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Evolution of Computers In My Career
I began working for IBM in July of 1957. I was hired to work on the ANFSQ7 system, also known as S.A.G.E. This stood for Semi-Automatic-Ground-Environment and was built as one of 16 for a USAF contract held by IBM. This computer complex actually consisted of two computers for redundancy purposes. Each system was comprised of just over 58,000 vacuum tubes. The heat generated by these tubes was sufficient to heat the building in the winter. It required a massive air conditioning system for cooling purposes. Sensors were employed to monitor the temperature. Any deviation of the temperature outside the range defined would generate a "switchover" in responsibility to the other system. As an aid in troubleshooting, we would turn the lights off and look for a dark spot...where filaments were burned out. Next, I worked on and taught the IBM 1401, which was the first transisterized commercial computer. This machine was revolutionary in its day. I moved on the the IBM 360, revolutionary in its own right, as was the IBM 370. The 8083 was one of the first commercial computers to be water cooled. In 1981, IBM came out with its first PC. I bought my first one in 1982. My next system was the IBM PC-AT. It had a hard drive for storage. The hard drive was 20MB. I remember telling my wife there was no way I would ever use all of that space. My current system has over a terabyte. In 1988, I moved to Houston to manage the programmers on the air traffic control system at the Houston Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC). This system was the IBM 9020 and was based on the IBM 360-Model 50. We had a contract to replace it with a system based on the 8033. It was called the 9020D and controlled the air traffic from just west of Mobile, AL to 1 county short of the New Mexico border. Before I retired, the PC on my desk was more powerful than the 9020 when I arrived. My PC today is many times more powerful than the venerable 9020. The computers have come a long way in my lifetime. Who knows how far they can go? One can only imagine.
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Contributor's Note
Of all the systems I was associated with, my favorite was the very first, the SAGE system. We called it "Sees-All-Guards-Everything. I found it easy to trouble shoot and it is where I got my start programming, not to mention trouble shooting.
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