Sperry Univac Research Articles

Manufacturing mainframes: component fabrication and component procurement at IBM and Sperry Univac, 1960–1975

In the golden age of mainframes (1960–1975) one of the foremost issues facing mainframe computer firms was manufacturing – despite this fact, system design has received nearly all the attention of scholars to date. The greatest manufacturing concern of these mainframe producers was component technology: the selection and provision of memory, especially main memory. As this period progressed, semiconductor memory was coming to dominance. Increasingly, firms' performance in the expanding market for mainframes pivoted on their memory component decisions. International Business Machines (IBM) had become the dominant mainframe producer, and its particular response to the semiconductor memory challenge has taken the role as the default or natural position. A comparison of IBM's experience with that of their fiercest mainframe rival during this period, Sperry Univac, highlights the centrality of memory components to the overall mainframe business as well as the highly contingent and path‐dependent nature of the particular semiconductor policies and practices adopted by firms.

Whither geophysical technology? The views of the vendors

The first SEG Annual Meeting covered by TLE was in 1982. The biggest computer advertisers (each with a two-page spread in TLE's convention preview issue) were Control Data Corporation, ELXSI, and Sperry Univac. They were gone within a few years, as were some (if not most) of their successors. Cray, the dominating supercomputer presence at conventions in the late 1980s, was mergered into convention semiobscurity in the 1990s. However, in a recent transaction that went virtually unnoticed by the major news media, Cray was resold and might be primed (unlike Prime computers, which failed to make it out of the 1980s) for a convention comeback.

2 Function Analysis and Decomposistion using Function Analysis Systems Technique

ABSTRACTThe “Father of Value Analysis”, Lawrence D. Miles, was a design engineer for General Electric in Schenectady, New York. Miles developed the concept of function analysis to address difficulties in satisfying the requirements to fill shortages of high demand manufactured parts and electrical components during World War II. His concept of function analysis was further developed in the 1960s by Charles W. Bytheway, a design engineer at Sperry Univac in Salt Lake City, Utah.Charles Bytheway extended Mile's function analysis concepts and introduced the methodology called Function Analysis Systems Technique (FAST) to the Society of American Value Engineers (SAVE) at their International Convention in 1965 (Bytheway 1965). FAST uses intuitive logic to decompose a high level, or objective function into secondary and lower level functions that are displayed in a logic diagram called a FAST model.

Conversion of a PDP-11/40 assembler and simulator from mainframe Pascal to Ada on IBM PC microcomputers

The assembly language course at Georgia State University is taught using a PDP-11/40 Assembler and Simulator, written in Pascal, running on a Sperry UNIVAC mainframe. In the past two years most of the computer science program has been switched to IBM PC compatible microcomputers. This, coupled with the fact that the UNIVAC system is about to be retired, motivated us to translate the PDP-11/40 system to the microcomputers. The translation is from the mainframe Pascal version to Ada for the PC's. The use of the assembler and simulator, the rationale for the use of Ada, and the problems encountered in the translation are all discussed.

Two-dimensional adaptive quadrature over rectangular regions

Abstract Title of program : QADAPT Catalogue number : AAZA Program obtainable from : CPC Program Library, Queen's University of Belfast, N. Ireland (see application form in this issue) Computer : Sperry Univac 1100/82; Installation : Madison Academic Computer Center Operating system : Exec 8 Programming language : FORTRAN 77 High speed storage required : variable; approx. 33000 words Number of bits in a word : 36 Overlay structure : none Peripherals : card reader, line printer Number of cards in combined program and test deck : 1229 Card punching code : EBCDIC

Two-dimensional adaptive quadrature over rectangular regions

Title of program: QADAPT Catalogue number: AAZA Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University of Belfast, N. Ireland (see application form in this issue) Computer: Sperry Univac 1100/82; Installation: Madison Academic Computer Center Operating system: Exec 8 Programming language: FORTRAN 77 High speed storage required: variable; approx. 33000 words Number of bits in a word: 36 Overlay structure: none Peripherals: card reader, line printer Number of cards in combined program and test deck: 1229 Card punching code: EBCDIC

Programs without programmers

A case study on application development using the Sperry Univac Mapper system for report processing and information management

Performance results of the simplex algorithm for a set of real-world linear programming models

This paper provides performance results using the SPERRY UNIVAC 1100 Series linear programming product FMPS to solve a set of 16 real-world linear programming problems. As such, this paper provides a data point for the actual performance of a commercial simplex algorithm on real-world linear programming problems and shows that the simplex algorithm is a linear time algorithm in actual performance. Correlations and performance relationships not previously available are also provided.

The Sperry Corporation and listening: An interview

I discussed the Sperry Corporation's advertising campaign about listening recently with me two people responsible for it: Kenneth F. Thompson, Sperry's Group Executive Vice President, and Delmont J. Kennedy, Director of Advertising. Since I am very interested in listening, I wanted to know something about the comparative success of Sperry's listening campaign. I had seen Sperry's ads on listening in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, other business publications, and on television, and I had many questions about the campaign. We met at Sperry's corporate headquarters at 1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York City, on June 6, 1980. I began by asking: J.D. Tell me, what made you decide to start a campaign about listening? I was very struck with it when I saw it because it seemed like so original and interesting an idea. It had never been done before so what made you decide to use this approach? K.T. Well, we had been using as an advertising theme making machines do so man can do more and it had been working at a couple of the divisions at Sperry. But it didn't really have the kind of impact for Sperry Univac that it had for the rest of Sperry. And so we searched for something else. When you pick a new slogan, the fundamental thing is finding something that is credible, something that people will believe about a company, something you can back up, and something that will have an impact on the market. So we commissioned two research studies to find out what people thought about Sperry Corporat ion-especially what they thought about Sperry Univac-and also what they thought about the other Sperry divisions (farm equipment, Sperry New Holland, Sperry Vickers hydraulics, et cetera). A number of things came back, many positive, some negative. The most positive thing that came back is that we were different because we would listen. And we would try to solve a customer's problems rather than just saying, Here's our equipment.

New books

article Free Access Share on New books: February 1981 Author: R. L. Wexelblat Sperry Univac, Blue Bell, PA Sperry Univac, Blue Bell, PAView Profile Authors Info & Claims ACM SIGPLAN NoticesVolume 17Issue 2February 1982 pp 17–19https://doi.org/10.1145/947902.947910Published:01 February 1982Publication History 4citation57DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations4Total Downloads57Last 12 Months2Last 6 weeks1 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my Alerts New Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteeReaderPDF

A method for adaptive performance improvement of operating systems

This paper presents a method for dynamic modification of operating system control parameters to improve system performance. Improved parameter settings are learned by experimenting on the system. The experiments compare the performance of alternative parameter settings in each region of a partitioned load-performance space associated with the system. The results are used to modify important control parameters periodically, responding to fluctuations in system load and performance. The method can be used to implement adaptive tuning, to choose between alternative algorithms and policies, or to select the best fixed settings for parameters which are not modified. The method was validated and proved practical by an investigation of two parameters governing core quantum allocation on a Sperry Univac 1100 system. This experiment yielded significant results, which are presented and discussed. Directions for future research include automating the method, determining the effect of simultaneous modifications to unrelated control parameters, and detecting dominant control parameters.

New books

article Free Access Share on New books: May 1981 Author: R. L. Wexelblat Sperry Univac, Blue Bell, PA Sperry Univac, Blue Bell, PAView Profile Authors Info & Claims ACM SIGPLAN NoticesVolume 16Issue 8August 1981 pp 6–9https://doi.org/10.1145/947874.947883Online:01 August 1981Publication History 2citation71DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations2Total Downloads71Last 12 Months3Last 6 weeks0 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteeReaderPDF

New books

article Free Access Share on New books Author: R. L. Wexelblat Sperry Univac, Blue Bell, PA Sperry Univac, Blue Bell, PAView Profile Authors Info & Claims ACM SIGPLAN NoticesVolume 16Issue 5May 1981 pp 16–18https://doi.org/10.1145/947835.947843Online:01 May 1981Publication History 0citation60DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations0Total Downloads60Last 12 Months2Last 6 weeks0 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteeReaderPDF

Multi-Processor System for Bruce Nuclear Power Plant Training Simulator

In light of the successful operation of the first CANDU nuclear power plant operator training simulator for the the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station A since 1976, Ontario Hydro have launched a project on a second training simulator for Bruce Nuclear Generating Station A which consists of four 746 MW(e) CANDU PHWR units. The scope of simulation of the latter simulator is more extensive and demanding as a result of the Three Mile Island incident and the experience obtained from the first simulator. The ability of the simulator to manipulate a large number of malfunctions enables real-time simulation of many hypothetical multiple failure scenarios.The simulator system is comprised of six mini-computers and four micro-processors to carry out the main functions of operator training. Four DEC VAX 11/780 computers form the simulator computer system. The tasks for executing real-time modelling software and performing input/output functions are distributed among three of the VAX computers. The remaining VAX computer is used for off-line software development and as a spare. Inter-communication among the four simulator computers is facilitated by a multi-port memory arrangement. Since each Bruce ‘A’ unit is monitored and controlled by a dual-computer system for reliability, a dual-computer system, consisting of two Sperry Univac V77-600 computers, is included in the simulator configuration. This dual-computer system is utilized to accept real-time modelling data from the simulator computers as if these data were generated from the field devices. Therefore, a massive rewrite of the station control and application programs is avoided. In addition, two custom-built micro-processor based controllers are incorporated into the configuration; one to interface the simulator computer with the unit dual-computer system and the other to interface the simulator computer with the analog and digital input/output system associated with the control panel devices. Two additional micro-processors are used to interface the unit dual-computer system and the unit CRT display system. Because of the obsolescence of the original unit CRT display system, a different display system was selected for use in the simulator. The micro-processors are programmed to emulate the obsolete display system instructions and, hence, allow the original unit dual-computer system display software to be used.The Instructor Facility consists of a fixed and a portable facility both of which are equipped with keyboards and CRT's to enable the instructor to manipulate parameters, to introduce malfunctions, to display process parameters and annunciations, and generally to control simulator operation.Other enhanced features include trainee performance monitoring, and dynamic graphical mimicry of panel instruments (stylization)This paper attempts to give a comprehensive view of the implementation of the multi-processor configuration for the simulator and inter-processor interaction. In addition, the main features of simulator software, instructor facility and process modelling are outlined to allow a better appreciation of the multi-processor system for simulation applications.

The big three - today's 16-bit microprocessor

This paper reports on the functional evaluation of the three 16-bit microprocessors, namely the Intel 8086, the Zilog Z8000, and the Motorola MC68000. These microprocessors were employed in several CRT applications, both monochrome and color. Execution time benchmark tests were made, mechanization problems compared and instruction/architectural characteristics highlighted. Conclusions and recommendations are made applicable to terminals and similar Sperry Univac products.

Contour

article Free Access Share on Contour: a method of preparing structured flowcharts Author: James F. Gimpel Sperry Univac, Blue Bell, Pa. Sperry Univac, Blue Bell, Pa.View Profile Authors Info & Claims ACM SIGPLAN NoticesVolume 15Issue 10October 1980 pp 35–41https://doi.org/10.1145/947727.947730Online:01 October 1980Publication History 10citation136DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations10Total Downloads136Last 12 Months14Last 6 weeks7 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteeReaderPDF

Recent and future developments in SPERRY UNIVAC's FMPS product

This paper surveys recent (past eight years) and future developments in SPERRY UNIVAC's 1100 Series mathematical programming product, FMPS (FMPS is an acronym for Functional Mathematical Programming System). In addition, computational results are given for FMPS algorithm and I/O enhancements.

Gödel numbers

article Gödel numbers: a new approach to structured programming Share on Author: Norman H. Cohen Sperry Univac, Blue Bell, PA Sperry Univac, Blue Bell, PAView Profile Authors Info & Claims ACM SIGPLAN NoticesVolume 15Issue 4April 1980 pp 70–74https://doi.org/10.1145/947631.947634Online:01 April 1980Publication History 0citation347DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations0Total Downloads347Last 12 Months2Last 6 weeks0 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteGet Access

VLSI/LSI Circuit Functions: Their Chanllenges, Rewards, and Problems

Sperry Univac is concluding, the development of a family of very large to large scale integrated (VLSI/LSI) bipolar logic components. These parts supply universal functions in general computer applications and are not unique to a specific system. This approach is, in itself, unique for a computer mainframe manufacturer, since these designs are not proprietary and are meant for off-the-shelf commercial usage. If the volume objectives are met, the price of these components will be attractive to other users, and the components will be used over a broad range of application and speed. A description of the functions, the logic density, the technology, and the circuits used are covered. A comparison of these functions to their small to medium scale integrated (SSI/MSI) components is also discussed. Finally the areas of schedules, costs, and problems encountered are covered.

An experimental LISP system for the SPERRY UNIVAC 1100 Series

An experimental LISP system has been developed for use on SPERRY UNIVAC 1100 Series computers. Although the general design of the system is fairly traditional, a number of extensions have been made to the customary nucleus which significantly improve the ease of use of the language. These extensions include external environment modifications as well as new internal functions. Some concepts have also been borrowed from other programming languages, as well. Because 1100 Series LISP does not contain a compiler, considerable attention has been given to the efficient use of computing resources, and some of the extensions are designed with more efficient utilization as the primary objective. Finally, some of the extensions were compelled to exist by the inherent logical structure of the LISP language, and their introduction into other LISP systems can be recommended.