General Electric - Revision history

Jnc: /* External links */ +From General Electric to Bull

2024-12-20T18:48:22Z

‎External links: +From General Electric to Bull

Jnc: GE's computer business was sold to Honeywell

2024-12-15T23:09:47Z

GE's computer business was sold to Honeywell

Jnc: /* Further reading */ link AHC

2024-12-06T01:43:30Z

‎Further reading: link AHC

Jnc: Link two more

2024-01-12T18:53:21Z

Link two more

Jnc: Add links to articles, and collections

2024-01-12T16:29:13Z

Add links to articles, and collections

Jnc: Pretty stubby, but saves all the FR/EL - the story is all there

2023-01-07T00:56:13Z

Pretty stubby, but saves all the FR/EL - the story is all there

New page

'''General Electric''' built a range of computers in the early years of computers: smaller computers for military and aerospace applications; [[mainframe]]s; and it was also involved in commercial data processing (notably check processing for the Bank of America). GE eventually decided to leave the computer business (probably a smart call; the computer business was not a good fit to its corporate culture), and sold its computer division to [[Honeywell]] in 1970.

Work on computers in GE started in the Electronics Laboratory, part of the Electronics Division, in Syracuse, New York. When GE entered the commercial data processing field, Phoenix was chosen as the location for the Computer Department, which (after some complex internal politics in GE) was set up to handle that business. Its Deer Valley plant in Phoenix was built in 1958. GE larger systems hardware (which was descended from the machines built for the Bank of America) was built in Phoenix, starting with the GE-225. Other groups eventually moved to Phoenix too; the 635 group moved to Phoenix in 1964. The GE Large Systems department eventually moved in 1968 (after a retrograde move in 1967, when the 645 group was moved from Phoenix to Syracuse to be closer to MIT).

{{semi-stub}}

==See also==

* [[GE 600 series]]
* [[GE-635]]
* [[GE-645]]

==Further reading==

* George E. Snively, ''General Electric Enters the Computer Business'', [[IEEE]] Annals of the History of Computing, vol.10, no. 1, pp. 74-78, 1988.
* John A. N. Lee, ''The Rise and Fall of the General Electric Corporation Computer Department'', IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 17, no. 4: Winter 1995, pp. 24-45 (this may contain an error; on pg. 37, footnote 29 says "the second [DTSS] system was implemented on the GE 645" - this is probably wrong, a 645 would be extreme overkill; other sources say it was a 635)
* H. R. Oldfield, ''General Electric Enters the Computer Business — Revisited'', IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 17, no. 4: Winter 1995, pp. 46-55
* John Couleur, ''The Core of the Black Canyon Computer Corporation'', IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 17, no. 4: Winter 1995, pp. 56-60
* John A. N. Lee, George E. Snively, ''The Rise and Sale of the General Electric Computer Department: A Further Look'', IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 22, no. 2: April-June 2000, pp. 53-60
* H. R. Oldfield, ''King of the Seven Dwarfs: General Electric’s Ambiguous Challenge to the Computer Industry'', IEEE Press, Los Alamitos, 1996

==External links==

* [http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ge/history/GE_Computer_History_1950s.pdf General Electric Computer History]
* [https://www.smecc.org/tall_tales_from_the_early_days_of_the_g_e__computer_department_-_george_snively.htm The True Tale of the Computer Department]
* [https://www.smecc.org/snively%27_corrections_to_king_of_the_seven_dwarfs.htm Snively's corrections to King of the Seven Dwarfs]
* [http://www.feb-patrimoine.com/english/gecos_to_gcos8_part_1.htm From GECOS to GCOS8: A History of Large Systems in GE, Honeywell, NEC and Bull - Part 1: General Electric] 
* [http://www.ed-thelen.org/EarlyGE-Computers.html General Electric Computer Department from the bottom up: 1961 through 1965]
** [http://www.ed-thelen.org/EarlyGE-New.html New items for General Electric Computer Department from the bottom up]

[[Category: Manufacturers]]

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 Work on computers in GE started in the Electronics Laboratory, part of the Electronics Division, in Syracuse, New York. When GE entered the commercial data processing field, Phoenix was chosen as the location for the Computer Department, which (after some complex internal politics in GE) was set up to handle that business. Its Deer Valley plant in Phoenix was built in 1958. GE larger systems hardware (which was descended from the machines built for the Bank of America) was built in Phoenix, starting with the GE-225. Other groups eventually moved to Phoenix too; the 635 group moved to Phoenix in 1964. The GE Large Systems department eventually moved in 1968 (after a retrograde move in 1967, when the 645 group was moved from Phoenix to Syracuse to be closer to MIT).
 {{semi-stub}}
@@ Line 14: / Line 16: @@
 * George E. Snively, ''General Electric Enters the Computer Business'', [[Annals of the History of Computing]], Vol.10, No. 1, 1988, pp. 74-78
 * John A. N. Lee, [http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ge/history/Lee_-_The_Rise_and_Fall_of_the_General_Electric_Coporation_Computer_Department_1995.pdf ''The Rise and Fall of the General Electric Corporation Computer Department''], Annals of the History of Computing, Vol. 17, No. 4: Winter 1995, pp. 24-45 (this may contain an error; on pg. 37, footnote 29 says "the second [DTSS] system was implemented on the GE 645" - this is probably wrong, a 645 would be extreme overkill; other sources say it was a 635)
 * H. R. Oldfield, [https://bitsavers.org/pdf/ge/history/Oldfield_-_General_Electric_Enters_the_Computer_Business_Revisited_1995.pdf ''General Electric Enters the Computer Business — Revisited''], Annals of the History of Computing, Vol. 17, No. 4: Winter 1995, pp. 46-55
@@ Line 19: / Line 22: @@
 * John A. N. Lee, George E. Snively, [https://www.ed-thelen.org/GE-A-Further-Look.pdf ''The Rise and Sale of the General Electric Computer Department: A Further Look''], Annals of the History of Computing, Vol. 22, No. 2: April-June 2000, pp. 53-60
 * H. R. Oldfield, ''King of the Seven Dwarfs: General Electric’s Ambiguous Challenge to the Computer Industry'', IEEE Press, Los Alamitos, 1996
 ==External links==
@@ Line 25: / Line 29: @@
 ** [http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ge/history/GE_Computer_History_1950s.pdf General Electric Computer History]
 * [https://www.smecc.org/ge_information_systems.htm GE Information Systems]
 ** [https://www.smecc.org/snively%27_corrections_to_king_of_the_seven_dwarfs.htm Snively's corrections to King of the Seven Dwarfs]
 * [http://www.ed-thelen.org/EarlyGE-Computers.html General Electric Computer Department from the bottom up: 1961 through 1965]
@@ Line 33: / Line 36: @@
   * [http://www.feb-patrimoine.com/english/gecos_to_gcos8_part_2.htm From GECOS to GCOS8: A History of Large Systems in GE, Honeywell, NEC and Bull - Part 2: The Honeywell years]
 * [http://www.feb-patrimoine.com/english/gecos_to_gcos8_part_3.htm From GECOS to GCOS8: A History of Large Systems in GE, Honeywell, NEC and Bull - Part 3: NEC and Bull] -->
 [[Category: Manufacturers]]

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 ==Further reading==
-* George E. Snively, ''General Electric Enters the Computer Business'', [[IEEE]] Annals of the History of Computing, vol.10, no. 1, pp. 74-78, 1988.
+* George E. Snively, ''General Electric Enters the Computer Business'', [[Annals of the History of Computing]], Vol.10, No. 1, 1988, pp. 74-78
-* John A. N. Lee, [http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ge/history/Lee_-_The_Rise_and_Fall_of_the_General_Electric_Coporation_Computer_Department_1995.pdf ''The Rise and Fall of the General Electric Corporation Computer Department''], IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 17, no. 4: Winter 1995, pp. 24-45 (this may contain an error; on pg. 37, footnote 29 says "the second [DTSS] system was implemented on the GE 645" - this is probably wrong, a 645 would be extreme overkill; other sources say it was a 635)
+* John A. N. Lee, [http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ge/history/Lee_-_The_Rise_and_Fall_of_the_General_Electric_Coporation_Computer_Department_1995.pdf ''The Rise and Fall of the General Electric Corporation Computer Department''], Annals of the History of Computing, Vol. 17, No. 4: Winter 1995, pp. 24-45 (this may contain an error; on pg. 37, footnote 29 says "the second [DTSS] system was implemented on the GE 645" - this is probably wrong, a 645 would be extreme overkill; other sources say it was a 635)
-* H. R. Oldfield, [https://bitsavers.org/pdf/ge/history/Oldfield_-_General_Electric_Enters_the_Computer_Business_Revisited_1995.pdf ''General Electric Enters the Computer Business — Revisited''], IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 17, no. 4: Winter 1995, pp. 46-55
+* H. R. Oldfield, [https://bitsavers.org/pdf/ge/history/Oldfield_-_General_Electric_Enters_the_Computer_Business_Revisited_1995.pdf ''General Electric Enters the Computer Business — Revisited''], Annals of the History of Computing, Vol. 17, No. 4: Winter 1995, pp. 46-55
-* John Couleur, [https://bitsavers.org/pdf/ge/history/Couleur_-_The_Core_of_the_Black_Canyon_Computer_Corporation_1995.pdf ''The Core of the Black Canyon Computer Corporation''], IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 17, no. 4: Winter 1995, pp. 56-60
+* John Couleur, [https://bitsavers.org/pdf/ge/history/Couleur_-_The_Core_of_the_Black_Canyon_Computer_Corporation_1995.pdf ''The Core of the Black Canyon Computer Corporation''], Annals of the History of Computing, Vol. 17, No. 4: Winter 1995, pp. 56-60
-* John A. N. Lee, George E. Snively, [https://www.ed-thelen.org/GE-A-Further-Look.pdf ''The Rise and Sale of the General Electric Computer Department: A Further Look''], IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 22, no. 2: April-June 2000, pp. 53-60
+* John A. N. Lee, George E. Snively, [https://www.ed-thelen.org/GE-A-Further-Look.pdf ''The Rise and Sale of the General Electric Computer Department: A Further Look''], Annals of the History of Computing, Vol. 22, No. 2: April-June 2000, pp. 53-60
 * H. R. Oldfield, ''King of the Seven Dwarfs: General Electric’s Ambiguous Challenge to the Computer Industry'', IEEE Press, Los Alamitos, 1996

@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 * H. R. Oldfield, [https://bitsavers.org/pdf/ge/history/Oldfield_-_General_Electric_Enters_the_Computer_Business_Revisited_1995.pdf ''General Electric Enters the Computer Business — Revisited''], IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 17, no. 4: Winter 1995, pp. 46-55
 * John Couleur, [https://bitsavers.org/pdf/ge/history/Couleur_-_The_Core_of_the_Black_Canyon_Computer_Corporation_1995.pdf ''The Core of the Black Canyon Computer Corporation''], IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 17, no. 4: Winter 1995, pp. 56-60
-* John A. N. Lee, George E. Snively, ''The Rise and Sale of the General Electric Computer Department: A Further Look'', IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 22, no. 2: April-June 2000, pp. 53-60
+* John A. N. Lee, George E. Snively, [https://www.ed-thelen.org/GE-A-Further-Look.pdf ''The Rise and Sale of the General Electric Computer Department: A Further Look''], IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 22, no. 2: April-June 2000, pp. 53-60
 * H. R. Oldfield, ''King of the Seven Dwarfs: General Electric’s Ambiguous Challenge to the Computer Industry'', IEEE Press, Los Alamitos, 1996
@@ Line 27: / Line 27: @@
 ** [https://www.smecc.org/tall_tales_from_the_early_days_of_the_g_e__computer_department_-_george_snively.htm The True Tale of the Computer Department]
 ** [https://www.smecc.org/snively%27_corrections_to_king_of_the_seven_dwarfs.htm Snively's corrections to King of the Seven Dwarfs]
 * [http://www.feb-patrimoine.com/english/gecos_to_gcos8_part_1.htm From GECOS to GCOS8: A History of Large Systems in GE, Honeywell, NEC and Bull - Part 1: General Electric] <!--
   * [http://www.feb-patrimoine.com/english/gecos_to_gcos8_part_2.htm From GECOS to GCOS8: A History of Large Systems in GE, Honeywell, NEC and Bull - Part 2: The Honeywell years]
 * [http://www.feb-patrimoine.com/english/gecos_to_gcos8_part_3.htm From GECOS to GCOS8: A History of Large Systems in GE, Honeywell, NEC and Bull - Part 3: NEC and Bull] -->
 [[Category: Manufacturers]]