Varian Data Machines was a division of

Varian Associates Varian Associates was one of the first high-tech companies in Silicon Valley. It was founded in 1948 by Russell H. and Sigurd F. Varian, William Webster Hansen, and Edward Ginzton to sell the klystron, the first vacuum tube which could amplify ...

which sold

minicomputer A minicomputer, or colloquially mini, is a class of smaller general purpose computers that developed in the mid-1960s and sold at a much lower price than mainframe and mid-size computers from IBM and its direct competitors. In a 1970 survey, ...

s. It entered the market in 1967 through acquisition of Decision Control Inc. (DCI) in

Newport Beach, California Newport Beach is a coastal city in South Orange County, California. Newport Beach is known for swimming and sandy beaches. Newport Harbor once supported maritime industries however today, it is used mostly for recreation. Balboa Island, Newport ...

. It met stiff competition and was bought by

Sperry Corporation Sperry Corporation was a major American equipment and electronics company whose existence spanned more than seven decades of the 20th century. Sperry ceased to exist in 1986 following a prolonged hostile takeover bid engineered by Burroughs ...

in 1977.

Products

The DCI 1966 DATA/620 was a parallel, binary 16-bit general-purpose digital computer with

magnetic-core memory Magnetic-core memory was the predominant form of random access, random-access computer memory for 20 years between about 1955 and 1975. Such memory is often just called core memory, or, informally, core. Core memory uses toroids (rings) of a ...

expandable to 32,768 words. An 18-bit word length (for data, not addresses) was optionally available. A basic machine cycle took 1.8 microseconds, and the core memory read time was 700 nanoseconds. The computers uses

two's complement Two's complement is a mathematical operation to reversibly convert a positive binary number into a negative binary number with equivalent (but negative) value, using the binary digit with the greatest place value (the leftmost bit in big- endian ...

arithmetic and had four main registers - accumulator A, accumulator extension B, an index register X and a program counter register. Addressing modes were direct, immediate and indexed. The instruction set had more than one hundred arithmetic, logic and control instructions and some variants supported microprogramming. These models used a hardware

front panel A front panel was used on early electronic computers to display and allow the alteration of the state of the machine's internal registers and memory. The front panel usually consisted of arrays of indicator lamps, digit and symbol displays, to ...

console that allowed starting and stopping the machine, examining memory and registers and changing memory or registers with front-panel switches. It used "Versalogic" (discrete transistorized) circuits with a bit-sliced architecture. The 620/i shipped in June 1967; it and subsequent series were made with

integrated circuit An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny ...

transistor–transistor logic Transistor–transistor logic (TTL) is a logic family built from bipolar junction transistors. Its name signifies that transistors perform both the logic function (the first "transistor") and the amplifying function (the second "transistor"), as opp ...

from the

7400 series The 7400 series of integrated circuits (ICs) are a popular logic family of transistor–transistor logic (TTL) logic chips. In 1964, Texas Instruments introduced the SN5400 series of logic chips, in a ceramic semiconductor package. A low-co ...

. The system was packaged in a

19-inch rack A 19-inch rack is a standardized frame or enclosure for mounting multiple electronic equipment modules. Each module has a front panel that is wide. The 19 inch dimension includes the edges or "ears" that protrude from each side of the equ ...

and consumed 340 watts at 120 V AC. The 620/F was a variation with a faster machine cycle time of 750 nanoseconds. The ruggedized R-620/i was announced in 1968. A lower cost 520/i shipped in October 1968 The 620/L-100 was released in 1973. It had a cycle time of 950 nanoseconds and a more compact system chassis than the 620/F. The Sperry V70 series had semiconductor memory, but could also support magnetic core. Various models were released between 1972 and 1977. Varian V72 computer systems were installed at

Bruce Nuclear Generating Station Bruce Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear power station located on the eastern shore of Lake Huron in Ontario, Canada. It occupies 932 ha (2300 acres) of land. The facility derives its name from Bruce Township, the local municipality when ...

on the eastern shore of

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrology, Hydrologically, it comprises the easterly portion of Lake Michigan–Huron, having the same surface elevation as Lake Michigan, to which it is connected by the , Strait ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, as the digital control computer system that monitors and controls the major reactor and power plant functions. these were still in operation and scheduled to be replaced by more modern systems in 2018 and 2019.

References

External links

* {{Ict-company-stub American companies established in 1967 American companies disestablished in 1977 Computer companies established in 1967 Computer companies disestablished in 1977 Defunct computer companies of the United States