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I GE-400 Time-sharing I Information Systemsw Bring a powerful computer to the GE-400 Systems fingertips of all your people I

The Switch Is on to GE-400 Time-sharing A more apt name for "time-sharing" is "computer-sharing". It's a method whereby many people can use an information system simultaneously from different locations simply by con- necting typewriter-like terminals into the system. It literally takes the glass walls down from the computer room. A terminal can be put anywhere a telephone line can reach . .. right to the fingertips of anyone who would ever have need for computing power. No more key punching. No more explaining to a programmer. No lengthy preparation. The Computer Feels Like Yours Alone A GE-400system computes at incredible speeds. Though many others may be using it at the same time, you never know it . . .it feels like yours alone. You can operate the system from anywhere. Just set the terminals where the work is and let your people do the rest. The computer will be right at their fingertips. An easy-to- Time=sharing use conversational language makes the machine perform. Is Reallv Your scientists, engineers, ac- countants, and managers find that in just a few hours of in- computer-sharing struction, they can develop and run their own programs. No longer must they wait in line for precious com- puter time or for program- mers to do the work. GE-400 time-sharing, is an extension of their thinking power. Ten

Time-sharing

1. Your people have instant access to the batch mode. You can run remotely full power of a computer. Through simple through the terminals or run right at the Teletype keyboards placed anywhere, computer. Some are running normal hundreds of your people can virtually put batch at night and using the system for a computer in their laps. Up to 50 people time-sharing during the day. can use the computer at the same time. 7. Develop new programs and applica- 2. Increased productivity. With a power- tions easily. With time-sharing you can ful computer right at their fingertips, experiment. Just as a newspaper re- your people will actually extend their porter edits copy on his typewriter, your thinking power. And that means all your users can edit programs on their key- people - engineers, scientists, account- boards. They can also create, test, up- ants, marketeers, production managers. date, and store programs at the same They need no prior computer experience time. - just the drive to get more work done 8. Everyone has exclusive use of the faster. computer. Though many people may be 3. Uses the easiest computer language using the computer simultaneously, each yet devised. Even people who have never thinks of it as his own. The computer before dealt with a computer can learn speeds back and forth between inputs to use GE-400 time-sharing in less than a incredibly fast and emits answers day. The extended BASIC* language it instantly. Programs are fully protected uses is powerful enough for complex so that only authorized users have ac- mathematical problems. cess to the information. "Developed by 9. Proved hardware for reliability. Both 4. FORTRAN for your most complex com- time-sharing systems use standard, user putations. Experienced computer mathe- proved hardware. Exceptionally fast maticians can use a specially-adapted GE-400 floating point hardware is a part conversational FORTRAN for complicated of the time-sharing package allowing you mathematical computations. They have ac- to handle complex engineering/ cess to the fastest FORTRAN avail- scientific problems as well as everyday able in a medium-scale system. business assignments. 5. Grow the system in easy steps. You can 10. Proved time-sharing start out with a lower cost system - the software. More conversational time- GE-430, capable of servicing up to 30 simul- sharing is done on General Electric taneous users. When more computing power is computers than any other kind. This needed, it's simple to grow to a GE-440, to experience has resulted in the design serve 50 users simultaneously. It gives you of the GE-430 and maximum performance per dollar. 440. The software 6. Switch off time-sharing; switch on batch extends directly processing. GE-400 time-sharing is that flexible. from early GE sys- When you want your people to have desk-side tems and the GE- access, switch to the time-sharing mode. When 420, which has you need to compute large runs, change to the provided low-cost computation since mid-1967. The real benefit of time- trigonometric functions are sharing is that a// your peo- available. You can make ple can use one provisions to use a particu- centralized computer from lar part of a program many wherever thev are. And thev times in solving a problem. all find it a-tremendou; Many experienced pro- boon to productivity - be- u grammers who have used ginners and experienced more complex program- computer programmers IS El-1 ming languages now use alike. for -.yone BASlC for a large percent- age of their problems. Beginners Can Learn The system responds so BASlC in Hours rapidly to your instructions that debugging at the key- BASIC, Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction board is not only practical, but recommended. Be- Code, is a language the computer can understand. Yet cause of its simplicity, your BASlC program can be it resembles ordinary mathematical notation. It has a converted to computer instructions in one pass, taking simple English vocabulary and few grammatical rules, just seconds. but it permits complete and precise specification of For complex engineering or scientific operations, your problems. your experienced programmers know the benefits of BASlC has recently been extended, but is still sim- FORTRAN. Now it is available in conversational form ple to learn and easy to use. With just 18 fundamental for use in communicating directly with General Electric BASlC statements, you can solve the majority of your time-sharing systems. Your scientists and engineers computational problems. Even neophytes can com- can now write programs, run, correct, rerun them, etc., pose and run programs using BASlC in just a few right at their desk without waiting in line for the hours. computer. Many have taught themselves simply by studying Being conversational, FORTRAN is now a practical the BASlC reference manual. tool for everyday business as well. For example, an You can change programs easily at any time. You accountant who might previously have avoided using can correct errors or revise logic whenever you need FORTRAN because of time delays, can now get instant to. Many automatic checks are also made by the sys- answers to everyday problems. Previously, he might tem. When it detects errors, it points them out to you have had to resubmit it several times before he had in concise self-explanatory language. his program running smoothly. Experienced Programmers Have Their Choice of With a keyboard at his desk, he can work out his BASlC or FORTRAN problems on a trial and error basis and have it run- BASIC's simplicity doesn't limit its capabilities. It is ning smoothly in a matter of minutes. a powerful language which provides for logic compari- sons, subscripting, lists, and arrays. It has extensive Convert to Batch Processing in Minutes capabilities for matrix manipulations and common You can use the system for both time-sharing and conventional data processing. It takes about five min- is off-duty, you can submit programs and data, main- utes to make the switch. Run payrolls, production, tain files, etc. from remote terminal stations. In this compilations, etc., as you would with a batch process- mode, the system has full multiprogramming capabil- ing system. Depending on peripherals, all GE-400 ity so many jobs can be submitted at the same time software applies. This includes a complete line of pro. - either locally or remotely. gramming and operating systems, language process- The result of all these features is a highly flexible ors, data management techniques like GE's exclusive information system that can give your people access Integrated Data Store, and many application packages. to a powerful information processing system whether or not they have ever used a computer before. It's a Run Batch From Remote Locations, Too system that can do local batch processing, remote All the hardware options necessary to support General batch processing, or time-sharing, and can fill your Electric's Direct Access Programming System come needs in developing a total management information with GE-400 time-sharing systems. When time-sharing system. All General Electric 400 information systems are gen- Below are a few key time-sharing applications: eral purpose machines that can handle engineering and scientific problems as easily as business Engineering design - mechanical and electrical com- problems. ponents, chemical and fluid processes, thermody- And the flexibility of General Electric time-sharing namics, industrial and electrical systems, electronic complements this many times over. circuits.

Theoretical calculations - reliability calculations, ex- perimental calculations.

Applied mathematics - regression analysis, statistical Time-sharing analysis, curve fitting, numerical analysis. Financial analysis - product cost, depreciation and Has Manv amortization, general analysis, investment, budgeting, credits and collections, accounting transactions and ~pplicatbns reports. Business forecasting and planning - forecasting, For example, with GE-400 time-sharing, your tech- evaluating risk alternatives, project planning simula- nical people will benefit by having access to the indus- tion and modeling, trend analysis, pricing. try's best FORTRAN IV compiler for a medium-scale machine with optimum compilation and execution Quality control and planning - quality speeds. GE-400 time-sharing systems have exception- control, machine loading, production analysis, work ally fast floating point hardware - at the best price/ and facility scheduling. performance in the industry. They use a 48-bit floating point number that gives you 11-plus digits of Here is how a GE-400 time-sharing system can be put precision. to work: In Industry. .. over standard tele- Any company with a phone lines directly large staff of engi- with the bank system. neering or scientific The bank profits by people can increase offering an important productivity consider- new service, and ably with an in-house GE-400 time-sharing system. users benefit by getting use of a powerful computer Engineers, with a large volume of daily calculations, at a fraction of the cost. will no longer have to wait hours or days to get answers In Research and Development. back from a batch processing computer. The BASIC . . R&D firms were among the first to benefit from com- language will allow engineers, the majority of whom puter time-sharing. They usually start out by subscrib- are not programmers, to communicate directly with ing to a time-sharing service and gradually increase the computer. They can simply sit at their desks, type the number of terminals to in the input, and get the correct answers back in the point where it is more seconds. economic to have their own Engineers report that time-sharing has increased their time-sharing system. Here productivity by 50 to 500 percent. By saving their again, being able to talk di- time, you're saving the company a lot of dollars . . . rectly to a computer, has dollars that can more than pay for the cost of the been a low cost boon to computer. productivity. In Banking. . . Banks and other financial institutions, in addition to normal data processing activities, are utilizing time- sharing systems to advantage in trust, loan, economic research, operations research, and bond departments. When off time-sharing, a number of standard banking packages are available. Banks can run their batch processing work at night and keep the system on time-sharing during the day. Users anywhere can merely set up a teletype terminal, and communicate System Configuration

Removable Disc Storage Subsystem

- Card Reader

Printer Start With the GE-430 and Grow Printer The GE-430 is economical and powerful. It will support 600 lines-per-minute, or up to 30 simultaneous users. This means that approxi- 1200 lines-per-minute mately 120 terminals can be set up to logically serve Card reader 300-400 typical users. Add terminals as your demand 600 cards-per-minute, or increases. At the optimum time, you can switch to the 900 cards-per-minute GE-440. The GE-440 can handle up to 50 users simultane- Remote Terminals ously. On a cost-per-channel basis, the GE-440 out- Uses models 33 and 35 Teletypewriter units performs any other time-sharing system in its class. Keyboard send/receive As with all the GE-4007s,growth is simple. All 0 Automatic send/receive peripheral equipment is common; user programs are Optional Equipment fully upward compatible. You save the cost of repro- The optional peripheral equipment below may be used gramming. when your system is not in the dedicated time-sharing Here's what a typical GE-400 time-sharing system mode of ooeration: consists of: 0 ~a~neti'ctapes - choose from over 12 subsystems depending on the speeds you need (tape units can Central processor be used in the time-sharing mode) 0 Words of memory: 0 Card punches - 100 and 300 cards-per-minute 32,000 for GE-430 Fixed disc storage subsystem 64,000 for GE-440 Removable cartridge mass storage subsystem Direct access package Magnetic drum subsystem 0 Time of day clock Perforated tape subsystem Floating point hardware Reader/sorter 0 Console subsystems - MlCR reader/sorter DATANET-30" communications processor and COC-5 0 16,000 word memory document reader Three bit buffer units (GE-430) Multiple tape lister Five bit buffer units (GE-440) 0 Up to 10 channels per unit Removable disc storage subsystem 0 Four units and controller 0 Stores over 30 million characters Transfers data at 208,000 characters per second 0 Average random access time is 97.5 milliseconds

*DATANET, Reg. Trade-mark of General Electric Co.

DATANET-30 Communications Controller Offices ALBANY, NEW YORK ATLANTA, GEORGIA , AREA BUFFALO, NEW YORK CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA , ILLINOIS , OHlO CLEVELAND, OHlO COLUMBUS, OHlO DALLAS, TEXAS DENVER, COLORADO DES MOINES, IOWA DETROIT, MICHIGAN HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT HOUSTON, TEXAS HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA MOUNTAINSIDE, NEW JERSEY NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA NEW YORK, NEW YORK OKLAHOMA CITY. OKLAHOMA Nowyou can free an information system OMAHA, NEBRASKA from its glass-walled chamber andbring it to ORLANDO, FLORIDA the fingertips of your people. . . get PEORIA, ILLINOIS instant turnaround. . . increase productivity PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA ... increase creativity. General Electric PHOENIX, ARIZONA time-sharing is the computingbargain PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA of the decade. Contact our office PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND nearest you for more information. SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA AREA SEATTLE, WASHINGTON ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI SYRACUSE, NEW YORK INFORMATION SYSTEMS WASHINGTON, D.C. AREA Outside USA., contact nearest office of: Australian General Electric Pty., Ltd. GENERAL@ ELECTRIC Canadian General Electric Co., Ltd. Cornpagnie Bull-General Electric De La Rue Bull Machines, Ltd. International General Electric Co. Olivetti-General Electric S.P.A. or write 13430 N. Black Canyon Highway Phoenix. Arizona 85029

In the construct~onof the equrpment described reserves the right to modify the design for reasons of improved performance and operational flexibility.