IBM Hursley Park - decades of Innovation
IBM's decision to establish a Development in Laboratory in 1956 did not initially feature Hursley anywhere in it's plans. It was only through chance that the Hursley site became available in 1958 as Supermarine vacated the site just as IBM began plans to build a site at nearby North Baddersley. However, Hursley proved too alluring and when it was put up for sale in 1961 IBM took the opportunity and bought the central 100 acres of the estate and began building new office buildings and machine rooms to meet its growing technical missions, especially those for Transformer Read Only Storage and Microprogramming, innovations which led to involvement in the System/360 Model 40, the first of the series to be turned on anywhere in the world.
In 1969 Hursley developed the 5444 Disk Access Storage Device for the System/3 range and by the 1970s the System/370, Storage devices and Monitors had become Hursley’s key missions. In 1979 it released the 3279, the first colour monitor and a few years later the award winning 3278 Model 2 which used a voice synthesiser to create the first ‘talking terminal’. However, it was the 2984, a Special Engineering Project in 1974 code named ‘Operation Blackhorse’ that has become one of the most well known of Hursley’s products to the general public. Designed for Lloyds Bank, who called it “The Cashpoint”, it was the world's first true ATM.
1974 also marked another major change for Hursley, alongside hardware it had been responsible for software, in particular PL/I. This was exchanged for a transaction processing application: CICS. A product which is still developed at Hursley and remains at the heart of much of the worlds key businesses. As part of IBM’s Centenary this was one of only four software ‘Icons of Progress’ and in 2011 was described by Personal Computing Magazine as “probably the most successful piece of software of all time.”
Throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s hardware developments in Storage and Displays continued with many innovations in graphics and associated software, including WINSOM, an early 3D Graphics Modeller, and GDDM for business graphics. In Storage Hursley continued to develop Direct Access Storage Devices, expertise that led to Hursley playing a key role in the development of the highly successful virtualisation technology: SVC.
However, the focus of development was steadily shifting from hardware to software. In 1993 messaging joined transaction processing when MQSeries was released. By 1998 MQ was the world’s leader in messaging technology and had taken responsibility for porting Java to all IBM platforms with the creation of the Java Technology Centre.
IBM Hursley has continued to evolve over the last half century. In recent years embracing new roles in Mobile, Cloud, Analytics, Big Data and 'The Internet of Things' whilst still developing its established transaction processing & messaging businesses. Roles which maintain Hursley’s tradition of innovation & engineering excellence which have shaped, and continue to shape, our world.
For more on the History of IBM and IBM Hursley Park visit the Hursley Park Museum website
