LEO computer

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The British LEO I (Lyons Electronic Office I) computer, ran its first business application in 1951. The computer, modeled closely on the Cambridge EDSAC, was the first computer used for commercial business applications.

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Origins and initial design

J. Lyons and Co., one of the UK's leading catering and food manufacturing companies in the first half of the 20th century, sent two of its senior managers to the USA in 1947 to look at new business methods developed during the Second World War. During their visit they came across digital computers then used exclusively for engineering and mathematical computations. They saw the potential of computers to help solve the problem of administering a major business enterprise. They also learned that Cambridge University, back in the UK, was actually building such a machine, the pioneering EDSAC computer.

On their return to company headquarters in London they published a recommendation to the Lyons' Board that Lyons should acquire or build a computer to meet their business needs. This was accepted, and it was agreed that Cambridge University should receive some financial support if Cambridge gave some help to the Lyons' initiatve.

Cambridge provided training and support for the Lyons' engineers. By 1949 they had the basics of a computer specifically designed for business data processing running and in November 1951 rolled out the first commercial business application. The computer was called the LEO – Lyons Electronic Office.

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Technical description

LEO I's clock speed was 500 kHz, with most instructions taking about 1.5 ms to execute. To be useful for business applications the computer had to be able to handle a number of data streams, input and output simultaneously. Hence its chief designer, Dr. John Pinkerton, designed the machine to have multiple input/output buffers. In the first instance these were linked to fast paper tape readers and punches, fast punched card readers and punches, and a 100 line a minute tabulator. Later other devices including magnetic tape were added. Its ultrasonic delay line memory based on tanks of mercury, with 2K (2048) 35-bit words (i.e., 4¾ K bytes), was four times as large as that of EDSAC. t

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Applications; Successors

Lyons used LEO I initially for valuation jobs, but its role was extended to include payroll, inventory, and so on. One of LEO I 's early tasks was the elaboration of daily orders which were phoned in every afternoon by their shops and used to calculate the overnight production requirements, assembly instructions, delivery schedules, invoices, costings and management reports. This, arguably, could be the first instance of an integrated management information system plus a computerised call center. The LEO project were also pioneers in outsourcing – in 1956 they started doing the payroll calculations for Ford UK and others on the LEO I machine. The success of this led to the company dedicating one of its LEO II machines to bureau services. Later, the system was used for scientific computations as well.

In 1954, with the decision to proceed with LEO II and interest from other commercial companies, Lyons formed LEO Computers Ltd. The first LEO III was completed in 1961. This was a solid state machine with a ferrite core memory. It was micro-programmed and was controlled by a multi-tasking operating system. In 1963 LEO was taken over by English Electric and this led to the breaking up of the team that had inspired LEO computers. English Electric went on to build the LEO III, the faster LEO 360 and even faster LEO 326 models designed by the LEO team before the takeover. All of the LEO IIIs allowed concurrent running of as many as 16 application programmes through the Master programme operating system. Some were still in commercial use in British Telecom until 1981. Many users fondly remember the LEO 326 and enthuse about some of its quirkier features, such as having a loudspeaker connected to the central processor which enabled operators to tell if a program was looping by the distinctive sound it made. English Electric LEO Computers Ltd eventually merged with International Computers and Tabulators (ICT) and others to become in 1968 ICL.

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References

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Books

  • Bird, P.J. (1994). LEO: The First Business Computer. Wokingham: Hasler Publishing Co. ISBN 0952165104.
  • Caminer, D.T., Aris, J.B., Hermon, P.M., Land, F.F. (1998). LEO: The Incredible Story of the World’s First Business Computer. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0070095019.
  • Campbell-Kelly, M., (1989). ICL: A Business and Technical History. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  • Caminer, D.T., Aris, J.B.B., Hermon, P.M.R., Land, F.F. (1996). User-Driven Innovation: The World’s First Business Computer. London: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0070095019.
  • Carmichael, H., editor (1996). An ICL Anthology, Chapter 6: LEO, Laidlaw Hicks, Surbiton, UK.
  • Ferry, G. (2004). A Computer Called LEO: Lyons Tea Shops and the World's First Office Computer. Hammersmith: Harper Perennial. ISBN 1841151866.
  • Land, F.F., (1997). LEO, the First Business Computer: A Personal Experience. In Glass, R.L., editor. In the Beginning: Recollections of Software Pioneers, pages 134–153. IEEE Computer Society, Los Alamitos, CA.
  • PEP, (1957). Three Case Studies in Automation, PEP, London.
  • Simmons, J.R.M., (1962). LEO and the Managers, MacDonald, London.
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Papers/articles

  • Aris, J.B.B. (1996). "Systems Design – Then and Now". Resurrection, Summer issue 1996.
  • Land, F.F. (1996). "Systems Analysis for Business Applications". Resurrection, Summer issue 1996.
  • Aris, J.B.B. (2000). "Inventing Systems Engineering". IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, Vol. 22, No. 3, July–September, pp. 4–15
  • Land, F.F. (2000). "The First Business Computer: A Case Study in User-Driven Automation". IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, Vol. 22, No. 3, July–September, pp. 16–26.
  • Caminer, D.T. (1958), "...And How to Avoid Them". The Computer Journal, Vol. 1, No. 1.
  • Caminer, D.T. (1997). "LEO and its Applications: The Beginning of Business Computing". The Computer Journal, Vol. 40, No. 10.
  • Caminer, D.T. (2003). "Behind the Curtain at LEO: A Personal Reminiscence". IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, Vol. 25, No. 2, April–June, pp3–13.
  • Hendry, J. (1988). "The Teashop Computer Manufacturer: J. Lyons". Business History, Vol. 29, No. 8, pp. 73–102.
  • Land, Frank (1999). "A Historical Analysis of Implementing IS at J. Lyons." In Currie, W.G.; Galliers, R.D., editors. Rethinking Management Information Systems, pp. 310–325. Oxford University Press.
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External links

pt:LEO computer sv:LEO I

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