ABSTRACT
When IBM received its first subcontract to convert Whirlwind technology into the AN/FSQ-7 in October 1952, it reaped a windfall of bright boy innovations to commercialize. IBM wasted little time in capitalizing on the technological advantage. Bright boy technology, modern production plants, and a skilled work force complemented both IBM’s huge financial clout and its reputation from the tabulating machine business. Remington Rand was unhappy that the bright boys passed it over in favor of IBM. IBM was the hands-down correct choice to entrust with the country’s air defense computers. That IBM’s Poughkeepsie plant was relatively close to Cambridge was also a good selling point. The proximity of IBM’s branch office in Hartford, Connecticut, also had considerable travel-time merit. Most people were thrilled to death at handing over a stack of IBM cards for an answer the next day. Digital, as Olsen’s company was known, eventually became the near equal of IBM.
