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Source: ndwiki article "History of Norsk Data"

  • Live page: https://www.ndwiki.org/wiki/History_of_Norsk_Data
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Status: SECONDARY, but the best-sourced secondary we have. Unlike the two Wikipedia articles, this one carries twenty numbered references. Most point at a Norwegian piece called "Norsk Data - hva gikk galt?" ("Norsk Data - what went wrong?"), which we do not hold and which is clearly worth finding. Others point at real published work: a VDM-Europe Symposium volume (Springer LNCS, 1987), an IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science paper on the JET control system (1998), an Aftenposten article of 28 January 1987, NEWS October 1986, and histories of SCANNET and NORDUNET.

The article states it "was originally a copy of the NODAF wiki article The_History_of_Norsk_Data in 10th February 2009".

Licensing note: the page footer reads "Content is available under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike unless otherwise noted." That is ndwiki's site-wide licence, and it supports the CC BY-SA status Ronny gave for the ndwiki NORD-12 photograph.

What this page adds that nothing else here had

Year-by-year installation counts - see the caution below - and a much longer machine list:

  • NORD-20 - development started 1971, introduced 1972. Confirms a name that was previously bare in Norwegian Wikipedia.
  • NORD-42 - completed 1974, MOS memory with 4Kb chips, first delivery that summer. In no other source we hold.
  • NORDIC - a system developed 1971, completed 1972. This is almost certainly the "NORDIC - The Multicomputer Installation at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute" that ND-NYTT No 5, September 1972 wrote about, cited by the ndwiki NORD-5 article.
  • NORDCOM (1971), NORDCOM-74, and a NORDCOM graphics system.
  • NORD-100 was originally designated NORD-10/M, meant as a lower-cost bit-sliced NORD-10 that "just happened to end up significantly faster".
  • ND-100/CE deliveries start 1981; ND-100/CX introduced 1982.
  • The ND Satellite range introduced 1981.
  • The ND-500 split into ND-520, ND-560 and ND-570 in 1982 - note ND-560, where Norwegian Wikipedia has ND-550. The page marks this entry with a "(?)".
  • ND-570/CXA in 1983.
  • ND-580/CX models 20, 30 and 40 in 1986 - "systems based on two to four ND-570 CPU:s and one ND-110/CX CPU". A multiprocessor line in no other source.
  • ND-5000 series introduced 1985, the ND-5000 family 1987, and the ND-5000 Compact series 1987.
  • "Samsonite" - "First Samsonite shipment at 22 April" 1988. A codename that appears nowhere else here, presumably related to Samson.
  • Uniline introduced 1989, matching English Wikipedia.
  • SINTRAN-IV development started in 1978 with a team of eight. No other source mentions a SINTRAN IV at all.

Also: NOCUS, the Nord Computer Users Society, founded at Roeros in 1968; GMS-12, the typesetting system built for NTB in 1975 and named as the ancestor of NORTEXT; NORDFORSK, a Nordic research network on a NORD-12 core; and ND-SAFE, ND-ORBIS (1982) and ND-DIALOGUE (1984, which shelved ORBIS).

Named installations: CERN; JET, with a CAMAC interface built by Camtech Electronics; SCANNET, an early packet-switched network joining the five Nordic countries with one NORD-12 each, started 1974, operational 1976, X.25 and X.75, used until 1983; BMC in Sweden, 1976, where two NORD-10s beat DEC's PDP-11/70 and /45 and ran ten years before a VAX-8200 replaced them; The Scotsman Publications; and the University of Oslo.

Where it contradicts sources we already hold

  • "In September [1967], it is made publically traded". This is wrong as written. September 1967 is when the company became an aksjeselskap - a limited company - per the norsk-data.com timeline. Public listing was London in 1981.
  • Three NORD-1 installed in 1968, against the norsk-data.com timeline's "nine NORD-1 machines sold" that year. Sold and installed are different counts, but the gap is large.
  • Tandberg. This page says ND took over part of the business of the former Tandberg Radiofabrikk with effect from 3 July 1979, and then that "Tandberg becomes independent of Norsk Data in the autumn of 1980" with profit well below expectations. The norsk-data.com timeline says only that ND bought Tandberg in 1979 and never mentions it leaving again.
  • CERN. Here the first CERN contract, for Lab II, is signed in 1974 using the NORD-10. The norsk-data.com timeline has a CERN contract in 1972 and 24 machines ordered in 1973.
  • F-16 via Singer Link - agreeing with English Wikipedia against the norsk-data.com timeline, which names no partner. This page adds numbers: first deliveries worth 4.5 million NOK in 1977, a contract for six more simulators in 1978, and another large order in 1979.

A possible reconciliation, not yet proved

The NORD-50 date has been the most stubborn conflict here: three secondary sources call it a 1975 second-generation supermini, while the primary ND document Reference-Manuals/10/NORD-10-Design-Goals.md calls it a special-purpose array processor "introduced in 1973".

This page may explain both. It puts the NORD-50 "in planning and development" in 1974 and "completed" in 1975, with three installed that year. If ND announced the NORD-50 in 1973 and completed it in 1975, both statements are true and describe different events. That is a hypothesis, not a finding - it does not touch the bigger disagreement, which is what the machine was: an array processor or a general-purpose supermini.

Caution about the installation numbers

The page gives figures like "36 NORD-1 installed" under 1973 and again under 1974, then "Four NORD-1 installed" under 1975. It never says whether these are machines installed that year or the total installed base, and the sequence reads badly either way - as annual figures the NORD-1 totals run past 160 by 1974, above the "at least 142 machines produced" that the ndwiki NORD-1 article takes from the August 1974 Computers and Automation census. Do not use these numbers without deciding, from a real source, what they count.

Verbatim extract

A brief list of some events in the Norsk Data history.

Contents

  • 1 1967
  • 2 1968
  • 3 1969
  • 4 1970
  • 5 1971
  • 6 1972
  • 7 1973
  • 8 1974
  • 9 1975
  • 10 1976
  • 11 1977
  • 12 1978
  • 13 1979
  • 14 1980
  • 15 1981
  • 16 1982
  • 17 1983
  • 18 1984
  • 19 1985
  • 20 1986
  • 21 1987
  • 22 1988
  • 23 1989
  • 24 Notable installations
  • 25 Sources

1967

  • In July, Norsk Data-Elektronikk is founded
  • In September, it is made publically traded

1968

  • Three NORD-1 installed
  • The NORD-1 is completed, featuring an unusually rich register set, and floating-point arithmetic as standard equipment, possibly the first minicomputer to do so
  • NOCUS, the Nord Computer Users Society is founded at Roeros.

1969

  • A virtual memory system for the NORD-1 is created. One of the first minicomputer to do so (the Burroughs B5000 was the first computer[citation needed])
  • 11 NORD-1 installed

1970

  • 17 NORD-1 installed

1971

  • 28 NORD-1 installed
  • Development is started on the NORDIC system, NORDCOM, and NORD-20
  • The company moves in to new offices in Oekern Business Center, using 850 m2.

1972

  • 29 NORD-1 installed, one NORD-5
  • NORDIC completed
  • BASIC compiler developed
  • Terminal systems developed
  • NORD-TSS in development, a multi-user multi-lingual time-sharing operating system
  • NORD-20 introduced
  • Development of the NORD-10 started, estimated finished first half of 1973

1973

  • 36 NORD-1 installed, one NORD-5 (Computas A.S.)
  • 12 NORD-10 installed
  • Market demands increase sharply after CERN contract
  • Contracts signed in Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, and France
  • 32% of orders from export
  • NORD-TSS completed
  • NORD-PL developed
  • ND starts a licensing agreement with the central institute for industrial research to use and further develop the database system SIBAS
  • Contract signed with ASEA-ATOM for three systems for 6 million NOK, each consisting of a configuration of NORD-10/5s. Systems to be used for surveillance and control of nuclear power plants.

1974

  • 36 NORD-1 installed, one NORD-5
  • 46 NORD-10 installed
  • NORD-12 and NORD-50 in planning and development
  • NORD-42 is completed, with MOS memory using 4Kb chips. First delivery in the summer.
  • The NORDCOM-74 is developed, an updated NORDCOM system
  • Further development of different I/O controllers for the NORD-10, including the NORDCOM graphics system
  • Development of administrative software. Software development team is twice the size of the hardware team
  • Development of SINTRAN III dominates the software division manpower. The first SINTRAN-III systems are installed in late 1974.
  • The company moves in to new offices in Loerenvn. 57 in August, using 5?800 m2. Thought to be sufficient until first quarter 1976.
  • A daughter company is considered in Stockholm, Sweden, to be operative 4th quarter 1975.
  • First contract with Cern, Lab. II is signed, using the NORD-10.

1975

  • Four NORD-1 installed
  • 62 NORD-10 installed, three NORD-50
  • The NORD-50 is completed, a second-generation 32-bit superminicomputer
  • A solid-state memory system for the NORD-10 is developed
  • Large mass storage system for the NORD-10 developed
  • The typesetting system GMS-12, the ancestor of NORTEXT, is developed for NTB
  • NORDFORSK, a Nordic technical research network, is developed using a NORD-12 core system
  • SIBAS, a Codasyl-based, multi-user on-line database management system, is introduced

1976

  • 83 NORD-10 installed, three NORD-50
  • Planning of the building on Furuset is almost completed. Building is planned to be approx. 9?800 m2, and planned cost is approx. 42 mill. NOK.

1977

  • 114 NORD-10/NORD-10/S installed, seven NORD-50
  • NORD-10/S introduced
  • Initial deliveries worth 4.5 million NOK for the first parts of the F-16 airplane simulator. Approximately 18 more simulator systems are expected to be delivered

1978

  • Relocation to the new building takes place medio August
  • Contract with Singer Link for the delivery of 6 more simulators
  • CERN is still an active customer. 120 machines sold this year. There have been suggestions of about 40 more simulators being needed.
  • Development of the NORD-100, originally designated the NORD-10/M, and intended as a lower-cost bitsliced version of the NORD-10. Just happened to end up significantly faster. It seems to have been the first single-board 16-bit minicomputer.
  • development of SINTRAN-IV starts, with 8 people in the development team[1].

1979

  • With effect from July 3, Norsk Data took over part of the business of the former Tandberg Radiofabrikk A/S. Tandberg is expected to show a profit by 1980.
  • Norsk Data introduces the NORD-100
  • Development of the ND-500 begins
  • Another large order for F-16 simulators is recieved
  • Norsk Data takes over a 16700 m2 industrial building at Skullerud, Oslo. The building is leased to Tandberg.
  • ND-NOTIS, an integrated word processing and administrative data processing system, is introduced.
  • The systems programming language PLANC is developed[2].
  • 90 SIBAS database systems operational in Scandinavia[3].

1980

  • Effective from January 1st, Norsk Data absorbs the four Comtec companies in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and West Germany from Noboe Fabrikker.
  • Tandberg becomes independent of Norsk Data in the autumn of 1980. Profit was well below the anticipations.
  • ACCESS, an on-line query system, allowing user-friendly access to a data-base via interactive terminals.

1981

  • The average price of a delivered computer was NOK 750?000, and had on average 512 Kbyte RAM, 110 Mbyte hard disk storage, and 16 terminals.
  • The ND Satellite range is introduced (see ND-100 Satellite)
  • Delivery of ND-100/CE starts[4].

1982

  • COSMOS finishes development. COSMOS was a networking system permitting applications and databases to be shared through a data network.
  • ND-SAFE (backronymed to System Architecture For Expansion) is introduced
  • ND-ORBIS (Organization Related Business Information System) is introduced
  • The ND-100/CX is introduced
  • The ND-500 is split into three systems: ND-520, ND-560, and ND-570 (?)
  • Norsk Data starts[5] a cooperative effort with the Unversity of Kiel, Germany, to develop new compilers using VDM, the Vienna Development Method. New compilers (e.g. Pascal, C, BASIC) began to come out of this effort in the second half of the decade.

1983

  • The ND-570/CXA is introduced.

1984

  • ND-DIALOGUE, a tool for development of administrative systems is introduced, and ND-ORBIS is shelved[6].

1985

  • The ND-120/CX CPU is introduced, with from 2MB to 6MB of onboard RAM.
  • ND-110, twice as fast as ND-100/CX is introduced[7].
  • The ND-5000 series is introduced[8].

1986

  • ND-580/CX model 20, 30 and 40, systems based on two to four ND-570 CPU:s and one ND-110/CX CPU, is introduced[9].

1987

The ND-5000 family is introduced.[10]

  • The ND-5000 Compact series is introduced[11].

1988

  • First Samsonite shipment at 22 April[12]

1989

  • Uniline is introduced[13].

Notable installations

  • CERN
  • JET [14] [15] [16]
  • Camtech Electronics Ltd., was established in 1979 by its two founding directors, to work on a contract to develop a sophisticated CAMAC interface for the JET network of Norsk Data computers. CAMAC is a modular data handling system used at almost every nuclear physics research laboratory and many industrial sites all over the world. Its function is to provide a scheme to allow a wide range of modular instruments to be interfaced to a standardised back-plane called a DATAWAY.
  • TSPL, 1987. [17]
  • BMC, [18]
  • BMC's computer department was established in September 1976 with a budget of 1.35 MSEK. That was enough to create for its time a powerful computer center with two NORD-10 mini computers and an Alpha LSI-2 from Computer Automation. That was the first large affair for Norsk Data's newly started Swedish office. It was won in competition with among others Digital Equipment AB offering PDP-11/70 and PDP-11/45 computers. The both NORD-10 were finally replaced after 10 years by a VAX-8200 from Digital Equipment Corporation.
  • SCANNET, an early packet switched computer network connecting the five Scandinavian countries. It used five NORD-12, one in each country, and leased phone lines. The project started in 1974 and it became operational in 1976. It gave remote terminal access to library databases. The budget of 1 MSEK was enough to get five NORD-12 computers and they were used until 1983. Protocols used were X.25 and X.75.[19][20]
  • University of Oslo was a natural place for a number of different ND machines.

Sources

  • ^ Norsk Data - hva gikk galt?
  • ^ Norsk Data - hva gikk galt?
  • ^ Norsk Data - hva gikk galt?
  • ^ Norsk Data - hva gikk galt?
  • ^ VDM '87: VDM-Europe Symposium 1987, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer-Verlag
  • ^ Norsk Data - hva gikk galt?
  • ^ Norsk Data - hva gikk galt?
  • ^ Norsk Data - hva gikk galt?
  • ^ NEWS October 1986, pg 56-57.
  • ^ "Norsk Data's Flagship" (found at The Defense Technical Information Center, "Series 5000: Double Performance, Half Price", page 20. size 6 MB, original published by Aftenposten 28 January 1987 page 48, in Norwegian). Accessed on 14 August 2009.
  • ^ Norsk Data - hva gikk galt?
  • ^ Promotional material
  • ^ Norsk Data - hva gikk galt?
  • ^ Discussion about Norsk Data measurement system hardware.
  • ^ The development of the JET control and data acquisition system, Schmidt, V. Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on, Volume 45, Issue 4, Aug 1998 Page(s):2026 - 2032.
  • ^ Integrated control and data acquisition of experimental facilities , ISSN 1616-6361, Volume 215/1984, Computing in Accelerator Design and Operation, 1984, ISBN 978-3-540-13909-6.
  • ^ Delivery of Norsk Data computers at The Scotsman Publications Ltd.
  • ^ BMC:s dataavdelning, historik
  • ^ SCANNET by Bj?rn Gr?nlund
  • ^ The History of Nordunet by Kaarina Lehtisalo.
  • This article was originally a copy of the NODAF wiki article The_History_of_Norsk_Data in 10th February 2009.

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