final book al hoagland - Archive Server - Computer History Museum

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devices themselves do not need to store large amounts of data because of easy remote access to the information. In my opinion, the continuing growth in sharing information wirelessly and its growing importance to society can only be met by magnetic disk storage for the foreseeable future. The most unique and singular aspect of a disk drive is that a mechanical feature, the head-to-disk spacing, has been the single most important contributor to the long lifetime of magnetic disk storage and has assured the survival of a mechanical form of data storage in the age of electronics. The disk drive has reached its present state not in spite of being mechanical but rather because it is mechanical. In addition, it is the simplicity of a mechanically based design that makes the magnetic disk drive so successful in meeting the random access data storage needs in electronic computer applications. And all this in 60 years of existence! 36
APPENDIX 1 Dinner Talk by Rey Johnson at the Data Storage '89 Conference September 19, 1989, San Jose, California “Good evening. Thank you for the introduction. I’m delighted to be able to spend the evening with you. I’ll be talking this evening about some of the highlights in the development of the first random access disk product – the IBM RAMAC 350 file – The why, where, when and how of the first disks. This is the product that spawned the magnetic disk storage industry – an industry that has since come to generate annual revenue of 23 billion dollars. I think it fair to say that the RAMAC 350 has carved a place in history for itself. I am sure that many in my audience were not born in 1951 when my story begins. Let me therefore set the stage for the events, most of which took place in San Jose, a few blocks from here. In 1951, San Jose was a city of 100,000 people. Its economy was based mainly on agriculture. At the same time, IBM was a rapidly growing company, with data processing as it main business. Its revenue in 1951 was about $250,000,000. After IBM had developed two large computers that were intended strictly for scientific applications, IBM management saw little evidence that computers would become profitable business products. In fact, in 1951, an extensive survey of all potential computer customers yielded statistics that indicated that 17 or 18 computers would saturate the market. At that time, Thomas J. Watson, Jr., was succeeding his father, Thomas J. Watson, Sr., as president of IBM. He decided to build 19 scientific computers. The first of them was completed in 1952. IBM’s business in punched card equipment was growing as rapidly as we would build products. Expansion was in the air at IBM. In 1951, IBM corporate headquarters in New York decided to establish a research laboratory on the West Coast. Research was a term that at that time covered all types of engineering activity. The West Coast was chosen because IBM’s customers in the aircraft industry were creating innovations and modifications that were considered to be potential products. For example, the first card-programmed calculator originated with engineers at the Northrop Corporation. The bay area was chosen as the site of the new IBM research laboratory because it was between Los Angeles and Seattle, where those innovative customers were based. San Jose was chosen as the specific site because IBM already had a punched card plant here, at 16th and St. John. This plant housed the district manager, an accounting department and a cafeteria. Under the direction of Roger Williams, IBM’s community relations were very good. “During the first week of January 1952, I was told of my appointment as West Coast laboratory manager. I was told that I would have free rein in hiring a staff of 30 to 50, and that I would be free to choose projects to work on. One-half of my projects were to 37
Page 1 and 2: MAGNETIC DISK STORAGE A Personal Me
Page 3 and 4: TABLE OF CONTENTS ABOUT THE AUTHOR.
Page 5 and 6: INTRODUCTION This book is my person
Page 7 and 8: usiness data processing, which requ
Page 9 and 10: CHAPTER 2 The Magnetic Drum, Precur
Page 11 and 12: With a magnetic drum memory, the co
Page 13 and 14: CHAPTER 3 The Rotating Magnetic Dis
Page 15 and 16: punched card applications, the acce
Page 17 and 18: Ultimately, about 1,000 RAMAC 305 s
Page 19 and 20: With the RAMAC, pressurized air was
Page 21 and 22: 1301 Disk Drive (Disk stack of two
Page 23 and 24: magnetic data storage had rested wi
Page 25 and 26: Independent of the IBM San Jose fac
Page 27 and 28: Small hard disk drives (HDD) based
Page 29 and 30: to enlist the support of these thre
Page 31 and 32: I have been both the President of t
Page 33 and 34: Iwasaki, was not forgotten and cont
Page 35: Conclusion What can we expect for m
Page 39 and 40: key punches but also when connected
Page 41 and 42: laboratory work continued on advanc
Page 43 and 44: • May 26, 2005 RAMAC designated a

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