanumeric keyboard. Price in
quantities is $995. Repco Incorporated C01nputer Peripherals V iv .,
Orlando, Fla.
Circle No. 275 on Inquiry Card.
MODERN DATA/ July 1970

XDS BUSINESS COMPUTER

SYSTEM 3 PERIPHERALS
The CS 8000 card sorter (shown)
and the CR 8000 card reader are
designed for use with IBM S/ 3 96column cards. The CS 8000 offers
card sorting at 1500 cpm from an
input hopper with 2000 card ~a
pacity to six output stackers ~lth
600 card capacities. Sort funchons
include numeric, alphanumeric,
and optionally alphabetic and selective sorts. All 96 characters can
be read in one pass. The off-line
sorter may be converted to an online reader with reading rates of
1500 cpm synchronously or 1000
cpm on demand , while giving the
CPU full control over the 6 output
stackers. The CR 8000 card reader
features a reading rate of up to
1500 cpm. Optionally available on
this new line of card equipment is
the ability to read the Potter Magnetic Character Bar Code, which
allows 128 characters to be stored
on the standard System 3 card, a
25% increase in the quantity of
data. All magnetic character output data is both man-and machin ereadable and can be prepared on
an office typewriter by non-EDP
personnel. Potter Inst1'llment Co .,
Plainview, N.Y .
Circle No. 289 on Inquiry Card.
TERMINAL TRAINER
The Compu-kee Model 40 is a
basic trainer for multi-access computer terminal operations. By simulating all the major functions of a
computer termin al, the Model 40
enables a company to train employees in keyboard and procedural skills without tying up online equipment. The components of
the Model 40 include a program
console with lighted display panel,
an integrated punched tape reader,
and an alpha, numeric, or alphanumeric keyboard unit. Kee, Inc. ,
Baltim ore, Md .

The XDS Sigma 6, and a new systems program, the XDS Data Management System, constitute Xerox
Data Systems' first system designed
primarily for business applications.
Sigma 6 is a medium-size multi-use
computer which will lease for $12,000 to $18,000 per month depending on configuration . A typical
configuration with 131.072 bytes of
core memory, 100 megabytes of
disk storage, card reader and
punch, line printer, magnetic ta~ e
units, and I/O processor WIll
lease for $1.3,500 per month.
Th e computer, which will be capable of handling batch, remote
batch, on-line, and time-sharing
activities concurrently, will be supported by a number of businessoriented programs, including the
new XDS Data Management System ( DMS). DMS is designed for
generalized file structuring and accessing in such business applications as production control, order entry, and accounts payable
and receivables. The system will be

operational on Sigma 5, 6, and 7
computers an d will be separately
priced. A range of operating systems and other business-oriented
programs will also b e available for
use with the Sigma 6 computer.
Operating systems will include the
XDS Batch Processing Monitor,
and Universal Time-Sharing System. Business-oriented programs
will include the XDS Cobol compiler and Manage, a generalized
information
retrieval
system.
Primary hardware characteristics
()f th e Sigma 6 include an I/O processor capable of handling up to 48
channels of data concurrently, a
memory map for effici ent core utilization, byte-string decimal arithmetic ( including floating point),
and a communication subsystem.
The computer has a dual-access
memory expandable from 131,072
bytes (32,768 words) to 524,288
bytes ( 131,072 words). Its memory
cycle time is 300 nsec.!byte ( 1.2
usec.!word). Xerox Data Systems,
EI Segundo, Cal.
Circle No. 302 on Inquiry Card.

convert graphic information to digital data
The versatile Edwin Gradicon Graphic
Co·ordinate Digitizer can be an efficient
solution to your data conversion
problems.
This unique unit (when used with its
readout conversion consolel is ideal
for such varied applications as:
• numerical control
• printed circuit card manufacture .
• computer aided design

• engineering cost estimation
• map production
• X·ray analysis
• data reduction of geophysical records
We'd be pleased to tell you how many
of our customers are achieving new
efficiencies and economies with the
Gradicon.

Write or calf today for more
information:

EDWIN INDUSTRIES CORP

11933 TECH ROAD SILVER SPRING, MD. 20904 (301) 622·0700 . . . .

'>..

'-=:IIL

Circle No. 314 on Inquiry Card.
CIRCLE NO. 42 ON INQUIRY CARD
MODERN DATA/ July 1970

CRT TERMINAL

. BAR CODE READER/ PRINTER
Optical Bar Code Reader ( OBR )
and Bar Code Printer (BCP ) can
accommodate such diverse items as
library books, medical or insurance
record fold ers, or packaged products found in a warehousing environment. Label reading is asynchronous so that noncontinuous
conveyor-type motion poses no
problem. The optically-read data
can be recorded on tape or cards,
or, optionally, read into an on-line
computer for real-time traffic control and inventory updating. Cambridge Information Systems, Inc.,
Cambridge, Mass.

A COM reader/printer, the Bell &
Howell Autoload III, is designed
for high-speed cartridge lookup of
computer-generated film . The unit
provides dry electrostatic prints of
information from magnetic tape
output in less than ten seconds. It
will also accept roll film and will
produce positive' prints from either
positive or negative film . Bell &
Howell Micro-Data Division, Chicago, Ill.

A desktop display terminal designed to be plug-interchangeable
with Model 33 and 35 Teletypes,
consists of a CRT display and keyboard and is interfaced to a communication line. Called the Seventy Series Model 73 Interactive
Display T erminal , it uses th e ANSI
character code and displays the 64character upper case 1968 ANSI
standard graphic subset. The
Model 73-1 has 12 lines of 5 x 7
matrix characters; the Model 73-2,
24 lines. Characters are displayed
either white on black, or black on
white. Th e terminal operates in
two modes. In the on-line mode,
each character entered through the
keyboard is transmitted to the
computer which retransmits it to
the terminal for storage and display. In the block/edit mode, characters are directly entered' into buffer storage and are displayed.
Displayed data may be changed by
using the entry marker and control
keys. The "send" key causes transmission of the data to the computer in a block. Standard connection of the terminal to an
acoustic coupler or 103-type data
set is via an EIA interface. Basic
price is $3,950, with leases starting
at $1l8 per month. DATA 100
Corp., Minneapolis, Minn.

Circle No. 318 on Inquiry Card.

Circle No. 329 on Inquiry Card.

NEW PRODUCTS

PERFORMANCE
ANALYZER
PRINTER
The Model 7721 is designed to be
used with all analyzer models in
CPA's 7700 series of computer per. formance analyzers. Printing of
analysis data is 'performed in either
of two print modes - tabular digital, or graphical output-and
eliminates the need for attended
operation of the analyzer. Computer and Prog.ramming Analysis,
Inc., Cherry Hill, N.].
Circle No. 295 on Inquiry Card.

COM READER/PRINTER

. GRAPIDC DISPLAY
The Tektronix T4005 Graphic Display is composed of two parts - a
Graphic
Display
Controller
(GDC) and a Tektronix ll-inch
Direct-View Bistable Storage Display Unit. The GDC contains the
operator controls and the hardware
which processes computer outputs
88

Circle No. 320 · on Inquiry Card.

DUAL PROCESSOR

into the data required for graphic
and alphanumeric displays. The
GDC hardware performs a number
of graphic editing functions such
as scaling, offsetting, magnifying,
framing , and augmenting. The
GDC can drive four distinct display devices under both manual
and software control. The display
device is a storage tube which retains the display afte.rJt}s written
once. Features include display
scaling, .zooming,
augmenting,
ability to drive multiple displays,
several convenience controls, multiple software and interrupt controIs , ' status indicators, and positioning controls which offer two
m ethods for positioning a portion
of the display. Th e price of the
T4005 Graphic Display is $7850.
Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton, 01·egon.

The Tempo II dual processor features a complete program-controlled reconfiguration capability
for multiprocessing applications
such as isolated foreground / background, load-sharing redundant systems, etc. The system incorporates
a wide range of modular hardware
and software packages. Both master /slave and load-sharing modes
are provided: the master/slave
processor is available either as a
balanced or unbalanced configuration; the load-sharing dual processor
is capable of graceful degradation.
Standard hardware includes 16K of
core memory distributed in any way
between memory ports, 16 index/
arithmetic hardware registers, 16
levels of priority interrupts (8 internal, 8 external) , multi-programming
controls, privileged instructions,
hardware multiply and divide, 6
fully-buffered I/O channels (3
dedicated ), 32K word drum with
controller, ASR-33 terminal, and
60Hz real-time clock. Software includes assembler, debug, Fortran
IV, mathematics library, and peripheral I/O subrouting. Basic
monitor includes drum or magnetic
tape system, debug executive,
macro assembler, and Fortran IV.
Operating system modules include
monitor modules, real-time system
modules, batch processing system
modules, fil e manager, and debug
monitor. Tempo Computers, Inc.,
Anaheim, Cal.

Circle No. 293 on Inquiry Card.

Circle No. 297 on Inquiry Card.
MODERN DATAl July 1970

OCR PAGE READER

DISPLAY TERMINAL

SMALL COMPUTER

The ·"Challenger", an optieal chara.c ter recognition page readeL' system to sell fm under $35,000;" in cludes a scanning unit, recogpition
system, full UO-character output
line buffer, an edit-reject display
w ith an alphanumeric __ keyboard,
and a telecommunications interface. Also. available, as an output
option , is an IBM .360-compatible
tape unit. A programmed 'machine,
the Challenger reads line-by,line at
speeds up to 12 lines/ sec. (1320
chars ./sec. ), and features automatie
scanning-adjustment to co.mpensate
for.lin e skew. Selective ,field scaOO1 iug is accomp,li:5h ed through the
use of delimiter marks on the
documents. The Challenger reads
the 57-character USASI OCR-A alphanumeric set. Irrfoton Inc ., BUTlington , Mass.

The · new Hazeltine 200.0 standalofie,.· soli
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