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Sage: An atomic bomb kicked off the biggest computing project in history
An atomic bomb kicked off the biggest computing project in history — and cemented IBM’s leadership role in a new class of online systems.
When the Soviet Union detonated its first atomic bomb, in 1949, it triggered the US government to call on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to create a real-time, state-of-the-art air defense system covering the entirety of North America. IBM handled hardware development and manufacturing; Burroughs oversaw inter-site communications; Western Electric contributed building construction; and SDC (part of the RAND Corporation) delivered software. IBM won the rights to build the computer at the heart of the digital system, known as the AN/FSQ-7, because of the company’s “much higher degree of purposefulness, integration and esprit de corps,” according to MIT project leader Jay W. Forrester, and closer ties among research, factory and field maintenance.
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