College and G. E. Collaborate on Major Computer Facility

DARTMOUTH COLLEGE and the General Electric Company will collaborate in establishing in Hanover a new, high-speed computer facility that will keep the College in the forefront of one of the most significant recent developments in computer technology - timesharing.

The College's Kiewit Computation Center, now under construction, will house a new, large-scale computer system, the GE-625, and attendant equipment worth $2.5 million when it is delivered this fall.

The new installation will resemble the multiple-access computer system assembled here two years ago, but it will be far larger and more advanced.

For the past two years, the existing system has given every student and faculty member at Dartmouth quick and easy access to a GE-265 medium-range computer through some 40 Teletype stations scattered throughout the campus.

This pioneering time-sharing system was assembled in 1964 by two Dartmouth mathematicians and a dozen undergraduates as a way to eliminate a major bottleneck in computing - waiting in line to get problems in and answers out of computers. It allows up to 40 persons to use the computer simultaneously. Each person appears to be getting sole use of the computer because it switches from one problem to another with such great speed.

According to Professors John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz, the two principal figures in establishing the Center, the expanded new computer system will:

Ultimately increase from about 40 to 200 the number of persons who can use the computer simultaneously.

Increase the computer's memory capacity about ten times — from 18 million characters to more than 180 million.

Provide the ability to maintain larger files of information within the computer system.

The GE-625 has what computer experts call a memory cycle of two microseconds and operates in a multiprogramming mode. All system memory is directly addressable by processors, inputoutput controllers, and real-time remote terminal devices.

The Kiewit Computation Center is named for Omaha contractor Peter Kiewit '22, who heads one of the largest construction companies in the world and who was a major contributor to the new building and installation.

Professor Kurtz, who has been director of the Kiewit Computation facility since its inception, said that the agreement with General Electric called for collaborative work with a G.E. technical team headed by George Kendrick to explore and develop new applications for the time-sharing systems.

"Centralized time-sharing systems such as this one have the potential of becoming utilities, serving the public much as telephone, electricity or gas companies do," Professor Kurtz said. "Large central computers with masses of raw data and extensive programs will be available in time to virtually everyone who can make use of them. The potential uses are enormous."

Professor Kurtz expects that the work on computer applications at Dartmouth will lead the way toward realizing this "information utility" concept.

Dartmouth will make some of its lines available to outside users. The College expects to offer the service to other New England colleges, universities and secondary schools on a cost basis.

The biggest single saving in computer time made possible by the new equipment will be in so-called "swap" time. With the new GE-625 system, the computer can simultaneously transmit completed computations, receive new work, and continue computation on many partially completed jobs.

$2.5 million GE-625 computer system that will be installed at Dartmouth.