New Engineering Companies and the Evolution of The United States Computer Industry

The electronic digital computer industry emerged tentatively onto the world stage in 1946, with the founding of two engineering companies and the incorporation by several arge firms of the new electronic omputing ideas into their planning. Only a handful of large firms participated in this new computer phenomenon--IBM, Raytheon, Bendix, and Burroughs. The small startup firms included Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation (1946), Engineering Research Associates, Inc. (1946), and California Research Corporation (1950). These latter three firms were eventually absorbed into larger firms. Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation and Engineering Research Associates went into Remington-Rand in 1951 and 1952, respectively, and California Research Corporation became National Cash Register's computer division in 1954. Raytheon later confined its computer efforts to fire control and missile systems, while Bendix, after developing several computer systems, became part of Control Data Corporation in 1962. Burroughs is now one of two main components of Unisys Corporation along with Sperry Rand, the successor of Remington-Rand, and, of course, IBM is still the principal company in the computer industry. A similar story could be told about a number of startups in the first half of the 1950s, but the story would be the same. The small firms with an engineering emphasis in leadership and capability provided an important stimulus to the early computer industry in the United States. These businesses were organized at a time before a stable computer design was available, and they participated in the development of standard schemes for designing, manufacturing, and servicing computers. In the received history of the early computer industry, writers have assumed that Eckert Mauchly Computer Corporation possessed the capability and an advanced state of knowledge, which should have given them an edge. This edge was blunted by the inability to convince potential funders/purchasers. Authors have also assumed that IBM resisted evices that would affect the tabulator market, and when they realized it might take away their market share, they entered the market late with dedication and overwhelmed the smaller firms. Engineering Research Associates (ERA) is not evaluated in this analysis, because it is seen only as a military contractor ather than a competitor for commercial business. Many in the industry assume that