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Computer Consoles, Inc.

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337:, called OfficePower, provided an integrated set of functions such as word processing, spreadsheet, email, and database access via a compact desktop smart terminal backed by a mini, or super mini-computer. Although the system software was ported to various Unix variants, most installations were hosted on CCI's Power 5 and Power 6 machines running CCI's Unix ports. 70:, principally for the telephony market. Raymond J. Hasenauer (Manufacturing), Eiji Miki (Electronic design), Walter Ponivas (Documentation) and James M. Steinke (Mechanical design) joined the company at its inception. Due to the state of the art in electronics at the time, this smart terminal was the size of an average-sized office desk. 78:
Due to the success of the smart computer terminal, and the expertise the company gained in understanding Operator Services, the company started development programs to offer networked computer systems that provided contract-managed access time, specified as a guaranteed number of seconds to paint the
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and established with Richard Levy (Altergo, Wang) as European Vice President, with responsibilities for all business aspects outside of North America. Richard Levy recruited industry professionals to target specific market sectors and distribution channels for the European and International markets
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To provide higher levels of automation to operator services, CCI introduced in the early 1980s various Automatic Voice Response (AVR) systems tightly integrated with its popular Directory Assistance systems. AVR provided voice response of the customer requested data, almost universally starting the
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compilation engines for their students were particularly keen. The machine suffered when applied to general purpose database application environments, not least because the I/O subsystem over-relied on the central processing power (much as the VAX did) and thus used relatively dumb I/O processors.
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CCI (Europe) maintained close co-operation with Rochester, NY for the manufacturing, stock & shipping and Irvine, CA for planning & management. Liaising closely with the Israeli R&D operation for international systems translation, CCI Europe established a solid base in major European
449:-based office later grew to support the efforts of the U.S.-based CCI offices, eventually becoming a major research and development center for machine level/operating systems products, telephony products, office automation products (particularly for British and foreign language "OfficePower"). 436:
CCI Israel, Inc. was a separately incorporated Delaware corporation however it was closely affiliated with the Rochester, NY, Irvine, CA and Reston, VA operations of Computer Consoles, Inc (CCI). It was first established to manage a telephony project for the Israeli national telephone company,
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CCI Israel also undertook local development projects for major clients - notably Motorola and Israel Aircraft Industries. In the mid-1980s CCI-Israel introduced the U.S. companies' brand of 5/32 and 6/32 micro- and mini-computers to the local Israeli market. CCI-Israel - through seminars and
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After completion of the acquisition, CCI - Rochester became a subsidiary of an STC operating unit known as STC Telecom. Shortly thereafter, the Computer Products Division at Irvine and Office Products Centre at Reston were sold to another STC operating unit,
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In Israel, development and installation was managed by CCI-Israel's managing director, Jacob "Jack" Mark. Mr. Mark, was earlier affiliated with the original Bell Labs team to which the core development of the Unix operating system is attributed. The small
518:. In reality there was a third operation which was a financing group that held the commercial leases for equipment typically sold to telephone companies. At the time of the acquisition the lease base was rumored to be valued at over $ 700M US dollars. 453:
training groups - was also instrumental in developing and popularizing the Unix operating system and the C programming language in Israel. CCI-Israel was also responsible for establishing the first Unix "User Group" in that country.
313:" processor, forcing a dual-processing machine to reschedule a process from the "slave" processor for every system call. The net result of this meant database benchmarks often ran faster on a single processor than a dual. 488:, Unix-based (PERPOS) system of the era in British Telecom in the late 1980s. The design concepts of the system were years ahead of its time. The company was also a pioneer of design and deployment of voice response and 784: 774: 614: 329:, called RLG Corporation (named after founder Richard L Gauthier), to develop a terminal-based integrated office automation system. RLG had had experience developing this kind of system for the 769: 754: 759: 749: 764: 341: 665: 38:, United States, which did business first as a private, and then ultimately a public company from 1968 to 1990. CCI provided worldwide telephone companies with 779: 510:
acquired CCI effective January 1, 1989. At this time CCI was organized as two major business units: one in Rochester ("CCI - Rochester"), which manufactured
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equipment, and a Computer Products Division in Irvine ("CCI - Irvine"), which manufactured computer hardware. Office systems software was produced at
175:, and richer support for networking, CCI developed PERPOS, a Unix derivative that provided integrated support for real-time transaction processing, 552:, and was eventually merged into this business unit. At that time, CCI was dissolved and Northern Telecom assumed its assets and liabilities. 348:; it consisted of two VAXes running 4.2BSD and a number of Power 5/20 machines running PERPOS-S. The VAXes were connected to each other by an 473:. It was a pioneer of design and deployment of real-time, transaction processing computer systems, of true fault tolerant computing systems, 462: 281:
Targeted as a competitor to the Unix/VAX platform, it succeeded for solutions where processing power was paramount. Universities requiring
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system targeted for automated, user-defined call scenarios. Initial installations handled intercept and calling card calls by capturing
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accounts and International third-party Distribution channels such as ICL & BT and became an integral aspect of the parent company.
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effective March 1991 and became part of the company's European operations. Effective January 1, 1992, CCI was transferred to the
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CCI controlled over 90% of the world market for equipment to automate telephony Directory services at the time of acquisition by
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To provide even higher levels of automation, CCI started a very aggressive program in the early 1980s to develop a PCM digital
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employees, Edward H. Nutter, Alfred J. Moretti, and Jeffrey Tai, to develop one of the earliest versions of a smart
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rather than a 4-kilobyte page. Leffer et al. suggest they did this due to concerns about VAX support of 4K dynamic
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equipment and other systems to automate various operator and telephony services, and later sold a line of
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prompt with a variant of the phrase, "The number is". Early systems were based on very small vocabulary
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movie (1985) and continued to use the computer for the bulk of its animation work as late as 1990.
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CCI (Europe) Inc was the wholly owned European Sales, Marketing and Support operation based in
203:. The Power 5 line also included single-processor 68000-based computers, code-named after the 644: 365: 287: 84: 67: 51: 563:
Computer Animation Group employed a Power 6/32 machine to render the "Glass Man" sequence in
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Leffler, Samuel J.; McCusick, Marshall K.; Karels, Michael J.; Quartermain, John S. (1989).
564: 515: 441:. The initial Israeli project was based on products developed in the Rochester-based group. 353: 326: 112: 542: 481:
access. CCI was one of earliest commercial entities connected to the Internet as cci.com.
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remarketed the Power 6 as the 7000 series (referred to as U7000 after the merger with
195:-based computers called the Power 5 series, which CCI developed. They were a line of 743: 295: 92: 411:
architectures. It continued to be used widely by ICL customers into the late 1990s.
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to the public telephone networks to automate traditional operator-based services.
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CCI actively participated in various telecom and public standard bodies such as
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operator's first screen of information, to various telephony databases such as
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Computer Consoles, Inc. (CCI, incorporated May 20, 1968), was founded by three
391:(STC) (see below), OfficePower was developed as the primary office system for 286:
The Power 6 running either version of Unix also suffered from the inefficient
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voice playback using audio authored either by CCI or the local phone company.
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The final issue with the Power 6/32 running Unix was the lack of support for
446: 408: 404: 27: 298:. The Power 6 had no such problems, but no operating system to support it. 349: 88: 31: 521:
Also at the time of the acquisition, CCI was involved in a dispute with
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also ported 4.3BSD to it, producing the release known as "4.3-Tahoe".
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The Design and Implementation of the 4.3BSD UNIX Operating System
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implementation; it included an encapsulation scheme for sending
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inherent in BSD 4.3. The core of this was the use of a 512-byte
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computers with custom hardware and software developed by CCI.
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for the entire CCI range of computer and telephony products.
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on all the Power 5/20 machines. The Power 5/20s were using
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also sold the Power 6 as the HCX-7 and HCX-9. A companion
87:. The largest such system was designed and installed for 352:, but, at the time, it wasn't cost-effective to provide 230:
Later, Computer Consoles opened a development center in
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to provide initially Directory Assistance throughout
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Manufacturing companies based in Rochester, New York
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Defunct computer companies based in New York (state)
698:"Computer Consoles to Be Acquired by British Firm" 591:"Sperry launches 7000/40 32-bit superminicomputer" 238:, called the Power 6/32, code-named "Tahoe" after 484:CCI deployed the largest multi-processor, shared 321:Due to the success the firm had in network-based 199:, fault-tolerant computers, code-named after the 770:Defunct computer companies of the United States 151:board. Later systems added speaker independent 503:Acquisition by Standard Telephones and Cables 163:PERPOS, Perpetual Processing Operating System 8: 733:The Pioneers Return to Dallas: SIGGRAPH 1990 376:implemented this encapsulation scheme as a 159:board to initially automate collect calls. 755:1992 disestablishments in New York (state) 331:United States Department of Transportation 760:Computer companies disestablished in 1992 399:range and later servers with Power 6/32, 395:(ICL), owned by STC, with ports for the 211:called PERPOS-S, which was originally a 115:chips, follow-on systems utilized 8-bit 750:1968 establishments in New York (state) 581: 765:Computer companies established in 1968 179:, and fault-tolerant features such as 95:and Ireland. These systems combined 7: 723:, STC Gazette February 1990, STC PLC 537:Acquisition by Northern Telecom Ltd. 780:Defunct computer hardware companies 380:for 4.2BSD; this was the origin of 191:PERPOS was developed for a line of 252:University of California, Berkeley 242:. It ran an internally developed 50:computers and the Power 6/32 Unix 14: 523:General Telephone and Electronics 16:US telephony and computer company 615:"New Harris Computer Introduced" 393:International Computers Limited 340:One installation was at the US 248:Computer Systems Research Group 167:To provide better control over 389:Standard Telephones and Cables 171:, significant improvements in 1: 589:Warner, Edward (1984-11-01). 387:After the takeover of CCI by 187:Power 5 and Power 6 computers 143:audio band signaling via the 97:Digital Equipment Corporation 541:STC Telecom was acquired by 465:, and in the development of 342:Naval Surface Weapons Center 157:quad digital audio processor 74:Automating Operator Services 696:OLMOS, DAVID (1988-12-06). 801: 309:would have to run on the " 303:symmetric multiprocessing 207:, running a regular Unix 149:multi-frequency receiver 106:Automatic Voice Response 666:"Using the UNIX System" 479:distributed file system 268:Harris Computer Systems 20:Computer Consoles, Inc. 471:C programming language 169:transaction processing 570:Young Sherlock Holmes 556:Notable historic uses 475:distributed database 81:directory assistance 40:directory assistance 664:Gauthier, Richard. 133:telephone switching 36:Rochester, New York 34:company located in 643:. Addison-Wesley. 512:telecommunications 490:speech recognition 346:Dahlgren, Virginia 256:Sperry Corporation 232:Irvine, California 183:and cold standby. 153:speech recognition 113:synthesised speech 85:intercept messages 702:Los Angeles Times 360:'s UNET as their 354:Ethernet adapters 317:Office automation 288:memory management 127:Digital switching 68:computer terminal 792: 735: 730: 724: 718: 712: 711: 709: 708: 693: 687: 686: 684: 683: 677: 671:. Archived from 670: 661: 655: 654: 636: 630: 629: 627: 626: 621:on March 3, 2016 617:. Archived from 611: 605: 604: 602: 601: 586: 565:Steven Spielberg 547:Northern Telecom 543:Northern Telecom 516:Reston, Virginia 432:CCI Israel, Inc. 415:CCI (Europe) Inc 327:Reston, Virginia 800: 799: 795: 794: 793: 791: 790: 789: 740: 739: 738: 731: 727: 721:Irvine signs on 719: 715: 706: 704: 695: 694: 690: 681: 679: 675: 668: 663: 662: 658: 651: 638: 637: 633: 624: 622: 613: 612: 608: 599: 597: 588: 587: 583: 579: 558: 539: 505: 459: 457:Accomplishments 434: 417: 378:line discipline 368:datagrams over 323:data management 319: 197:multi-processor 189: 173:fault tolerance 165: 137:multi-frequency 129: 108: 89:British Telecom 76: 60: 17: 12: 11: 5: 798: 796: 788: 787: 782: 777: 772: 767: 762: 757: 752: 742: 741: 737: 736: 725: 713: 688: 656: 650:978-0201061963 649: 631: 606: 580: 578: 575: 557: 554: 538: 535: 504: 501: 458: 455: 433: 430: 416: 413: 401:Motorola 68030 318: 315: 246:port, and the 193:Motorola 68000 188: 185: 177:load balancing 164: 161: 128: 125: 107: 104: 75: 72: 59: 56: 15: 13: 10: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 797: 786: 783: 781: 778: 776: 773: 771: 768: 766: 763: 761: 758: 756: 753: 751: 748: 747: 745: 734: 729: 726: 722: 717: 714: 703: 699: 692: 689: 678:on 2017-05-06 674: 667: 660: 657: 652: 646: 642: 635: 632: 620: 616: 610: 607: 596: 595:Computerworld 592: 585: 582: 576: 574: 572: 571: 566: 562: 555: 553: 551: 548: 544: 536: 534: 532: 526: 524: 519: 517: 513: 509: 502: 500: 498: 493: 491: 487: 482: 480: 476: 472: 468: 464: 456: 454: 450: 448: 442: 440: 431: 429: 425: 422: 414: 412: 410: 406: 402: 398: 394: 390: 385: 383: 379: 375: 371: 367: 363: 359: 355: 351: 347: 343: 338: 336: 332: 328: 324: 316: 314: 312: 308: 304: 299: 297: 293: 289: 284: 279: 277: 273: 269: 265: 261: 257: 253: 249: 245: 241: 237: 233: 228: 226: 222: 218: 214: 210: 206: 202: 198: 194: 186: 184: 182: 178: 174: 170: 162: 160: 158: 154: 150: 146: 142: 138: 134: 126: 124: 122: 118: 114: 105: 103: 101: 98: 94: 93:Great Britain 90: 86: 82: 73: 71: 69: 65: 57: 55: 53: 49: 45: 41: 37: 33: 29: 25: 21: 728: 720: 716: 705:. Retrieved 701: 691: 680:. Retrieved 673:the original 659: 640: 634: 623:. Retrieved 619:the original 609: 598:. Retrieved 594: 584: 568: 559: 540: 527: 520: 506: 494: 483: 460: 451: 443: 435: 426: 418: 386: 370:serial lines 339: 335:office suite 320: 307:system calls 300: 280: 229: 205:Finger Lakes 190: 166: 130: 119:, and later 109: 77: 61: 23: 19: 18: 550:U.S. entity 486:file system 477:access and 421:West London 283:time-shared 276:Walden Pond 201:Great Lakes 744:Categories 707:2017-08-18 682:2017-08-18 625:2011-11-04 600:2022-06-28 577:References 405:Intel x86 374:Rick Adams 240:Lake Tahoe 221:System III 447:Ramat Gan 409:Sun SPARC 260:Burroughs 223:-derived 215:-derived 213:Version 7 52:supermini 28:telephony 469:and the 350:Ethernet 262:to form 225:userland 32:computer 397:ICL DRS 250:at the 219:with a 147:-based 58:History 46:-based 647:  362:TCP/IP 333:. The 311:Master 305:: All 296:paging 264:Unisys 217:kernel 155:via a 100:PDP-11 26:was a 676:(PDF) 669:(PDF) 561:Pixar 439:Bezeq 272:68010 121:ADPCM 64:Xerox 645:ISBN 467:Unix 463:ANSI 407:and 382:SLIP 358:3Com 292:page 209:port 141:DTMF 139:and 83:and 48:Unix 30:and 567:'s 531:ICL 508:STC 497:STC 344:in 266:.) 244:BSD 236:VAX 181:hot 145:DSP 117:PCM 44:68k 24:CCI 22:or 746:: 700:. 593:. 499:. 403:, 384:. 372:. 366:IP 278:. 54:. 710:. 685:. 653:. 628:. 603:.

Index

telephony
computer
Rochester, New York
directory assistance
68k
Unix
supermini
Xerox
computer terminal
directory assistance
intercept messages
British Telecom
Great Britain
Digital Equipment Corporation
PDP-11
synthesised speech
PCM
ADPCM
telephone switching
multi-frequency
DTMF
DSP
multi-frequency receiver
speech recognition
quad digital audio processor
transaction processing
fault tolerance
load balancing
hot
Motorola 68000

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