Results for: pioneers in tech
Tech Time Warp: Jean Sammet changes her opinion of computers
In this week’s Tech Time Warp, we’re going back to programming in the 50’s. Introduced in 1959, the programming language COBOL—common, business-oriented language—is still heavily in use today, with an estimated 200 billion lines of code relied upon by government...
Tech Time Warp: The “Model K” lays groundwork for digital computing
If you need inspiration for using your free time wisely, look no further than Bell Labs computer pioneer George Stibitz. One weekend during fall 1937, Stibitz (who was born April 30, 1904) sat at his kitchen table and used a...
Tech Time Warp: Harvest computer decodes secrets for the NSA
On February 27, 1976, a ground-breaking supercomputer was quietly decommissioned at the National Security Agency, with its story only to be told years later, once declassified. The one-of-a-kind Harvest computer—a special model of the IBM 7030, or Stretch—was specifically built...
Tech Time Warp: Daniel McCacken helps spawn FORTRAN
Here’s an early birthday salute to the late Daniel McCracken, author of the definitive textbooks on FORTRAN. McCracken, who passed away in 2011, would have turned 90 on July 23. He wrote 26 books, including the first textbook on FORTRAN...
Tech Time Warp: Meet Charles Babbage, the father of computing
After celebrating the dads in your life on Father’s Day, consider raising a glass to Charles Babbage, the 19th-century Englishman known as the “Father of Computing.” An independently wealthy man, Babbage was able to indulge in his fascination in mathematics...
Tech Time Warp: Edmund Berkeley, a giant brain of computing
Computer history is filled with quirky individuals—and Edmund Berkeley, born March 21, 1909, is among the most fascinating. It’s hard to pinpoint what Berkeley should be most known for: Founding the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)? (Relations with ACM later...
A look back at the evolving trust in the MSP business model
Early MSPs were faced with a high degree of mistrust from the market. First of all, the failure of the application service provider market around the turn of the century made buyers wary of purchasing services that could disappear overnight....
Data management issues are about to create a major opportunity for MSPs
Given the extensive history most IT organizations have managing data leveraging all information to drive a wide variety of digital processes should be a simple enough proposition. But it turns out melding data sources is anything but easy. A new...
DataOps is emerging as next big opportunity for MSPs
Coupled with rising interest in artificial intelligence (AI), the need to derive business value from data is driving organizations to create data operations (DataOps) functions that should create additional opportunities for managed service providers. A survey of 266 data professionals...