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Present an on-line (compact rather than hi resolution), searchable (ASCII character rather than image) version of the 1,131 page document
"A Third Survey of Domestic Electronic Digital Computing Systems"
Report No. 1115, March 1961

by Martin H. Weik,
published by Ballistic Research Laboratories, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland

The source paper document is the property of

Computer History Museum Center
See contributed comments with links

Notes:

  • *** Not carefully proof read ***
  • Color photo of book.
  • The distribution list - pages 1117 through 1131 are not included in this conversion.
  • If there are more than four pictures of a given machine, such as the IBM 650 RAMAC, further pictures may be excluded from this conversion.
  • The OCR and HTML process are not perfect, Errors must have been inserted. And there were some obvious character transpositions and other "warts" in the original text.
  • The OCR process was erratic in horizontal position, currently some redundant user responses have not had the horizontal position problem manually corrected.
  • Much of the document was in two columns, in font sizes that are difficult to read on commonly available display systems (CRTs etc.). This conversion separated the two adjacent columns and placed them into one vertically separated column. This results in a document much easier to read on the majority of electronic viewing devices.
  • Character substitutions - no HTML equivalents
    • The greek delta (an isosolese triangle) is represented as a "[delta]"
    • Other Greek letters are approximated by italicized English substitutions.
    • The plus over minus in represented as "+-"
  • 391 images were scanned at 300 pixels/inch (near the resolution of the printing process), reduced to about 800x600 pixel Super VGA size, and presented in medium resolution .jpg, yielding quite good approximations with file sizes of usually 50 to 100 kilo bytes. Some non-grey scale images are presented in .gif if they yielded smaller files.

Factors in presenting this book on-line

Interesting points

  • Table of Contents
  • Installation of Raised Floor, almost universal in "Big Iron" installations.
  • Magnetic tape racks
  • The marketing department of Monroe Calculating did not approve this Photo background ;-)
  • Interesting study of printed circuits for the RCA 501:
    Assembly of Miniature Components Photo
    Modular Assembly of Miniature Components Photo
    Automatically Printed Wiring Photo
    Standardized Modules Photo
  • 8,196 words of Electrostatic Storage at RICE UNIVERSITY

Please enjoy
Ed Thelen, Fremont, CA January 2001 - ed@ed-thelen.org

P.S. If you note problems or errors in this report, please e-mail me.
- If there is an error in the conversion of the book to the .html, I will fix the html.
- If there is an dispute of fact, I will note it on a dispute page.
Thank you



BRL 1961, Cover Sheet

BRL
REPORT N0. 1115
MARCH 1961


A THIRD SURVEY OF DOMESTIC
ELECTRONIC DIGITAL COMPUTING SYSTEMS

Martin H. Weik

This report supersedes BRL Report No. 1010



Department of the Army Project No. 5803-06-002
Ordnance Management Structure Code No. 5010.11.812
BALLISTIC RESEARCH LABORATORIES

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, MARYLAND

    



BRL 1961, inside cover sheet
ASTIR AVAILABILITY NOTICE Qualified requestors may obtain copies of this report from ASTIA.
BRL 1961, starting page 0001
BALLISTIC RESEARCH LABORATORIES REPORT N0. 1115 March 1961 A THIRD SURVEY OF DOMESTIC ELECTRONIC DIGITAL COMPUTING SYSTEMS Martin H. Weik This report supersedes BRL Report No. 1010 (Public Bulletin 1119968, U. S. Department of Coerce, Office of Technical Services) Department of the Army Project No. 5B03-06-002 Ordnance Management Structure Code No. 5010.11.812 ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, MARYLAND [ page 0002 is blank]
BRL 1961, starting page 0003
BALLISTIC RESEARCH LABORATORIES REPORT N0. 1115 MWeik/vjc Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. March 1961 A THIRD SURVEY OF DOMESTIC ELECTRONIC DIGITAL COMPUTING SYSTEMS ABSTRACT
Based on the results of a third survey, the engineering and programming characteristics of two hundred twenty-two different electronic digital computing systems are given. The data are presented from the point of view of application, numerical and arithmetic characteristics, input, output and storage systems, construction and checking features, power, space, weight, and site preparation and personnel requirements, production records, cost and rental rates, sale and lease policy, reliability, operating experience, and time availability, engineering modifications and improvements and other related topics. An analysis of the survey data, fifteen comparative tables, a discussion of trends, a revised bibliography, and a complete glossary of computer engineering and programming terminology are included.

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



BRL 1961, starting page 0004
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
On behalf of the Computing Laboratory of the Ballistic Research Laboratories, the author wishes to extend his appreciation for the excellent spirit of cooperation displayed by the various representatives of government and industry who have devoted their time and effort in responding to the survey inquiries.

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

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

The greatest individual assistance was rendered by WAC Staff Sergeant Violet J. Confer. An undertaking as comprehensive as this national survey, requires that a large quantity of data be acquired, correlated, transcribed and checked. Particular attention must be paid to accuracy and detail. We are heavily indebted to Staff Sergeant Confer for the major role she has performed in all phases of preparation of this report. She has been responsible for the general conduct of the survey, the control of communications with respondents, the preparation of correspondence, screening returns, sorting returns, preparing the layout of all pages, and doing all the art work, typing, titles, and photo arrangements.
BRL 1961, starting page 0005



            TABLE OF CONTENTS

    ABSTRACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
    ACKNOWLEDGEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
CHAPTER
    I. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 9
    PURPOSE OF THE SURVEY REPORT . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . 10
    SCOPE OF THE SURVEY REPORT . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . 11
    PROCESSING OF THE SURVEY DATA . . . . . . . .   . . . . . . . . . 11
    INTERPRETATION OF THE SURVEY DATA . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . .  12
    USE OF THE SURVEY REPORT . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . 12
    
    II. COMPUTING         SYSTEMS DESCRIPTIONS 
    System                                Page
    AF  CRC                             .  14
    ALWAC II. . . . . . . . . . . .    . . 16
    ALWAC III E . . . . . . . . . .    . . 18
    AMOS IV . . . . . . . . . . .      . . 28
    AN/ASQ 28(v) EDC . . . . . . . .   . . 34
    AN/ASQ 28(v) MDC . . . . . . . .   . . 36
    AN/FSQ 7 AN/FSQ 8 (SAGE)  . . . .  . . 40
    AN/FSQ 31 (v)  . . . . . . . . .   . . 44
    AN/FSQ 32 . . . . . . . . . . .   .  . 46
    AN/MJQ 1 REDSTONE . . . . . . .    . . 48
    AN/TYK 4v COMPAC . . . . . . .     . . 50
    AN/TYK 6v BASICPAC . . . . . . .   . . 52
    AN/TYK 7v INFORMER . . . . . . .   . . 54
    AN/USQ 20 . . . . . . . . . . .    . . 56
    ASC 15. . . . . . . . . . . . .    . . 58
    ATHENA. . . .   . . . . . . . . .  . . 60
    BENDIX CUBIC TRACKER . . . . . .   . . 62
    BENDIX D 12 . . . . . . . . . .    . . 64
    BENDIX G 15 . . . . . . . . . .    . . 66
    BENDIX G 20 . . . . . . . . . .    . . 86
    BIZMAC I. . . . . . . . . . . .    . . 88
    BIZMAC II . . . . . . . . . . .    . . 98
    BOGART. . . . . . . . . . . . .   . . 102
    BRLESC . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . 104
    BURROUGHS 204 . . . . . . . . .   . . 108
    BURROUGHS 205 . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
    BURROUGHS 220 . . . . . . . . . .   . 146
    BURROUGHS D 103 . . . . . . . . . . . 166
    BURROUGHS D 104 . . . . . . . . . . . 167
    BURROUGHS D 105 . . . . . . . . . . . 168
    BURROUGHS D 107 . . . . . . . . . . . 169
    BURROUGHS D 201 . . . . . . . . . . . 170
    BURROUGHS D 202 . . . . . . . . . . . 171
    BURROUGHS D 203 . . . . . . . . . . . 172
    BURROUGHS D 204 . . . . . . . . . . . 174
    BURROUGHS D 208 . . . . . . . . . . . 176
    BURROUGHS D 209 . . . . . . . . . . . 177
    BURROUGHS E 101 . . . . . . . . . . . 178
    BURROUGHS E 102 . . . . . . . . . . . 186
    BURROUGHS E 103 . . . . . . . . . . . 190
    CCC REAL TIME . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
    CDC 160. . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . 198
    CDC 1604 . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . 202
    CIRCLE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
    CUBIC AIR TRAFFIC . . . . . . . . . . 210
    CUBIC TRACKER . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
    CYCLONE. . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . 212
    DATAMATIC 1000 . . . . . .  . . . . . 214
    DE-60 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   . 222
    DIANA . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   . 228

BRL 1961, starting page 0006
TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONTINUED) System Page DIGITRONIC CONVERTER . . . . . . . . . 230 DISTRIBUTAPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 DYSEAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 EDVAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 ELECOM 50 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240 ELECOM 100 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242 ELECOM 120 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 ELECOM 125 125FP . . . . . . . . . . . 250 FADAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 FOSDIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258 GENERAL ELECTRIC 100 ERMA . . . . . . 262 GENERAL ELECTRIC 210 . . . . . . . . . 264 GENERAL ELECTRIC 225 . . . . . . . . . 268 GENERAL ELECTRIC 250 . . . . . . . . . 270 GENERAL ELECTRIC 312 . . . . . . . . . 272 GENERAL MILLS AD/ECS . . . . . . . . . 274 GENERAL MILLS APSAC . . . . . . . . . 278 GEORGE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280 GEOTECH AUTOMATIC . . . . . . . . . . 284 HAMPSHIRE CCC 500 . . . . . . . . . . 286 HAMPSHIRE TRTDS 932 . . . . . . . . . 288 HONEYWELL 290 . . . . . . . . . . . . 290 HONEYWELL 800 . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 HRB SINGER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298 HUGHES ADV AIRBORNE III . . . . . . . 300 HUGHES BM GUIDANCE . . . . . . . . . . 302 HUGHES D PAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304 HUGHES DIGITAIR . . . . . . . . . . . 306 HUGHES LRI X . . . . . .. . . . . . . 308 HUGHES M 252 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310 IBM 305 RAMAC . . . . . . . . . . . . 314 IBM 604 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332 IBM 607 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336 IBM 608 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338 IBM 609 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340 IBM 610 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342 IBM 632 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348 IBM 650 RAMAC . . . . . . . . . . . . 350 IBM 701 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390 IBM 702 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396 IBM 704 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404 IBM 705 I II . . . . . . . . . . . . .448 IBM 705 III . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482 IBM 709 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500 IBM 1401 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526 System Page IBM 1410 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532 IBM 1620. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536 IBM 7070. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 538 IBM 7074. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544 IBM 7080 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546 IBM 7090. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548 IBM CPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558 IBM STRETCH . . . . . . . . . . . . 560 ILLIAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566 INTELEX AIRLINE RESERVATION . . . . 570 ITT BANK LN PROC . . . . . . . . . . 572 ITT SPES 025 . . . . . . . . . . . . 574 JOHNNIAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576 JUKEBOX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 578 LEEDS NORTHRUP 3000 . . . . . . . . 580 LEPRECHAUN . . . . . . . . . . . . . 582 LGP 30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 584 LIBRASCOPE 407 . . . . . . . . . . . 596 LIBRASCOPE AIR TRAFFIC . . . . . . . 598 LIBRASCOPE ASN 24 . . . . . . . . . 602 LIBRASCOPE CP 209 . . . . . . . . . 606 LIBRASCOPE MK 38 . . . . . . . . . . 608 LIBRASCOPE MK 130 . . . . . . . . . 610 LIBRATROL 500 . . . . . . . . . . . 614 LIBRATROL 1000 . . . . . . . . . . . 618 LINCOLN CG 24 . . . . . . . . . . . 620 LINCOLN TX 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . 624 LINCOLN TX 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . 626 LITTON C 7000 . . . . . . . . . . . 630 LITTON DATA ASSESSOR . . . . . . . . 632 LOGISTICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 634 MAGNEFILE B . . . . . . . . . . . . 636 MAGNEFILE D . . . . . . . . . . . . 637 MANIAC I. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638 MANIAC II . . . . . . . . . . . . . 640 MANIAC III . . . . . . . . . . . . . 642 MERLIN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644 MINIAC II . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646 MISTIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 648 MOBIDIC A . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650 MOBIDIC B . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654 MOBIDIC C D & 7A . . . . . . . . . . 656 MODAC 404 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 658 MODAC 410 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 660 MODAC 414 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661
BRL 1961, starting page 0007
System Page MODAC 5014 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 662 MONROBOT III . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664 MONROBOT V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666 MONROBOT VI . . . . . . . . . . . . . 668 MONROBOT IX . . . . . . . . . . . . . 670 MONROBOT XI . . . . . . . . . . . . . 672 MONROBOT MU . . . . . . . . . . . . . 674 NAREC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 676 NATIONAL 102A . . . . . . . . . . . . 680 NATIONAL 102D . . . . . . . . . . 684 NATIONAL 107 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690 NATIONAL 304 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692 NATIONAL 315 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 710 NATIONAL 390 . . . . . . . . . . , . . 714 NORC. 716 NORDEN VOTE TALLY . . . . . . . . . . 720 NUMERICORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724 OARAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 726 OKLAHOMA UNIV . . . . . . . . . . . . 728 ORACLE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 730 ORDVAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734 PACKARD BELL 250 . . . . . . . . . . . 740 PENNSTAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 746 PERK I II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750 PHILCO 1000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752 PHILCO 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754 PHILCO 3000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 760 PHILCO CXPQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . 762 PROGRAMMED DATA PROCESSOR . . . . . . 764 RASTAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 766 RASTAD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 768 RCA 110 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 770 RCA 200 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 772 RCA 300 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 773 RCA 301 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 774 RCA 501 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 778 RCA 601 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 804 READIX. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 808 RECOMP I CP 266 . . . . . . . . . . . 816 RECOMP II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 820 REPAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 830 System Page RICE UNIVERSITY . . . . . . . . . . . 832 RPC 4000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 834 RPC 9000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 836 RW 300 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 838 RW 400 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 842 SCRIBE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 846 SEAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 848 SPEC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852 STORED PROGRAM DDA . . . . . . . . . 856 SWAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 858 SYLVANIA S 9400 . . . . . . . . . . . 860 SYLVANIA UDOFTT . . . . . . . . . . . 862 TARGET INTERCEPT . . . . . . . . . . 866 TELEREGISTER MAGNETRONIC BID ASKED . . 868 TELEREGISTER MAGNETRONIC INVENTORY CONTROL 870 TELEREGISTER TELEFILE . . . . . . . . 872 TELEREGISTER UNIFIED AIRLINE . . . . 876 TRICE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 882 UDEC I II III . . . . . . . . . . . . 884 UNIVAC 60. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 886 UNIVAC 120 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 890 UNIVAC 490 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 898 UNIVAC 1101 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900 UNIVAC 1102 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 902 UNIVAC 1103 1103A . . . . . . . . . . 904 UNIVAC 1105 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 918 UNIVAC 1107 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 929 UNIVAC FILE 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . 932 UNIVAC FILE 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . 940 UNIVAC LARC . . . . . . . . . . . . . 958 UNIVAC SOLID STATE 80/90 . . . . . . 962 UNIVAC STEP . . . . . . . . . . . . . 972 UNIVAC I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 976 UNIVAC II. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 992 UNIVAC III . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1002 UNIVERSAL DATA TRANS . . . . . . . . 1006 VERDAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1010 WESTINGHOUSE AIRBORNE . . . . . . . . 1012 WHIRLWIND II . . . . . . . . . . . . 1016 WISC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1020 WRU SEARCHING SELECTOR . . . . . . . 1022
BRL 1961, starting page 0008
TABLE of CONTENTS (CONTINUED) CHAPTER Page III.ANALYSIS AND TRENDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1025 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1026 DESIGNATION OF COMPUTING SYSTEMS . . . . . . . . . . . 1026 MANUFACTURERS OF COMPUTING SYSTEMS . . . . . . . . . . . 1026 APPLICATIONS OF COMPUTING SYSTEMS . . . . . .. . . . . . 1027 PROGRAMMING AND NUMERICAL SYSTEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . 1027 ARITHMETIC UNITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1029 STORAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1029 INPUT................................................... 1031 OUTPUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1301 CIRCUIT ELEMENTS OF ENTIRE SYSTEMS . . . . . . . . . . 1032 CHECKING FEATURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1033 POWER, SPACE, WEIGHT AND SITE PREPARATION . .. . . . . . 1034 PRODUCTION RECORDS . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 1035 COST, PRICE AND RENTAL RATES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1035 PERSONNEL REQUIREMENTS . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . 1036 RELIABILITY, OPERATING EXPERIENCE AND TIME AVAILABILITY . 1036 ADDITIONAL FEATURES AND REMARKS . . . . . . . . . . . 1037 FUTURE PLANS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1037 INSTALLATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1037 IV. BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1085 V. REVISED GLOSSARY OF COMPUTER ENGINEERING AND PROGRAMMING TERMINOLOGY . .. . . 1089 VI. DISTRIBUTION LIST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1117 LIST OF TABLES TABLE NUMBER TITLE I. MANUFACTURERS OF COMPUTING SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1038 II. QUANTITY OF COMPUTING SYSTEM MANUFACTURED TO DATE . . . . . . . . 1043 III. WORD LENGTH OF COMPUTING SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1045 IV. ARITHMETIC OPERATION TIME (EXCLUDING ACCESS) OF COMPUTING SYSTEM .1051 V. ARITHMETIC OPERATION TIME (INCLUDING ACCESS) OF COMPUTING SYSTEMS 1055 VI. ACCESS TIME OF HIGH SPEED STORAGE UNITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1059 VII. CAPACITY OF HIGH SPEED STORAGE UNITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1062 VIII. LOG 10 CAPACITY/ACCESS TIME OF HIGH SPEED STORAGE UNITS . . . . 1066 IX. CAPACITY OF MAGNETIC DRUM OR DISC STORAGE UNITS . . . . . . . . 1069 X. TUBE QUANTITY IN COMPUTING SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1072 XI. CRYSTAL DIODE QUANTITY IN COMPUTING SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . . 1074 XII. TRANSISTOR QUANTITY IN COMPUTING SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . 1076 XIII. APPROXIMATE POWER REQUIREMENT OF COMPUTING SYSTEM . . . . . . . . 1078 XIV. APPROXIMATE COST OF BASIC COMPUTING SYSTEM . . . .. . . . . . . 1081 XV. CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER OF INITIAL OPERATION OF COMPUTING SYSTEMS . . 1083
BRL 1961, INTRODUCTION, starting page 0009
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

BRL 1961, PURPOSE, starting page 0010
INTRODUCTION PURPOSE OF THE SURVEY REPORT
Before any major decision can be made regarding the acquisition, installation, operation, improvement or retirement of computing equipment, first hand technical information must be obtained concerning the characteristics, availability, cost, operational problems, capability and useful life of available systems. Efficient management requires that the experience of others be exploited wherever such exploitation is beneficial. The present trend in the rapidly changing computing and data processing hardware field is toward. higher operational speeds, increased memory capacity and reliability, and solid state electrical components, including a widespread use of semi-conductors and the advent of the use of thin magnetic films in standard commercial systems. However, only existing or readily available equipment may be utilized for the immediate solution of scientific and commercial data processing problems.

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

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

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

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

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


BRL 1961, SCOPE, starting page 0011
                          SCOPE OF THE SURVEY REPORT
    

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

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

A consolidated system description was prepared from data made available by the user and the manu- facturer. Information concerning each computing system was divided into the following sub-headings:
                           Applications
                Programming and Numerical System
                          Arithmetic Unit
                              Storage
                               Input
                              output
                 Circuit Elements of Entire System
                         Checking Features
             Power, Space, Weight and Site Preparation
                         Production Record
                   Cost, Price and Rental Rates
                      Personnel Requirements
        Reliability,Operating Experience and Time Availability
                  Additional Features and Remarks
                           Future Plans
                           Installations
  

The large volume of technical data processed for this report will make errors unavoidable, particu- larly in correlating and transcribing information. It will be appreciated if errors are brought to the attention of the Ballistic Research Laboratories. Statements, claims and criticisms were screened as much as possible. Every endeavor was made to insure that the information included in this report is factual. To a large extent certain superlative adjectives used in describing equipment, were deliber- ately eliminated as a matter of fairness and in order to avoid implication in sales activities.

BRL 1961, starting page 0012

                         INTERPRETATION OF THE SURVEY DATA
    

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

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

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

MARTIN H. WEIK JR.
pages 13 through pages 28 are missing

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