Berkeley Computer Corporation

Berkeley Computer Corporation was a pioneering computer company founded in 1969 by Seymour Cray and Gene Amdahl, two renowned computer architects who had previously worked at Control Data Corporation and IBM. The company was established in Berkeley, California, with the goal of developing innovative computer systems, including the CDC 6600 and IBM System/360. Seymour Cray's experience at University of Minnesota and Gene Amdahl's work at Amdahl Corporation influenced the company's early designs. The company's founders were also influenced by the work of John von Neumann and Alan Turing.

● History

The company's history began with the development of the BCC-500, a minicomputer designed for scientific computing and data processing. The BCC-500 was released in 1970 and was marketed to universities, research institutions, and government agencies, including NASA and the National Science Foundation. The company also collaborated with Xerox PARC and Stanford Research Institute to develop new computer technologies. During its short existence, the company employed several notable computer scientists, including Butler Lampson and Chuck Thacker, who later worked at Xerox PARC and Microsoft Research. The company's history was also influenced by the Cold War and the Space Race, with the company's computers being used in IBM System/360-based systems for the US Department of Defense.

● Products

The company's product line included the BCC-500, a minicomputer designed for scientific computing and data processing, as well as the BCC-700, a more powerful computer system designed for mainframe computing. The company also developed several peripheral devices, including disk drives and tape drives, which were compatible with IBM and CDC systems. The company's products were used by several notable organizations, including Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the University of California, Berkeley. The company's products were also influenced by the work of Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie at Bell Labs, who developed the Unix operating system.

● Technology

The company's technology was based on the use of transistors and integrated circuits, which were designed and manufactured in-house. The company also developed several innovative computer architectures, including the use of pipelining and cache memory, which were later adopted by other computer manufacturers, including Intel and AMD. The company's technology was also influenced by the work of John Cocke and Franz L. Alt at IBM Research, who developed the IBM System/360 architecture. The company's computers used magnetic tape and punched cards for input and output, and were programmed using assembly language and Fortran.

● Impact

The company's impact on the computer industry was significant, with several of its innovations being adopted by other manufacturers. The company's use of transistors and integrated circuits helped to establish the microprocessor as a standard component of computer systems. The company's computers were also used in several notable applications, including weather forecasting and seismic analysis, at organizations such as the National Weather Service and the United States Geological Survey. The company's impact was also felt in the development of the Internet, with the company's computers being used in the development of the ARPANET and the TCP/IP protocol by Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn.

● Legacy

The company's legacy can be seen in the many computer companies that were founded by its former employees, including Amdahl Corporation and Cray Research. The company's innovations in computer architecture and design also influenced the development of later computer systems, including the IBM PC and the Apple Macintosh. The company's legacy is also remembered at University of California, Berkeley, where the company was founded, and at Computer History Museum, which has several exhibits on the company's history and technology. The company's legacy is also celebrated by the Association for Computing Machinery and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, which have recognized the contributions of the company's founders and employees to the development of the computer industry. Category:Defunct computer companies