Norsk Data
Encyclopedia
Norsk Data was acomputer
manufacturer located in Oslo
, Norway
. Existing from 1967 to 1992, it had its most active period in the years from the early 1970s to the late 1980s. At the company's peak in 1987 it was the second largest company in Norway and employed over 4,500 people.
Throughout its history Norsk Data produced a long string of extremely innovative systems, with a disproportionately large number of world firsts. Some examples of this are the NORD-1
, the first minicomputer to have memory paging as a standard option, and the first machine to have floating-point instructions standard, the NORD-5
, the world's first 32-bit minicomputer (beating the VAX
, often claimed the first, by 6 years)
, Norway
, where several early computers had been designed, such as the SAM
and the SAM 2, also known as the FLINK
.
The success of this program resulted in the founding of A/S Nordata - Norsk Data Elektronikk on August 8, 1967 by Lars Monrad Krohn
, Per Bjørge and Rolf Skår. The company became a significant supplier of minicomputers to many research projects, in particular to CERN
in Geneva
, Switzerland
, where they were chosen to produce the computers for many projects, starting with their Nuclear Accelerator Project, Norsk Data's international breakthrough contract. The other market segments Norsk Data succeeded in were process control, Norwegian municipal administration
data center
s, newspapers, as well as parts of the educational, health, and university sector.
For a period in 1987, Norsk Data was the second largest company by stock value in Norway, second only to Norsk Hydro
, and employed over 4,500 people.
In March 1991, shortly after January Events
, Norsk Data donated the first computer to Lithuanian Institute of Mathematics and Informatics. This donation started the development of LITNET
- Academic and Research Network in Lithuania
. Later that year, the network connection lines, directly connecting Vilnius
to Moscow
, were shut down. With the help of the hardware, again donated by Norsk Data, Lithuania was able to use its first satellite-based internet connection
, which operated at 9,6 kbit/s. This was the first Lithuanian communications line, which was totally independent from former Soviet Union
.
After a long period of exceptional success, the Norsk Data "empire" collapsed in the early 1990s, mostly due to not realizing the impact of the PC
revolution (as well as the growing competition from UNIX
-based workstation
s). Norsk Data technology was continued by Dolphin
. See more about Norsk Data here (Norwegian). Norsk Data was purchased by Telenor and went through several rebrands and relaunches.
and local governments.
At the tail end of the dot com boom Telenor decided to try and expand the service by acquiring the ISP CIX
and a hosting company in Manchester, XTML. The total expenditure on aquisitions was more than £50million.
The name and business focus of this group of companies was changed several times in the early 21st Century, being known as Nextra (along with the acquired CIX & XTML), Telenor Business Solutions (still with CIX & XTML) and finally reverting to ND Norsk Data once CIX & XTML had been resold to Pipex, reportedly for less than 10% of the purchase price.
Much of the loss in value of the acquired companies was put down to the astronomical "goodwill" payment included in the purchase price during the "dotcom boom" .
Along with the above listed applications two batch languages were included, called JEC and XCOM. JEC was used primarily as a simple batch job controller, whereas XCOM was used for much more involved routines such as operating system patches etc. Most of the applications came in two different editions, one compiled for the NORD-10/ND-100 series and one compiled for the ND-500/ND-5000 series.
When ND discontinued NOTIS development in 1989, it was continued by NOTIS AS, which later changed its name to Maxware
A point of note: the World Wide Web
originated when Tim Berners-Lee
wrote the ENQUIRE
program in Pascal on a Norsk Data NORD-10 running under SINTRAN III at CERN
.
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
manufacturer located in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. Existing from 1967 to 1992, it had its most active period in the years from the early 1970s to the late 1980s. At the company's peak in 1987 it was the second largest company in Norway and employed over 4,500 people.
Throughout its history Norsk Data produced a long string of extremely innovative systems, with a disproportionately large number of world firsts. Some examples of this are the NORD-1
NORD-1
The NORD-1 was Norsk Data's first minicomputer. It was the first commercially available computer made in Norway.It was a 16-bit system, developed in 1967. The first NORD-1 installed was at the heart of a complete ship system aboard the M/S Taimyr, a Japanese-built cargo liner...
, the first minicomputer to have memory paging as a standard option, and the first machine to have floating-point instructions standard, the NORD-5
NORD-5
The NORD-5 was Norsk Data's first 32-bit minicomputer, and is believed to be the first 32-bit minicomputer. The machine used a NORD-1 as its front-end console processor, which ran the majority of the OS....
, the world's first 32-bit minicomputer (beating the VAX
VAX
VAX was an instruction set architecture developed by Digital Equipment Corporation in the mid-1970s. A 32-bit complex instruction set computer ISA, it was designed to extend or replace DEC's various Programmed Data Processor ISAs...
, often claimed the first, by 6 years)
Historical overview
The origins of Norsk Data go back to the development of digital computers at the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment at KjellerKjeller
Kjeller is located near Lillestrøm in the municipality of Skedsmo, Norway. It is located 25 kilometers north of Oslo.-The name:The Norse form of the name was probably Tjaldir. This is then the plural of tjald n 'tent'...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, where several early computers had been designed, such as the SAM
Sam
-People:*Samuel , includes a list of people known as "Sam"*Samantha*Sām, a Persian folk hero, whose name means 'very dark'*Sam , the third son of Lehi and elder brother to the prophet Nephi-Animals:...
and the SAM 2, also known as the FLINK
Flink
Flink , is a 2D scrolling platform game developed by Psygnosis.-Summary:...
.
The success of this program resulted in the founding of A/S Nordata - Norsk Data Elektronikk on August 8, 1967 by Lars Monrad Krohn
Lars Monrad Krohn
Lars Monrad-Krohn is a Norwegian engineer and entrepreneur. He graduated from the Norwegian Institute of Technology, Institute for Radio Technology, in 1959. His master thesis addressed construction of computer core memory and was the first computer-oriented thesis handed in at NTH...
, Per Bjørge and Rolf Skår. The company became a significant supplier of minicomputers to many research projects, in particular to CERN
CERN
The European Organization for Nuclear Research , known as CERN , is an international organization whose purpose is to operate the world's largest particle physics laboratory, which is situated in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border...
in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, where they were chosen to produce the computers for many projects, starting with their Nuclear Accelerator Project, Norsk Data's international breakthrough contract. The other market segments Norsk Data succeeded in were process control, Norwegian municipal administration
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
data center
Data center
A data center is a facility used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems...
s, newspapers, as well as parts of the educational, health, and university sector.
For a period in 1987, Norsk Data was the second largest company by stock value in Norway, second only to Norsk Hydro
Norsk Hydro
Norsk Hydro ASA is a Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company, headquartered in Oslo. Hydro is the fourth largest integrated aluminium company worldwide. It has operations in some 40 countries around the world and is active on all continents. The Norwegian state holds a 43.8 percent...
, and employed over 4,500 people.
In March 1991, shortly after January Events
January Events
The January Events took place in Lithuania between January 11 and 13, 1991 in the aftermath of the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania. As a result of Soviet military actions, 14 civilians were killed and more than 1000 injured...
, Norsk Data donated the first computer to Lithuanian Institute of Mathematics and Informatics. This donation started the development of LITNET
LITNET
LITNET is an Academic and Research Network in Lithuania. It was established in 1991 and had X.25 satellite connectivity to University of Oslo.LITNET NOC is located in Kaunas University of Technology ....
- Academic and Research Network in Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
. Later that year, the network connection lines, directly connecting Vilnius
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, were shut down. With the help of the hardware, again donated by Norsk Data, Lithuania was able to use its first satellite-based internet connection
Satellite Internet access
Satellite Internet access is Internet access provided through satellites. The service can be provided to users world-wide through low Earth orbit satellites. Geostationary satellites can offer higher data speeds, but their signals can not reach some polar regions of the world...
, which operated at 9,6 kbit/s. This was the first Lithuanian communications line, which was totally independent from former Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
After a long period of exceptional success, the Norsk Data "empire" collapsed in the early 1990s, mostly due to not realizing the impact of the PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
revolution (as well as the growing competition from UNIX
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
-based workstation
Workstation
A workstation is a high-end microcomputer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by one person at a time, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems...
s). Norsk Data technology was continued by Dolphin
Dolphin Interconnect Solutions
Dolphin Interconnect Solutions is a manufacturer of high speed data communication systems, located in Oslo, Norway and Woodsville, New Hampshire, USA...
. See more about Norsk Data here (Norwegian). Norsk Data was purchased by Telenor and went through several rebrands and relaunches.
Notable innovations
Throughout the times, Norsk Data produced a long string of extremely innovative computers. Some examples of this include:- The NORD-1NORD-1The NORD-1 was Norsk Data's first minicomputer. It was the first commercially available computer made in Norway.It was a 16-bit system, developed in 1967. The first NORD-1 installed was at the heart of a complete ship system aboard the M/S Taimyr, a Japanese-built cargo liner...
, the first minicomputer to have memory paging as a standard option, and the first machine to have floating-point instructions standard - The NORD-5NORD-5The NORD-5 was Norsk Data's first 32-bit minicomputer, and is believed to be the first 32-bit minicomputer. The machine used a NORD-1 as its front-end console processor, which ran the majority of the OS....
, the world's first 32-bit minicomputer - beating the VAXVAXVAX was an instruction set architecture developed by Digital Equipment Corporation in the mid-1970s. A 32-bit complex instruction set computer ISA, it was designed to extend or replace DEC's various Programmed Data Processor ISAs...
, often claimed to be first - by 6 years - The NORD-100NORD-100The NORD-100 was a 16-bit minicomputer series made by Norsk Data, introduced in 1979. It shipped with the SINTRAN operating system, and the architecture was based on, and backwards compatible with, the NORD-10 line....
, a very early application of bitslicing in minicomputers - The KPS (Knowledge Process System), developed in joint venture with Racal plcRacalRacal Electronics plc was once the third-largest British electronics firm. Listed on the London Stock Exchange and once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, Racal was a diversified company, offering products including: as voice and data recorders; point of sale terminals; laboratory instruments;...
, a system which pioneered running a multi-user LISP machineLisp machineLisp machines were general-purpose computers designed to efficiently run Lisp as their main software language. In a sense, they were the first commercial single-user workstations...
environment
Post-breakup companies
Although the Norsk Data breakup caused a large number of layoffs, a large number of employees and intellectual property lived on in various smaller companies. Some went bankrupt quite quickly, some were bought for tax purposes. The quality of management also varied widely.- The Hardware Research and Development group was split off into Dolphin Server Technology in 1989. Dolphin later split off into a number of companies, by far the most successful of these being Dolphin Interconnect SolutionsDolphin Interconnect SolutionsDolphin Interconnect Solutions is a manufacturer of high speed data communication systems, located in Oslo, Norway and Woodsville, New Hampshire, USA...
, a cluster interconnect hardware company.
Norsk Data UK
In the UK Telenor kept the Norsk Data name for several years, focusing in on Hardware support and maintenance contracts, mainly with HMCGHer Majesty's Coastguard
Her Majesty's Coastguard is the service of the government of the United Kingdom concerned with co-ordinating air-sea rescue.HM Coastguard is a section of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency responsible for the initiation and co-ordination of all civilian maritime Search and Rescue within the UK...
and local governments.
At the tail end of the dot com boom Telenor decided to try and expand the service by acquiring the ISP CIX
CIX
CIX was one of the earliest British Internet service providers. Founded in 1983 by Frank and Sylvia Thornley, it began as a FidoNet bulletin board system, but in 1987 was relaunched commercially as CIX...
and a hosting company in Manchester, XTML. The total expenditure on aquisitions was more than £50million.
The name and business focus of this group of companies was changed several times in the early 21st Century, being known as Nextra (along with the acquired CIX & XTML), Telenor Business Solutions (still with CIX & XTML) and finally reverting to ND Norsk Data once CIX & XTML had been resold to Pipex, reportedly for less than 10% of the purchase price.
Much of the loss in value of the acquired companies was put down to the astronomical "goodwill" payment included in the purchase price during the "dotcom boom" .
Hardware
Significant Norsk Data computer models include:- NORD-1NORD-1The NORD-1 was Norsk Data's first minicomputer. It was the first commercially available computer made in Norway.It was a 16-bit system, developed in 1967. The first NORD-1 installed was at the heart of a complete ship system aboard the M/S Taimyr, a Japanese-built cargo liner...
, 16-bit16-bit-16-bit architecture:The HP BPC, introduced in 1975, was the world's first 16-bit microprocessor. Prominent 16-bit processors include the PDP-11, Intel 8086, Intel 80286 and the WDC 65C816. The Intel 8088 was program-compatible with the Intel 8086, and was 16-bit in that its registers were 16...
minicomputerMinicomputerA minicomputer is a class of multi-user computers that lies in the middle range of the computing spectrum, in between the largest multi-user systems and the smallest single-user systems...
launched in 1968, could run TSS (see below) from 1971 - NORD-5NORD-5The NORD-5 was Norsk Data's first 32-bit minicomputer, and is believed to be the first 32-bit minicomputer. The machine used a NORD-1 as its front-end console processor, which ran the majority of the OS....
, 32-bit32-bitThe range of integer values that can be stored in 32 bits is 0 through 4,294,967,295. Hence, a processor with 32-bit memory addresses can directly access 4 GB of byte-addressable memory....
supermini launched in 1972 - NORD-9
- NORD-10NORD-10NORD-10 was a medium-sized general-purpose 16-bit minicomputer designed for multilingual time-sharing applications and for real-time multiprogram systems, produced by Norsk Data. It was introduced in 1973...
, 16-bit mini launched in 1973 - NORD-10/S, version of the Nord-10 with cache, paging, and other improvements
- NORD-50, second generation 32-bit supermini in 1975
- NORD-100NORD-100The NORD-100 was a 16-bit minicomputer series made by Norsk Data, introduced in 1979. It shipped with the SINTRAN operating system, and the architecture was based on, and backwards compatible with, the NORD-10 line....
, 16-bit, from 1978, later renamed ND-100. First single-board 16-bit minicomputer CPU. - ND-500ND-500The ND-500 was a 32-bit superminicomputer delivered in 1981 by Norsk Data. It relied on a ND-100 to do housekeeping tasks and run the OS, SINTRAN III.A configuration could feature up to four ND-500 CPUs, in a shared-memory configuration....
, third generation 32-bit supermini in 1981 - ND-505, 28-bit28-bitThe only significant 28-bit computer was the Norsk Data ND-505, which was essentially a 32-bit machine with six wires in its address bus removed. The reason for scaling down was to be able to sell it to Iron Curtain countries, avoiding the then CoCom embargo on 32-bit machines....
computer allowed through the CoComCoComCoCom is an acronym for Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls. CoCom was established by Western bloc powers in the first five years after the end of World War II, during the Cold War, to put an arms embargo on COMECON countries.CoCom ceased to function on March 31, 1994, and the...
embargoEmbargoAn embargo is the partial or complete prohibition of commerce and trade with a particular country, in order to isolate it. Embargoes are considered strong diplomatic measures imposed in an effort, by the imposing country, to elicit a given national-interest result from the country on which it is...
of the Eastern blocEastern blocThe term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact... - ND-5000 ("Samson"), fourth generation 32-bit supermini in 1987 (5400, 5700, 5800)
- ND-5850 ("Rallar"), fifth generation 32-bit supermini in 1987
- ND-5900-2, ND-5900-3, and ND-5904, dual-, triple- and quad-CPU 5000 series machines.
Software
In addition to hardware, Norsk Data also produced a wide range of system and application software:- NORD-TSS – Nord Time Sharing System from 1971
- SINTRANSINTRANSINTRAN is the name of a range of operating systems for Norsk Data's line of minicomputers. The original version of SINTRAN, released in 1968, was developed by the Department of Engineering Cybernetics at the Norwegian Institute of Technology in cooperation with the affiliated research institute,...
– Operating systemOperating systemAn operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
for Nord 10 and later models, version III from 1973, III/VS in 1974 - SIBAS databaseDatabase management systemA database management system is a software package with computer programs that control the creation, maintenance, and use of a database. It allows organizations to conveniently develop databases for various applications by database administrators and other specialists. A database is an integrated...
in 1975 - FORTRANFortranFortran is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing...
compilerCompilerA compiler is a computer program that transforms source code written in a programming language into another computer language... - ND-Paint Graphic editing - WindowsMicrosoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
based - BASIC compiler developed in KielKielKiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
and Mülheim an der Ruhr, GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
with the CAT-System (Common Abstract Tree-Language) using the Vienna Development MethodVienna Development MethodThe Vienna Development Method is one of the longest-established Formal Methods for the development of computer-based systems. Originating in work done at IBM's Vienna Laboratory in the 1970s, it has grown to include a group of techniques and tools based on a formal specification language - the VDM...
, 1983 - COBOLCOBOLCOBOL is one of the oldest programming languages. Its name is an acronym for COmmon Business-Oriented Language, defining its primary domain in business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments....
compiler - CC (programming language)C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
compiler developed in Kiel and Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany with the CAT-System using the Vienna Development Method, 1984 - PLANCPLANCPLANC is a high level computer programming language. The acronym stands for Programming LAnguage for Nd Computers.Compilers were developed by Norsk Data for several architectures, including the Motorola 68000, 88000, x86, and the Norsk Data NORD-10 minicomputer architecture and ND-500 supermini.The...
compiler - PLANC was the system language of Norsk Data - a language "defined by its implementation" - Pascal compiler developed by Prof. Dr. Hans Langmaack and his team at KielKielKiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
University in Germany with the CAT-System using the Vienna Development Method, 1982 - PEDPED (Editor)PED, the Programmers' EDitor, was a powerful screen-based text editor made by the Norwegian minicomputer manufacturer Norsk Data.Versions were available for SINTRAN III running on both ND-100 and ND-500 architectures, as well as DolphinOS on the Motorola 88000.It took advantage of the special...
– "Programmer's EDitor" Screen oriented text editorText editorA text editor is a type of program used for editing plain text files.Text editors are often provided with operating systems or software development packages, and can be used to change configuration files and programming language source code.... - LEDLED (Editor)LED was a programmer's editor by Norsk Data running on the ND-500 series of computers running SINTRAN III.It featured automatic indenting, pretty-printing of source code, and integration with the compiler environment....
– "Language-sensitive programmer's EDitor" Screen oriented text editorText editorA text editor is a type of program used for editing plain text files.Text editors are often provided with operating systems or software development packages, and can be used to change configuration files and programming language source code....
and debuggerDebuggerA debugger or debugging tool is a computer program that is used to test and debug other programs . The code to be examined might alternatively be running on an instruction set simulator , a technique that allows great power in its ability to halt when specific conditions are encountered but which... - ND-NOTISND-NOTISKHF 15:31, 10 August 2011 ND-NOTIS was a tightly integrated yet modular office automation suite by Norsk Data introduced in the early 80s, running on the SINTRAN III platform on both ND-100 and ND-500 architectures...
– Integrated, modular word processingWord processingWord processing is the creation of documents using a word processor. It can also refer to advanced shorthand techniques, sometimes used in specialized contexts with a specially modified typewriter.-External links:...
and office application suite - NORTEXT – typesetting system integrated with ND-NOTIS and SIBAS
- Lisp Machine LispLisp Machine LispLisp Machine Lisp is a dialect of the Lisp programming language, a direct descendant of Maclisp, and was initially developed in the mid to late 1970s as the systems programming language for the MIT Lisp machines. Lisp Machine Lisp was also the Lisp dialect with the most influence on the design of...
– MIT Lisp machine lisp developed in a joint venture Racal-Norsk. - Technovision - CAD system developed in Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany.
Technovision was a modular CAD/CAM system which was internationally considered to be one of the best on the market. It was in part designed by Norsk Data Dietz GmbH. A special workstation named the Technostation was designed specifically for running Technovision. It was extremely well received by international press, and even won a design award. - BIBDIA - Library system developed by Norsk Data Dietz GmbH in Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany.
BIBDIA was further developed by BiBer GmbH since 1992. The current WEB-based version is still running as a market leader in Germany and Switzerland.
Along with the above listed applications two batch languages were included, called JEC and XCOM. JEC was used primarily as a simple batch job controller, whereas XCOM was used for much more involved routines such as operating system patches etc. Most of the applications came in two different editions, one compiled for the NORD-10/ND-100 series and one compiled for the ND-500/ND-5000 series.
When ND discontinued NOTIS development in 1989, it was continued by NOTIS AS, which later changed its name to Maxware
A point of note: the World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
originated when Tim Berners-Lee
Tim Berners-Lee
Sir Timothy John "Tim" Berners-Lee, , also known as "TimBL", is a British computer scientist, MIT professor and the inventor of the World Wide Web...
wrote the ENQUIRE
ENQUIRE
ENQUIRE was an early software project written in 1980 by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN, which was the predecessor to the World Wide Web in 1989.It was a simple hypertext program that had some of the same ideas as the Web and the Semantic Web but was different in several important ways.According to...
program in Pascal on a Norsk Data NORD-10 running under SINTRAN III at CERN
CERN
The European Organization for Nuclear Research , known as CERN , is an international organization whose purpose is to operate the world's largest particle physics laboratory, which is situated in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border...
.
External links
- Norsk Data Forum - a Norwegian site operated by ND ex-employees.
- A commercial Norsk Data-related home page
- Norsk Data Pakistan Private Limited
- Computer-Archiv - Norsk Data
- A Norsk Data page operated by Tore Bekkedal
- Norsk Data's history by Johnny Oddene
- NDWiki, The Norsk Data encyclopedia
- BiBer GmbH - a German Company founded by ND ex-employees.