Modern_Data_1973_11 Modern Data 1973 11

Modern_Data_1973_11 Modern_Data_1973_11

User Manual: Modern_Data_1973_11

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Educationallelevision lor less than $1600.
To help handle the computer
input / output problems in the
educational field, Infoton has
developed the Vistar/GT display
terminal. It sells for a low $1595and that's before educational
discounts. With a price like that
you can't afford to rent. Convert
today, and be in operation
tomorrow because the Vistar/GT
comes complete. W ith no extracost custom-built options
to install, on-line set-up is
simple and easy

Here's a partial list of
of what you get for less
than $1595:

• 80 characters x 24 lines
• 75 to 18,000 bps asyn-

chronous data rates
• Switch selectable
• EIA and 20/60 rna
current loop interface

tD I fa

•

n

ton

CIRCLE NO. 2 ON INQUIRY CARD
MODERN DATA l NOVEMBER 1973

SATISFYINGYOURNEEDTOKNOW

A WHOLLY OWNED SUBSIDIARY OF OPTICAL SCANNING CORP.
Second Avenue. Burlington. Massachusetts 01803 (617) 272-6660

Our new time-sharing terminals
operate at 120 cps
•
In interactive or batc" mode.
Either way you save.
And you save in two ways: You reduce
communications line costs and cut computer
connect time.
With these 1200 baud terminals you make
full use of telephone line capacity. So even
with moderate terminal usage, your savings
can really mount up.
We offer two models of our EDT-1200 series:
The KSR, which operates at 10, 30 or 120 cps,
switch selectable. The MSR (Magnetic SendReceive) additionally offers a magnetic tape
cassette buffer for data storage and high-speed
transmission .
These electronic terminals use regular
paper, and since they are impact printers you
can get up to six copies. You can set and clear
horizontal tabs locally and remotely.
The EDT-1200 and the buffer are the most
rei iable units of their type we know of. But
since perfection eludes us, we back them up
with Tefmicare~ our central ized diagnostic,
maintenance and support service for all
terminals.

With these new terminals our product line
is now up to 78 models with 228 options, with
speeds of 10, 15, 30 and 120 cps.
For details about the EDT-1200, or about
any of the 306 ways we can help you with
terminals, please contact me. Z. V. Zakarian,
Western Union Data Service Company,
16 McKee Drive, Mahwah, N.J. 07430.
800-631-7050 (N.J . 201-529-1170).

"The KSR is for interactive,
and the MSR (directly below)
for batch time-sharing:'

z. V. Zakarian

~----~'\

~!!

data serv1ces compan=t
CIRCLE NO.3 ON INQUIRY CARD

2

MODERN DATA / NOVEMBER 1973

MODERN DATA
53

NOVEMBER 1973 • VOLUME 6 • NUMBER 11

PRODUCT PROFILE
SMALL BUSINESS SYSTEMS

It's hard enough to define a small business system without getting into the even
stickier question of how to determine your need for one. This two-pmt article does
not provide simple answers (there are none), but it does explain what products are
available, how they differ, and how they can affect a prospective user's existing operations.

FEATU RED TH I S MONTH :

18

T HE TELEX DECISION

It was common knowledge that IBM had the fastest legal
gunslingers in the east. But this time the showdown was in
Tulsa, Oklahoma. And after the smoke had cleared . . .

30

CORPORATE PRO FILE -

28

SOURC E DATA AUT OMATI O N

DATATROl INC .

36

IBM THINKS P.O.S.-I TIVElY

14
16
20
22
24
24
26
66
72
74
76

BOOKSTORE
NEWS ROUNDUP

A SUMMARY OF RECENT
DATA COMMUNICATIONS
PR ODUCTS , SE RVICES ,
AN D EV ENTS

48

INTERNATIONAL NEWS
DC DATASCAN
WHBW DEPT.
ORDERS AND INSTALLATIONS
CORPORATE AND FINANCIAL NEWS
NEW PRODUCTS
NEW SOFTWARE & SERVICES
NEW LITERATURE
INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

SU BSCRI PTI ON AND READ ER INQUI RY CARD ............ ..... .... ............... .... .. .. ....... ..

MODERN DATA / NOVEM BER 1973

DATACOM NEWS

COMMUNICATIONS CLINIC
Hila RATE S

50

DATACOM Q & A
CICS -

WHAT IS IT?

.. .. .... ......... .. ................ .... OPPOSITE PAGE 76

3

INTRODUCING
THE INTELLIGENT WAY TO DO
LARGE SCALE REMOTE JOB ENTRY.
It's our intelligent Sycor 340.
You see, we've given it the
same large scale remote job entry
capability as IBM's 2780. Including a high-speed card reader, 300
Ipm printer, 2780 compatible
bi-sync ... the whole package.
But that's where the similarity between the two ends. Our
Sycor 340 not only costs less, but
runs circles around the old 2780
when it comes to intelligence and
versatility.
Standard on the Sycor 340 is
its capability for error-free data
entry. It's also programmable-so
you can edit, validate and perform range checks and other
operations only an intelligent terminal can. Since it alreadyfeatures a CRT and keyboard
console, you don 't have to pay for
them as extras.
And how's this for versatility:
you can use the 340 to talk to your
time-sharing computer using our
asynchronous communications
package.
Or if you need bulk storage,
you can get an optional IBMcompatible magnetic tape drive.
What's more, for those locations where you don't need a 300
Ipm printer, we have 50 Ipm and
80 cps models for you to choose
from.
To find out more about this
versatility, economy and 2780
compatibility in large scale
remote job entry, call your Sycor
representative today.
It's the intelligent
thing
to do .

SYCOR
Corporate Offices: Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104 (313) 971-0900. District Sales Offices: Atla,,,n;;ta~(04~04~)_ _ _ _-,--_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
457-1166 • Boston (617) 890-7290 • Chicago (312) 98Ek1833-o-C.1e-v-eJ.nd (21 III 831 8625-w--Balt
21-6110· Detro it (313) 355-5770 • Hartford (203) 529-1100 • Houston (713) 688-5224 • Indianapol is
(317) 784-6779· Los Angeles (213) 640-0120· New York (212) 371-9050· Philadelphia (609) 665-1170
• Pittsburgh (412) 922-3350 • San Francisco (415) 349-6626 • SI. Louis (314) 878-0090 • Washington
(703) 525-7300. Canada: Sycor International Ltd ., Toronto (416) 429-0883. Service Centers in 80 cities.

Sycor has opportunities for experienced data processing
equipment salesmen and systems engineers in major cities.
CIRCLE NO . 4 ON INQUIRY CARD

4

MODERN DATA l NOVEMBER 1973

MODERN DATA
Publisher •••••••••••••••••• S. Henry Sacks
Assoc. Publisher . ••• • • •• William A. Gannon
Editor •••••.••.••••••••••• Alan R. Kaplan
Assoc. Editor ••••••••• • •. John A. Murphy
Chief Ed. Consultant •••••••• Dan M. Bowers
Washington Editor: Alan Drattell
Financial News Editor: J a mes I. l eabman
Intern at'I., News Editor: Bohd an O. Szuprowicz
European Correspondent: Richard Pe tte rse n
CONSULTING & CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Boris Beizer

Ralph Berglund

Maurilis de Regt
Ken Falor
L. A. Feidelman
Ivan Flores
Walter A. Levy
Martin Nussbaum
EDITORIAL PRODUCTION
Manager . . . . . . . . . . . .. ... .... .. . Slephen Marlin
Ass'l. Mgr .• ... . ... • •.•. • ... •.•••• • Lynda Volpe
Carol A. Papasadero
ADVERTISING PRODUCTION
MANAGER •••.••••• • BERNARD GREENS IDE
COVER ARTIST
William Kwialkowski
ASS'T TO PUBLISHER
Judy DeWitt
CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT
Carol Grace, Mgr. Sally Haskins
Pa mela E. Page
All corres ponden ce re g ardi ng circul at ion, advertis·

ing, and ediloria l shou ld be addressed to Ihe
publicalion offices al:
Modern Dolo
3 Lockland Avenue
Framingham, Mass. 01701
(617) 872-4824
Published monlh ly and copyrighled 1973 by
Mode rn Data Services, Inc. , 3 l ockland Ave ., Fram·

ingham, Mass. 01701. The conlenls of Ihis pub lica.
lion (in excess of 500 words) may nol be reo
produced in w h ole or in part w ith out w ritten
perm issio n.

SUBSCRIPTIONS: Circulaled w ilhoul charge by
name and lil le t o U.S.·based corporale and lech·
nical management, systems en·

gineers, sysle ms analysls( .EDP
man age rs,

software

l-j5)jtj
___

speCI a lists, • -

and olher personne l who Qualify
under our qualification procedu res. Available to

olhers al Ihe rale of $1 8.00 per year; single issues
$1.75. Subscriplion rale for all fore ign subscri p.
li ons is $25.00 per yea r (12 issues) . POSTMASTER :
Send Form 3579 to: Ci rcul alion Depl., Modern Dala,
3 Lockland Ave., Framingha m, Mass. 01701. Con·
Iro lled circulalion poslage paid al Concord, N .H .

Introducing
the super accounting
system for small
and medium size
•
companies
The Philips P-350 office computer ... handles all
your accounting procedures faster, easier, at less cost.

SALES OFFICES
Sales Mgr . . ........ . .. .. . Robert J. Bandini
Mktg . Services Mgr ••• • •• • •• Melvin L. Hayden
NEW ENGLAND
Melvin L Hayden
3 Lockland Ave.
Framingham, Mass. 01701
(617) 872·4824
NEW YORK
Irwin L. Werlel
Robert J . Bandini
E. Regional Mgr.
18 East 48th St.
N.Y., N.Y. 10017
(212) 753·0375, (203) 226·3544
MIDWEST & SOUTHWEST
Gerald E. Wolfe
Dwain Holmgren
Georg e B. Mannion Jr.
Manley Ludwig
The Pattis Group
4761 Touhy Ave.
Lincolnwood, 111.60646
(31 2) 679-11 00
WEST COAST
Dav id E. Pearson
711 East Walnut St. Lands Bldg.
Pasadena, Cal. 91101
(213) 681·1133
Back issues of Modern Data are available on
microfilm . Contact University Microfilmst 300
North Zeeb Rd., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106
for orderi ng information.

The Philips P-350 is the world 's largest selling small office
computer. It does everything from simple bil lings to complex
management reports , at an unmatched cost/performance
ratio . It is easy to operate ... and easy on your budget.
Outstanding features include : Core memory, automatic
forms handling, MLC capability, magnetic tape cassette
devices. And a full range of input and output peripherals.
Unique leasing plan available. Call today or return coupon
for complete cost-saving facts.

Philips Business Systems, Inc.

MD- 1173-350

Data Systems Division
A NORTH AMERICAN PHILIPS COMPANY

100 East 42nd Street, New York, N.Y. 10017 (212) 697-3600

o
o

I would like a demonslration of the Philips P·350.
Please send me complele literature on the Ph ilips P·350 .

Name _____________________________________________________
Company___________________________________________________
Slreel ____________________________________________________
City___________________ Stale_______________ Zip_____________

CIRCLE NO . 5 ON INQUIRY CARD
MOD ERN DATA / NOVEMBE R 1973

5

.. Introducing
the arian FaMily
of ini Killers.

6

MODERN DATAINOVEMBER 1973

In the name of performance,
Varian has killed all limitations
attached to the mini.
Feature for feature ,
capability for capability,
Varian's combined software/
hardware computer systems
outperform any and all
standards heretofore set by
the mini.
And even challenge huge
room-sized systems on their
own ground.
But we have something
that makes us even bigger than
just one better mainframe or
one better system. It's the
Varian family. Namely our
V-70 series which includes the
V-72, V-73, and V-74.
The Varian 70 family
is of tremendous advantage to
the systems-oriented user.
It lets your designer and
programmer choose from three
CPU's with different capabilities and three different price

tags. But all three with the
same Varian fam ily trait of
advanced open-ended hardware
and software, extensive I/O
options, and peripherals. It's
really like having a series
of computer system building
blocks.
Building blocks that make
our systems not only easier to
understand, but easier to
configure. It boils down to
getting a system tailor-made
to your own needs at off-theshelf prices. Invest in only what
you need technologically at
the time. And when your needs
change, invest in more
capability to upgrade your
system. And because all Varian
hardware and software are
open-ended and interface, just
plug in more of Varian's
building blocks.
Whether you start out
with the 8K core, 1 port
memory of our
V-72 systemThe

@

or need the Memory Map,
parity, Writable Control Store,
and the 33 0 nanosecond, dual
port, 256K memory of our
V-74-we'll support you with
software that's not in our
minds, but right on our shelves.
Complete with a multi-task
executive and real-time
operating systems which keep
fast-response jobs in the
fo reground while processing
away at batch jobs in the
background. Plus Varian
assemblers and compilers.
In short, everything you
need to keep you operating
right on the money. Introduce
yourself to the Varian family
of mini killers. Write for a
detailed comparison of our
V-70 family. Varian Data
Machines, 2722 Michelson
Drive, Irvine, California 92664.
Or call (714) 833-2400.

mini killers
varian data machines

• • •••••••••••••••
I1'!!t.

•• ,

D·"

'0'

~ DOD 00000

00000

000

CIRCLE NO . 6 ON INQUIRY CARD
MODERN DATAl NOVEMBER 1973

7

A~newway to b~ use

and upgrade colnputer systemS.

The Plan introduces the
. first two-year guaranteed tradein schedule. This program fully
protects your computer investment when it's time to expand.
Grow as much and as fast as
you wish The Plan will back you
all the way.
The Plan t>rotects your
budget by eliminating arbitrary
system pac~g~ You only buy
what you need. With 3 discount
schedules, you need pay as little
as possible.
The Plan also protects
your software investment. Only
Prime offers upward and downward system compatibility.
Without modification.
The Plan offers a whole new
maintenance procedure, too.
Built-in integrity checks can
isolate a fault to a circuit board
and maintenance is as simple as
replacing the board
There's even a program
called AIT Spare. It's fast delivery of a backup board and lowcost repair of the defective one.
Everything we offer at
Prime, hardware, software and
support, works together as a logical system, be it large or small
You can put together a powerful,
reliable, easy-to-use computer
system at a better total system
price than ever before possible.
The Plan shows you how.
Read on.

Plan on a guaranteed trade-in
You can start your system
with any Prime Computer. If,for
any reason it isn't the best one
to handle e~~dingap:plications,
trade it in. 1rade all of It or
8

parts of it. Trade whatever is
standing between you and bet. ter performance.
For instance, to upgrade
from a Prime 200 to a 300
processor, simply trade in the
original processor board You
can then plug in a fully equipped*
Prime 300 for $5000 (less a
50% trade-in credit for certain
optional features on the

original processor).
You can also elect to keep
the original processor as a spare.
The cost is only $1000. Keep
your original power supply,
memory and chassis, too. Or
selectively upgrade any of them
under similar trade-in arrangements.
Of course, all the software
written on the original system

*Standard features include: virtual memory, restricted e xecution mode, memory

Qrotection, byte parity, extended direct addressing." integer multi'ply/divide,
direct memory access system, automatic program lOaders and mlcroverification.
MODERN DATAINOVEMBER 1973

will run on the new one without
modification Only Prime makes
this possible. Only the Prime
Plan guarantees it

E:E
~

o

::E

.~
.c
u

i!
a

"
~

'"

Plan on unheard of
compatibility

On any Prime processor,
you can write real-time and .
time independent programs ~n
any language, under the contr:ol
ofany development system wdh
its associated support packages.
What's more, y~ can execute
them o-n any Pnme processor
under the control of any operating system without modification (time, peripheral aYfdmemory size dependency aside).
Choose Any Choose An y DevelopChoose From
Processor*
me nt System
Support Packages

100
200
300

DOS
DOS (VM)
(Virtual Memory)
Stand-Alone

Choose Any
La nguage

Macro Assem bler
FORTRAN
BASIC

File System
Library
Utilities
lOCS

Choose Any Operating Syst e m'

DOS
DOS (VM)
RTOS
RTOS (VM)
Stand-Alone

*Software utilizing unique Prime 300

hardware features may req':lire modification to execute on the Pnme 100
or 200. Software dependent on unique
RTOS features does not run under
control of DOS or DOS (VM).

Plan it right, right oft

The right combination of
computer resources.are all here
and they're yours to select.
Pick a processor. Enhance
it with options if you wish.
Select memory size and speed.
Add peripherals and controller.

PROCESSOR
200

100
First Increment
Cycle Time
Parity
5 Slot
10 Slot
17 Slot
Battery Backup
Autom atic Prog.
Load
Direct Mem. Access
Integer MUL/DIV
E xtended Direct
Addressing
Microverification
Single Precision
Floating Point
Arith.
Dou ble Precision
Floating Point
Arith.
Write a ble Control
Store
Virtual Memory

300

4K

8K

4K

8K

8K

8K

I f.'Sec
no
x

750nsec
yes
x
x

750nsec
yes
x
x

750 nsec
yes

600 nsec
yes

X

1f.'Sec
no
x
x

x

x

x

X

X

X

X

X

x

x

x

x
x
x

x
x
x

x
x
x

x
x

x
x

x

x

x

x

Then package the electronics in
the right size chassis and you're
done. We'll provide the right
power supply to handle whatever JT9U put together.
There are no arbitrary restrictions. No surprises, either.
With the chart above you could
start planning now.
Plan on running full time

Prime service is every bit
as sound as its technology. It's
just as inventive, too. For instance, you can pick a full service
contract or choose to use our
services only whe!l re9uired. In
either case we mamtain a
nationwide network of service
and customer service representatives. They're ready to help.
We even have a way to
hold maintenance costs to an
absolute minimum. We call our
idea Air Spare. For $200 we'll
loan you a spare (processor,
memory or controller). 'Ye'll .
then repair the faulty W1lt while
you keep on running. And better
than running,_ the whole replacement is handled by air express.
Read more about it ill
the Plan

x
x

One more thing to plan on

The Prime Computer
User Plan is a unique and remarkably logical document.
You've Just been treated t? a
sampling here. For the first tune
you'll know everything to
expect in a computer system.
Read the Plan Send for it today.



----l1li
To: Prime Computer Inc.

I
I
I
I
I
I

I
II
I
I
I
I11PRIME
_ _ _ _ 11I
23 Strathmore Rd.
Nat ick, Ma. 01760
o Send the Plan
0 Send Planner
(He'll call for an
a ppointment.)

N ame
Title

Company
Address

City

State

Zip

CIRCLE NO . 7 ON INQUIRY CARD
MODERN DATA l NOVEMBER 1973

9

When we built our new add-on memory for IBM System/370
Model 145, we wanted to give you more reasons to buy ours
than anyone else's.
Here are eight of them.

ONE.

TWO.

THREE. FOUR.

Single-Bit Errors:

-~-.

-II

Multi-Bit Errors:

.,

.......ft ...... AHDICIIP~ •••
ATfHlRJOtC» .. swnot

DOUBLE (OR QUADRUPLE) YOUR IBM
370/145 MEMORY
CAPACITY •••

GET THE MOST
COMPLETE MEMORY
PROTECTION EVER
OFFERED •..

USE THE FASTEST,
SAFEST MEMORY
TECHNOLOGY
AVAILABLE TODAY...

AND GET THE
MEMORY SIZE YOU
WANT RIGHT NOW.

Regardless of the Model 145 you
now have, you can expand it to two
megabytes. For most 145 users,
that means unlimited growth of
systems, applications, files, packages and processing flexibility .
Memory restriction is a thing of
the past. Your investment in
mainframe hardware is preserved
for years to come.

370/STOR 145 detects and corrects
a ll single-bit errors, so effiCiently
they don't exist as far as you are
concerned. And it provides immediate reconfiguration in the event
of a multi-bit error. A flick of a
switch isolates the error sector,
and the rest of memory keeps
running ... and running ... and
running. It's like having no
downtime problems to worry
about.

The 1024-bit bipolar chip. Both
Cambridge and IBM use it for
their 145 memories. It's extremely
fast. It provides stable storage of
data. It uses a single power level
that eliminates many circuits,
components, interconnect points
and materials. The result:
lower cost and great reliability
for you.

No one ever offered the choice of
memory sizes available with
370/STOR 145. You can select
exact IBM-size modules. Or 48K
modules. Or 128K modules. Or
256K modules. And mix them
any way you want. So you grow the
way you want- in big steps or
small. And you can start right
now. We're a lready delivering.

NO WAITING.

CAMBRIDGE MEMORIES , INC ., 696Virginia Road , Concord, Mass . 01742 (617) 369-8850

10

MODERN DATA/NOVEMBER 1973

FIVE.

SEVEN. EIGHT.

SIX.

...· · · ·
13.... •......•

.......•

MOD 1

3145

£E)

256K :

3145

~.I.

• • 11

!

2561<

1024K:

••••••••

1601(

••• ,A, •••

: 3046 :

TRANSPARENT
PLUG-IN

CAMBRIDGl

THAT'S NOT ALL
THIS MEMORY KEEPS
WORKING, EVEN
WHEN IBM'S QUITS.

AND YOU CAN INSTALL
ONE MEGABYTE
IN LESS THAN A
SINGLE DAY••.

IN FAR LESS FLOOR
SPACE THAN IBM
OR OTHER MEMORIES
NEED .. •

AT A PRICE THAT
YOU CAN'T BEAT ...
UNLESS ALL YOU
SHOP IS PRICE.

It's like havi ng a bui lt-in
back-u p mai n memory. Jfyour
resident IBM memory fa ils,
370/STOR 145 will keep going.
Just throw a little switch on ou r
memory panel , a nd the fa il ed IBM
memory is disconnected wh ile
370/STOR 145 conti nues to run
full speed. Need we explain the
virtues of that attribute?

370/STOR 145 is a stand-a lone
unit. It connects to your CPU
through plug- in connector cables.
That ma kes it completely transpa rent. You can use a ll IBM ha rdware, softwa re a nd ma intena nce
without a lteration. The interconnect is so direct that we'll get
you r first megabyte running in
less than a day.

We a re noted for our compact
memories. They help us get orders,
because computer ites have
space problems, too. With 3701
STOR 145, we get compact indeed:
up to a megabyte in a single
chassis, with power supply builtin. The result, if you have a 145
Mod I, is more tha n twice the
capacity in about half the space.

Cambridge sells value. That
means the right performance at
the right price. We've gone out
of our way to build 370/STOR
145 as a memory product you
can't beat in perfOlmance, regardless of the supplier. But we also
know you want the right priceSO we give it to you. Ask our local
sales office to quote you our lease
and purchase terms.

370/STOR 145. The newest product from Cambridge, a company
that knows that its future depends upon the excellence ofthe
products it builds for you.

CAMBRIDGE.
A good place to put you r information.
360/CORE

370/STOR

EXPANDACORE-ll

EXPANDACORE-620

OTHER MEMORIES

Up 1.0 two megabytes of

M em ory expan sion sys-

360 line.

compu ter famil y_

Up to65Kofmain storage
for a ll 620/i, L, F-IOO a nd
L-IOO minis. Selfcontained a nd selfpowered 51j.j" plug. in

Core, semiconductor and

22, 30, 40, 50, 65 a nd 67
processors in the System/

Up 1.0 four megabytes of
main memory for the
Models 145, 155 and 165
in the System /370

main m emory for Models

tems for a ll PDP- ll
processors, featuring up
to 30!7u speed increases.
Two-way data save and
interl eav ing.

system s.

DOT data storage systems for OEM a nd Endusercomput.ermainframe,
controller, peripheral,
terminal and auxi liary
memory products.

CIRCLE NO . 8 ON INQUIRY CARD

MODERN DATA l NOVEMBER 1973

'11

D

The industry's
broadest line of mini
peripherals. Paper
tape equipment.
Disc, magnetic tape
and mag tape cartridge storage systems. Line printers.
Card readers . OEM
data-entry and
communications terminals. Controllers
and adapters. All
available from one
supplier. With volume
discounts across the
full product mix.

This month 's iomate is the 'lomec representative. Your single source for a
complete mini peripheral program.
He starts with hardware. Advanced data input, output and storage equipment designed specifically for mini computer applications.
Next, he can provide the interfaces. Software compatible interfaces that link
'Iomec peripherals to the most popular mini computer systems. They're
completely transparent to your present operating system.
And he can back your systems with customer engineering. Maintenance
service that's available to you and your end-user customers from fully
equipped, professionally staffed service centers in major cities across
the country.
Finally, he can cut your peripheral costs.
With OEM discounts based
on the total volume of
peripherals you order.
Even if your order
includes several different'lomec product
lines.
Call your 'lomec
representative
today. He can
save you a lot
of shopping
around.

·~~~,~,~ ' '·~,,!}~ LOlDOli
Route 9. South boro . Massachusetts 01772 (6 17) 481-2500

C

CIRCLE NO.9 ON INQUIRY CARD

12

MODERN DATA / NOVEMBER 1973

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.McGRAW-HILL'S
1. The Programmer's COBOL

MODERN
DATA
BOOKSTORE

By Marjorie Berk: Helps the COBOL programmer quickly find

information to prepare a program for a computer. Features easy
use and direct application of its comprehensive treatment of the
COBOL computer language. 250 pp. , $19.50

2. Managing the EDP Function

·BOOK REVIEWS
THE CO MPUT ER SURVIVAL HANDBOOK by Susan
Wooldridge and Keith London. 216 pages, $6.95. Cambit,
1nc., 53 Beacon St., Boston, Mass. 02108.

By A. Ditri, J. Shaw and W. Atkins. Here is a nontechnical guide
that the ge nerally-trained executive can use to control EDP
functions. This unique reference provides practical methodology
for planning, resource allocation , implementation, and control of
computer operations. 228 pp., $15.50

3. The Programmer's RPG
By Rochelle Gershon. Defines and discusses the

T he jacket blurb describes this book as "an unorthodox
guide for the perplexed and harassed manager that tells not
only what should happen when a computer is in t roduced
into a business organization but also what unfortunate
things all too often do h appen, how to prevent them, and
how to clean up the mess if they have happened anyway. "
Also, "this book gives the innocent executive a down-toearth understanding of h ow to cope with the com puter and
manage th e computer managers." Both are accurate statements.
The Computer Survival Handboo k is packed with vit al information yet avoids unnecessary detail. It is humorous
with out being silly, info rmal bu t organized, and int roduct ory without being condescending. How, why and
even whether your comp any should en ter the compu ter age
are the questions examined, and the authors supply all the
t ools t o answer them.
The fl aws in this book are so minor as to be almost nonexistent: a few misspellings and misabbreviations (ahhough
American, rather than British , usage happily prevails) ; an
example involving allocated costs appears to argue counter
to the intended point; two caveats regarding analysts' int erviews a re not quite fair; and a misquoted homily about
" never allowing your ship to be cau ght on a lea [sic] shore
in a gale" suggest s that the authors might be as dangerous
to have guiding a ship as they would be valuable t o h ave
guiding a company. But these are all nits. If you read only
one book on the subject of management and the com puter,
this should be it.
- A.R. K.

RPG language, provides a highly detailed presentation of each language element, and presents
many sample programs illustrating the definitions and rules. 443 pp ., $22.50

4. Management Information Systems Handbook
By W. Hartman, H. Matthes, and A. Proeme . A step-by-step ap-

proach to the preparation of a computerized data processing
system for business organizations utilizing the ARDI approach
(Analysis-Requirements Determination-Design and Development-Implementation and Evaluation). 750 pp., $29 .50

5. Minicomputers for Engineers
and Scientists
By Granino Korn . Thi s book will give anyone who

is using or planning to use minicomputers a full
understanding of the units now available and of
how their possibilities may be more completely
realized. Also covers peripherals, assembly language , etc. 3.52 pp. , $17.75

6. 360/370 Programming in Assembly Language,
Second Edition
By Ned Chapin . This is the most widely used book on assembly

language programming for all models of the IBM 370 as well as
the IBM 360, Univac , and former RCA Spectra 70. It includes
models 135, 145, 155, 165, and 195. Even programmers who
normally use languages such as COBOL, PL/1 , FORTRAN , RPG ,
and ALGOL will find this book valuable. 544 pp. , $13.50

7. Introduction to Computer Operations
By William Fuori and Lawrence Orilla . A broad overview of what

MINI COMPUTERS FOR ENGI NEERS & SCIENTIST S by
Cranino A. Kom. 303 pages, McCraw-Hill, New York. $17.50
Of interest to the businessman with some engineering savvy
as well as to the more technically inclined, this book provides a good introduction to the workings and uses of minicomput ers. As befits a text on computers for th e quasi-novice, m ain e mph as is is pl aced on so ft ware as p e c t s
(programming), but chapters do outline interfacing proble ms
and the applications of minis in the " real" world. The only
faulting factors on this text rest w ith the outdat ed refe rences cited (most circa 1969 to 1971), and descripti ons of
minis that have left the marketplace (the architecture of an
Int erdat a Model l instead of a new series 70; Varian's 520/i
instead of a 620 or 73). This criticism is, of course, from a
nit-picking (or witted) editor, and can be disregarded by
those in search of a general text on minis.
- J.A.M.
14

a computer system is, what it can do, and how to operate it.
Explains console operations, job and peripheral equ ipment setup, scheduling and job processing . 544 pp., $11.95

8. Condensed Computer Encyclopedia
By P. Jordain . Arranged alphabetically, this work

e xplains the array of te rms, items, technical details , interpretive languages , etc. connected with
computers. Numerous examples, detailed essays , and precise, accurate explanations sweep
away the mystery surrounding computers.
448 pp ., $15.50

9. A Guide for Software Documentation
By Dorothy Walsh . Clearly sets forth the steps and content for
the preparation of documentation for a variety of computer
situations-and shows just which top ics should be covered.
Documentation models included a re product specification,
operator's guide, internal logic manual, subprogram , program
library, assembly language, etc. 158 pp., $16.50
MODERN DATA / NOVEMBER 1973 -

FAMED BOOKS ON COMPUTERS •••
10. Managing Computer System Projects

19. Automatic Information Organization and Retrieval

By John Shaw and William Atkins. Presents and describes-in
working detail-a methodology for the planning , development,
and implementation of computer-based systems. Emphasis is on
the practical-what to do and why-using proven management
techniques. 304 pp., $16.50

By Gerard Salton. Deals with automatic information storage and
retrieval and the computer processing of large information files,
with special emphasis on automatic text handling methods. Described are procedures for dictionary construction and dictionary look-up, statistical and syntactic language analysis methods,
automatic information dissemination systems, and methods for
user interaction with the mechan i zed system. 514 pp., $16. 50

11. The Corporate Computer: How to live
With an Ecological Intrusion
By Norman Sanders . Shows managers in all industries how to create, organize, and re-organize
a computing function for their firm. The emphasis
is on 'the how-to aspects of managing the computer installation-or its output. 176 pp., $10.00

12. Principles of Data Communication
By R. Lucky, J. Salz and E. Weldon. A reference book of timely
information on such matters as theoretical performance bonds,
adaptive equalization , optimum pulse transmission systems, and
error control. 198 pp ., $1 5.50

13. An Illustrated Guide to linear Programming
By Saul I. Gass. Introduces the concepts of linear programming
in a IlOfItechnical and humorous manner. A fascinating introduction , it moves logically from the basic to the more sophisticated
ideas. 224 pp., $9 .95

14. The Programmer's Algol
By C. Lecht. A sound guide to the classic ALGOL language ,
alphabetically arranged for use as a programmer's desk reference. A valuable book, it gives an entirely new approach , treating ALGOL instructions as a series, proceeding from simple to
complex. 251 pp., $10.75

15. Advanced linear-Programming
Computing Techniques
By W. Orchard-Hays . Offers vital information on
linear programming, and the mathematics of algorithms used in programming, debugging , documentation , and so on . Geared to the needs of
practitioners, it gives fundamentals and pitfalls.
355 pp. , $12.50

16. Systems Programming
By John J. Donovan . Thoroughly class-tested, this is the only
presently available book that covers the entire spectrum of systems programming , including the use and implementation of
assemblers, macros, loaders, compilers, and operating systems.
500 pp., $14.95

17. On-line Computing:
Time-shared Man-Computer Systems
Edited by Walter J. Karplus. Based on the extensive experience
of recognized experts in the field , here is a comprehensive guide
that quickly gives you a practical grasp of today's time-shared
on-line computing systems. This authoritative volume is of great
help to everyone who wants to set up or utilize these computer
systems with maximum efficiency. 352 pp ., $15.50

18. Managing the Introduction
of Computer Systems
By Roger Tomlin. A completely practical and
nontechnical book designed especially to help
executives understand the fundamental principles of managing or contributing to successful
computer projects ; how to understand the work
that is needed , and how to manage it or most effectively participate in it. 200 pp., $12.00
MODERN DATA/NOVEM8ER 1973

Additional Business/ Personal books of special interest

20. The Executive's Accounting Primer
By Robert L. Dixon . As clear as A-B-C : the accounting vocabulary, basic accounting reports , the fundamental debit-credit
structure, general accounting methods and specific accounting
matters you 're likely to meet as well. 328 pp., $9.95

21. Handbook of Business Administration
H. B. Maynard, Editor-in-Chief. This unique handbook is the only master reference developed expressly to serve all executives with major man agement responsibilities . Features a treasury of
trouble-shooting advice and guide lines worked
out by 177 of the nation 's most respected management figures and business authorities.
2,048 pp., $29 .50

22. Nine Roads to Wealth
By David L. Markstein. A simple, easy-to-understand, layman's
guide to "I everage " -the wealth-building technique behind just
about every fortune being built today. Mr. Markstein explains
what leverage is, and why leverage makes it possible to earn
enormous profits on even a small investment. 224 pp. , $6.95

23. The Evaluation Interview, Second Edition
By Richard A. Fear. Since the first edition of this widely used
guide , the author has trained more than 1,000 interviewers in
business , industry, and education, and more than 25 ,000 copies
of his book were bought by top personnel and management
people. Since you're aware that each employee is an investment,
why not use the guide that shows you how to scientifically pick
" good investments"-consistently? 336 pp ., $9.95

24. Motivating Human Behavior
By Ernest Dichter. In a fascinating and practical guide, a leading
authority on the latest psychological methods of human motivation gathers, explains, and illustrates-from actual findings of
more than 4000 research studies-case-tested techniques you
can use to motivate your peers , superiors, and subordinates to
behave in a prescribed manner. 272 pp ., $12 .95

25. Handbook of Modern Accounting
Edited by Sidney Davidson. As a business or professional person
who is not also an accountant, you can have instantly at your
fingertips the right answers to every accounting question. The
work of 48 foremost experts from CPA, industrial, and academic
disciplines, this guide is the most comprehensive , practical , upto-date accounting reference ever published. 1226 pp., $22 .50

26. The Complete Estate Planning Guide
By Robert Brosterman . The first book for the
general reader to cover all the varied aspects of
modern estate planning . Shows how and where
to save money, invest it, and administer it, how
to plan for long-term financial growth, and how
to take advantage of tax-saving opp.ortunities.
318 pp ., $9.50

To order any of these McGraw-Hili
books, use the Special Order Card
between the cover and page one.
15

NEWS ROUNDUP
MSI WINS A & P ORDER
IBM-TELEX
Subsequent to completion of the article which appears
on pages 18-19 of this issue, MODERN DATA received word that Judge A. Sherman Christensen has
rescinded his damage award against IBM . In a statement released to the wire services after MD's normal
editorial closing date, Judge Christensen said, " I have
concluded that my computation of antitrust damages
against IBM involves substantial error. Accordingly,
defendant's motion to amend the findings, conclusion
and judgment or in the altemative for a new trial on
the issue of damages is hereby granted. "

The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. is to .supermarkets
what Sears, Roebuck is to department stores. In fact, only
Sears ('72 revenues of $10.9 billion) exceeds A & P ($6.4 billion) among all retailers. While A & P has not ye t decided
on a supplier of POS terminals, in September MSI Data
Corp. announced it had been selected to supply the giant
supermarket chain with $3 million worth of order entry (inventory) terminals. By year's end, 2000 of the little keyboard/cassette units will have been delivered to 60% of A &
P's 3,780 stores .

A MINIIMAXICOMPUTER

SOFTWARE AND SERVICES
The market for packaged computer software and services,
which totaled $770 million in 1972, will climb to $1.5 billion by 1975 and exceed $2 billion by 1982, according to a
new study by Frost & Sullivan, Inc., a New York City-based
market research firm. The study predicts that the sale of
softw are packages alone will reach $410 million by 1977,
and $540 million by 1982. Software package sales amounted
to $135 million in 1972. An even larger market exists for
packaged computer services, according to the study: from
$635 million in 1972, to $1.2 billion by 1977 and to exceed
$1.5 billion by 1982.

Generically, minicomputers have always been associated
with mainframes noted for their small word sizes and main
memory capacities as well as th eir low price tags. Interdata
has changed all of this with the introduction of the 7/32 -a
32-bit, low-cost ($9,950 and up) " minicomputer." The new
processor is not just another dual 16-bit mini, or one that
employs segmentation and relocation to break the 64K
memory limit. The Interdata 7/32 performs true 32-bit
ari thm etic and logi c ope rations. Programs of up to 1
megabytes may be accommodated, with an architectural limit
of 16 megabytes of directly addressable main memory. The
7/32 has two sets or stacks of 32-bit general-purpose regiSters, 16 registers in each set, allowing one set to handle user
programs while the other is used for OS or 110.

BITS & BYTES
SOFTWARE TAXATION
The California legislature has passed a bill excluding all but
"basic operational" (systems level) software from taxation as
tangible property. The bill extends permanently a two-year
moratorium on taxes for assembly/compiler-level software
(utilities, support packages, etc.). Its passage marks the end
of a long struggle by the Data ProceSSing Management Association, Dylakor Computer Systems, and non-affiliated
users to overturn an original ruling which taxed all software.

CASEY AT THE BYTE
"Vida Blue has struck out more blue-eyed Croatians with
athlete's foot than any other major league pitcher." Well,
maybe not. But we often wonder from whence cometh the
weird sports info we do get. One source, at least for the
American Baseball League, is the Sports Information Center
in . Boston, a subsidiary of the Bay State Milling Co. It seems
the parent firm has enough time free after processing business data to feed daily game statistics into its NCR 100.
The resultant summary reports are mailed weekly to team
statisticians, and they, in turn, provide them to the press.
16

Programmers, by definition, are problem-solvers. They are also notorious game-players. A new publication, People 's Computer Company,
attends to both these procliVities. For five highly enjoyable issues,
send $4.00 to PCC at P.O. Box 310, Menlo Park, Cal. 94025.

The National Science Foundation is supporting a travel grant program for attendance at IFIP Congress 74 to be held August 5-10,
1974, in Stockholm. Applications may be obtained through the Math
Division, National Research Council, Washington, D.C. 20418.

Boston radio station WBZ supports a " commuter computer clubcar"
program to reduce that city's automobile traffic. Similar in concept
to a computer dating agency, the carpool program matches riders
with drivers.

The New York Stock Exchange announced it will discontinue operation of its Block Automation System (MD, July 1972), a three-yearold inform ation network linking brokers and institutions. An economy move and the availability of alternate sources were cited as
reasons for the discontinuance.

NCR admits being unprepared for the Hood of orders received for its
recently announced NCR 775 bank proof and encoding system. The
firm said it received almost 2500 orders for the system within 90
days of its debut - more than double projections.
MODERN DATA / NOVEMBER 1973

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THE TELEX DECISION
A legal precedent matched only by the

Carterfone case in its impact on our industry.
The first IBM antitrust case to be resolved by a court has
resulted in a resounding defeat to the . giant computer
maker. Judge A. Sherman Christensen's September 17 decision in the U.S. District Court of Tulsa to award Telex
Computer Products, Inc., $352.5 million in triple damages
can only be described as staggering. While there was little
doubt that some cash and injunctive relief to Telex was in
the offing, the enormity of the compensation awarded to the
Tulsa peripherals manufacturer - more than five times its
1973 revenues - in all probability exceeded even Telex'
wildest expectations. The damage findin g for T elex was,
however, only part of Judge Christensen's decision in the
21-month-long case. IBM was also ordered to:
Eliminate permanently all penalties for premature termination of
previously-offered long-term leases provided the lessees give 90
days notice, and to omit termination penalties from any 90-day
or longer leases written in th e next three years.
Disclose all interface details of future products at the time of
their announcement or manufacture, and disclose such information for all presently-available S/370 products by mid-November.
Price separately all functionally different products (e.g., memories, control units, and processors) regardless of whether they are,
or can be, contained in one cabinet.
Use a uniform percentage markup over actual development and
production costs for all products.
Cease "adopting, implementing or carrying out predatory pricing, leasing or other acts, practices or strategies with intent to
obtain a monopoly in the market fo r EDP peripheral equipment
plug compatible to its C PUs, or any relevant subm arkets
thereof."

In regard to ffiM 's counterclaim that Telex had raided it
for employees Telex could induce to reveal IBM trade secrets, Judge Christensen found completely for IBM . In fact,
he reserved his harshest words for this matter, stating that
" the court deals here not with isolated instances of misappropriation," but with "a programmed and massive invasion by Telex of IBM 's trade secrets" ·for the "willful and
deliberate" purpose of using the gleaned information in the
design of its own products. Accordingly, he instructed Telex
to pay IBM reparations totaling $21.9 million plus costs and
attorney's fees associated with IBM 's copyright claims; return all IBM confidential documents; destroy all T elex documentation which infringes on IBM copyrights; refrain from
hiring any form er IBM employees for a period of two years
without specific court approval; and refrain from ever assigning any form er IBM employees to perform work similar
to their tasks at IBM within two years of their termination
from IBM.
REACTION
Not unexpectedly, the effects of the decision were immediate, widespread and Krakatoan. On Wall Street, Telex
shares rose 85% in two days. IBM plummeted almost 40
points in the same period, representing a loss to shareholders of over '$5 Ih billion - an amount more than a billion dollars greater than the total revenues of any but the
top 18 U.S. companies.
Telex president Stephen Jatras was obviously satisfied by
the decision, stating that Telex was " quite pleased with the
outcome," and that it fully justified Telex' decision to pur18

su e the case. He also said that Telex would now "vigorously
prosecute the foreign aspects of the case which were severed from the domestic issues during pretrial preparations
and which are still pending. " Othe r plug-compatible manufacturers were not long in voicing their own inclinati ons to
bring IBM into court, thus establishing a trend sure to delight hordes of corporate ambulance-chase rs. This mood was
best expressed by Jack Biddle, executive director of the
C omputer Industry Association (see box), who was quoted in
Business Week as stating that "As many as 40 companies

EVERY CIA HAS ITS LITTLE SECRETS
Sin ce its inception in Ju ly, 1 972 , the Computer Industry
A ssoc iation has spearheaded the assault again st I BM by lo bbying , providing information to the press, serving as a
clearing house for legal m aterial s, and formulat ing some of
the strongest arguments for curbing IBM .
Executive director J ac k Bidd le, and pres id ent and found er
Dan M cGurk, a former president of Xerox Data Systems, are
its only full-tim e officers. CIA is headquartered in En cino ,
Cal. , and pub lic and press relation s are handled by the offices of Kekst and Co . in N .Y.C. The organization also retain s "a full -time legal staff" in W as hington , D.C., consisting of at least one lawyer : antitrust specia l ist J ac k
Pearce .
CIA charges its supplier m embers annu al dues of 1 1 30th
of 1 % of gross revenu es " deri ved f rom activities related to
the computer and I or data processing indu stry." User m embers are charged 1 1 1 Oth of annual equipm ent and software
renta ls or rental equivalent. Minimum dues are $ 1 ,000 I yr. ,
and ma ximum du es are $ 50 ,000 / yr . from suppliers and
$ 1 5 ,000 / yr. from users. Individual members are charged a
flat $ 100 I yr.
CIA does not make its fin ances public, but based on its
June 5, 1973 , statem ent that " M ember 'compani:es 'had annua l revenues of approximately $800 mi ll ion in 1 972 ," it
would have been entitled to recei ve $266,400 from j ust its
suppl ier m embers that year . (No user companies were listed
as members as of June 5 , 1973 .) Its largest member ,
Mem ore x I I LC Periphera l Leasing , reported revenu es of
$ 14 5,422 ,000 in 1972 , equiva lent to dues of $ 48,400 .
For the fiscal year ending M arch 3 1 , 197 2 , Telex .repo rt ed
revenues of $ 68 , 1 31 ,000 , equivalent to dues of $ 22 ,688 .
If Judge Christensen 's dec ision stand s, CIA would be entitled to receive $ 1 1 0 ,000 from that action alon e were it
not for its $ 50 ,000 limit on dues.

How Judge Christensen arrived at a damage award of $352. 5
million for Telex . . .
Depri vat ion o f Mar ket Share . .
.$ 70 m il li on
20 m il l ion
Past Lost Renta l Prof its . . . . .
19 m il li o n
A nt icipated Lost Renta l Pr of it s
8.5 m illio n
Lost Sa le Profit s . . . . . .
Ba se T ota l . . .
T r iple Damages (as prov ided under
t he Sher ma n A nti t ru st A ct)
T ota l Damages . .

.$ 1. 17 .5 milli on
. . X

3

.$352.5 m illi o n

M O DE RN DATA l NOVE MBER 19 73

are in a position to bring suit. All you'd need if the decision
stands is a Xerox machine and a month of discovery to
bring the record up to date. "
User reaction was mixed. Most IBM users contacted by
MODERN DATA mentioned they would benefit by the removal
of the penalty clause, although no users contacted indicated
any intention to pre-terminate their leases. The EDP manager of an insurance firm said he expected lower prices from
a folding of IBM 's price umbrella, while another employee
of the same firm said he expected prices of IBM peripherals
to go up because of the new uniform pricing requirement.
One user said he thought such companies as Memorex, CalComp, and Potter were entitled to compensation for IBM's
predatory pricing policies, but that "Telex had compromised
itself. " Another said that "Telex always has had more than
enough smarts to make it on their own," and that he
"would take Telex gear over IBM 's any day. " A systems design consultant suggested that the injunctions against Telex
were more serious than those against IBM since "you can't
ship equipment without documentation. "

Among those IBM-users supporting the decision, most
agreed it would indeed benefit the industry by promoting
greater competition. A Route 128 programmer summed up
the general attitude by saying that his manager had been
trying for months to get approval for non-IBM memory, and
" the decision may have finall y won it for him. "

" We want a healthy industry, but let's not
kid ourselves that it can come without cost. "
Among all users contacted, a majority endorsed Judge
Ch ristensen's recognition of a separate plug-compatible market and the need to protect it. But even larger majorities
characterized the injunctions as "good" and the award as
"bad." The likelihood that IBM might be prone to penalties
of equal magnitude from other plug-compatible manufacturers was mentioned often, and there was some concern regarding the effect this might have on the quality of IBM
support. The aforementioned programmer told us: " We
want a healthy industry, but let's not kid ourselves that it
can come without cost."

IBM: DOWN BUT FAR FROM OUT
Twenty years ago, IBM 's "persuasive argument" may have
held. Today, against a background of such cases as those recently brought against Xerox and Eastman Kodak, and the recent Holiday Inns judgment, the relief directed in the Telex
case against IBM can scarcely have come as a surprise. What
is surprising is the number of IBM-supporters who interpret
the Telex decision as an utter disaster for IBM, if not for the
whOle concept of a manufacturer'S right to control its own
products. W e see it differently.
Certainly if the amount of Judge Christensen's award remains intact after appea~ the immediate financial and legal
burden on IBM will be enormous. Another dozen-or-so tripledamage awards of like magnitude would hamstring even a
megalith of IBM 's size (1972 net earnings of $1.2 billion); it
would be the rare independent that could resist the temptation
to follow Telex into the courts, or demand out-of-court weregild.
The injunctions, however, are another matter. While they
too are harsh (especially the three-year restriction against any
pre-termination penalties), the transfusion they give to the
plug-compatible industry can only be benefiCial to IBM over
the long term: Why? Because the health of that industry will
continue to reflect on, as well as depend on, a healthy IBM.
It is a symbiotic, rather than a parasitic, mechanism that is
involved. It is the core of the frequ ently-heard argument that
IBM has already gained far · more from the existence of a
plug- and software-compatible market than IBM has lost to it,
i.e., that a user who knows he can go around the comer for a
wide range of viable support and peripheral alternatives is
that much more likely to opt for an IBM base. It was this
combination of IBM and an IBM-compatible marke~ rather
than the strength of IBM alone, that drew the noose aTOund
General Electric and RCA.
How this situation came to develop and what can be done
about it will be decided by another case at another time.
Those issues are far more complex than any brought forward
in the Telex case, and the tendency to oversimplify them is already too evident. Consider, for example, the naive but popular argument that "big" necessarily equates with "bad,"
which contradicts the function of the courts to decide whenand if - "big" becomes "too big, " and suggests that graph paper can replace jurists.
But regardless of the position one takes toward IBM's power
to establish de facto standards over the industry as a whole, it
is patently de facto that IBM has done so for a large and internally competitive sub-industry. To believe for one moment
that IBM will lose the major share of the sub-markets it continues to create is absurd. Such a presumption implies that
IBM got to where it is today by being the only source of EDP
products. IBM was not even the first source. It simply should
not be the last word.
-A.R.K.

THE CENTRAL ISSUE
The fo cal point of the T elex case was whether, as IBM
claimed in its " persuasive argument, " a manufacturer has a
natural monopoly power over all devices designed excluSively for attachment to its own product. Judge Christensen
struck this down with the argument that IBM had itself
demonstrated the existence of a separate plug-compatible
market by attempting to suppress it. As examples of IBM's
predatory actions against Telex (as one such plug-compatible manufacturer), the judge cited IBM 's introduction of
a fixed-term lease plan, selective price cuts, and the 2319A
and 2319B disc drive modific ations. Judge Christensen speCifically did not address the question of whether IBM had
exercised monopoly powers in the overall systems market,
the central issue in the pending Justice case.
Against IBM's contention that fixed-term coverage was determined by lower-echelon managers and did not reflect corporate anti-competitive policy, the judge referred to internal
memos alluding to a so-called " Blue Ribbon Committee" of
high-level IBM management that discussed the impact of individual competitors and strategies for dealing with them.
This was done on a product-by-product basis and significantly excluded CPUs.
Even IBM Chairman Frank Cary was not spared. His assertion that if tapes and discs had not been put on the
fixed-term plan IBM "would go out of business" was criticized as "having the character of confession" and "overstated."

IBM RESPONSE
IBM has already announced that it will appeal the decision,
claiming that it "goes beyond that of any judicial precedent
and contains serious errors of fact and law. " But before filing an appeal, IBM will have had the opportunity in midOctober (well before the time you read thiS) to appear once
again before Judge Christensen and ask for elimination of
some of the injunctions and a reduction in the award. Failing a reduction, IBM will likely ask for at least its abeyance
until an appeal is heard. Otherwise, according to Telex trial
counsel Floyd Walker, the cost to IBM of a delayed appeal
which does not result in a reduction "could be very expensive. If IBM loses again, it will have to pay the Oklahoma interest rate, which is 10% annually. That works out
to nearly $100,000 a day. "
~
19

MODERN DATA / NOVEMBER 1973
CIRCLE NO. 11 ON INQUIRY CARD

INTERNATIONAL NEWS
BULGARIA LOOKS FOR WESTERN TECHNOLOGY
The Bulgarian electronic industry has grown rapidly in the
last few years and Bulgaria recently created a new Minish-y
of Electronics with responsibility for all electronic produ ction, sales, imports, and services. D esignated to produce
computer equipment was IZOT, an estab lished electron ic
manufacturer. Delegates from that organization and its trading division, IZOTIMPEX, recently visited th e U.S. whe re
they toured 20 clifferent compani es and expl ored th e possibilities of coope ration via the licenSing route. Among th e
companies visited were Control D ata, D ata Products, H oneywell, Rockwell International , Calcomp, and Wangco.

DUTCH SERVICE STATION SYSTEM
A Dutch manufacturer of automati c vending machines has
developed a minicomputer-controll ed gasoline pump wh ich
can be programmed for either cash or credit card. According to the manufacturer, Koppens Automatic B.V. of Bladel,
the Netherlands, the new control system, known as the
Type PCS-IO post-payment syst em, h as been introduced already at many gas stations in Holland, Germany, and Belgium with very successful results. The self-servi ce system is
now available for export, and Koppens plans to establish an
office in the U.S.

RIAD DEVELOPMENT
As the RIAD computers are beginning to receive more publicity among th e Soviet Bl oc COMECON countries, more
details of the overall development effort are becoming available. lnformatyka, a Polish magazine, reports that since inception of the RIAD project five years ago the program has
involved about 20,000 speCialists in six different countries .
The Soviet Union is th e largest contributor to the RIAD
project and its biggest proponent, giving the project hI ll
support at the highest party echelons. M.E. Rakovsky, deputy director of GOSPLAN, th e Central Plann ing Committee
of the Soviet Union, was one of the prominent sp eakers at
the RIAD exhibition in Moscow last May .

BURROUGHS IN YUGOSLAVIA
Burroughs has already installed about 15 of th e 80 B1700
systems it sold to a Yogoslav bank last year. So far all operations are conducted on behalf of Burroughs by HERMES, a
Yugoslav representative firm based . in Ljubljana (no connection with th e well-known Swiss typewriter manufacturer). Sales support and maintenance for Burroughs equipment is provided from th e Burroughs offi ce in Fribourg
(Switzerland), which has responsibility for all European operations and reports dire ctl y to D etroit. Software for Burroughs machines is being developed by the Institute Mihailo
Pupin in Belgrade under contract to the Yugoslav bank, but
it has now reached a point where direct Burroughs support
will be of value. The Institute is very active in computer
technology in Yugoslavia and has developed its own 2311like disc pack for use with disc drives used in Yugoslavia' on
many IBM and Honeywell installations.
20

EAST EUROPEAN MINIS PROLIFERATE
Now that minicomputers are in fashion, East European
manufacturers are beginning to introduce th eir models to
compete with western imports and even the COMECON
RIAD series of small-to-medium computers. Hungary introduced its new TP A 70 mini at the Moscow RIAD computer exhibit even though it is not part of the RIAD line.
The large numbe r of potential buyers was too much of a
t emptation to miss th e opportunity.
The TPA 70 is Hunga ry's second mini . Both it and th e
earlier TPA/ i are manufactured by th e E lectroni cs D ept. of
the Hungmian Central Research Institute for PhYSiCS, whi ch
is part of th eir Academy of Sciences.
The Polish K-202 mini appears to have run into some
trouble with a British marke ting organi za ti on which requires
th at it meet highe r operation levels b efore it is accepted for
marketing to th e Wes t. Bu lga ri ans have un cove red th eir
own IZOT 310 minicom pute r, and East Ge rm any is busy
prod ucing PRS 4000 and KRS 4200 process con trol machines
for its own consumption. Even the U.S.S.R. is in th e mini
game, marketing its MIE 1 an d MIR 3 computers overseas.

ICL WAVING FLAG IN PEKING
AI though it is skeptical about any near-futur e potell tial of
th e computer market in th e People's Republic of C hina,
Britain's Inte rnati onal Computers, Ltd. neve rtheless particip ated in th e British Industri al Technology Exhibition held
in Peking this spring. Whi le IC L showed no equi pmcn t, the
company displayed photographs of its 1091A and 1092A
models and presented a number of techni cal pape rs. IC L
sold two of its 1900 compute rs to Chin a in th e ll1id -1960s,
but b ecause of China's present policy of self-suffi ciency it is
not expected to present any Significant marke t for electronic
equipment .

GElS IN USSR
General Electric Information Services, a longtime supplier
of timesharing services overseas, is now looking into the possibility of expanding its timesharing selvice into th e Soviet
Union.
Representatives of the special USSR /East Europe office
which is set up at GE headquarters in Beth esda are studying th e possibility of setting up a store-and-forward unit in
Moscow linked to GE computers in London . They are discussing the project with the U.S.S.R. Ministry of Communications, which would act as a distributor and adm inistrator
of the service in Russia.

QUICKLY AROUND THE WORLD
For an excellent guide to industrial locations in Canada, write
Don McGillivray, Editor, Financial Times of Canada, 10 An1l1del St.,
Place Bonaventure, Montreal 114, Quebec. Ask for a copy of the industrial site supplement of June 25.

General DataCom has announced separate agreements with International Aeradio of England and France for representation in the
U.K., France, Belgium, and 19 French-speaking African nations; and
with Applicazioni Elletro-Telefoniche of Turin for the manufacture
and sale of GDC products in Italy.
MODERN DATA / NOVEMBER 1973

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to compare the specs.

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Our 0-116 is the best minicomputer
available . .. and 85% of you
agreed with us.
• We've delivered more than
2,000 minicomputers.
• We brought you the first 8K
memory on a single board .
• We brought you the first 16K
memory on a single board .
• We brought you the first
8-charmel asynchronous line
unit on a single board .
We 've done what other computer
manufacturers say they're going
to do. And we continue to do it.

N

For more information ,
please call or write :
Digital Computer Controls , Inc .
12 Industrial Road
Fairfield , New Jersey 07006
(201) 227-4861

@
DIGITAL
COMPUTER
CONTROLS INC

D.C. DATASCAN
FPC POLICY: The Federal Power Commission has
announced a policy to establish a fully automated computer regulatory information system to assist it in
carrying out its responsibilities imposed by the Federal
Power and Natural Gas acts. The new policy will provide
industry and the public at large with prompt and ready
access to a central data bank designed to reduce the
quantity of existing manual files and accommodate the development of new regulatory techniques. The FPC also
plans to restructure the current methods of reporting data
to the Commission by using EDP, and to issue agency
EDP standards related to a respondent's submission of data.

MULTIYEAR LEASES: Arthur F. Sampson, administrator
of the General Services Administration, has submitted to
Congress a draft of legislation that would permit GSA to
sign multiyear leases for data processing equipment through
the Federal ADP Fund without obligating the full amount
"of the contract. Sampson's request stems from a 1971 report
by the General Accounting Office which determined that
nearly all Federal ADP rentals for Fiscal Year 1969 were for
one year or less. Millions of dollars could be saved by going
to multiyear leases, according to the study. Sampson said
that most manufacturers and suppliers offer discounts under
multiyear leases and most government-leased ADP equipment is used for three years or more. Use of a bigger capitalized revolving fund, Sampson noted, would overcome the
requirement that Federal agenCies finance equipment acquisitions with funds available during a speCified fiscal year.

STATISTICAL COMMISSION: Three senators - Adlai Stevenson of Illinois, Charles McC. Mathias of Maryland and
Lee Metcalf of Montana - are sponsoring S. 2142, a bill to
establish a U.S. Statistical Commission "to establish, coordinate, and carry out statistical policy for the United States."
In introducing the bill, Sen. Stevenson said it is designed to
protect the integrity, accuracy, and confidentiality of government statistics and to insure that the process of collecting, analyzing, and publishing"these statistics is free of political interference. He called the measure the "truth in
statistics" bill, and he added that it would be one step in
correcting one of the " imperfections in our system of government" that Watergate has "warned" us about. The Commission, according to Stevenson, would be headed by seven
appointees - three named by the President, two by the
Senate, and two by the House. The appointments would be
on an overlapping basis for a period of seven years, and the
appOintees could not be removed by the President except
for dire cause. Several agencies and statistical functions
would be transferred to the new Commission, including the
Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Social and Economic Statistical Administration - which includes the Census Bureau and
the Office of Business Economics - and the National Technical Information Service of the Dept. of Commerce. "Provisions assuring confidentiality of information are included
in the bill," said Stevenson. "The very strict provisions now
applying to data collected by the Census Bureau would apply to all data collected by the new agency."
22

Alan Drattell, Washington Editor

PATENT SYSTEM: Declaring that much of the nation's
economic welfare depends on a healthy patent system, Dr.
Betsy Ancker-Johnson, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for
Science and Technology, told the American Bar Association
recently that the establishment of ths Office of Technology
Assessment and Forecast can do much to meet "some of our
most pressing needs." She explained: ''The availability of
vast quantities of information, distilled by computer to show
trends in technology as revealed by analYSis of issued
patents, can be a chief factor in better decision making.
Yet, until now, there has been no single source from which
either business or Government could obtain comprehensive
information covering the entire spectrum of technology. It is
the purpose of our newly established Office of Technology
Assessment and Forecast to fill this need. " The program
draws on a data base which includes information contained
in the U.S. Patent Office's file of over 11 million patent
documents. Each year some 250,000 documents are added.
As technologies are developed, the entire file is scrutinized
and new categories and subclasses are created to reflect
changes. The changing patterns of patent activity can
spotlight areas of technology exhibiting unusually rapid
growth, and can locate unused patents of promise in such
critical fields as new energy sources and pollution abatement.

RECORDS: In the face of substantial increases in the costs
of paperwork preparation, handling and storage, how effective has the National Archives and Records Service been in
improving records management programs throughout the
Fed? The General Accounting Office took a look and found
that NARS has had limited success in persuading Federal
agencies to correct weaknesses in their records management
programs. One reason: NARS "identifies needed improvements and recommends rather sweeping changes without
showing corresponding savings, a factor of vital concern to
agen(:y management." Another reason for limited success is
the fa ct that NARS has never told the President, Congress,
or the Office of Management and Budget about a particular
agency's poor records management program "even though
(NARS) consistently . . . found serious weaknesses in
agencies' programs. " Meanwhile, the Government's record
holdings are increasing dramatically. Since 1966, storage has
gone up by some four million cubic feet and now totals 30
million cubic feet .

IN BRIEF

A Federal Standard for paper tape take-up or storage reels has been
announced by the National Bureau of Standards. Order prepaid (20
cents) from Supt. of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402. Ask for FIPS PUB 27, 1973 June 30.
Dot has available a report entitled "An Overview of Urban Goods
Movement Projects and Data Sources." For a copy of the report,
which was prepared at MIT's Urban System Lab., write: Office of
the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Plans and International Affairs,
Attn: TPI-10, Dept. of Transportation, 400 Seventh St. S.W., Washington, D.C. 20590.
MODERN DATA / NOVEMBER 1973

RBT
In the good old days, it was RFD. Today, it's
RBT . . . the INCOTERM® SPD® 900 Remote
Batch Terminal Systems. They deliver.
And because of INCOTERM "push-button"
compatibility, what you receive is a bundle of
unsurpassed user options. You qan mix and
match ... with batch ... and interactive. Select
2780, 3780, and 2740, 360/20 and 2265, 1004 and
Uniscope 100,200 User Terminal and Series 710.
You can interface with your CPU, with your service bureau ... or with a combination of multiple
CPU's or service bureaus.
You get card reading at 150 or 300 cpm and
printing at 200 or 400 Ipm. And if you want a lot
of storage for programs, formats, or data, choose

the INCOTERM SPD Diskette. You get up to
500,000 bytes.
But the SPD 900 is far more than just a remote batch terminal. Use it for order entry,
remote job entry, file inquiry, and a host of other
applications. It all adds up to true multi-function
capability.
There are many models available. One of them
can deliver for you.

~""~/vCOTERAd
CORPORAT/ON
6 Strathmore Road • Natick, M_achu8ett, 01780 • (617) 855-6100

INCOTERM Sales Offices: Bosto n (61 7) 655-6100 • New York (2 12) 541 -5780 • Washi ngton, D.C. (703) 524-8610 • At lanta
(404) 289-4230· Chicago (312) 593 -2230· Dallas (214) 634-2600 · Los Angeles (213) 640- 0328 · San Francisco (415) 697-3643

CIRCLE NO. 13 ON INQUIRY CARD
MODERN DATA / NOVEMBER 1973

23

ORDERS AND INSTALLATIONS
The Singer Co. has received an order
for up to 2,000 MDTS (Modular Data
Transaction System) point-of-sale terminals, forty System Ten computers,
and related equipment with a total
value of about $7.5 million. The order
was from Societe Francise Des Nouvelles Galeries, a leading French retailer which operates 86 stores and is
the central buying organization for an
additional 96 stores. The Singer equipment will be installed in 60 stores over
the next three years.

The Illinois Secretary of State's Office
has ordered a large-scale Model 6080
dual-processor computer from Honeywell valued at $8.1 million. To be used
in part to supply an established statewide police network with driver and
vehicle information, the system will
have two million bytes of main
memory and 7.1 billion characters of
online disc storage.

Japan's Sumitomo Bank, which is believed to operate the world's largest
online, real-time computerized banking
network, has ordered five NCR Century 350 computers totaling $23 million in value. Initial installations will
be at the bank's Osaka data center to
be followed by installations at the data
center operated by Sumitomo in Tokyo. Last year Sumitomo installed four
Century 300s to supplement twelve
NCR 315 computers currently used for
online processing. The 350 systems will
eventually replace the computers the
bank is now using in its online network, which connects over 1,500 NCR
terminals at tellers' windows throughout Japan.

The U.S. Navy has awarded Computer
Machinery Corp. a $4.3 million contract to install key-to-disc data entry
systems at naval data centers throughout the U.S.

Wbat J!)atb
GILDING THE LILY
Data General produces some fine
little systems for which it writes
great software. But the writing that
gets into their advertising copy is
something else. A recent ad for
DG's new Nova 2 mini stated that
it was "so inexpensive that it even
looks good with a quantity-one [our
italics] price tag of $5,600." A footnote to the ad stated: "Minium order, five systems."
Included in the same ad was the
line: "It [presumably, the $5,600
"quantity-one" figure] buys 16,384
16-bit words of lOOO-nanosecond
memory." C'mon fellas, 1 microsecond even sounds better.

Ad submitted by:
T.R. Meier
The Mitre Corporation
Bedford, Mass.

24

.abbag~

Century Research Center Corp., a Japanese service center, has ordered a
Control Data CYBER 70 Model 74
computer system valued at $3 million.
The Model 74 will be connected to a
CDC 6600 system presently in use at
the center's Tokyo headquarters.

Burroughs' largest commercial computer, a B7700, has been ordered by
Europe's second largest steel producer,
ARBED, in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. ARBED also ordered three
B1728 small-scale computers and 24 input and display terminal systems. Total
value of the order exceeds $3.8 million.

The first of the new Xerox 530 computer systems was shipped to Jordan
Dennis, Co., a New England direct
marketing service firm . The $200,000
configuration will be used by the firm
to manage a data base of four million
records, soon to be expanded to some
55 million records, and for such tasks
as marketing information analysis,
record sorting, and related printing.

Wrougbt

GOTTA BE A WAY
In 1970, Brooklyn College's computing students had to buy their own
punch cards at the college bookstore and there weren't enough keypunch machines. The B.C. computer-aided instruction center,
having a terminal room next door to
the keypunch room, mercifully
stepped in near the end-of-term
crunch to offer their 15-port CAl
system for two hours a day as a
key-to-disc system. The students'
freshly punched & interpreted cards
would emerge an hour after each
. keying session.

One day a freshman wandered
into the terminal room, blank cards
in hand . He goggled at all the
CRTs, timidly sat before a terminal,
and read the instruction sheet. He
then started searching all over the
CRT terminal for something, closely
examining the ventilation slots in
the sides of the cabinet. Finally he
turned to his neighbor and whispered, "Where do you feed the
cards in?"
Submitted by:
Abraham Getzler
Courant Institute, NYU
New York, N.Y.

MODERN DATA will pay $10.00 for any computer-or-EDP-related item
published in our WHAT HATH BABBAG E WROUGHT Dept. Send all
submissions to:
WHBW
MODERN DATA
3 Lockland Ave., Framingham, Mass. 01701
All entries become the property of MODERN DATA.

MODERN DATA / NOVEMBER 1973

For years,

people thoaght
Teletype
machiDes oDly

talked to

themselves.

Fact is, Teletype machines
have been carrying on intelligent
conversations for years with some
of the fastest information movers
in the world. Computers.
We've earned a good, solid
name for ourselves in computer
communications because our
equipment is compatible with .
practically any computer-based
system.
Our product line proves
the point.
The number one standardduty data terminal in the industry
is our model 33 series. And our

new wide-platen model 38 offers
big system features at economy
system prices.
Heavy-duty operation with
minimum maintenance? Check
ou t our model 35. And our model
37 series delivers the utmost in
flexibility and vocabulary for
complex data systems.
We also build equipment for
paper tape systems, as well as a
magnetic tape terminal for greater
on-line savings. As you can see,
our reputation in point-to-point
communications has served us
well in computer terminals. No
on e comes close to us in reliability,
flexibility a nd economy.

It takes more than manu facturing facilities to build the
machines Teletyp e Corporation
offers . It also takes commitment.
From people who think service is
as important as sales . In termin als
for compute rs and point-to-point
communications .
That's why we invented
a new name for who we are and
wh a t we make. The computercations people.
TELETYPE

f

InrI:'

CIRCLE NO. 14 ON INQUIRY CARD

For more information about any Teletype product, write or call: TERMINAL CENTRAL:
Teletype Corporation, Dept. 40F, 5555 Touhy Avenue, Skokie, Illinois 60076. Phone 312/ 982-2500.

CORPORATE AND FINANCIAL NEWS
MEMOREX DEBT RESTRUCTURED:
The possibility that Control Data
might infuse some much-needed capital into ailing Memorex fell through,
but Memorex might make it after all.
The financially-troubled firm said it
"has reached basic agreement with
Bank of America and the lenders to
ILC Peripherals Leasing Corp., Memorex' wholly-owned subsidiary, regarding
restructuring of debt obligations and
providing of additional credit facilities. " While definitive agreements remain to be signed, Memorex re ported
it made the interest payment due Oct.
1 on a 5%% debenture and, for the
balance of this year, has arranged for
the suspension of principal repayments
and any other interest due. Operating
revenues are expected to cover principal repayments through 1974-76, during which time interest will be accrued and charged against earnings,
but still deferred. Some refinancing or
additional restructuring is planned in
1976 to me et the deferred and newlymaturing obligations.

BOX SCORE OF EARNINGS
en

NET
COMPANY
Analysts Int'!.
AutEx
AUXCO

26

REVENUES

oen

Z

a: :::!.a:

«
W

12 mos . 6 / 30173
6 / 30172

3, 100 ,000
2, 200 ,000

179 ,000
98,000

.2 1
.12

9 mos. 6 / 30173
6 / 30 172

4 , 147 ,666
3,291 , 143

23 6 ,716
230 ,41 1

.3 5
.42

6 mos . 6 / 30173
6 / 30 17 2

1,9 10 ,5 16
1,042 ,061

11 8 ,812
8 5, 179

.10
.08

W

Q,

12 mos.

6 / 30 17 3
6 / 30 17 2

80 ,308 ,000
53 ,871 ,000

465 ,000
(12 ,899 ,000)

.16
(4.72)

Computer Automation

12 mos .

7 I 1173
7 / 2172

11 , 264,456
4 ,874 ,860

1, 192,3 12
598 ,8 6 4

.75
.46

Datapoint

12 mos . 7 / 3 1 17 3
7 / 3 1 172

18 , 538 ,000
5,4 10 ,000

1,901 ,000
(2 ,220 ,000)

3 mos . 71 3 1 17 3
7 / 31 17 2

1,338 ,000
558 ,000

57 ,000
27 ,000

.10
.06

Digital Equipment

12 mos . 6 / 30 17 3
7 / 1 17 2

265,469 ,000
187,553 ,000

23 ,500 .000
15 .300 ,000

2. 16
1.49

Graham Magnetics

12 mos . 6 / 30173
6 / 30172

11 , 176 ,000
9 ,033 ,625

900 ,000
917,463

.96
1. 10

293 ,000
133 ,000

.17
.08

Datatrol

1.09
(1.6 8)

Informatics

3 mos.

6 / 30173
6 / 24172

5,332 ,000
4 ,787 ,000

Interdyne

9 mos . 713 1 17 3
713 1 172

1,60 1,000
1,441 ,000

12 mos . 7 / 3 1 173
7 / 31172

9 ,501 ,000
7 ,507 ,000

84 7,0 00
348 ,000

.30
.14

6 mos . 6 / 30173
6 / 30172

354 ,070 ,000
315 ,609 ,000

23 ,563 ,000
20,466 ,000

1 .4 8
1. 26
.38
.34

Keydata

(57,000)
(6 2,000)

(.03)
(.04)

Lynch Comm . Sys.

6 mos.

6 / 30173
6 / 30 17 2

9,964 ,251
7,331 , 159

788 ,960
697 ,523

Mgt. Assistance

9 mos . 6 / 30173
6 / 30172

47 ,694,000
38 ,360 ,000

(1 ,570 ,000)
(5 ,9 17,000)

(.09)
(.3 5)

Milgo Electronic

9 mos.

6 / 30173
6 / 30172

15,621 ,000
8 ,944,000

2, 298 ,000
1,422 ,000

1.44
.8 9

National CSS

3 mos.

5 / 3 1 173
5 /3 1 172

5 ,280,368
3 ,783 ,273

387,284
281 ,464

.35
.26

12 mos.

6 / 30173
6 / 30172

6 ,200 ,000
2, 200 ,000

(260, 000)
74 , 70 9

(.14)
.0 4

6 mos.

6 / 30 173
6 / 30172

6, 168,209
4 ,863 ,373

(1, 162 ,365)
(1,513 ,3 1 1)

(.72)

3 mos . 7 / 31 17 3
7 / 3 1 172

884 ,525
730 ,516

63 ,69 9
19,359

.0 9
.0 4

Scientific Computers

12 mos . 6 / 30173
6 / 30172

3,773 ,326
3,684,722

11 2,97 5
172 , 5 16

.14
.2 1

Sys. Dimensions Ltd .

12 mos . 6 / 30173
6 / 30172

9,900 ,000
5,800 ,000

1,500 ,000
(434,000)

.7 5
(.2 6)
.10
(.01)

Odec
Quotron Systems
Remote Computing

(. 55)

Symbolic Displays

6 mos.

6 / 30173
6 / 30172

1,307 ,74 1
1,050 ,900

57, 78 5
(4 ,504)

Sys. Engrg. Labs ,

12 mos.

6 / 29173
6 /3 0 172

17,08 2,000
15,7 19,000

513 ,000
1, 11 2.000

.2 0
.4 3

9 mos . 6 / 3017 3

3 ,0 18,450
2,647 ,54 3

20 7,304
39 4, 401

.29
.57

6 / 30172

19,763,000
19,4 54,000

(4,007,0 00)
71 1,000

(.38)
.07

Wang Labs

12 mos . 6 / 30173
6 / 30172

4 7,704,529
39,048 ,987

3,2 93 ,530
3, 103 ,635

.8 2
.77

Wavetek

40 wks.

7 17173
7 11172

6,238,68 5
4 ,4 66 ,97 8

400 ,58 3
23 9 ,94 1

.4 7
.3 1

Western Union Int' l.

6 mos.

6 130173
6 / 30172

33,549,000
31 , 61 8 ,000

2,90 7,00 0
2,4 22 ,00 0

.95
.7 9

Wyle Labs.

6 mos.

7 / 3 1 173
7 / 31 172

57 ,329 ,000
43 ,69 1,000

1,807 ,000
78 1,000

.52
.22

Terminal Data

6 / 30 172

Telex

SALES RECORD: Microdata Corp. reported that July bookings reached an
all-time high of $1,388,000, an increase
of more than 15% over the previous
high of $1,209,000 reached in February
of this year and an increase of more
than 35% over the $900,940 figure established last July.

PERIOD

EARNINGS
(Loss)

Z-«
_~J:

Cal. Cmptr. Products

Leasco

MERGER ACTIVITY in the computer
services and manufacturing field fell
48% in the first six months of 1973,
from 61 net announcements in the cor-'
responding period a year ago to 32 this
year, according to W .T . Grimm & Co.,
Chicago-based financial consulting firm
specializing in mergers and a cquisitions. Overall merger activity during
the first half of this year for the 40 categories covered by the Grimm study
totaled 2,198, an 11% drop from the
2,478 reported for the first half of
1972. Within the computer classification, 17, or 53%, of the transactions
represented divisional or fracti onal
sales. In the first half of 1972 there
were 33 divisional sales. Of all industry
groupings, divisional sales accounted
for 38% of the 2,198 total, the same
percentage as last year.

W

a:

C!)

3 mos . 6 / 30173

MODERN DATA l NOVEMBER 1973

•

\

RECENT ENTR I ES : Carroll Telecommunications Consultants has been
formed in Sunnyvale, Cal., to offer
communications system design, new
product evaluation, market survey, and
equipment design services . .. GSI
(General Systems International) of Anaheim, Cal., is developing an IBM 3740type data entry system and h as entered
into separate development and license
agreements with Applied Magnetics
Corp., BASF of W. Germany, and Hitachi of Japan. GSI system products
will be available for sale to OEMs . . .
EMI Ltd., London, and Threshold
Technology Inc., Cinnaminson, N.J.,
have signed a letter of intent leading
to the formation of a joint venture
company to market speech recognition
systems . The new company, which will
be 60 percent owned by EMI, will be
es t ab lish ed at Hayes, Middlesex ,
England.

MERGERS

AND

ACQUISITIONS :

Racal-Milgo Ltd. has acquired a 20%
interest in Enquiry Systems, Ltd. and
has entered into a joint venture agreement to develop and market a communication storage buffer. Racal-Milgo,
located in Reading, England , is a
jOintly-owned subsidiary of Milgo Electronic Corp. and Racal El ectronics
. . . Rockwell International Corp. has
acquired three subsidiaries of Lamson
Industries, Ltd. (London) engaged in
the manufacture and distribution of
electronic calculators and accounting
machines: Sumlock Comptometer, Ltd.;
Sumlock Anita Electronics, Ltd.; and
Ruf Organisation, Ltd. . . . Scientific
Measure Systems, Inc. of Cherry Hill,
N.J., has purchased the CRT terminal
product line of Video Systems Corp. of
Pennsauken, N.J ... . Informatics Inc.,
of Canoga Park, Cal., has purchased
the assets of Asystance Coo, Raleigh,
N.C., for an undisclosed amount of
cash and common stock. Asystance specializes in developing business and financial software packages. Informatics
also reported the completion of its preViously-announced acquisition of SDA
Corp., a service firm based in
Cheverly, Md., for 141,167 shares of
Informatics stock on a pooling of interest basis . . . Time Sharing Information Service of Philadelphia, Pa., and
George Grodahl and Associates of London, England, have merged to form a
new company, Telis, Inc., which will
combine both firm 's services relating to
the remote computing industry.

WHICH IS FASTER, MORE RELIABLE,
AND EASIER TO USE
FOR PROGRAM

LINC TAPE
and it comes
vvith a Complete Operating System
Computer Operations has plug·compatible. mass-memory for NOVA . DEC PDP-11 , HP-21 DO, and many other
mini·computers. The lINC Tape Operating System provides complete support for assemblers, loaders, text editors,
BASIC , FORTRAN and file utilities.
lINC Tape is 28 times faster than paper tape and 15 times faster than cassettes. And it has proven error·free
performance and reliability.
• Optional compatibility with
• 204,800 or 335,872 data bytes per
• Low Price and quick delivery
OEC tape ®
reel in blocks of 512
• Complete plug·to-plug compatibility
• Utility software drivers - complete'_ _--......,.~'1
• Block addressable disc format
operating system for most
• 8400 bytes/sec transfer rate
popular minis
•

100,000 passes without error
guaranteed

•

Expandable to 16 drives

For your own satisfaction, see lINC Tape demonstrated
before you decide on any mass·memory system.

TRANSPORT

Op~rationsJ Inc.
'--_Computer
__-'-___________
-=-___

]10774 TUCKER ST. BELTSVILLE, MO.
20705 301·937·5377

~.

CIRCLE NO . 16 ON INQUIRY CARD

terminals
TIME-SHARING
AND/ORTWX

33 ASR

$1274 $44 1 month-

-=

33 ASR

$1242 $43 / month (with built-in coupler)

-,......,,::---

--...----~-

~

MODEL
150A2-11 A

ACOUSTIC COUPLER

$147
COMBINATION
TIME-SHARING AND
TWX TERMINAL

"

$1535 $53 / month Connect to Western Union
80,000 terminal network
lor only $11 .50 1 month

33 KSR WITH MODEL 150A2-11A
ACOUSTIC COUPLER

I[j~MJt

~~ 3-year full pay-out with purchase option '

Many other terminal, modem and coupler conligurations. Send lor complete brochure.

$817

$30 / month-

COMOATA CORPORAflON
7544 W. OAKTON ST.

0

NILES. ILLINOIS 60648

0

312 / 692 ·6107

CIRCLE NO . 15 ON INQUIRY CARD
MODERN DATA/NOVEMBER 1973

27

IBM THINKS P.O.S.-ITIVELY
After capturing the lion's share of the
computer and typewriter trades, and
making inroads in the copier market,
the Grey Giant has finally decided that
{he pOint-of-sale field - in the form of
cash registers and bank terminals should be the next products blessed
with the IBM imprimatur. By announcing its 3650 Retailer System and 3600
Finance Communication System, the
White Shirts from White Plains have
entered the frontiers of transaction
processing pioneered by Singer, CR,
Burroughs, et al.

3650 RETAIL STORE SYSTEM
Aimed at the department or discount
store merchandiser, the 3650 consists
of a store-site programmable controller,
an intelligent POS terminal (register)
with independent as well as online-tocontroller operational features and
magnetic wand reader option, a communications facility for connecting remote stores to a controller or to a central host CPU, and a magnetic stripe
tag/ticket encoder-printer unit.
The 3651 controller contains from
41K tp 57 Kbytes of memory and an
integral 5 Mbyte disc unit. Using its
own logic, the 3651 can handle many
in-store applications, such as transaction data collection; credit authorization; purchase order, receipt, and merchandise tag data entry; sales audits;
and store management report printing.
It is available for a monthly ETP
charge of $700 to $820, or a standard
monthly rate of $824 to $1,024. Purchase prices range from $31,500 to
$39,160.
Used at the sales transaction site,
the 3653 POS terminal contains panel
displays for numeric data and transaction status codes, a numeric keypad
with 19 function keys, a backlit operator guidance panel for 20 messages, a
three-station journal log and salescheck/cash receipt a lph anumeric
printer, status indicators, and a cash
and media drawer. The optional magnetic wand reader can read encoded
price tags, credit cards, and employee
ill badges. The terminal is available
on a purchase-only basis for $3,575.
The wand option, also on purchaseonly, costs $350.
The back office or stock room administrative terminal consists of a 3275
Display Station (a member of the 3270
terminal line already in use on the Sys28

tem/370) and a '3284 40 cps printer
(another 370 peripheral). The 1920character CRT disp lay rents for
$165/month, or may be purchased for
$6,700. The printer costs $130/month
or $5,590 on purchase.
Up to three store loop adapters allowing twisted-pair cable communications at 2400 bps may be attached to
the 3650 system . The first loop will
service up to 63 locally attached devices; the second or third optional
loops may be either local or remote,
with remote attachment servicing up
to 64 devices. Each remote adapter extends store communications to up to
three remote locations, each term i-

The 3657 ticket unit produces three
sizes of printed and magnetically encoded sales tags. Output is 500 tickets/minute for a I" x I", 19-code/22character tag to 167 tickets/minute for
a I" x 3" 60-code/64-character tag.
ETP cost is $550/month. Under a standard rental the cost is $647/month, or
the 3657 may be purchased for
$22,500.
Programming support for the 3650
retail store system includes IBM subsystems which maintain system libraries, tailor and transmit data from computer to controller, and create tables,
format controls, and file space for the
controller.

Watch your money appear via
the bank's IBM 3604 keyboard display terminal.

nated by a 3659 remote communications unit. The maximum network can
therefore handle one local and six remote stores with up to 191 devices
linked to a single 3651 controller. The
3659 remote communications unit goes
for $90/month under ETP or
$106/month on standard rental, or may
be purchased for $4,050,
The host commw1ications adapter allows interfacing with a centrally located System/370 using a new Synchronous Data Link Control (SDLC)
transmission technique. Basic data rate
is 2400 bps over leased lines. Systems
attachment to the 370 is via an IBM
3704 or 3705 communications controller.

3600 FINANCE
COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
The modular 3600 system, designed for
commercial banks and savings & loan
institutions, consists of a bank-site
commlmications controller, a keyboard
display teller terminal with optional
magnetic stripe read/write encoder, a
journal tape and fanfold document
printer, a passbook and document
printer, an administrative line printer,
and a self-service cash dispenser terminal for after-hour withdrawals.
The 3601 communications controller
contains from 8K to 41 Kbytes of
read/write memory and an internal
MODERN DATA l NOVEMBER 1973

SOURCE DATA AUTOMATION

Boppy "diskette" drive for data and
program storage. Supervisory programming allows the 3601 ' to control the
operation of teller and cash dispenser
terminals, and communications to a
central-site mainframe. The controller
can maintain bank operations during
communications line failure or central
CPU downtime. An integral modem allows 1200 bps transmission (4800 bps
rates may be by an external modem).
Depending on memory size and options, ETP charges for a 3601 range
from $440 to $825 per month. Standard
monthly rental is at $518 to $974, and
purchase prices range from $19,850 to
$37,350.
The 3604 keyboard panel clisplay
terminal is available in numeric-only
and alphanumeric models. The termi-

$100/month, and $83 to $117/month
lmder standard agreements. Purchase
prices are $2,800 to $4,000.
The 3612 passbook printer can print
on horizontal- or vertical-fold
passbooks, and has the same printout
features as the 3610 unit. Cut forms ,
journal rolls, or continuous forms are
printed by the top half of the 3612,
while passbooks are hanclled in a separate printer in the bottom half. Prices
range from $115 to $160/month on
ETP, $135 to $188/month on standard
lease, and $4,600 to $6000 on purchase.
Other 3600 finance communication
system terminals include the 3614 cash
clispenser unit for teller-less withdrawals or customer-initiated inquiries, and
the 3618 administrative line printer.
ETP costs for the 3614 are from $545
to $580/month; standard rentals go
from $640 to $682/month. Purchase
prices are $20,380 to $21,630. Th e
3618 printer, operating at speeds up to
155 Ipm, goes for $235 to $275/month
on ETP, $276 to $323/month on standard rental, and $10,000 to $11,600 on
purchase.
Like the 3650 retail system, the 3600
finance system operates under IBM's
new SDLC cliscipline, and interfaces
with 370/125 through 168 CPUs via
3704 or 3705 communications controllers. The finance system is supported by virtual storage progranlming
under VTAM on DOS /VS, OSIVSI and
OS /VS2, and under TCAM through
VTAM on OSIVSI amd OS/VS2.

Computer users:

Is your .computer boring you
with numbers? Teach it
to draw pictures instead .
Why not get your facts in easy-to-read
pictures-charts, graphs , plots that anybody can understand .
TSP Plotting Systems are the fastest on
the market-a minimum of 3 times faster
than anyone else. At $3300, we're the

MARKET IMPACT

lowest available. We 've got both

On

Line, from 10 to 30 CPS , and Off Line

. . . and watch it disappear
into the department stare's IBM 3653 POS terminal.

nal may be equipped with a 1200 bps
modem for branch bank operations
where a 3601 controller is not required. Features include a 240-character display, programmable function
keys, and a magnetic stripe read or
read/write encoder option. The 3604 is
available under ETP fm: $60 to $125/month, and at $71 to $147 / month on
standard lease. Purchase prices are
from $2,450 to $5,180.
The 3610 document printer can be
shared between two teller stations and
can ' print on cut forms, journal/audit
rolls, and continuous fanfold paper. It
operates at 30 cps for a 64-character
set, or 15 cps for a 96-ch aracter version. ETP prices are $70 to

Singer and NCR share top billing in
POS today. IBM 's joining the cast
should see a triunwirate established in
retail merchandising POS by 1976 - a
market which by then should easily exceed annual sales of $200 million. Although White Plains has not yet announced a pas system for the
supermarket trade, it is a safe assumption that such systems are under development or even ready.
The market for transaction-oriented
systems in banking is also forecast to
pass the $200 million level by 1976.
Burroughs and NCR at present lead in
this market, and IBM 's entry will result in another three-Giant race.
In both the retail and banking fields,
however, three giants do not a market
sate. Well over fifty firms will be vying
for a piece of the action, and even a
small percent of $200 million is nothing to scoff at.
•

Systems . And because we were the first
in the field , we 've got a long history of
trouble-free installations.
Sound too good to be true? We can
prove every word of it right in your
office, la b or
plant. Just cal l
or write today
for

a

demon-

strat ion .
Spend a little time
with u s-you'll
spend a lot less
time with your
computer.

ITJ~~CORP.
TIME SHARE PERIPHERALS CORPORATION
Route 6. Bethel. Conn . 06801 (203) 743-7624

CIRCLE NO. 17 ON INQUIRY CARD

MODERN DATA / NOVEMBER 1973

29

CORPORATE PROFILE
Featured this month:

DATATROL INC.

(0 ver-the-Cou nter)

Hudson, Massachusetts
OFFICERS & DIRECTORS: Robert L. Fronk, President,
Chairman; Leon Jackson, Executive Vice President, Director; John J. Li.fford, Treasurer, Director; Paul P. Brountas,
Secretary; Dr. Murry E. Sherry, Vice President - Product
Line Systems; John M. Norris, Controller. Other directors:

fohn M. Dumsel', fr., David D. McNeish, Howard G. Roecker,
George B. Rockwell.
BACKGROUND: A Delaware-chartered company, Datatrol
was incorporated in May 1969 to design, manufacture, and
market special-purpose, computer-based data entry and retrieval systems. Robert L. Fronk, Leon Jackson, and John M.
Dumser, Jr., co-founders of the company, previously held
sales management positions with Digital Equipment Corp.
David D . McNeish, also a co-founder, is president of Breck,
McNeish, Nagle and DeLorey, Inc. , a Boston investment
firm. In 1971 Datatrol completed installation of retail credit
authorization systems for its first three customers: The Joseph Horne Co. (Pittsburgh), J.L. Hudson Co. (D etroit), and
Winkelman Stores, Inc. (Detroit).
FACILITIES: Datatrol leases 31,000 ft2 of space in two
buildings located in the Kane Industrial Park, Hudson, Mass.
Manufacturing operations occupy 10,000 ft2; administrative,
marketing, and engineering offices occupy the remainder.
Current plans call for the leasing of additional space in a
third nearby building, now under constlUction. The company maintains sales offices in six cities and service offices in
seven cities . Datatrol presently employs about 200 people.
PRODUCTS: Datatrol's three major products are two retail
credit authorization systems and one bank teller information
system. All three are minicomputer-based, dedicated, online
systems. Datatrol supplies central system hardware, terminals, software, and training on a " turnkey" basis and provides maintenance service. The CS 1400 Voice System allows retail clerks at the pOint of sale to request credit
authorization via Bell System Touch-Tone telephones or the
equivalent. D ata entry instlUctions and credit approval or
disapproval are provided by means of recorded voice messages. The CS 1500 Terminal System is similar but replaces
the Touch-Tone telephones with a Datatrol-designed terminal (resembling an electronic calculator) which includes 16
keys for data entry and a three-digit numeric display for
coded instructions and credit authorizations. Both systems
can be designed for " positive" (all accounts are online) as
opposed to " negative" (only' "bad" accounts are online)
credit authorization procedures. The TTS-370 Teller Terminal Information System utilizes another Datatrol-designed
terminal, with an eight-digit numeric display, by means of
which bank tellers can access daily trial balances and other
account information while servicing normal customer transactions such as check cashing. Voice response is also avail30

able. Datatrol systems are normally customized, and can include a wide variety of optional equipment such as
additional processors, additional disc storage, CRT display
terminals, and hard-copy printers. Prices vary widely, of
course, but are usualiy within the following ranges: CS
1400, $50,000 to $200,000; CS 1500, $200,000 to $600,000;
TTS-370, $60,000 to $150,000. Maintenance is provided under separate service contracts.
CURRENT POSITION: Presently installed or on order are
fifteen retail credit authorization systems, eight bank teller
information systems, and one order entry system. Organizations with installed Datatrol equipment include Lord &
Taylor (New York), Gilchrist's (Boston), G. Fox & Co. (Hartford), and Bankers TlUst Company (New York).
OUTLOOK: Datatrol sees the market for its retail credit
authorization systems as including multi-store retailers with
$40 million or more in annual sales. The company expects
to sell systems not only to merchants currently without any
computer-based credit authorization equipment, but also to
replace existing " negative" authorization systems with its
" positive" systems. Datatrol places commercial hanks with
$70 million or more in assets (the top 1000 U.S. commercial
banks) in its market for teller information systems. This
equipment, which now accounts for one-third of Datatrol
sales to date, should provide ' an increasing portion of the
company's future revenues. Beyond the "top 1000" bank
market, Datatrol hopes to sell teller systems to service companies specializing in smaller commercial banks, and to
jOint-venture service companies operated by groups of
banks. In general, Datatrol will continue to design, manufacture, and market specialized systems.
FINANCIAL SUMMARY: Datatrol went public in January
1973 with an offering of 250,000 shares of common stock at
$8.00 per share. Distribution was handled by Breck,
McNeish, Nagle and DeLorey, Inc. of Boston. Net proceeds
to the company after underwriting discounts were $7.28 per
share. The company steadily lowered its net losses from Fiscal Year 1970 to 1972, showed a gain in 1973, and had a
profitable first quarter in fiscal 1974. As of April 30, 1973
Datatrol reported total assets of $4,163,407, total stockholders' equity of $2,771,782, and 1,018,196 shares of ~om­
mon stock outstanding. Current ratio was 3.1 to 1. A total
of $338,600 in federal income tax loss carry-forwards is
available, expiring as follows: 1975, $161,800; 1976,
$164,000; 1977, $12,800. In addition, the company has
unused investment tax credits approximating $22,000 which
expire through 1980. During fiscal 1972, Datatrol raised
$900,000 through a private sale of 300 units, each selling for
$3,000 and consisting of 500 shares of common stock, warrants to purchase an additional 4171/2 shares of common
stock, and a $1,000 note. The purchase agreement includes
restrictions on the payment of cash dividends.
Net Income
(Loss)

Earn i ngs( Loss)

($359.913)
( 258 .859 )
23,949)

($.99)

Period Ending

Revenues

F.Y.
F.Y.

4/30/70
4/30/71

$

F. Y.
F.Y.
3 mos.
3 mos.

4/30/72

379,698
991,307

4/30/73

3,265,161

495,105

7/31/72
7/31/73

558,000
1,338,000

55,000
110,000

16,933

Per Share

( .60 )

.05 )
.51
.06
.10

MODERN DATA / NOVEMB ER 1973

(Advertisement)

Notes and observations from IBM which may prove of interest to data processing professionals.
DP DIALOG appears regularly in these pages. As its name suggests, we hope DP DIALOG will be a
two-way medium for DP professionals. We'd like to hear from you. Just write: Editor, DP DIALOG,
IBM Data Processing Division, White Plains, N.Y.l0604.

Nobel Prize to
Three Scientists

The Josephson iunction magnified many times its actual size.

Superconducting Computers May Run
at Super Speeds
Computer t echnology in the last
decade has advanced by quantum
leaps. Microscopic transistors can speak
the simple "yes-no" binary language of
computers in less than a billionth of a
second. Giant memories hold massive
amounts of data which can be tapped
to solve complex problems with astonishing speed and accuracy.
But as fast as modern computers
can now operate, present speeds can

not cope with the heavy demands of
missions in space and long-range
weather forecasts.
However, it appears a major advance may be in the making. After
many years of intensive research, IBM
scientists at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights,
New York and at IBM's research center
in Zurich have developed an electronic
switch which can operate at a speed of

The Swedish Academy of
Sciences in Stockholm awarded
the 1973 Nobel Prize for Physics
to three scientists for their pioneering work in the field of electron tunneling. They are Dr.
Brian Josephson, British scientist,
Dr. Leo Esaki of the IBM
Thomas J. Watson Research
Center and Dr. Ivar Giaever of
the General Electric Company.
Dr. Esaki, who joined IBM in
1960, was the first to clearly demonstrate electron tunneling in
semiconductor junctions and put
it to use in the tunnel diode, a
high-frequency electronic device.
The later research of Giaever and
Josephson on tunneling and
superconductors revealed effects
which, in addition to their scientific importance, have been combined by IBM scientists to build
a new type of computer switching device which is reported to
be the world's fastest.
about ten-trillionths of a second-more
than 100 times faster than the fastest
transistor now used in computers. Even
more important is that the new switch
requires only about one ten-thousandth
of the power needed to run present-day
transistors. It thus gives off only a very
small amount of heat.
Dr. Wilhelm Anaker, of the
Yorktown Research Center, explains:
"Computer speed is limited by heat as
much as by switching time because
when transistors are placed closer to(Continued on next page)

(Advertisement)

Superconducting Computers
(Continued from preceding page)

Students at De Anza College in Santa Clara County, part of California's state-wide
community college system and one of the many users of SRA textbooks.

S~s Textbook Systems

Motivate Students
In the last two decades as the data
processing industry has grown, so has
the ever-present need for better education and materials in the computer
sciences/data processing field. Toward
this end IBM, through its subsidiary
Science Research Associates, is publishing a wide range of data processing
texts for the college market.
The SRA College Division in Palo
Alto, California is a part of SRA in
Chicago, an innovative publisher specializing in instructional materials and
tests for the elementary and secondary
markets. It was acquired by IBM in
1965.
The college division, now in its
fourth year, has available 70 titles with
the main strength in the computer
science/data processing area. Unlike
other publishers, SRA turns out not just
textbooks but entire educational sys-'
terns, based on exhaustive research in
the academic market to find out just
what is needed in what areas. A wide
array of supportive material accompanies many of the texts.
These innovative capabilities have
been successfully combined not only
with IBM's own data processing expertise but also with that of experts
in the field. The combination has so
far produced a string of successes.
C. W. Gear's Introduction to Computer
Science, which was published earlier
this year, is alre'a dy in use at over 125
colleges. It introduces the student to
the computer problem-solving process,
with emphasis on the basic principles
with which the student can learn any

of the common computer languages.
The text comes with an instructor's
guide, transparency masters and three
language manuals on BASIC, FORTRAN and PL/l. SRA also has available individual textbooks on every" maJor programming language.
Another successful text, Information
Processing by Marilyn Bohl, came out
in 1971 and is now in use at over 200
colleges. Her book gives a comprehensive view of the hardware and software
components of modern data processing
systems and the part each plays in the
processing of information. It comes with
an instructor's guide, a study guide for
students and transparency masters.
On the more advanced level SRA
offers several texts, including Mark
Elson's Concepts of Programming
Languages, Harold Stone's Discrete
Mathematical Structures and Their Applications and Simulation of Discrete
Stochastic Systems by Herbert Maisel
and Guilano Gnugnoli.
Although SRA textbooks are sold on
all levels, emphasis is on the introductory. Michael Crisp, publisher of SRA's
new College Division, explains: "Our
objective is to get high quality, readable texts in the hands of the student.
We want to get him started in a better
way, through superior editing and design, along with a wide range of teacher
and student aids."
He concludes: "Our philosophy is to
motivate these students by presenting
material in exciting, meaningful ways
with examples they can relate to and
IBM
identify with."

gether to speed up the flow of signals
between them, the risk of overheating
is sharply increased."
The new switch is called a Josephson junction, after the British scientist,
Brian Josephson. During his graduate
studies at Cambridge in 1962, he predieted through mathematical calculations that electron pairs in a superconductive state could "tunnel" through an
electrical insulator, if it is thin enough
and placed between two superconductors . Superconductivity is the state in
which there is no electrical resistance
in certain materials when they are
cooled to within a few degrees of absolute zero or minus 460°F.
Josephson also believed there would
be no difference in voltage across the
insulator between the superconductors
if the flow of electrons were kept below
a certain threshold. However, if the
flow of electrons should exceed this
threshold, then a small voltage would
develop across the insulator. (Anelectric current in normal conductors never
flows unless there is a voltage differential.) His calculations also determined that if a magnetic field were
applied to the junction, a voltage drop
would appear.
Josephson's thesis was later verified
by other scientists. In 1965 the socalled Josephson effect came to the attention Qf Dr. Juri Matisoo at IBM's
Yorktown Research Center. He was
convinced the new phenomenon could
be used in high speed switches and set
to work to demonstrate it.
He knew that a small voltage drop
could be produced across the Josephson
junction by applying a weak magnetic
field while a current was flowing
through it. He also suspected that the
voltage would develop rather quickly.
It then could be used to steer a current
from one superconducting branch into
another and in turn represent the basic
"yes-no" language of a computer. Since
the voltage drop would be small, only a
fraction of the energy needed to switch
a transistor would be required.
As Dr. Anacker recalls: "At first our
main problem was to fabricate an ultrathin, pinhole-free oxide layer about ten
to twenty atomic layers thick. There
were those who thought it couldn't be
done. But after a while we were able to
come up with a new method for preparation of these oxide layers which
worked."
Although Dr. Anacker reports the
Josephson junction is still in an early
stage of development with many more
improvements to be made, he says: "It
is now a real possibility that the world's
fastest switch may become a part of
computers in the years to come." IBM

(Advertisement)

New Computer System to Benefit Retailing
As costs in the retail business
mount, store managers are taking a
closer look at how they can improve
operations. Many believe that a major
need is the organization of store operations into a single smoothly-Howing
system, both for in~ividual stores and
multiple units. Up until now efforts to
automate operations have been limited
to accounting procedures.
Recently, IBM expanded that focus
with the introduction of the IBM 3650,
a total operating system, designed to
integrate the full range of store-wide
merchandising and financial functions.
It includes a point-of-sale terminal
which helps the sales personnel to complete a sale swiftly and accurately. But
it goes far beyond that. The new system can control the How of merchandise from purchase order, through receiving goods, ticketing them with a
retail price and the actual sale to inventory control and accounts receivable.
It can streamline such functions as
credit authorization, sales audit, personnel training and scheduling. And it
can provide management with an upto-date overview of operations as a
whole, vital to maximizing profit opportunities.

Although the IBM 3650 is a storewide system, involving virtually all
store activities, implementation can be
carried out in phases, with different
functions becoming operative over
period of time.
Components of the 3650 System include four systems devices used by
store personnel. They are the 3653

a

Point-of-Sale Terminal, the 3657 Ticket
Unit, the 3275 Model 3 Display Station and the 3284 Printer. These components are linked to a control unit,
the 3651 Store Controller, which in
turn is on line to an IBM System/370
computer. Up to six remote stores can
be linked to a controller by means of
the 3659 Remote Communication Unit.

IBM

The Computer Helps Market Chiqui~a®Bananas
Every week 10 or 11 shiploads of
bananas marketed by Chiquita Brands,
Inc., a subsidiary of United Brands
Company of Boston, arrive in U.S. ports
from Albany to Seattle, most of them
ordered before arrival. Buyers for the
remainder must be found while the bananas are being unloaded and shipped
from the ports. It is vital to match supply and demand on a day-by-day basis.

With the help of an IBM computer,
. Chiquita Brands now has ample data
available so management can make
marketing decisions quickly and efficiently, based on their knowledge of the
continual variations in demand and the
heavy volume of highly perishable merchandise. The System/370 Model 155
computer, operating with IMS, is in
Boston where it is linked to terminals at

Every week 10 or 11 shiploads of Chiquita Brand bananas
arrive in U.S. ports.

eight ports and six sales centers. When
a ship arrives at a port, customers'
trucks are loaded in accordance with
orders previously entered in the system
and transmitted to the ports. Any discrepancies in filling the orders are
transmitted back to the computer.
These records become the basis for
invoices.
With the information this new system provides, management can make
better pricing and distribution decisions. They also gain a better understanding of buying patterns for a given
geographic market.
Bananas not sold at the ports can be
routed to areas of greatest demand
shown by nationwide data, rather than
the limited information formerly available to local offices. The system makes
it possible for Chiquita's customers to
place orders farther in advance. At any
time, they can get quick answers as to
the status of their orders. The IBM
system enables Chiquita Brands, Inc.
to serve each customer in a more effective and efficient manner than ever
before.
IBM
ill> Chiquita is a registered trademark
of United Brands Company.

(Advertisement)

Data Processing Training ...
in
Watts "This course was not only one of the and
Harlem The success of the Urban
most stimulating educational experiences I've had, but it
League's data processing center in Watts prompted IBM to
also gave me the chance I really needed to get and keep
an interesting job that paid well."
This was Jackie Glover's reaction to the computer programming course she took three years ago at the Los Angeles Urban League Data Processing Center. The center
teaches data processing courses for no tuition to those who
could not otherwise afford the training. The curriculum includes courses in computer programming, computer operating, keypunch operating and one just recently added in
clerical skills. The center, which opened in 1968 near Watts,
is sponsored jointly by IBM, the Bank of America and the
Urban League. IBM provides the manager and instructors
and the educational materials. The bank supplies the building and pays for its maintenance. The Urban League screens
and tests the students and places them after they have completed the course.

help open a similar center in New York City's Harlem just
last year. This time IBM teamed up with the Sperry &
Hutchinson Foundation and the Opportunities Industrialization Center of New York (OIC). Again, IBM provided the
data processing equipment and materials along with the
instructors and manager. Sperry & Hutchinson donated
$25,000 to help convert a Harlem factory into a data
processing center.
Lauchland Henry, IBM's manager, reports: "We've graduated over 135 students with about 90% placement. Most
are working at many corporations and banks in the New
York area. Many of them have already made rapid progress."
Their success is no accident. Besides a rigorous screening process, the center demands high performance from
the students. "We're pretty tough on them," says Lauchland
Henry. "But we have to be, if they're going to learn what
they have to in the three months or less they are here."
One of the instructors, Dorothy Fort, a former systems
engineer for IBM, explains: "What we're trying to do is get
the students used to 'working' while they're learning. We
not only give them as much computer time as possible but
also full knowledge of actual work situations. It's really a
golden opportunity for them."
The students seem to concur. Jan Webster, who spent a
year at college, could not afford further training. Anxious to

In Los Angeles, instructor Jackie Glover (second from right)
reviews a program with students Diane Johnson, Ennis
Davis and Willie Davis.
Just before coming to the center, Jackie had worked as
a hair color technician. Upon graduating from the center's
intensive I3-week programming course, she was hired as a
programmer at IBM's Systems Manufacturing Division in
San Jose. Since then she has come full circle to return to the
center as a programming instructor.
Jackie is one of over 700 students who so far have
graduated from the Urban League Data Processing Center.
Ernie Barrios, the center's manager, says over 97% have been
hired by over 200 companies-most in the Los Angeles area
but some out of state.
On a tour through the large stucco building, Barrios
said: "These people are high school graduates and they're
bright. They're disadvantaged only economically."
To qualify, students must be high school graduates and
show an aptitude for the particular course they are interested in. Prospective programmers must also pass a logic
exam. Barrios emphasizes: "Our students probably have a
better chance of success, not only because of the intense
instruction they get, but also because at least half their time
at the center is spent in the computer room with actual
on-site, hands-on computer experience."

In Harlem, Patricia Baker and Malcolm Baptiste discuss results of program with instructor Dorothy Fort (far left).
go into data processing, she heard about OIC's data processing center and was able to qualify for the course in programming. Another student, Jamie Perez, had worked at a variety
of odd jobs. After passing his high school equivalency exam,
he took Ole's eight-week course in computer operations.
Mike Macklin, who had been a baker at several large hotels
in Manhattan, was lured into data processing by the prospect of high salaries, but could not afford the training. After
completing the computer operator's course at OIC, he said:
"This school offers the best opportunity in the city. They're
not only helping uS learn what we have to know to get good
jobs but how to keep jobs when we get them."

IBM~

It's everything you've ever wanted in a peripheral
for your mini. With a price/performance ratio superior to every other electrostatic printer/plotter on
the market.
In fact, the Gould 5000 gives you 1200 lines per
minute-or 600 more than
Brand V. And at a lower
price.
That means you get high
speed for improved mini
throughput efficiency. Low
cost for economic justification. And, of course,
high reliabili ty backed
by Gould's reputation for
quality.
But you also get a lot
more. Resolution of 100
dots per inch. Full alphanumeric and graphic capabilities. 132 characters per
line. A 64 ASCII character
set. Fan fold and roll paper.
8 bit wide data path.

Optional features? The Gould 5000 is loaded.
96 ASCII character set, upper and lower case.
128 ASCII character set custom designed to your
requirements. On-line mini-computer and off-line
magnetic tape interfaces.
What's more, Gould software is the most efficient and
flexible available anywhere.
It lets your mini print and
plot considerably faster
than competitive units.
We say that the new
Gould 5000 is the best
buy on the market, with
the best features of any
mini-computer printer/
plotter. And our Pete
Highberg or Bill Koepf can
prove it to you. Get in touch
with them now at Dept.
MD II, Gould Inc., Data
Systems Division, 20
Ossipee Road, Newton
Upper Falls, Mass. 02164.

The new Gould 5000.
Twice as fast as any
printer/plotter ever designed
for mini-computers.

DATA SYSTEMS DIVISION

CIRCLE NO. 18 ON INQUIRY CARD

MODERN DATA/NOVEMBER 1973

-} GOULD
35

A SPECIAL SECTION FEATURING THIS MONTH:

DATACOM NEWS
COMMUNICATIONS CLINIC
DATACOM Q & A

DATACOM NEWS
MODEMS, MUXES & MISC.: DATAcap's (Chicago, Ill.)
new Series A Coupler digitizes one or more analog signals
and produces an RS232-compatible signal which can drive a
Teletype Model 33 directly. Basic wlit price $1,545, with
OEM discounts available . . . Two from the Telecommunications Division of Data Products Corp_ (Woodland, Cal.):

Ana log / Di g ital Coupler fro m DATAcap

Model AU-PSU port-sharing module, a priority of queuing
device for two lines connected to a single computer port;
and the UM-1l3B answer-only modem, a full-duplex unit
compatible with Bell 103 and 113B data sets . . . DataStat
(Sunnyvale, Cal.) has introduced a series of frequency division multiplexers: FDM-1300 handles 12 channels at 134
baud; FDM-1500, 8 channels at 150 baud; F DM-3000, 4 at
300; and FDM-6000, 2 at 600. All are designed for asynchronous data, serial by bit or serial by character . . .
Model 5500 TTY Line Switch from Frederick Electron ics of
Frederick, Md., accepts up to eight full-duplex terminations,
which in tW"n can handle up to foW" simultaneous, full-duplex conversations. The automatic switch works with any 5-,
6-, 7-, or 8-bit asynchronous code and operates at programselectable speeds from 37.5 to 1200 baud. The 5500 is also
programmable· for answer-back codes and call classing . . .
Candalf Data Communications Ltd_ (Ottawa, Ontario) has
added a SO,OOO-baud model to its LDS 200C series of shorthaul "local data sets." Called the LDS 250, the new modem
handles lines up to one mile plus . . . Omnitec Corp. of
Phoenix, Ariz., has a new direct-dial, auto-answer modem,
the Model 4002, for use with teleprinters, available with a
control panel that mounts in Teletype Models 33 or 35 . . .
The new MCU-4 Modem Con ten tion Unit from Penril Data
Communications (Rockville, Md. ) allows a single Penril or
equivalent modem to service up to four nearby terminals.
Tandem operation is also possible. Unit price for the MCU4 is $490, with quantity discounts avail able . . . SEC Electronics, a subsidiary of Comstron Corp. (Richmond Hill,
N.Y.) has announced the availability of the SEG Model FA1755A Digital Delay (Echo) Generator. Offered especially
36

for data communications equipment manufacturing and testing applications, the delay generator simulates the characteristics and impairments of common carrier lines. The
Model FA-1755A operates over a voice channel bandwidth
of 200 to 3400 Hz, has an adjustable delay up to 100 ms in
1-ms steps (up to 2 seconds also available) and provides up
to 49 dB attenuation in I-dB steps. Basic unit price is
$2,975.

ONLINE SOFTWARE - Hewlett-Packard has added ~
. multiterminal access software to its Disc Operating
System. The Terminal Control System (TCS), as the
new software is called, allows concurrent, interactive
access to as much as 47 million bytes of online central
storage. Available terminals include Bell teleprinters,
HP 2600 terminals and the new HP 2762 30-chars / sec

In typical business situation Hewl ett-Packard Termina l
Contro l System software gives many terminals si multaneous , interactive exchange with a ce ntral disc-resident data base as large as 47 mi lli on bytes.

teleprinter. The system can also accommodate mag
tape, line printers, and card readers, A typical system
would include 8 to 16 terminals, Based on the HP
2100 minicomputer, central hardware for a TCSequipped disc Operating System (excluding terminals)
would start at $31,000.

•

•

•

The Programming Methods Division of GTE Information Systems has announced the availability of a new
version of its Intercomm communications monitor.
Known as Intercomm VI, the new monitor offers support for addi tional terminals, CPU-to-CPU transmission, interface to the FBI's National Crime Information Center network, new recovery procedures and
reduced central processor requirements, according to
the supplier.

For more information on Burroughs' small business computer systems, Circle No. 19 on Reader Inquiry Card

~

NOW...
Burroughs technology
offers small

computer
users the
management
information and
control advantages

.available to
larg~ computer users.
.

through leadership in advanced systems design ...

BURROUGHS
... provides complete, ready-to-install systems for better business
management ... including outstanding small computers, operating system software,
and Business Management System application programs.

B 700 SYSTEMS represent a maj or step up in
processing powe r and productivity, and retain
Serie s L operating Simplicity. B 700 Syste ms are
designed to provide a di rect transition from sem iautomatic to fully automatic disk and magnetic
tape files .
Burroughs " audit entry" concept makes data
input easy and promotes accuracy. Data entered
through the console is verified and edited
autom atically ; the console printer creates a
detailed audit trail. Advanced periphe ral units
are available for these systems.
B 700 purchase prices average $50,000; lease
prices average $1 ,250.

SERIES L BUSINESS MINICOMPUTERS
.. . the most widely used such systems in the
world ... are ideal for companies wh ich have
outgrown their present accounting systems.
Easy-to-use Series L's store data on randomly
accessed magnetic memory records which permit
both visual reference and electronic data retrieval.
Options include a magnetic memory record
reader, a line printer, cassette tape stations, 96and 80-column card equipment, and computercompatible magnetic tape for data collection.
A typical L 8000 System costs $25 ,000, or may
be leased for $725 monthly.

.-

PIWRA r.f:O lA H UH A N AlYS I S

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Now, the operating and control information every business needs is
available in a complete, ready-to-install small-system package .
What makes it possible? Burroughs family of technologically advanced small
computers and Burroughs Business Management System application programs.
These small but powerful computers incorporate many of the features and
capabilities found in Burroughs larger computer systems. They are easy to
work with, even for the first-time computer user. Their modularity permits
easy expansion right in step with your data processing requirements.
To complement these computers, Burroughs offers Business Management Systemsinterrelated application programs designed to handle the job of capturing ,
recording and classifying data, and to provide full-range operating and control information.
With a Business Management System , the Burroughs small computer
user can realize immediate productivity, without the delay that new
program development entails and at a small fraction of the cost.
This combination of Burroughs small computers and Business Management
Systems can help you run your business more profitably now, and in the future .

B 1700 SYSTEMS satisfy business management

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS from

requirements and can serve engineering and
production , as well. Like Burroughs larger scale
computers, the B 1700 Systems operate on
multiple data processing jobs at the same time.
Their advanced features include "virtual memory"
operation for high system efficiency, and a Master
Contro l Program for system self-management.
These powerful , 4th-generation systems are
priced in the $100,000 range , and may be leased
for about $2 ,500.

Burroughs BMS TM library include application
programs designed to coordinate management
reporting functions with the accounting activity.
The user can select individual program products,
or a complete BMS system , developed by
Burroughs for his line of business.
This integrated business programing concept
saves time and money, particularly for the
organization that does not normally employ a
professional data processing staff.

lil NIHAI I l l In l l i
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BURROUGHS
has brought together
a complete syste.m package
... that includes sale or lease of the equipment;
licensing of application program products and
Business Management Systems; training in the
use of equipment, system software and
application programs; business forms and
supplies; and maintenance of hardware
and software.
The small computer user can look to
Burroughs as a complete source for his data
processing requirements.

Contact your nearest Burroughs office for
a demonstration.
Or, for additional information, mail your
business card to Mr. Jack Arbour in care of
Burroughs, Detroit 48232.
Or, just call Burroughs Information
Center anytime at (313) 356-8442
and tell us what you want to know. We'll
reply promptly.
.

Burroughs

m

DATACOM NEWS
A SAFETY FIRST - The telecommuni cations industry has become the first illdustry to assist volun tarily the U.S.
Dept. of Labor's Occupational Safety
and Health Administ ration in the development of safety regulations since
OSHA's creation in April 1971, the administration said. The Telecommunications Standards Committee, a vollmteer
group of 28 industry and union representatives, recently presented OSHA
with a list of proposed safety standards
covering such subjects as overhead and
underground lines, microwave transmission, ladders, tools, and insulating
and groundin g devices. The Committee's standards became a part of
the OSHA's official proposal.

TENDER OFFER - Rockwell International has offered to buy all the outstanding shares of Collins Radio, which
Rockwell already controls through a
41 % interest. 1£ Collins stockholders
sell all the shares, Rockwell will pay
ahout $74 milli on. But if Rockwell gets
at least 1.7 million of the 3 million
outstanding shares, it will control 80%
of the firm 's voting stock, including the
preferred shares it already owns. Then
Rockwell could merge with Collins and
take advantage of some $32 million in
tax loss carryforwards Collins has piled
up over the last few years. What's
more, Collins finally turned a profit for
its third quarter of fiscal 1973 ending
last May, and Rockwell fee ls its future
performance will be strong.

HELP - Data 100 has organized a
" communica ti ons sys tems division "
that will ass ist clients in analyzing
data communications problems, implemen ting recommended systems, developing customized hardware/software
packages and managing total dat a
commlmications systems. Two of the
new division's four departmen ts are operational now, according to Data 100:
consulting services, which will help determine clients' communications requirements and define the specifications of appropriate systems; and the
advanced systems group, which will
develop customized, large-scale hardware / software packages. The new services will be ma rke t ed exclUSively
through D ata 100's sales representatives and will be available on a fixedprice or hourly-rate basis.

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in.ald access.
Just add ehese
co your HP minicomputer.
Add a proven floppy disc (and con t roller) to yo ur HP mini. In te rface
it with o ur card s. Then marvel at
how fa st an d inexpensively y ou ca n
get at yo ur data.
$4900 buys the complete package
(along with a complete software
system ). And it mates-up beautifully
w ith your current equipmen t. All
of which mean s you can now upgrade, o r replace, or even outmode
the med iu m yo u've got today-i n a
matter of m inutes .
As a reminder: Floppy discs access
in m illiseconds. Each one stores
over one-quarter million characters.
And t hey t ransfer more t han 30 ,000
ch aracters per seco nd .
Ca ll us.

dicom
715 North Pastoria Avenue , Sunnyvale, California 94086 • (408) 732-1060

CI RC LE NO . 20 ON I NQU I RY CAR D
~

For more in formation on Burroughs'
small business computer systems,
Circle No. 19 on Reader Inqui ry Card

41

$1,070, all for single quantities with
two-year wa rranty .. . CAR-MEL
Electronics of Los Angeles, Cal., has a
desk-top CRT terminal so compact it's
hard to believe. The D-301 " Informer"
weighs only 10 pounds, consumes only
40 watts of power and is fully EIA
compatible, according to the company.
The Informer 's tiny C RT features twolevel intensity and cursor addressing.
For single units, $1,950; lots of 100,
$1,055; 250, $950 . .. The Communication Systems Di,vision (Lynchburg,
Va.) of General Electric now offers
pedestal versions of its TermiNet 300
and 1200 teleprinters. The pedestalm o unt e d t e rmin a i s a r e ( n o t s urprisingly) about the size of a Tele type
Mode l 33 and have option a l sh e lf
space for modems or what-have-you.
All existing options are available in the
new versions. By the way, the everpopular TermiNe t 300 is now marketed by Hewlett-Packard as the HP
Model 2762A for $4,775 including software. Interface hardware is $750 . . .
The Model l00F CRT Copier from
Photophysics of Mountain View, Cal.,
records a display image on 8 1h" X 11"
paper in eight seconds or less, according to the company. The l00F acce pts

DATACOM NEWS
TERMINALS: H ere's a nother series of
CRT display controllers from Ann Arbor Terminals (Ann Arbor, Mich.): The
R0200C Parallel Display Controllers
read 7-bit parallel ASC II data at up to
1620 chars/sec from a data bus or a
peripheral and deliver EIA standard
525-line composite video. Prices: 32x16
characters, $790; 80x16, $940; 80x24,

CAR-MEL Electroni cs' 0- 301 Informer:
Is everything rea ll y in there?
And w here's the ca bl e?

AREVDUR
TERMINAL ~
NEEDS UNIGUE?

GE TermiNet 300 Teleprinter
in pedestal mount

EIA standard RS 170 video signals, uses
a large-area photocell to produce a
negative, and then prints a positive
with an image area up to 8" X 9 lh"
. . . RCA's Electromagnetic and Aviation Systems Division (Van Nuys, Cal.)
has announced a new line of intelligent CRT terminals. The . Flexiterm
family, as the new line is called, utilizes the Fleximite special-purpose microprocessor developed by the RC A division . . . Sanders Data Systems is
offe ring three new IBM-compatible intellige nt terminal syste ms, coll ecti vely

•

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CIRCLE NO . 21 ON INQUIRY CARD

42

MODERN DATA / NOVEMBER 19 7 3

called the Series 8000. Two stand-alone
systems, the 8040 and 8041, have cassette tape storage and handle EBCDIC
and ASCII respectively. The clustered
8100 disc system uses EBCDIC. All
have omine data capture capability,
lots of keyboard editing features, and
remote batch communication. One feature Sanders is emphasizing is the ability to create formats and predefine
data at the terminal without mainframe reprogramming. The Series 8000
uses the same line discipline as the
IBM 2770 RJE terminal, making it
compatible with HASP and BT AM,
QT AM, and TeAM access methods.
Prices: 8040 and 8041 lease for $300 to
$320/month, depending on the agreement, and sell for $12,800. The 8100
leases for $735 to $775/month and sells
for $31,000 . . . Terminal Communications of Raleigh, N.C., has two new 30charslsec receive-only printers: the
TC-240, compatible with IBM
2740/2741; and the TC-235, an attachment to Terminal Communications'
TC-60/160 and its other data display
systems. Both printers are offered with
two factory-programmed fixed formats
(customer-selected at time of order)
and one free-form format.

Communications Technology
puts a fox in your pocket .

TEST EQUIPMENT: The "Fox
Box," a battery-operated signal generator from Communications Technology of Timonium, Md., generates
and transmits a 64-character "fox
message" (i.e., "The quick brown
fox . . . ") for remote testing of terminals, lines, or what-have-you.
More formally called the TG-548,
the new shirt-pocket-size tester
transmits in async Baudot format at
switch-selectable rates of 45.45, 50
and 75 baud . . . For isolating interface problems between modems
and terminals, the Dataseeker series
from Dataprobe (South Hackensack,

N.J.) allows electrical access to each
of the 25 leads in a standard EIA
interface cable. Prices start at
$132.50 '"
Telecommunications
Technology of Sunnyvale, Cal., has
announced the 1l03B Transmission
Test Set, a successor to the firm 's
1l03A. The new set has a digital
dBm meter , digital frequency
counter and tunable oscillator, and
adds a noise protection filter and
damping switch. In addition, the
measurement frequency range has
been extended to 25 Hz through 60
kHz.

Telecommunications Technology's
improved test set

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the u.s. Army, this new manual contains invaluable tips
that can make the difference between winning or losing
Federal bid proposals.
For example, the material on pricing and bidding
strategy gives a complete demonstration on what effects
various pricing structures have on proposal evaluation
and offers practical solutions on how to price structure
a bid proposal.
Everything a vendor has to know in order to sell
successfully to the Federal market is contained in
this guide.
For details write:
Government Marketing Guide

MODERN DATA
3 Lockland Avenue
Framingham, Mass. 01701

.. . SO

you

don't lose it,
BIT-BY -BIT.
Power
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System · protects against outages .. . provides compl ete voltage, frequency and transient control. It's backed by Emerson Electric
and features all solid-state des ign .
Get the full information . Call or write

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INDUSTR IAL CONTROLS DIVISION

CIRCLE NO . 22 ON INQUIRY CARD
MODERN DATA l NOVEMBER 1973

43

I

a

I

(
STUDIES
In a recent survey of subscribers to Datapro 70, Datapro Research
Corp . found more th an eight out of ten users of data modems satisfied w ith the reliabil ity and performance of the hardware and
with the associ ated maintenence service. The Datapro survey also
found that users of Bell System modems were not significantly
more nor less pleased wi th various aspects of their equipment than
users of in dependents ' modems . The 36-page report , which also
compares the characterist ics of more than 225 modems from 48
suppliers, compil es the responses of 216 users with a total of
11.474 installed modems : 2 ,631 Bell System units and 8 ,843
from independent su ppliers. All About Modems is available fo r
$10 per copy from Datapro Research Corp ., One Corpora te Center,
Route 38, Moorestown, N.J. 0 8057 .
Frost & Sullivan expects the market for special ized carriers' transmission se rv ices to expand 5 .2 times from $1.4 5 billi o n in 1972
to $ 7 .6 billion in 1980 . To cater to t his ra pidly-ex pandin g market ,
specialized carriers wi ll purchase more than $ 500 mi llion in t ransmission equipment in the eight years to 1980, the m arket resea rch organization predicted . In its new two-vo lume repo rt , Th e
Specialized Communications Market (avail able from th e comp any 's
offices at 10 6 Fulton St. , N. Y. c. 1003 8) . Frost & Sulli va n also
pointed to a " revolutio n" in t he indepe nd ent co mmunicati ons
manufacturing industry, resu lt in g in part from th e growth of specialized data communicatio ns. t he advent of MOS / LSI tec hnolo gy,
the favorable government attitude towards competit ion. t he movement of large numbers of non-te lephone peop le into th e f ield . an d
the rapidly-growi ng size of the market fo r ind ependent co mmuni cations equipment and its resul ta nt poss ibili t ies f or eco nomy of sca le
and significant R& D funds .
And one more in the makin g : Quantum Scie nce Corp . has bee n
co mmissioned by a gro up of telecommunicati ons equipme nt manu facturers and users to perform a detailed stu dy of t he technology
of. and markets for. such eq ui pment th ro ugh 198 0 . In describi ng
the future study. Qu antu m Science already so un ds as opti mi stic as
Frost & Sull ivan - it sees the entry of new carrie rs as a m ajor factor in the expa nsion of th e tota l communicatio ns equi pment market . with annual sa les exceeding $800 million by 1980 . Th ose
who wish to pa rt icipate in the study should co ntact Eli S . Lurin,
Director of Marketing, Quantum Science Corp ., 2 45 Park Avenue,
New York, N. Y. 1001 7.

NAVY SATELLITE PROJECT - The
FCC has given preliminary approval
for RCA Global Communications, ITT
World Communications and Western
Union International Corp. to participate in a three-satellite communications project for the U.S. Navy and
commercial maritime companies. The
three carriers will enter a joint venture
with Communications Satellite Corp.
(Comsat), which proposed the project
and will provide 80.2% of the $76 million investment. Applications for construction permits and a formal
operating agreement among the participants are still awaiting Commission
action.
44

KEEPING TRACK - Grand Trunk
Western Railroad will have a completely automated information network
to locate and identify its rolling stock
by April 1975. The network, to be installed by ACI Systems Corp. of South
Holland, Ill., is designed around 61 Automatic Car Identification (ACI) scanners, which optically read colored
identification labels on passing cars.
Placed at key traffic and yard locations
throughout Grand Trunk's 3O@.mile
line, the ACI scanners, along with
wheel roll-over sensors, will relay locator information back through 12 field
computers to 'two IBM S/370's in the
railroad's Detroit headquarters.

DOMESTIC lIT MICROWAVE? ITT, which never seems to do anything
without creating or buying a new subsidiary, may have had one too many.
The international communications conglomerate wants to enter the domestic
microwave business via a newly-formed
subsidiary, U.S. Transmission Systems.
It's not just that that name doesn't
sound right when juxtaposed with " International Telephone and Telegraph,"
but that the FCC (or the JuStic Department?) will probably think the
connection doesn't make legal sense either. Although no action has yet been
taken on U.S. Transmission's recent application to build the first portion of a
proposed New York-to-Houston microwave network, specialized carrier MCI
Telecommunications is already saying
that, as the parent of ITT World Com~unications, ITT would seem to be
barred from the U.S. market by FCC
rules. And it looks like Western Union
Corp. may also raise an objection. Giant ITT says it would mainly seek the
business of smaller users, since it sees
stiffer competition from AT&T in the
heavy-user market where Bell gives big
discounts. The giant firm also believes,
probably with good reason, that its
competence in the U.S. microwave
market has been enhanced because it
has learned from the problems encoun~"-'
tered by current contestants in the microwave race.

TEKTRONIX SOFTWARE - Inspired
by the U.S. Census Bureau's Census
Method X-II (CMX-I1), Tektronix' new
Plot-lO/ Decision-M aker business graphics software package is a report-generating statistical analysis and forecasting
system for the nonprogrammer. It's usable on the firm 's 4010 family of CRT
display terminals and 4610 printers.
Another Tektronix package , Plot10/ Advanced Graphing II, has been
added to General Electric's Management AnalysiS and Projection (MAP)
Services.

FREE! - Under a six-month contract,
high-speed users of General Electric's
MARK III timesharing service whose
monthly ~ab is more than $2,000 will
get to use a DATA 100 Model 70 terminal at no charge. GE has also announced that the Mohawk Data
Sciences Model 2400 programmable
terminal is now qualified for use on the
2000-baud service.
MODERN DATA / NOVEMBER 1973

DATACOM NEWS

· DO IT YOURSELF - One way of avoiding
carrier interface hassles as well as the expense
of routing cables through urban areas is offered
by Optical Communications, In c. of Orlando,
Fla. OCl's Model LDL Optical Data Link is
just that - a means of transmitting synchronous
data on a line-of-sight pa th at rates up to 1.544
megabits/sec. A comple te full-duplex system,
comp r isi n g tw o i nfr a -r e d l ase r tr a n smitter/receivers and two interface units (shown
at left) sells fo r $9,600 and can be delivered in
45 days.

SWITCHING SYSTEM - A store-and-forward
message switching system designed for brokerage firms that do not maintain large-scale, inhouse computers has been announced by Bunker
Ramo's Information Services Division. Called
Central Communications Switcher (CCS), the
system has a line capaci ty of four full- duplex
multidrop (up to 32 stations each) private circuits. The CCS can also handle six lower-speed
multidrop circuits for teletypewriter-oriented
systems. Basic equipment at the user's central
site includes a communica tions processor, a cassette tape unit, a message log printer, and a supervisory C RT / printer console. Each branch or
other remote location requires a CRT terminal
and printer linked to the central site via a programmable control unit. C entral site configurations start at $735/month.

***
Bunker Ra mo is also entering into a joint venture with Dow Jones to provide a service called
DJ News / Recall. To be distributed by BR, the
new service will allow access via BR Market
Decision System 7 CRT te rm inals to a data base
of recent news headlines in Dow Jones publications. A user of the service ente rs an alphabetic
symbol identifying a company, industry, or government agency, and the C RT displays the
headlines of the five most recent news stories on
the subject during the previous 90 days on the
Dow Jones broadtape or in the Wall Street Journal or BarTOn 's W eekly. Full text is also available via CRT on demand.
MODERN DATAl NOVE MBER 19 7 3

CONTRACTS, ETC.: Collins Radio will install a $500,000 GVS150 Automatic Call Distribution system at Continental Airlines'
Houston Reservation Center. The digital ACD system will replace
existing electromechanical equipment . . . Interdata has a $l-million-plus contract from Data Transmission Company (DAT RAN)
to supply " New Series" Model 55 data communications concentrators for the Teamsters Information T erminal and Accounting
Ne t~ork (TITAN) which DATRAN is building for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The concentrators will link
terminals to a Honeywell Series 6000 computer at the Teamsters'
Washington, D .C., data base. The contract is one of the largest in
Interdata's history . . . The City of New York has signed a contract with Kustom Electronics (Chanute, Kansas) for $400,000
worth of police data communications gear including 20 MCT-lO
mobile CRT terminals for patrol cars . . . Under a contract that
could go as high as $2.8 million over several years, Mohawk Data
Sciences will supply 67 of its Syste m 2400 intelligent terminals to
the U.S. Army's Automated T elecommunications Centers . . . The
Connecticut National Bank of Bridgeport has installed a Periphonics BANK-COMM 7 P rogrammable F ront End Processor and
VOICEPAC 2000 Audio Response Unit linked to the bank's IBM
S/ 370 Model 145 . . . RCA Gl.o bal Communications and RCA
Alaska Communications have awarded contracts worth $4.6 million to two -suppliers for the manufacture and installation of three
e arth stations in the RCA subsidiaries' dom~stic communications
satellite system. Comtech Laboratories will get $2.2 million to
build earth stations at or near New York City, San F rancisco, and
Los Angeles. General Electric's Space Division will supply $2.4
million worth of single-channel-per-carrier equipment for the
earth stations. RCA Globcom and Alascom have leased transponders on Telesat Canada's Anik II satellite as an interim measure. An RCA-owned spacecraft is planned for mid-1975 launch.

GIVE, AMER ICA! - It all started w ith the Candy·
gram in 1959 - Western Union got into the gift
business . For gift givers concerned about tooth decay, the quaint old telegraph company later added
the Dollygram . Those ideas made a few bucks all
right, but recently Western Union Corp., now hip
and diversified , has unwrapped the plan of plans : 16
gifts, from golf balls to popcorn poppers, all orderable via a toll -free WATS number and hand·delivered
by the nearest of 5500 local merchants . Charge t he
price, from $15 to $45 plus $ 2 . 73 service charge ,
on your major credit card (how else?) . The " only-in·
America " service is offered by Western Union Corp .' s
newly-formed GiftAmerica subsidiary, which has a
Burroughs B6700 and umpteen terminals in St .
Louis for order entry, inventory control , billing and
even credit card validation . B'u t don ' t laugh yet - no
less a market research authori ty than BOOl, All en &
Hamilton says GiftAmerica ' s " got it in spades ."

45

CONVERSATIONAL
TERMINALS

COPE 1200 Series RBT

REMOTE BATCH TERMINAL SYSTEM

A better
communications system.

"

No matter what mainframe you ' re using ,
you can build a better data
communications system with COPE
terminals , cont rollers and periphe rals.
Start at your CPU and add a COPE
Communications Controller. Choose a
COPE 4705 to front-end your 360/ 370.
It's an enhanced alternate for the IBM
3705 at IQwer cost. Or specify our COPE
65 for full-duplex operation at up to
50 Kbps to your Univac 1108, CDC 6000
or IBM 360/ 370. Both controllers allow
you to realize the utmost in effi ciency
from your big computer.
Next, for your remote location , there 's
just one choice in remote batch
terminals-the COPE 1200. Latest in a
broad line of COPEs, the 1200 provides
an extremely high rate of throughput
using ordinary voice-grade telephone or
Telpak lines. COPE 1200 provides your
most cost-effective , reliable access to
your big computer.
Then you need to surround your
COPE terminal with the peripherals that
will do the best job for your application.
COPE has card readers from 150 to
1200 cpm . Line printers from 50 to 1500
Ipm . Card punches up to 200 cpm . Mag
tape-7 or 9 track-200 , 556 , 800 or
1600 bpi .
You can choose half- or full -duplex '
communications modems operating on
voice-grade telephone circuits from
2 Kbps to 50 Kbps. And from multiple
communications interfaces: ordinary
voice-grade lines, co-axial cable or
Telpak lines.

Plus , COPE offers both Telet ype and
CRT consoles fo r operator I/ O control
and a line of ind ustry-com patible
conversat iona l keybo ard t ermi nal s.
When you put it all together, you ' ll
find COPE provides the most flexible ,
modular, cost-effective data
communications system in the industry.
And backs it up with complete software
services and full maintenance by an
expert Field Engineering Department
with offices conven iently located
throughout the U.S. and in Canada.
To find out more abo ut our tota l
systems capabil ity, call your nearest
Harris Communi cat ion Systems , Inc.,
office or contact the home off ice listed
below.
r ----------- - --~~

TO : Harri s Co mmun ication Systems. Inc.
11 262 Ind ia n Trail / P. O. Box 44076
Dal las, Texas 75234 (214 ) 241 -055 1
Please send more information on COPE
Communication Systems.
I'm especially inte rested in you r:

o COP E 4705

o COP E 1200 Series RBTs
o COP E 1000 Series
I

Commu nications
Control ler

portable keyboard
terminals

o COP E 65

Communications
Controlle r

LJ Please Have a
Salesman Con tact Me

Name

I

Street
State

I
I
I
I
I

Telephon e

Compa ny

City

I
I
I
I
II

Zi p

I
I

L_______________ J

HARRIS
~

COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, INC.
a
sub s i dia r y
of
H arris- In te r ty p e
C o rp o r a ti o n
11 262 Indi an TraiI/ P.O. Box 44076/ Dallas . Texas 75234 (2 14) 24 1-0551
Canada : 1400 Don Mills Road/ Don Mills, Ontario (416) 449-8571

MODERN DATA / NOVEMBER 197 3

CIRCLE NO . 23 ON INQUIRY CARD

47

COMMUNICATIONS CLINIC

HiLo RATES
Last February AT&T filed an application for permissIOn to
file revisions to Tariff FCC 260 in respect to the offerings
and pricing of voice-grade private line services. The revisions would establish 370 ra te cen ters (i.e., specific locations
for calculation of rate mileage) between which channels
would be classed as high density (HiD). Channels between
these HiD rate centers and all other rate centers would be
classed as low density (LoD). A third category, short haul,
would be any service where the total channel mileage is 25
miles or less, regardless of whether the route is high or low
density. The mileage rates for the three types of channels
would be constan t at $.85, $2.50, and $3.00 respectively.
The application is a response to the price competition of
the specialized common carriers. The latter are offering services prinCipally between large cities since such routes
presently carry the heaviest loads and represent the greates t
future marke ts. The fact that they are heavily loaded means
AT&T already has high density facilities on these routes.
Because of this, AT&T claims lower costs to serve them,
both now and on an incremental expansion basis. This is
their rationale for proposing the lower ra tes they believe
necessary as a com pe titive response. Without them, they
claim that lost private line revenues will, by 1976, require
$lOO-million in compensating revenues from other services,
principally long distance.
As of late July, the permission to file had not ye t been
granted. The unusual requirement to obtain permission
stems from the FCC's prohibition against filin gs which
would "unduly disrupt or delay the conclusion" of proceedings in the private line rate case. AT&T claims that HiLo
will not disrupt tha t proceeding since the changes "do not
contemplate a change in the overall rate level for the involved services. " As precedent they cite the Commission's
permission to Western Union to file competitive rates on
the C hicago to St. Louis route.
Perhaps Western Union's filing is only a kind of misdemeanor whereas AT&T's is felonious, since the requested
p ermission seems nowh e re in sight. Th e situation has
evolved into a standoff. AT&T stated they would provide

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 Associetes, Inc.
Church Road
Roland Avenue
Moorestown, New Jel1ley 08057

a.

48

detailed cost and market data required with a filin g when
they actually fil e. Th e Common Carrier Bureau requested
that material as an input to their decision on the permisSion
issue. AT&T agreed provided it would be treated as confidential until the filing. The Bureau said that would be possible after reviewing the material but would give no prior
guarantees. In consequence, the permission application is in
abeyance, the Commission's request for public comment has
been postponed indefinite ly, and AT&T has appealed the
Bureau's position to the Commission itself. Granting of even
that appeal has been opposed by Western Union, MCI, Datran, and the major press services.
Certainly we won't see HiLo in effect this year. In fact,
the entire private line services area is so stirred up that any
projection on stability or changed ra tes is highly conjectural.
Issues pending in addition to HiLo include the private line
rate case, rates for DDS (Dataphone Data Service), hybrid
service suppliers, rates for domestic satellite service, and the
single customer docket. Nevertheless, the concepts of HiLo
are significant. Should AT&T eventually achieve some form
of major restlUctming, HiLo will certainly be an important
shaping factor.
In addition to high and low density routes and rate centers, some other new concepts are inb'oduced:
Homing Point - A designated HiD rate center through
which a LoD rate cen ter can access HiD chan nels. Each
LoD rate center would be aSSigned a homing point in Tariff
FCC 255, the present list of rate centers and central offices.
High Density Service Point - A high denSity rate center in
which a station on the customer's service is located.
Channel Terminal - The facilities required to terminate a
channel at a rate center; required at each end of each link.
Station Terminal - The facilities required for connecting a
channel to the customer's station.
Routing - The customer must speCify the routing of services between stations. Consider the two-station service
from Chambersbmg, Pa., to Youngstown, Ohio, shown in
Fig. 1. The r outing could be a LoD channel from Chambersbmg direct to Youngstown. For this case, the former
routing is much less expensive, but this is not always the
case, as is shown in Fig. 2. Indeed, Fig. 2 shows a case
where any HiLo routing is more costly than present rates.
Another as pect of HiLo routing is that one may access
HiD channels only at a Homing Point or at a HiD Service
Point. In Fig. 1, the annual mileage charges would be $546
MODERN DATA / NOVEMBER 1973

int

o
(Youngstown)

FIGURE 1
ALT
(Altoona)

Sellment

~
CH
(Chambersburg) ~

./

Station
Terminal

Channel
Terminal

Mileage
Cost

Total
Cost

25
25

30.00
70.00

117.50
225 .25

172.50
320.25
492.75

CH -HAR
HAR-YNGST

47

ATL
(Atlanta)

FIGURE 2
Seament

Station
Terminal

Channel
Terminal

Mileage
Cost

FLA-MBL
MBL-ATl

25
25

30
70

262 .50
255 .85

Tota l
Cost
317 .50

,/ '221

350.85
--

,/
,/

668.35

./'

or-FLA-ATl

50

30

./'

552 .50

-105~LA

632 .50

Under the present privat e line rate. an FOX-Type 3002 service
from FLA to ATL would cost $488 .40

(Florala)

MBL
(Mobile)

FIGURE 3

"

34"~

MNR\..:J
(Monroe)
165

INO
(I ndianapolis)

21

FKN
(Franklin)

'~

Sellment

Station
Terminal

Channel
Terminal

Mileage
Cost

Total
Cost

25.00
25.00
25.00

70.00
70.00
30.00
70.00
30.00

351 .05
140.25
52 .50
201 .45
85 .00

446 .05
235.25
107.50
271 .45
140.00
1200.25

MKC-CHI
CHI -INO
INO-FKN'
CHI-OET
OET-MNR

25 .00

Under present rates. an FOX-Type 3002 service from MKCCHIFKN-MNR would cost $1617.17
"This route is not short haul since the total service exceeds 25 miles.

0

The following is a summary of rates, and an explanation of
symbols (see box at right) for the figures.
HiD Channel .... ................ .............. $
.85 per mile per month
LoO Channe!.. .. .. .......... .. ................ $ 2 .50 per mile per month
Short Haul Channel .. .......... .. .. .. ..... $ 3 .00 per mile per month
HiD Channel Terminal ............ .. .. .. .. $35 .00 per month
LoO Channel Termina!.. ............ .. .... $15 .00 per month
Short Haul Channel
Terminal .. .. .............. .. ................. $ 3 .00 per month
HiO Station Term inal ...... .. .. .. ......... $25 .00
LoO Station Terminal .................. ... $25.00
Short Haul Station
Terminal .. .... ........ .... .......... ........ . $15 .00

HiD Rate Center

0
:J

HiD Channel Terminal

0

LoD Channel Ter m inal

I
f-----f
I

I

LoD Rate Center

HiD Channel
LoD Channel

S Customer's Station
H Homing Point

MODERN DATA / NOVEMBER 1973

49

COMMUNICATIONS CLINIC
less if one could route Chambersburg to the HiD rate center, Altoona. This is no t possible, however, since Altoona is
not a HiD Homing Point for Chambersburg, nor a HiD Service Point for the customers ' service .
H ence, HiLo introduces new complexities into network
synthesis and may require routings which are not the leas tcos t poss ibility und er th e circum stan ces. Acco rd in g to
AT&T, the latter is attributable to the fac t that homing
pOints are assigned generally on the basis of existing facilities. That is, in the Fig. 1 case they may have facilities between C hambersburg and Harrisburg, but none directly between Ch a mbe rsburg and Altoona. Sin ce th ey wo uld,
however, allow a direct routing if Altoona had a station on
the service, their rationale is moderately shaky. As network

designers will have enough trouble with HiLo per se, we
would certainly like to see eliminated the restriction on
which HiD centers one can route to in order to access HiD
channels.
Figures 2 & 3 illustrate some other net work arrangements
and their pricing under HiLo. W e are indebted to the Ce nter for Co-m munications Management, 67 South Franklin
Turnpike, Ramsey, New Jersey, 07446, for permission to reproduce these two figures. They are taken from several examples in the Center's detailed research report on HiLo,
available at $30.00, and well worth the cost in our opinion.
For those interested, Berglund Associates will supply a list
of all proposed high density rate centers upon receipt of letter request. Please enclose $2.00 to cover reproduction,
postage, and handling. Copies of AT&T's proposed list of
rate cente rs and associated HiD homing pOints are also
available prepaid at $2.00 pe r state. The complete set (187
..
pages) is offered at $50.00.

DATACOM

Q

CICS

Q&A

WHAT IS IT?
Inquiry

A

CICS (Customer Information Control Syste m) is a popular data base/data communications program product licensed by IBM which
facilitates terminal management, routing, time
management, in-transit queue management, and
network supervision. It provides the capabilities
shown in the figure, and operates under OS and
DOS (including the VS verSions), and with
BTAM or TCAM (MODERN DATA, Feb., 1973).
CICS simplifies the communications interface
between user-written application programs and
the operating system by allowing message processing routines to be written in COBOL, PL/1,
or assembly language. Data base operations that
can be handled by standard methods are easily
supported, but if the data base structure is complex, IMS (Information Management System) is
more suitable. This has led most users to consider CICS as a data communication monitor
only.

Data

Order

Order

IBM 360/370
Operating System

Customer Information
Control System

Applications
Programs

Data
Base
Gary Audin is a director of system projects for I nformatics Inc., River Edge, N.J., and is a regular contributor to this column.

CICS Data Base/Data Communications System
50

MODERN DATA / NOVEMBER 1973

Now you can have
key-to-disk and RJE
going in one system.
Concurrently.

,

--

--~ -

..

System 2400 invites you to forget
scheduling hassles.
You can have an RJE terminal available
full time. You can access about any major mainframe
you wish, and do it at speeds as fast as your communication lines can move the bytes.
At the same time, your operators can
key data to disk uninterrupted. From up to 24
stations. With all the efficiencies of tutorial key
display and edit-as-you-go intelligence, of course.
Consider it two systems for the rental
of one, because that's what System 2400 delivers.
Consider, too, the other System 2400
options for your RJE site. On- or offline printing, editing,
media conversion, your own programming. They're
all available today or as you need them with a minimum
of added hardware and a growing library of software.
System 2400 goes together your way,
so you master today's needs and are more than
ready for tomorrow's.
Call us, and well put it all in terms
of your requirements. That's how MDS has grown to
have a user list second only to IBM. Phone your local
MDS representative or call headquarters at (315) 792-2424.
Mohawk Data Sciences Corp.,
Utica, N. Y. 13503.

·Plug tllis High-Speed Digital Cassette
-riger into your punched tape system
New Remex Punched
Tape Emulator
boosts speed
four times,
storage capacity
ten times!

.' .'

.

.\."

I

Fully interchangeable with
punched tape units, this new
P.T.E. digital cassette system
now offers added speed,
capacity and convenience,
with absolutely no change in
interface equipment or
software programming. It can
turn any punched tape system
into a digital tiger!
The Remex P.T.E. offers
simultaneous read/write capability in a two-drive system,
with completely asynchronous
operation from 0 to 300 cps.
Storage capacity is 1.6 million
bits per cassette, the equivalent of ten 130-foot punched
tapes.

Built-in microprocessor adds
flexibility. A microprocessor
functions as a small computer
in the control logic. This
permits program stacking with
a dial-in automatic file search,
TTY or RS-232-C capability
and internal automatic tape
duplication. It also offers
off-line capabilities, allowing
key-to-cassette, cassette-toprinter, and punched tape-tocassette operation.
Reliability plus convenience.
Tre Remex P.T.E. assures high
data reliability, with less than
one error per 108 bits. Designed
to the new proposed ANSI and
ECMA standards, it can be

used with minicomputers, data
communications terminals,
NC, communications and test
equipment to enhance the performance of a data system.
Automatic tape rewind before
unload assures maximum data
protection.
For details on performance
and low price of this new
Punched Tape Emulator, contact REMEX, 1733 Alton St.,
Santa Ana, Calif. 92705.
Call (714) 557-6860. In Europe,
contact S.P.A. Microtecnica,
Torino, Italy.

We work with you!

I(EMEX · .

A UNIT OF

"XLCY
~

~®

EX-CELL·O CORPORATION

52

CIRCLE NO. 25 ON INQUIRY CARD

MODERN DATA / NOVEMBER 1973

PRODUCT PROFILE

SMALL BUSINESS SYSTEMS.

Q's & A's For Prospective Users '~
Anthony S . N iskanen and Oscar H . Rothenbuecher
A rthur D. Little, Inc., . Cambridge, Mass .

ARE Y OU A GOOD PROSPECT?
The authors have reversed their usual roles as - market reo
search consultants to computer system s builders, i.e., identifying new markets or prospects for systems manufacturers .
Their goal in this Profile is to use their experience to prov ide guidelines for the prospective user - helping him determine if he is a true candidate for a small business system
and what type of system best fits his needs .

New systems for the small user abound in today's computer
marketplace - a result of hardware-software design talent
being combined with improved, lower cost technologies.
Evolving at a fast rate, these systems are breaking down the
conventional product categories which define hardware by
functions, such as "key-to-disc," " remote batch," " intelligent
terminals," "business computers," or "accounting machines."
What emerges is a continuum of systems that possess the
potential to do a wide variety of tasks. For the prospective
user / b uyer of such small systems, the choices turning up almost daily are bewildering.
The first suggestion to be made to the prospective user is
t o look at these produ.cts last! Look first at yourself and your
own business operation.

Anthony S. Ni ska nen is a staff member w ith
Arthur D. Littl e primari l y e ng aged
in prod uct, market, and co rporate p lann ing
studi es associated w ith the information
processing indu st ry. H is rece nt work has in·
cluded a study of trends in the development
of computer peripherals and systems, and
an eva l uat ion of the impact of computer
t ec hnol ogy on the data entry and business
f orms indu stri es . He ho lds a B. A. from
Amher st Co ll ege and an M. A. from the
University of Massachusetts.

MO DE RN DATA l NOVE M BER 1973

The selection process about to be described is what most
good salesmen follow for "qualifying a prospect" belOl'e
making a sale. It works on a question and answer basis. A
majority of " Yes" answers implies a good prospect who will
probably be a happy cus tomer. A predominant number of
"No's" deno tes a poor prospect who will mos t assuredly be
an unhappy customer.
A string of "Yes" answers does not guarantee a sale or
customer bliss. It does, however, improve the odds that both
the salesman's and the prospect's time will be well spent in
pursuing further product proposals and evaluations. With
this caveat in mind, the following questions are posed to determine if you are a good prospect for a small business computer (SBC) system.
ONE : Can you organizationally justify an SBC?
Answer " No " if your small operating lmit (sales office, ad-

minist rative office, warehouse) is part of a large corporate or
gove rn men t organization with a n umber of simil ar operating
wlits. You will find it less time consuming and much more
profitable to seek the aid of the member of your corporate
EDP staff who is responsible for planning. This individual

Asa sen ior staff member of ADL's Informa·
tion Systems Section, M r . Rothenbu echer
has design ed and eva luated co mput er sys·
t ems for users i n the U.S. and overseas. Be·
for e jo ining AD L , he was responsib le for th e
design of VW's Nationa l Computer Servi ce.
While w ith Remington Rand Un ivac, he was
in charge of i ntroducing severa l of th e first
commercial EDP syst em s i n Europe. Mr.
Rothenbuecher has a B.A . from Montana
State Un ivers ity, and an M.A . in I ndu st r ial
Organ ization from Frankfurt Un iversity.

53

MODERN DATA'S TECHFILE SERVICE is up-dated
periodically to give you finger-tip access to the latest in
technology, relevant data on available products, and an
up-to-date list of suppliers.
The Reports are supplied with a beautiful loose-leaf binder
with topic dividers to keep the data organized for easy
reference.

The Minicomputer TechFile is organized into seven sections:

Order your year's subscription now on a 30-day free
examination basis.
Quantity discounts are available.

,-

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(Other)
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(Other)
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(Other)

2. Characteristics - Tabulations and summaries on the
performance features of mini mainframes, peripherals,
and systems.

4. Developments - Recent product introductions and recent
news events relevant to minicomputer technology and
applications

Modern Data Services, Inc'!Techfiles
One Lockland Avenue, Framingham, Mass. 01701

Please enter my subscription to your TechFile Service on
Minicomputers as checked below.

1. Basic Review - A basic tutorial description of the
operation and applications of minicomputers and
minicomputer systems.

3. Market Data - Number of minicomputers in use,
applications, and pricing trends.

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

- - - -

To:

Send To:
NAME _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

TITLE

COMPANY _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
DIV . OR DEPT.

5. Literature - Data sheet literature on minicomputer
mainframes, peripherals, and systems.

STREET _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ___

6. Directory - Up-to-date listing of manufacturers and their
local sales offices.

CITY _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ STATE ____

7. Index - Ties together all sections for easy cross-referenci ng
to manufacturers and products.

(Orders submitted without check or purchase order should be
on Company letterhead .)

L...._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _- - ' __

54

ZIP ___

_

_

_

_

_____ -

__ -

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

MODERN DATA / NOVEMBER 1973

PRODUCT PROFILE
has the combined advantages of being trained to perform
system analyses; of being familar with your organization, its
procurement policies, and current systems in use; and, most
important, of being able to examine system tradeoffs - exploring the pro's and con's of such alternatives as remote intelligent data entry devices, "slave" remote batch terminals,
a series of independent "stand-alone" systems, or a network
of interconnected small systems.
Don' t hesitate to call the systems planner. Your knowledge of your own operation and system requirements will be
of critical importance in planning - and in making the
right choice.
Answer " Yes" if your operating unit is "one of a kind," a
specialized department within a larger organization, or an
independent small business.
TWO : Can you cost-j ustify an SSC?

Answer "No " if your organization has less than six clerical,
managem ent, or accounting personnel. If so, you probably
don't have a sufficient work flow and/or displaceable general and administrative expenses to justify a general purpose
SBC. Although systems can rent for as little as $300 per
month, average rentals are closer to $800 to $1000 per
month. Associated labor, supplies, and overhead can add
from two to three times the hardware rental to total costs.
Answer "Yes " if you presently employ over six white collar personnel or expect to within the next year.
THREE : Is your present system obsolete?

Answer "No" if your operation is functioning smoothly using:

A manual system that can handle a variety of tasks and
services.
A service bureau (either online or batch) that specializes
in your palticular industry and has a number of fully-developed packages for your major applications.
One or more bookkeeping machines. Research tends to
support the view that bookkeeping machines are quite effective fo~ small users. Volume may be increased by the addition of another machine, orientation to individual transaction entries, and tub-file manual storage is easy to
understand, and new and increasingly sophisticated bookkeeping machines are entering the market at a high rate.
Answer "Yes " if you use:

Tabulating equipment (a resounding "Yes").
A manual system serviced by eight or more employees
which is not meeting information-handling needs.
A general purpose service bureau for only one or two applications, where billings approach the $300 to $500 per
month level.
FOUR : Are you the right kind of person for an SSC?

Answer " No " if:

You do not require management reporting capabilities beyond those of your present system. Without this need you
will probably find that an SBC is more trouble than it's
worth.
You are not willing - and cannot inspire your employees
to be willing - to accept modified operating procedures.
CIRCLE NO . 26 ON INQUIRY CARD
MODERN DATA / NOVEMBER 1973

55

The worst computer system designs seen in operation are
usually the result of forcing the new system to conform to
old procedures. The user cannot understand why his system
is inefficient, and good programmers avoid such systems like
the plague.
You are not willing to invest the time and effort to study
the system and learn about its operation, and to either train
a key employee or hire a knowledgeable operator who will
be responsible for the system.
Answer "Yes" if you're still with us.

If you are heavily on the " Yes" side of the ledger at this
point, you're probably a good candidate for an SBC system.
Those who aren't quite sure of their status should also count
themselves in (for the sake of simplicity, the questions were
slanted towards the "No" side).

SElECTING THE SYSTEM
The SBC system field is populated by a large number of
companies and models. The fact that many names may not
be familiar is not necessarily a disqualifier. Because of the
fragmented nature of the user market, specialization in a
specific industry/ application is quite common.
Most of the systems on the market today use similar - if
not identical - hardware components. Differences are primarily in systems software and applications packages, and
reflect an orientation towards a specific industry. information processing procedures within a particular industry have
many common elements applicable to all firms in the industry. A systems design house can therefore develop and mar-

CONTROL

ket a turnkey system which can be adapted to the requirements of any user within any industry.
After determining the companies which market systems
for your industry, determine if each company has the capability to support and service systems in your geographical
area. Then determine if they are strong enough financially
to be around two or three years from now to support and
.
service the system.
The Simplest test for geographic capability is to obtain a
list of users located in your area. Call - or better yet -personally visit as many installations as possible. Satisfied users
are usually willing to talk about their system and any
changes made to optimize its application.
Financial testing is not as easy. Firms in any segment of
the computer industry function under stiff competition and
are in constant need for new funds to support growth. Besides obtaining a standard commercial credit report on the
potential vendor(s), also ask for the name of their local commercial bank office. Give the banker a call. Chances are he
will be helpful - and also interested in your appraisal of
the prospective system supplier.
By the time you start talking to the banker, you should
have a better lUlderstanding of your present system and its
strengths and weaknesses;
Your priorities should be set in terms of what new applications are needed;
You should know the person inside or outside of your organization responsible for the system ;
You should have established a timetable for changing or
creating new forms and procedures.
At this pOint you can let the salesman buy your lunch! ..

• Visual disturbances
• Work flow
• Reduced sound transmittal

You 'll do it easily with versatile Packard MAR.K-10
office landscape systems. Straight and curved
partitions and screens in 4 heights can be arranged for

any conceivable pattern of work flow. In 3 texturesmatte baked enamel , textured vinyl , or Acousti-carpet,
all in a variety of colors.

Write for co lor brochu re and you r

P",C"",RD INDUSTRIES, INC.

nearest distributor.

I S I S U ,S, 11

~O R TH

•

NIL ES . MIC HI GA N .912'0

•

'HONE

Ae 6'6I6S
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