November 18, 2002 (Computerworld) --
The Harvard Mark I was big. More than 50 feet long and weighing in at nearly five tons, it was the brainchild of Howard Aiken, a Harvard graduate student who in 1937 proposed what would become the largest electromechanical calculator ever built.
Officially known as the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator, the Mark I consisted of 78 adding machines and calculators linked together with mechanical counters, paper-tape-fed sequencers and card readers. And when IBM completed construction of the machine in 1944, it was the model of what computing hardware should be: a huge calculator for solving huge problems. Clearly, size mattered.
Two years later, it was dwarfed by the Electronic Numeric Integrator and Calculator, an electronic computer weighing 30 tons and requiring 1,000 square feet of floor space. In 1948, a different Mark I computer at the University of Manchester in England—the first computer to run stored programs—required a medium-size room. And in 1951, MIT's Whirlwind, the first real-time computer, took up more than 2,500 square feet.
No wonder science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov predicted in 1956 that computers would eventually grow so big that most of their bulk would have to be placed in hyperspace.
But physics and business requirements demanded that smaller, not bigger, computers be developed. By the time IBM announced its System/360 mainframe line in 1964, computers had stopped growing. In 1965, Digital Equipment Corp. squeezed a system down to a single-cabinet minicomputer, the PDP-8. And 1968's Data General Nova minicomputer could sit on a tabletop.
But except for the Cray-1 supercomputer, which was introduced in 1976 with a distinctive circular shape that allowed shorter wires and let it double as furniture, large computers would spend the next few decades shrinking into smaller rectangular cabinets.
The shape of things to come would belong to desktop computers, which arrived in 1975 with the MITS Altair 8800—a rectangular metal box that, except for the front-panel switches used to feed in programs one byte at a time, could be mistaken for a modern PC.
For the next few years, desktop computers such as the Apple II, Commodore Pet and RadioShack TRS-80 resembled video terminals. But when IBM introduced its Personal Computer in 1981, the basic shape of the majority of desktop PCs was set for the next 20 years; the biggest change was when the metal box was eventually turned on end and called a tower.
The desire to lug the computer away from the desktop led to new designs. In 1980, the Osborne I was a 25-lb. computer the size of a portable sewing machine—just small enough to fit under an airline seat. In 1982, Grid Systems Corp. began se
"IT site manager pilot fish at this big manufacturer gets a call from an engineer -- who's frantic because his..."
Read more...
"One year later, Intel's efforts to create cross-vendor standards for blades are still falling on deaf ears at IBM and..."
Read more... Read more Hardware posts or See all Blogs
(Source: Computerworld) Whether it's in the front office or the server room, green thinking can save energy, trees and money. From the Editorial Staff at Computerworld, here's the latest thinking on greening your operations. Download this executive briefing
Virtualization Everywhere
Download this white paper, free, compliments of Citrix. (Source: Citrix) Adoption of virtualization is concentrated among large enterprises, while adoption by mid-sized companies has been much slower. For these companies, the cost and complexity of server virtualization solutions has been a barrier.
In this paper, we'll discuss how Citrix XenServer" provides simple, economical server virtualization for any size company. Download now!
As the volume of information inside enterprises explodes, most executives recognize the importance of a Google-like search solution for business content. To this end, Google has developed Universal Search for Business, powered by the Google Search Appliance, which searches all enterprise content through one secure box. Attend this webinar to learn how your business can benefit from universal search capabilities.
Get Into Gear! Check out our new personal technology section -- TechGear -- for the latest on those cool gadgets that you just gotta have! Host Mike Elgan provides hands-on reviews and analysis of the stuff that makes IT fun.
Head to TechGear
SQL Anywhere is the industry-leading mobile and embedded database. Designed for database-powered applications that operate in frontline environments without onsite IT support, SQL Anywhere offers enterprise-caliber features in a database that is easily embedded and widely deployed in server, desktop, remote office and mobile applications.
See your link here
Subscribe to
Computerworld 
or
Other Hardware Stories
Download this white paper, free, compliments of Citrix. 
Long Tail Supplier Collaboration - What's In It For You? 
Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services.
Get Into Gear!
