On line -- Real time computer conference;

              On Line—Real Time
Computer
Conference
by Richard E. Sprague
ALL THE LEADING COMPUTER MANUFACTURERS were contacted and
. invited to make presentations of their existing systems and their
long- and short-range plans for entering the On Line—Real Time field
at a seminar held October 3-7 by the firm's Computer Systems Depart­ment.
The Department believes these systems are becoming more and
more important and held the seminar to test this belief.
Five manufacturers—IBM, Remington Rand, RCA NCR and Telt-register—
agreed to participate. The American Telephone & Telegraph
Company was also invited, since communications facilities play a sig­nificant
role in any On Line system. Presentations were made by the
engineering or product planning departments of the companies, so our
computer specialists learned what to expect directly from the men
designing the equipment.
The meeting was chaired by Richard E. Sprague, Director of the
Computer Systems Department, and was attended by Henry Sherwood,
Manager—Retail Data Processing; Jess Lynch, Senior Consultant-
Financial Institutions Data Processing; William Power and Robert
Bozeman, Retail Data Processing; Robert McClendon, Associate Con­sultant—
Manufacturing Data Processing; and Richmond Laux, Detroit
area Junior Consultant, all representing the Computer Systems De­partment.
Also present were Dennis Mulvihill, Management Sciences Repre­sentative—
Detroit area; Roger Crane, Principal in Charge—Manage­ment
Sciences Department; Dennis Price, representing the Operations
Research Department; Joseph Buchan, Senior Consultant—Technical
Training and Communication; and Donald Wood (Detroit), Leo Feltz
(San Francisco) and James Bresnahan (Dayton), all representing
Management Services in their respective offices.
42 THE QUARTERLY