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ICL was formed in 1968 by a merger between International
Computers and Tabulators (ICT) and English Electric Computers
(EEC), pushed by the UK Government of Prime Minister Harold
Wilson (Minister of Technology Tony Benn) in the Industrial Expansion Act, to establish
«a single national computer company able to maintain a
position in the international computer industry».
Both ICT and EEC themselves had gone through various mergers
before this time, so ICL was formed with a varied, and
incompatible, product line coming from the various
constituent parts that formed this new
company. For an insiders view, see
The prehistory of the 1900 series by
Sir Arthur Humphreys the first Managing
Director of ICL.
The late Sir Arthur Humphreys memorably said: "The
creation of ICL was the desire of Harold Wilson's government;
their chosen method was a combination of stick and carrot,
termed by Tony Benn 'a golden rod'. As I recall, the rod
caused some pain and the gold contribution was miniscule.
"
I have noted, hopefully correctly, some of the events leading
to the formation of ICL in 1968:-
| 1907: |
British Tabulating Machine (BTM) company formed in
London and granted an exclusive license, signed by Dr
Hollerith, by the Tabulating Machine Company of
America (later IBM) to market its punched card
machines in Britain and the Empire (at that time quite
a large part of the world, see
below). |
|---|
| 1930s: |
BTM independently developed a particularly successful
mechanism, the Rolling Total Tabulator. Interestingly,
this background gave them the unique experience
necessary to undertake the development and manufacture
of the massive and ingenious "Bombe" mechanisms
(known internally by BTM as the 6/6502 or CANTAB) used
at Bletchley Park as a critical part
of the computer system that helped to decode enemy
radio transmissions during World War II. |
|---|
| 1948: |
Manchester University SSEM
(Small Scale Experimental Machine
or Baby) was the world's first stored program
electronic computer, and the prototype for the
Manchester Mark 1. |
|---|
| 1949: |
The
EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage
Automatic Calculator) was the world's first
stored-program computer to operate a regular computing
service; designed and built at Cambridge
University. |
|---|
| 1949: |
BTM agreement with IBM dissolved. |
|---|
| 1951: |
Ferranti delivered the first Mark 1, the first
commercially available computer, from a collaboration
with Manchester University, building on the work of
the Manchester Mark 1. Ferranti then went on to
produce a string of technically successful machines:
the Pegasus, Mercury, Perseus, Sirius and
Orion. |
|---|
| 1951: |
LEO (Lyons Electronic Office), ran «the world's
first regular routine office computer job».
This development came from collaborations between J.
Lyons & Company, a British catering company with
strong interests in new office management techniques,
and Cambridge University. See
LEO, the First Business Computer
by Peter Bird (Hasler, 1994) |
|---|
| 1954: |
LEO Computers Ltd was formed. The company installed
LEO computers in many British offices, including Ford
Motor Company and the 'clerical factory' of the
Ministry of Pensions at Newcastle. |
|---|
| 1954: |
Joint development between BTM and GEC of
1301. |
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| 1958: |
Merger announced between BTM + Powas-Samas. |
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| 1959: |
International Computers and Tabulators (ICT) launched
as the merged company. |
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| 1961: |
Computing interests of GEC merged into ICT. |
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| 1962: |
ICT agreement with Univac to sell 1004. |
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| 1962: |
ICT 1301 launched. |
|---|
| 1962: |
Computing interests of EMI merged into ICT, expanding
the product line with 1100 & 2400 systems. |
|---|
| 1962: |
Development work at Ferranti culminated in the ATLAS
computer which, when it was delivered in December,
was considered to be the fastest computer in the
world. |
|---|
| 1963: |
Computing interests of Ferranti merged into ICT,
bringing Mercury and Atlas to ICT's product line and
giving ICT probably the most incompatible range of
computer products possible to imagine. |
|---|
| 1963: |
LEO Computers Ltd merged with the computer interests
of English Electric to form English Electric
LEO. |
|---|
| 1964: |
Ferranti Canada's FP6000 becomes the basis of the ICT
1900 range, that it was hoped would span the whole
range of power, speed and cost required by any of
ICT's existing customer base; and to compete against
the recently announced IBM/360 series of machines.
ICT1902 and ICT1904 shown working at the Business
Efficiency Exhibition at Olympia in October. |
|---|
| 1968: |
ICT and English Electric Computers merge to form ICL,
bringing the System/4 (based on the RCA Spectra range,
similar to IBM/360 architecture) into ICL's product
line. |
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| 1975: |
2900 series 'New Range' launched, to replace the
varied existing systems |
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| 1981: |
ICL agreement with Fujitsu to sell IBM compatible
mainframes |
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| 1984: |
ICL acquired by STC (Standard Telephones and
Cables) |
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| 1990: |
STC acquired by Northern Telecom Limited of
Canada |
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| 1990: |
Fujitsu acquires 80% stake in ICL from Nortel Networks
(formerly known as Northern Telecom) |
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| 1991: |
ICL acquires PC maker Nokia Data Communications
Corp |
|---|
| 1996: |
ICL closes last manufacturing site |
|---|
| 1998: |
Fujitsu acquires remaining ICL shares from
Nortel |
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| 2002: |
ICL fully integrated into the Fujitsu Group of
Companies, becoming Fujitsu Services within the UK and
Europe |
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The Evolution of ICL, from a
Computer
Conservation Society newsletter.
BTM-----------, EEL : English Electric Leo
1959 |---ICT----, EELM: English Electric-Leo-Marconi
Powas-samas---' | EEC : English Electric Computers
1961 |--ICT--,
GEC Computer interests---' |
1962 |---ICT-,
EMI computer interests-----------' |
1963 |---ICT---------------,
Ferranti EDP computer interests----------' |
|
English Electric computer interests-----, |
| 1968 |--ICL
1963 |--EEL-, |
Leo Computers---------------------------' | |
1964 |---EELM-, |
Marconi computer interests---------------------' | |
1967 |--EEC-'
Elliott-Automation--------------------------------------'
List of countries comprising the British
Empire in 1907 (with their current name in brackets):-
Aden (Yemen), Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Australia, Basutoland
(Lesotho), Bechuanaland (Botswana), Borneo, British East
Africa (Kenya), British Gold Coast (Ghana), British
Somaliland (Somalia), Burma, Canada, Ceylon (Sri Lanka),
Cyprus, Egypt, Gambia (The Gambia), India (Bangladesh, India,
Pakistan), Kuwait, Malta, New Zealand, Nigeria, Northern
Rhodesia (Zambia), Nyasaland (Malawi), Oman. Sierra Leone,
Singapore, South Africa, Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe),
Uganda, West Indies, Zanzibar, various islands in the
Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans,
and quite probably a few more that I have missed.
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