Extract from I.C.T. Annual Report
and Accounts 1967
“We
have continued to maintain a commanding lead in the provision on time of a wide
range of sophisticated computer software, and our software-producing
organization is now the largest outside
The software library now available to our customers contains more than 400 major packages and 1000 subsidiary programs, with a total number of "words", or computer instruction steps, of over three million. The library includes important packages ; as PERT—Program Evaluation Review Technique—which is a network planning technique for the control of new projects. Amongst many applications, 1900 Series PERT was used to progress the fitting of the main engines of the new Cunard liner, Queen Elizabeth II; and Eldo, the European rocket launching organisation, is using the I.C.T. package to plan and coordinate the development and construction of space launching vehicles. Our lead in the use of the technique was underlined by the successful conference for network planning users which we organised last June; this was attended by over eleven hundred delegates from many parts of the world. Another major 1900 Series software package recently released, is PROMPT—Production Reviewing, Organising and Monitoring of Performance Techniques—which consists of four separate sets of interlocking computer programs enabling users to build up computer-based production control systems
On the software development side, substantial progress has
been made in implementing highly sophisticated operating systems for the larger
computers in the 1900 Series including the 1906A. Operating systems enable a computer to
organise and schedule its own work with minimum human intervention, and
are an essential feature of any large multi-access computer system. I.C.T.
expects, by the middle of 1968, to make multi-access software generally
available to its customers, as distinct from the provision of specialized
systems for particular applications; it should thus be among the first in the
world, and certainly the first European computer manufacturer, to do so.”
Extract from ICL (Holdings) Annual Report and Accounts 1969
Software Development
and Production
ICL has more than two thousand
staff engaged in the task of developing and producing software. Expenditure on
software development alone is now about equal to that for hardware development.
The ICL team, the largest software organisation outside the
A major addition to 1900 Series
software was made half-way through the year with the release of the GEORGE 3 operating system. This is
currently the most sophisticated of the GEORGE series of operating systems for
large 1900 computers. Further marks of the GEORGE 3 system are being developed
to enable users to obtain still greater advances in operating efficiency.
The J-level
operating system for System 4 computers is now proven and is demonstrating the
soundness of the philosophy underlying System 4 software. The Edinburgh Multi-Access Project, an
advanced System 4 operating system being developed in collaboration with
Edinburgh University, has made encouraging progress and will be put into use on
an experimental basis early in 1970, This year will also see the release of two
further System 4 operating systems, MULTIJOB and R, the latter being designed
specifically for the powerful 4/70 computer.
ICL not only provides basic and applications software for its computers. Its User Programming Service
produces and sells programs to
customers on a contract basis. This is now a rapidly expanding part of ICL's business.