General Electric - Computer Department
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1954 GE's Electronics Laboratory builds ORAC computer for Wright Paterson Air Force Base.
1954 Barney Oldfield is General Manager of the Advanced Electric Center, Ithaca, NY. PING putter designed.
1954 Barney Oldfield founds the Microwave Laboratory at Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA.
1955 Spring George Metcalf's Report on the future of the Electronics Industry. Chapter on "Electronic Computers", authored by Claire Lasher, predicted that, believe it or not, "Electronics Computers" would become commercially feasible and the fastest growing segment of the Electronics Industry.
1955 Summer Claire Lasher, assisted by George Snively and others, under the auspices of the Technical Electronics Equipment Department prepared a business plan to go into the Computer Business. Claire asks Oldfield to check into the SRI ERMA project for him. The plan was returned from Ralph Cordiner with a big "No RJC" scribbled across it with an orange crayon.
1955 Fall Ralph Cordiner follows up his "no" with a letter stating: "UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL THE GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY GO INTO THE BUSINESS MACHINE BUSINESS. HOWEVER, SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE, IN SUPPORT OF OUR HISTORIC BUSINESSES IT MAY BE NECESSARY FOR US TO GO INTO THE PROCESS COMPUTER BUSINESS."
1955 Fall Dr. Baker approves B of A Letter of Intent for $30 million of ERMA systems as a "process computer" and authorizes $50,000 to write a proposal and negotiate contract. (Final contract not signed until after shipment of the last ERMA system.)
1956 February 3 ERMA proposal submitted to B of A. Contract negotiations begin.
1956 May ? Ken McCombs opens Computer Department payroll account for himself, Owen Lindley and George Snively. (Barney Oldfield on Microwave Laboratory payroll and later transferred to the Technical Electronics Equipment Department's Payroll. Not added to CD payroll until fall 1956)
1956 June 28 Industrial Computer Section holds Computer Symposium at Electronics Park in Syracuse. Barney Oldfield shown as General Manager, Industrial Computer Section. Geiser, Lasher, Barclay, McCombs & Newman showed as sub-section managers. Barney Oldfield interviews Dr. Herbert R. J. Grosch.
1956 July ? Office opened in Les Lee Building, above Wittig's Ice Cream Parlor, on East Gennesse Street in Syracuse. Ray Barclay, Art Newman, & Ken Geiser added to CD payroll.
1956 August ? Site selection team formed.
1956 September NCR Contract signed.
1956 November 2 Herb Grosch calls a press conference in Tempe, Arizona and prematurely announces that he has selected Phoenix and the rest will follow. He announces a computer center to be established at Arizona Normal (later State) University with an IBM 704 computer (which he diverted from the Jet Engine Department in Evendale, Ohio and which had a military priority!)
1956 November 5 Site team selects Phoenix as the site. Barney Oldfield prepares a $5,000 Appropriations Request for a sales office in Phoenix to liaison with the B of A. Will hand carry to Harold Strictland's Office to try to get approval.
1956 November ? GE signs option on 1000 acres accumulated from John Jacobs, (?)Eaton and one other, on Black Canyon Hwy. at Thunderbird Rd.
1956 November 17 Barney sends Manufacturing people, (Stan Brown, Earl Kittle, Don Reed and wives) on the road to Phoenix with orders to call in each night to receive instructions as to whether or not to keep proceeding.
1956 November 20 Strickland signs $5,000 appropriation. Oldfield calls the Les Lee Building and the engineers in the General Engineering Lab in Schenectady and tells us to get on the road to Phoenix. He will be unavailable after he hangs up.
1956 November 26 Manufacturing people procure office space on the 5th floor of the new First National Bank of Arizona Building at 401 North Central Avenue, Phoenix, AZ Sign on door read "GE Computer Department."
1957 January ? Addition space acquired on the 2nd. Floor of the KTAR Building on North Central Avenue.
?? ?? ERMA project moved into facility on Charleston Road in Mountainview, CA.
1957 Computer Department leases ASU's new engineering building.
1957 ? (?) Eaton builds 5,000-sq. ft. facility on Peoria Ave. to lease to Computer Department.
1957 October Product Scope meeting creates charter for a "Computer Department."
1958 Deer Valley plant built.
1959 February First ERMA shipped. Upon delivery, Ronald Reagan hosted the press event.
1959 April Cordiner fires Oldfield following the ERMA dedication ceremony at the B of A. Claire Lasher appointed Acting General Manager with orders to complete the ERMA and NCR 304 contracts and to get out of the "Business Machine" and concentrate on process computers. Next 18 months spent planning the "Big Look" in an attempt to get Cordiner's decision reversed.
1961 Spring Claire Lasher gets OK to implement the "Big Look" from Cordiner.
1961 May Second First Annual National Sales meeting at Superstition Hotel in Apache Junction, AZ kicks off the "Big Look" (The first " First Annual" meeting was canceled when Claire didn't get an earlier meeting with Cordiner.)
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1970 - GE's Computer Department is merged into Honeywell Information Systems (HIS) and consolidated under the books of Honeywell, Inc.
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| Copryight 2006 by Jay Conne |