1.
General Electric Company
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The General Electric Company, or GEC, was a major UK-based industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering. The company was a constituent of the FTSE100 Index, in December 1999, GECs defence arm, Marconi Electronic Systems, was amalgamated with British Aerospace to form BAE Systems. The rest of GEC continued as Marconi plc, the financial troubles that followed the bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2001 led to the restructuring in 2003 of Marconi plc into Marconi Corporation plc. In 2005, Ericsson acquired the bulk of Marconi Corporation plc, along with its principal subsidiary, the remainder of the business was renamed Telent. GEC had its origins in the G. Binswanger and Company, regarded as the year GEC was founded,1886 saw a fellow immigrant, Hugo Hirst, join Byng, and the company changed its name to The General Electric Apparatus Company. Their small business found success with its unorthodox method of supplying electrical components over the counter. Hugo Hirst was a salesman who saw the potential of electricity and was able to direct the standardisation of an industry in its infancy. He travelled across Europe with an eye for the latest products, the following year, the company acquired its first factory in Salford, where electric bells, telephones, ceiling roses and switches were manufactured. In 1889, the business was incorporated as a company known as General Electric Company Ltd. The company was expanding rapidly, opening new branches and factories and trading in everything electrical, in 1893, it decided to invest in the manufacture of lamps. The resulting company, was to lead the way in lamp design, GEC was incorporated as a public limited company, The General Electric Company Ltd. In 1902, its first purpose-built factory, the Witton Engineering Works, was opened near Birmingham, with the death of Gustav Byng in 1910, Hugo Hirst became the chairman as well as managing director, a position he had assumed in 1906. Hirsts shrewd investment in lamp manufacture was proving extremely profitable, in 1909, Osram began production of the most successful tungsten filament lamps in the industry. Rapidly growing private and commercial use of electricity created huge demand, the company expanded both at home and overseas, with the establishment of agencies in Europe, Japan, Australia, South Africa, and India. It also did trade with South America. The outbreak of World War I transformed GEC into a player in the electrical industry. It was heavily involved in the war effort, with such as radios, signal lamps. Between the wars, GEC expanded to become a global corporation, the takeover of Fraser and Chalmers in 1918 took GEC into heavy engineering and bolstered their claim to supply everything electrical
2.
British Aircraft Corporation
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The British Aircraft Corporation was a British aircraft manufacturer formed from the government-pressured merger of English Electric Aviation Ltd. Vickers-Armstrongs, the Bristol Aeroplane Company and Hunting Aircraft in 1960, Bristol, English Electric and Vickers became parents of BAC with shareholdings of 20%, 40% and 40% respectively. BAC in turn acquired the capital of their aviation interests. Its head office was on the top floors of the 100 Pall Mall building in the City of Westminster, BAC was formed following a warning from government that it expected consolidation in the aircraft, guided weapons and engine industries. The new corporation was owned by Vickers, English Electric. Internally it had two divisions – the Aircraft Division under Sir George Edwards and the Guided Weapons Division under Viscount Caldecote, the aircraft operations of the three parents were now subsidiaries of BAC, Bristol Aircraft Ltd, English Electric Aviation Ltd and Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd. BAC also had a controlling interest in Hunting Aircraft, the parents still had significant aviation interests outside BAC. English Electric had Napier & Son aero-engines, Bristol had 50% of Bristol Aerojet and Bristol Siddeley engines and smaller investments in Westland and it remains operational today as Bristol Cars. Most of the BAC designs were taken over from the companies that formed it. BAC did not apply its new identity retrospectively, hence the VC10 remained the Vickers VC10, instead the company applied its name to marketing initiatives, the VC10 advertising carried the name Vickers-Armstrongs Limited, a member company of the British Aircraft Corporation. The first model to bear the BAC name was the BAC One-Eleven, the first Concorde contracts were signed with Air France and BOAC in September 1972. In 1963, BAC acquired the previously autonomous guided weapons divisions of English Electric and Bristol to form a new subsidiary, the company enjoyed some success, including development of the Rapier, Sea Skua and Sea Wolf missiles. BAC eventually expanded this division to include electronics and space systems and, in 1966, Hughes awarded major contracts to BAC, including sub-systems for Intelsat satellites. The cancellation of the TSR-2 in April 1965 was a blow to the new company. After successfully flying the aircraft, political pressure forced development to cease. Given the numerous government contract cancellations during the 1960s, the BAC 1–11, launched as a private venture, in May 1966, BAC and Breguet formed SEPECAT, a joint company to manage the Jaguar aircraft programme. The first of eight prototypes flew on 8 September 1968, and service entry was achieved with the French Air Force in 1973, also in 1966, Rolls-Royce acquired Bristol Aeroplane for its Bristol Siddeley aero-engine business, but declared it had no interest in the BAC shareholding. Despite this, Rolls-Royce still had not disposed of its BAC shareholding by 1971 when Rolls-Royce was declared bankrupt, the 20% share was eventually acquired from receivership by Vickers and GEC, who had acquired English Electric in 1968
3.
International Computers Limited
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International Computers Limited was a large British computer hardware, computer software and computer services company that operated from 1968 until 2002. It was formed through a merger of International Computers and Tabulators, English Electric Leo Marconi, the companys most successful product line was the ICL2900 Series range of mainframe computers. In later years, ICL attempted to diversify its product line, despite significant sales in overseas markets, ICLs mainframe base was dominated by large contracts from the UK public sector. Significant customers included Post Office Ltd, the Inland Revenue, the Department for Work and Pensions, ICL also had a strong market share with UK local authorities and nationalized utilities including the water, electricity, and gas boards. The company was acquired by Fujitsu, and in April 2002 it was rebranded as Fujitsu. International Computers Limited was formed in 1968 as a part of the Industrial Expansion Act of the Wilson Labour Government, ICL was an initiative of Tony Benn, the Minister of Technology, to create a British computer industry that could compete with major world manufacturers like IBM. ICL represented the last step in a series of mergers that had taken place in the industry since the late 1950s, EELM was itself a merger of the computer divisions of English Electric, LEO and Marconi. Upon its creation, the British government held a ten percent stake in the company, the new board decided that the 1900 should be phased out in favour of the System 4, but shortly afterwards reversed the decision. It is probable that this was due to union and political pressure from the Wilson government. In any event, most of the original EEC board resigned over the interference as they believed that the 1900 series was doomed from the outset, ICL initially thrived, but relied almost wholly on supplying the UK public sector with computers. In 1962 ICT delivered the first ICT1300 series computer which was its first transistor machine, a small team from Ferrantis Canadian subsidiary, Ferranti-Packard, visited the various Ferranti computer labs and saw their work on a next-generation machine. On their return home they produced the Ferranti-Packard 6000 in a short period of time, developing the machine, compilers. A feature of the Executive operating system was its ability to multi task, the machine went on to have some success and sold in small numbers in Canada and the United States. In 1964 ICT purchased the division of Ferranti in another government-forced merger. Ferranti had been building a number of scientific machines based on various university designs since the 1950s. None of these could be considered successful, however. Meanwhile, ICT management in England was looking to rejuvenate their line-up, their latest developments, Management looked at the FP6000 as well as licensing the RCA Spectra 70, an IBM System/360-clone. In the end it was decided to go with the FP6000 as the basis for a line of small-to-midrange machines
4.
Strand, London
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Strand is a major thoroughfare in the City of Westminster, Central London. The roads name comes from the Old English strond, meaning the edge of a river, the street was popular with the British upper classes between the 12th and 17th centuries, with many historically important mansions being built between the Strand and the river. These included Essex House, Arundel House, Somerset House, Savoy Palace, Durham House, the aristocracy moved to the West End over the 17th century, following which the Strand became well known for coffee shops, restaurants and taverns. The street was a point for theatre and music hall during the 19th century. At the east end of the street are two churches, St Mary le Strand and St Clement Danes. Several authors, poets and philosophers have lived on or near the Strand, including Charles Dickens, Ralph Waldo Emerson, the street has been commemorated in the song Lets All Go Down the Strand, now recognised as a typical piece of Cockney music hall. The street is the link between the two cities of Westminster and London. It runs eastward from Trafalgar Square, parallel to the River Thames, traffic travelling eastbound follows a short crescent around Aldwych, connected at both ends to the Strand. The road marks the boundary of the Covent Garden district. The name was first recorded in 1002 as strondway, then in 1185 as Stronde and it is formed from the Old English word strond, meaning the edge of a river. Initially it referred to the bank of the once much wider Thames. The name was applied to the road itself. In the 13th century it was known as Densemanestret or street of the Danes, Strand Bridge was the name given to Waterloo Bridge during its construction, it was renamed for its official opening on the second anniversary of the coalition victory in the Battle of Waterloo. London Bus routes 6,23,139 and 176 all run along the Strand, as do numerous night bus services. During Roman Britain, what is now the Strand was part of the route to Silchester, known as Iter VIII on the Antonine Itinerary, and it was briefly part of a trading town called Lundenwic that developed around 600 AD, and stretched from Trafalgar Square to Aldwych. Alfred the Great gradually moved the settlement into the old Roman town of Londinium from around 886 AD onwards, leaving no mark of the old town, and the area returned to fields. In the Middle Ages, the Strand became the route between the separate settlements of the City of London and the royal Palace of Westminster. The landmark Eleanors Cross was built in the 13th century at the end of the Strand at Charing Cross by Edward I commemorating his wife Eleanor of Castile
5.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
6.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
7.
D. Napier & Son
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D. Napier & Son Limited was a British engineering company best known for its luxury motor cars in the Edwardian era and for its aero engines throughout the early to mid-20th century. Napier was founded as an engineering company in 1808 and for nearly a century produced machinery for the financial, print. In the early 20th century it moved for a time into internal combustion engines and its powerful Lion dominated the UK market in the 1920s and the World War Two era Sabre produced 3500 hp in its later versions. Many world speed records on land and water, as well as the Hawker Typhoon, during World War Two the company was taken over by English Electric and engine manufacture eventually ceased. Today, Napier Turbochargers is a subsidiary of the American company Wabtec, david Napier, second son of the blacksmith to the Duke of Argyll, was born in 1785. While cousins became shipbuilders, he took engineering training in Scotland before coming to London, there in 1808 he founded the firm that was to become D. Napier & Son in Lloyds Court, St Giles, London. He designed a printing press, some of which went to Hansard. The company moved to Lambeth, South London in 1830, between 1840 and 1860, Napier was prosperous, with a well-outfitted factory and between 200 and 300 workers. Napier made a variety of products, including a centrifuge for sugar manufacturing, lathes and drills, ammunition-making equipment for the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich. Davids younger son James Murdoch, born 1823, joined the firm in 1837 and became a partner in 1847, James proved an excellent engineer, but a poor businessman, considering salesmanship undignified. It became so bad that there were as few as seven employees in 1895, and James attempted to sell the business, James son Montague, born 1870, inherited the business in 1895, along with his fathers engineering talents. Montague was a racing cyclist, and at the Bath Road Club. Edge Edge persuaded Napier to improve his Panhard, converting from a tiller to a steering wheel, dissatisfied, Napier offered to fit an engine of his own design, an 8 hp vertical twin, with electric ignition, superior to the Panhards hot tube type. By June 1900, eight 16 hps had been ordered, and Edge entered one in the 837 mi Paris-Toulouse-Paris race, the 301.6 cu in sidevalve suffered problems with its ignition coils and cooling system, and failed to finish. For 1901, Montague designed a car not to lack speed, having a 16. 3-liter sidevalve four capable of 103 bhp at 800 rpm, on a wheelbase of 115 inches with four-speed gearbox. Called the 50 hp, only two or three were completed, including one for Rolls, in the concurrent Paris-Bordeaux rally, it retired with clutch trouble. For the 1902 Gordon Bennett, three entrants contested for France, with Edge in a Napier and two Wolseleys, the Napier was a three-speed, shaft-drive 6. 44-litre four of 44.5 hp. Piloted by Edge and his cousin, Cecil, it wore what would become known as British racing green and it was the first British victory in international motorsport, and would not be repeated until Henry Segrave took the French Grand Prix in 1923
8.
Marconi Company
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The Marconi Company was a British telecommunications and engineering company that did business under that name from 1963 to 1987. The company was founded by the Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi and began as the Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company, the company was a pioneer of wireless long distance communication and mass media broadcasting, eventually becoming one of the UKs most successful manufacturing companies. In 1999, its manufacturing division, Marconi Electronic Systems. In 2006, extreme financial difficulties led to the collapse of the company, with the bulk of the business acquired by the Swedish telecommunications company. The company opened the worlds first radio factory on Hall Street in Chelmsford in 1898 and was responsible for some of the most important advances in radio and television. These include, In 1900 the companys name was changed to Marconis Wireless Telegraph Company, the company and factory was moved to New Street Works in 1912, to allow for production expansion in light of the RMS Titanic disaster. Along with private entrepreneurs, Marconi company formed in 1924 the Unione Radiofonica Italiana, after the war, URI became the RAI, which lives on to this day. In 1939, the Marconi Research Laboratories at Great Baddow were founded, English Electric acquired the Marconi Company in 1946 which complemented its other operations, heavy electrical engineering, aircraft and its railway traction business. In 1948 the company was reorganised into four divisions, These had expanded to 13 manufacturing divisions by 1965 when a reorganisation took place. It also owned Marconi Instruments, Sanders Electronics, Eddystone Radio, in 1967 Marconi took over Stratton and Company to form Eddystone Radio. In 1903 Marconi founded the Marconis Wireless Telegraph Company of Canada which was renamed as the Canadian Marconi Company in 1925, the radio business of the Canadian Marconi Company is known as Ultra Electronics TCS since 2002 and its avionic activities as CMC Electronics, owned by Esterline since 2007. In 1967 or 1968 English Electric was subject to a bid by the Plessey Company. Under UK government pressure, the section of GEC, English Electric Leo Marconi. In 1968 Marconi Space and Defence Systems and Marconi Underwater Systems were formed, the Marconi Company continued as the primary defence subsidiary of GEC, GEC-Marconi. Marconi was renamed GEC-Marconi in 1987, during the period 1968–1999 GEC-Marconi/MES underwent significant expansion. Acquisitions which were folded into the company and partnerships established include, Other acquisitions include, in 1999 GEC underwent a major transformation. Marconi Electronic Systems which included its wireless assets was demerged and sold to British Aerospace which then formed BAE Systems, GEC, realigning itself as a primarily telecommunications company following the MES sale, retained the Marconi brand and renamed itself Marconi plc. BAE were granted limited rights to continue its use in existing partnerships, major spending and the dot-com collapse led to a major restructuring of that group, in a debt-for-equity swap shareholders were given 0. 5% of the new company, Marconi Corporation plc
9.
Vulcan Foundry
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The Vulcan Foundry Limited was a British locomotive builder sited at Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire. Because of the distance from the works in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, it seemed preferable to build. In 1832, Robert Stephenson became a partner for a few years, the company had become The Vulcan Foundry Company in 1847 and acquired limited liability in 1864. From the beginning of 1898, the name changed again to The Vulcan Foundry Limited, the site had its own railway station, Vulcan Halt, on the former Warrington and Newton Railway line from Earlestown to Warrington Bank Quay. The halt was opened on 1 November 1916 by the London and North Western Railway and this list claims that the first two locomotives were 0-4-0 Tayleur and Stephenson built in 1833 for Mr Hargreaves, Bolton, but this seems unlikely. The earliest authenticated products were 0-4-0 Titan and Orion, similar to Stephensons design, other early orders came from the Leicester and Swannington Railway and there were also some 4-2-0s for America which were among the first British bogie locomotives. From 1835 the company was selling to Belgium, France, and in 1836 to Austria and Russia, the companys locomotives had a strong Stephenson influence, many during the following decade being of the long boiler design. In 1852 the first locomotives ever to run in India were supplied to the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, a number of Fairlie locomotives were built, including Taliesin for the Ffestiniog Railway and Josephine one of the NZR E class. During 1870 the company supplied the first locos to run in Japan, a number of Matthew Kirtleys double-framed goods engines were also produced for the Midland Railway. The healthy export trade continued, particularly to India and South America, the most notable design manufactured for an overseas railway during this period was the large 4-8-4 built for the Chinese National Railways in 1934-35. These fine locomotives were equipped with a stoker and six of them were fitted with booster engines on the tender. Of the 24 exported, one returned to the UK and is preserved at the National Railway Museum in York, during 1953-54 the company built sixty J Class 2-8-0 locomotives for Victorian Railways, Australia. From 1939 the works was mostly concerned with the war effort, becoming involved in the development, from 1943 large orders were received from the Ministry of Supply for locomotives,390 Austerity 2-8-0s and fifty Austerity 0-6-0 saddle tanks. In 1944 the Vulcan Foundry acquired Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns and in 1945 received an order for 120 Liberation 2-8-0 locomotives for UNRRA in Europe, the war had left Indias railways in a parlous state and in 1947, with foreign aid, embarked on a massive rebuilding plan. Not only was the competition fierce from other countries, but India had developed the ability to build its own locomotives, the company had experience of both diesel and electric locomotives, having built thirty-one so-called Crocodile 2600 hp 1, 500V DC electric banking locomotives in 1929 for India. Indias National Railway Museum in New Delhi exhibits a locomotive from the Vulcan foundry. In 1931, the company supplied the first experimental diesel shunter to the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. In 1936 Vulcan, a diesel-mechanical 0-6-0 shunter with a Vulcan-Frichs 6-cylinder 275 hp diesel engine was loaned to the LMS, and was used by the War Department
10.
Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns
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Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns Ltd was a locomotive builder with works in North East England. The goodwill of Leeds locomotive builders Kitson & Co. was obtained in 1938, RSH locomotive numbering began at 6939, this being the first number following the sum total of locomotives built by Robert Stephenson & Co. and Hawthorn Leslie. RSH became part of English Electric in 1955, locomotive building at the Newcastle upon Tyne works ended in 1961 and at Darlington in 1964. RSH entered the locomotive market in November 1937 with a direct reversing locomotive fitted with a Crossley two-stroke engine. There was no reversing gearbox and the engine itself was reversible. When starting, in direction, power was supplied by compressed air until the engine fired. One of these locomotives, Beryl, is preserved at the Tanfield Railway, after the 1955 modernisation plan of British Railways RSH responded by building the following class of diesel locomotives some of which are preserved. Class 04 Class 20 Class 37 Class 40 Industrial Railway Society, Various publications
11.
LEO (computer)
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The LEO I was the first computer used for commercial business applications. The prototype LEO I was modelled closely on the Cambridge EDSAC and its construction was overseen by Oliver Standingford, Raymond Thompson and David Caminer of J. Lyons and Co. LEO I ran its first business application in 1951, in 1954 Lyons formed LEO Computers Ltd to market LEO I and its successors LEO II and LEO III to other companies. LEO Computers eventually became part of English Electric Company and then International Computers Limited, LEO series computers were still in use until 1981. During their visit they met Herman Goldstine, one of the developers of ENIAC. Standingford and Thompson saw the potential of computers to solve the problem of administering a major business enterprise. They also learned from Goldstine that, back in the UK, Douglas Hartree and Maurice Wilkes were actually building another such machine, on their return to the UK, Standingford and Thompson visited Hartree and Wilkes in Cambridge, and were favourably impressed with their technical expertise and vision. Hartree and Wilkes estimated that EDSAC was twelve to eighteen months from completion, Standingford and Thompson wrote a report to the Lyons Board recommending that Lyons should acquire or build a computer to meet their business needs. EDSAC was completed and ran its first program in May 1949, following the successful completion of EDSAC, the Lyons board agreed to start the construction of their own machine, expanding on the EDSAC design. The Lyons machine was christened Lyons Electronic Office, or LEO, on the recommendation of Wilkes, Lyons recruited John Pinkerton, a radar engineer and research student at Cambridge, as team leader for the project. Lenaerts returned to Lyons to work on the project, and Wilkes provided training for Lyons engineer Derek Hemy, the first business application to be run on LEO was Bakery Valuations. This was initially run as a test program on 5 September 1951, LEO Is clock speed was 500 kHz, with most instructions taking about 1.5 ms to execute. To be useful for applications, the computer had to be able to handle a number of data streams, input and output. Therefore, its designer, Dr. John Pinkerton, designed the machine to have multiple input/output buffers. In the first instance, these were linked to fast paper tape readers and punches, fast punched card readers and punches, later, other devices, including magnetic tape, were added. Its ultrasonic delay line memory based on tanks of mercury, with 2K 35-bit words, was four times as large as that of EDSAC, the systems analysis was carried out by David Caminer. Lyons used LEO I initially for valuation jobs, but its role was extended to include payroll, inventory and this was the first instance of an integrated management information system plus a computerised call centre. The LEO project was also a pioneer in outsourcing, in 1956, Lyons started doing the calculations for Ford UK
12.
Armistice of 11 November 1918
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It went into effect at 11 a. m. Paris time on 11 November 1918, and marked a victory for the Allies, the Germans were responding to the policies proposed by U. S. President Woodrow Wilson in his Fourteen Points of January 1918. Although the armistice ended the fighting, it took six months of negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference to conclude the peace treaty. In addition, he recommended the acceptance of the demands of US president Woodrow Wilson including putting the Imperial Government on a democratic footing, hoping for more favorable peace terms. As he said to officers of his staff on 1 October, on 3 October, the liberal Prince Maximilian of Baden was appointed Chancellor of Germany, replacing Georg von Hertling in order to negotiate an armistice. In the subsequent two exchanges, Wilsons allusions failed to convey the idea that the Kaisers abdication was a condition for peace. The leading statesmen of the Reich were not yet ready to contemplate such a monstrous possibility, in late October, Ludendorff, in a sudden change of mind, declared the conditions of the Allies unacceptable. He now demanded to resume the war which he himself had declared lost only one month earlier, however the German soldiers were pressing to get home. It was scarcely possible to arouse their readiness for battle anew, the Imperial Government stayed on course and Ludendorff was replaced by Wilhelm Groener. On 5 November, the Allies agreed to take up negotiations for a truce, the latest note from Wilson was received in Berlin on 6 November. That same day, the led by Matthias Erzberger departed for France. For example, they assumed that the de-militarization suggested by Wilson would be limited to the Central Powers, there were also contradictions with their post-War plans that did not include a consistent implementation of the ideal of national self-determination. Also on 9 November, Max von Baden handed over the office of Chancellor to Friedrich Ebert, eberts SPD and Erzbergers Catholic Centre Party had enjoyed an uneasy relationship with the Imperial government since Bismarcks era in the 1870s and 1880s. They were well represented in the Imperial Reichstag, which had power over the government. Their prominence in the negotiations would cause the new Weimar Republic to lack legitimacy in right-wing. The Armistice was the result of a hurried and desperate process and they were then entrained and taken to the secret destination, aboard Ferdinand Fochs private train parked in a railway siding in the forest of Compiègne. Foch appeared only twice in the three days of negotiations, on the first day, to ask the German delegation what they wanted, the Germans were handed the list of Allied demands and given 72 hours to agree. The German delegation discussed the Allied terms not with Foch, but with other French, the Armistice amounted to complete German demilitarization, with few promises made by the Allies in return
13.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
14.
Electric motor
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An electric motor is an electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. The reverse of this is the conversion of energy into electrical energy and is done by an electric generator. In normal motoring mode, most electric motors operate through the interaction between an electric motors magnetic field and winding currents to generate force within the motor, small motors may be found in electric watches. General-purpose motors with highly standardized dimensions and characteristics provide convenient mechanical power for industrial use, the largest of electric motors are used for ship propulsion, pipeline compression and pumped-storage applications with ratings reaching 100 megawatts. Electric motors may be classified by electric power source type, internal construction, application, type of motion output, perhaps the first electric motors were simple electrostatic devices created by the Scottish monk Andrew Gordon in the 1740s. The theoretical principle behind production of force by the interactions of an electric current. The conversion of energy into mechanical energy by electromagnetic means was demonstrated by the British scientist Michael Faraday in 1821. A free-hanging wire was dipped into a pool of mercury, on which a permanent magnet was placed, when a current was passed through the wire, the wire rotated around the magnet, showing that the current gave rise to a close circular magnetic field around the wire. This motor is often demonstrated in experiments, brine substituting for toxic mercury. Though Barlows wheel was a refinement to this Faraday demonstration. In 1827, Hungarian physicist Ányos Jedlik started experimenting with electromagnetic coils, after Jedlik solved the technical problems of the continuous rotation with the invention of the commutator, he called his early devices electromagnetic self-rotors. Although they were used only for instructional purposes, in 1828 Jedlik demonstrated the first device to contain the three components of practical DC motors, the stator, rotor and commutator. The device employed no permanent magnets, as the fields of both the stationary and revolving components were produced solely by the currents flowing through their windings. His motor set a record which was improved only four years later in September 1838 by Jacobi himself. His second motor was powerful enough to drive a boat with 14 people across a wide river and it was not until 1839/40 that other developers worldwide managed to build motors of similar and later also of higher performance. The first commutator DC electric motor capable of turning machinery was invented by the British scientist William Sturgeon in 1832, following Sturgeons work, a commutator-type direct-current electric motor made with the intention of commercial use was built by the American inventor Thomas Davenport, which he patented in 1837. The motors ran at up to 600 revolutions per minute, and powered machine tools, due to the high cost of primary battery power, the motors were commercially unsuccessful and Davenport went bankrupt. Several inventors followed Sturgeon in the development of DC motors but all encountered the same battery power cost issues, no electricity distribution had been developed at the time
15.
Transformer
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A transformer is an electrical device that transfers electrical energy between two or more circuits through electromagnetic induction. A varying current in one coil of the transformer produces a magnetic field. Power can be transferred between the two coils through the field, without a metallic connection between the two circuits. Faradays law of induction discovered in 1831 described this effect, Transformers are used to increase or decrease the alternating voltages in electric power applications. A wide range of designs is encountered in electronic and electric power applications. Transformers range in size from RF transformers less than a centimeter in volume to units interconnecting the power grid weighing hundreds of tons. For simplification or approximation purposes, it is common to analyze the transformer as an ideal transformer model as presented in the two images. An ideal transformer is a theoretical, linear transformer that is lossless and perfectly coupled, perfect coupling implies infinitely high core magnetic permeability and winding inductances and zero net magnetomotive force. A varying current in the primary winding creates a varying magnetic flux in the transformer core. This varying magnetic field at the secondary winding induces a varying EMF or voltage in the secondary winding due to electromagnetic induction. The primary and secondary windings are wrapped around a core of high magnetic permeability so that all of the magnetic flux passes through both the primary and secondary windings. With a voltage source connected to the winding and load impedance connected to the secondary winding. The primary EMF is sometimes termed counter EMF and this is in accordance with Lenzs law, which states that induction of EMF always opposes development of any such change in magnetic field. The transformer winding voltage ratio is shown to be directly proportional to the winding turns ratio according to eq. common usage having evolved over time from turn ratio to turns ratio. However, some use the inverse definition. The ideal transformer model assumes that all flux generated by the primary winding links all the turns of winding, including itself. In practice, some flux traverses paths that take it outside the windings, Such flux is termed leakage flux, and results in leakage inductance in series with the mutually coupled transformer windings. Leakage flux results in energy being alternately stored in and discharged from the fields with each cycle of the power supply
16.
Locomotive
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A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. A locomotive has no payload capacity of its own, and its purpose is to move the train along the tracks. In contrast, some trains have self-propelled payload-carrying vehicles and these are not normally considered locomotives, and may be referred to as multiple units, motor coaches or railcars. The use of these vehicles is increasingly common for passenger trains. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front, however, push-pull operation has become common, where the train may have a locomotive at the front, at the rear, or at each end. Prior to locomotives, the force for railroads had been generated by various lower-technology methods such as human power, horse power. The first successful locomotives were built by Cornish inventor Richard Trevithick, in 1804 his unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren ironworks, near Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. Although the locomotive hauled a train of 10 long tons of iron and 70 passengers in five wagons over nine miles, the locomotive only ran three trips before it was abandoned. Trevithick built a series of locomotives after the Penydarren experiment, including one which ran at a colliery in Tyneside in northern England, the first commercially successful steam locomotive was Matthew Murrays rack locomotive, Salamanca, built for the narrow gauge Middleton Railway in 1812. This was followed in 1813 by the Puffing Billy built by Christopher Blackett and William Hedley for the Wylam Colliery Railway, Puffing Billy is now on display in the Science Museum in London, the oldest locomotive in existence. In 1814 George Stephenson, inspired by the locomotives of Trevithick. He built the Blücher, one of the first successful flanged-wheel adhesion locomotives, Stephenson played a pivotal role in the development and widespread adoption of steam locomotives. His designs improved on the work of the pioneers, in 1825 he built the Locomotion for the Stockton and Darlington Railway, north east England, which became the first public steam railway. In 1829 he built The Rocket which was entered in and won the Rainhill Trials and this success led to Stephenson establishing his company as the pre-eminent builder of steam locomotives used on railways in the United Kingdom, the United States and much of Europe. The first inter city passenger railway, Liverpool and Manchester Railway, opened in 1830, there are a few basic reasons to isolate locomotive train power, as compared to self-propelled vehicles. Maximum utilization of power cars Separate locomotives facilitate movement of costly motive power assets as needed, flexibility Large locomotives can substitute for small locomotives when more power is required, for example, where grades are steeper. As needed, a locomotive can be used for freight duties. Obsolescence cycles Separating motive power from payload-hauling cars enables replacement without affecting the other, to illustrate, locomotives might become obsolete when their associated cars did not, and vice versa
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Diesel engine
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Diesel engines work by compressing only the air. This increases the air temperature inside the cylinder to such a degree that it ignites atomised diesel fuel that is injected into the combustion chamber. This contrasts with spark-ignition engines such as an engine or gas engine. In diesel engines, glow plugs may be used to aid starting in cold weather, or when the engine uses a lower compression-ratio, the original diesel engine operates on the constant pressure cycle of gradual combustion and produces no audible knock. Low-speed diesel engines can have an efficiency that exceeds 50%. Diesel engines may be designed as either two-stroke or four-stroke cycles and they were originally used as a more efficient replacement for stationary steam engines. Since the 1910s they have used in submarines and ships. Use in locomotives, trucks, heavy equipment and electricity generation plants followed later, in the 1930s, they slowly began to be used in a few automobiles. Since the 1970s, the use of engines in larger on-road and off-road vehicles in the US increased. According to the British Society of Motor Manufacturing and Traders, the EU average for diesel cars accounts for 50% of the total sold, including 70% in France and 38% in the UK. The worlds largest diesel engine is currently a Wärtsilä-Sulzer RTA96-C Common Rail marine diesel, the definition of a Diesel engine to many has become an engine that uses compression ignition. To some it may be an engine that uses heavy fuel oil, to others an engine that does not use spark ignition. However the original cycle proposed by Rudolf Diesel in 1892 was a constant temperature cycle which would require higher compression than what is needed for compression ignition. Diesels idea was to compress the air so tightly that the temperature of the air would exceed that of combustion, to make this more clear, let it be assumed that the subsequent combustion shall take place at a temperature of 700°. Then in that case the pressure must be sixty-four atmospheres, or for 800° centigrade the pressure must be ninety atmospheres. In later years Diesel realized his original cycle would not work, Diesel describes the cycle in his 1895 patent application. Notice that there is no longer a mention of compression temperatures exceeding the temperature of combustion, now all that is mentioned is the compression must be high enough for ignition. In 1806 Claude and Nicéphore Niépce developed the first known internal combustion engine, the Pyréolophore fuel system used a blast of air provided by a bellows to atomize Lycopodium
18.
Steam turbine
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A steam turbine is a device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884, in 1551, Taqi al-Din in Ottoman Egypt described a steam turbine with the practical application of rotating a spit. Steam turbines were described by the Italian Giovanni Branca and John Wilkins in England. The devices described by Taqi al-Din and Wilkins are today known as steam jacks, in 1672 an impulse steam turbine driven car was designed by Ferdinand Verbiest. A more modern version of car was produced some time in the late 18th century by an unknown German mechanic. The modern steam turbine was invented in 1884 by Sir Charles Parsons, the invention of Parsons steam turbine made cheap and plentiful electricity possible and revolutionized marine transport and naval warfare. Parsons design was a reaction type and his patent was licensed and the turbine scaled-up shortly after by an American, George Westinghouse. The Parsons turbine also turned out to be easy to scale up. Parsons had the satisfaction of seeing his invention adopted for all major world power stations, a number of other variations of turbines have been developed that work effectively with steam. The de Laval turbine accelerated the steam to full speed before running it against a turbine blade, De Lavals impulse turbine is simpler, less expensive and does not need to be pressure-proof. It can operate with any pressure of steam, but is less efficient. He taught at the École des mines de Saint-Étienne for a decade until 1897, one of the founders of the modern theory of steam and gas turbines was Aurel Stodola, a Slovak physicist and engineer and professor at the Swiss Polytechnical Institute in Zurich. His work Die Dampfturbinen und ihre Aussichten als Wärmekraftmaschinen was published in Berlin in 1903, a further book Dampf und Gas-Turbinen was published in 1922. It was used in John Brown-engined merchant ships and warships, including liners, the present-day manufacturing industry for steam turbines is dominated by Chinese power equipment makers. Other manufacturers with minor market share include Bhel, Siemens, Alstom, GE, Doosan Škoda Power, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the consulting firm Frost & Sullivan projects that manufacturing of steam turbines will become more consolidated by 2020 as Chinese power manufacturers win increasing business outside of China. There are several classifications for modern steam turbines, Turbine blades are of two basic types, blades and nozzles. Blades move entirely due to the impact of steam on them and this results in a steam velocity drop and essentially no pressure drop as steam moves through the blades. A turbine composed of alternating with fixed nozzles is called an impulse turbine, Curtis turbine, Rateau turbine
19.
Consumer electronics
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Consumer electronics or home electronics are electronic or digital equipment intended for everyday use, typically in private homes. Consumer electronics include devices used for entertainment, communications, and home-office activities, in British English, they are often called brown goods by producers and sellers, to distinguish them from white goods such as washing machines and refrigerators. Radio broadcasting in the early 20th century brought the first major consumer product, later products included telephones, personal computers, MP3 players, audio equipment, televisions and calculators. In the 2010s, consumer electronics stores often sell GPS, automotive electronics, video game consoles, electronic instruments, karaoke machines, digital cameras. Stores also sell digital cameras, camcorders, cell phones, some consumer electronics stores, such as Best Buy have also begun selling office and baby furniture. Consumer electronics stores may be bricks and mortar retail stores, online stores. The CEA estimated the value of 2015 consumer electronics sales at US$220 billion, for its first fifty years the phonograph turntable did not use electronics, the needle and soundhorn were purely mechanical technologies. However, in the 1920s radio broadcasting became the basis of production of radio receivers. The vacuum tubes that had made radios practical were used with record players as well, television was soon invented, but remained insignificant in the consumer market until the 1950s. The transistor, invented in 1947 by Bell Laboratories, led to significant research in the field of semiconductors in the early 1950s. The transistors advantages revolutionized that industry along with other electronics, by 1959 Fairchild Semiconductor had introduced the first planar transistor from which come the origins of Moores Law. Integrated circuits followed when manufacturers built circuits on a substrate using electrical connections between circuits within the chip itself. One overriding characteristic of consumer products is the trend of ever-falling prices. This is driven by gains in manufacturing efficiency and automation, lower costs as manufacturing has moved to lower-wage countries. Semiconductor components benefit from Moores Law, a principle which states that, for a given price. While consumer electronics continues in its trend of convergence, combining elements of many products, there is an ever increasing need to keep product information updated and comparable, for the consumer to make an informed choice. Style, price, specification, and performance are all relevant, there is a gradual shift towards e-commerce web-storefronts. Many products include Internet connectivity using technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, products not traditionally associated with computer use now provide options to connect to the Internet or to a computer using a home network to provide access to digital content
20.
Missile
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In modern language, a missile is a self-propelled precision-guided munition system, as opposed to an unguided self-propelled munition, referred to as a rocket. Missiles have four components, targeting and/or missile guidance, flight system, engine. Missiles come in types adapted for different purposes, surface-to-surface and air-to-surface missiles, surface-to-air missiles, air-to-air missiles, all known existing missiles are designed to be propelled during powered flight by chemical reactions inside a rocket engine, jet engine, or other type of engine. Non-self-propelled airborne explosive devices are referred to as shells and usually have a shorter range than missiles. In ordinary British-English usage predating guided weapons, a missile is any thrown object, the word missile comes from the Latin verb mittere, meaning to send. In military usage, munitions projected towards a target are broadly categorised as follows, a powered, unguided munition is known as a rocket. Unpowered munitions not fired from a gun are called bombs whether guided or not, munitions that are fired from a gun are known as projectiles whether guided or not. If explosive, they are more specifically as shells or mortar bombs. Powered munitions that travel through water are called torpedoes, hand grenades are not usually classed as missiles. The first missiles to be used operationally were a series of missiles developed by Nazi Germany in World War II, most famous of these are the V-1 flying bomb and V-2 rocket, both of which used a simple mechanical autopilot to keep the missile flying along a pre-chosen route. Less well known were a series of anti-shipping and anti-aircraft missiles, however, these early systems in World War II were only built in small numbers. Guided missiles have a number of different system components, Targeting and/or missile guidance Flight system Engine Warhead Missiles may be targeted in a number of ways. The most common method is to use some form of radiation, such as infrared, lasers or radio waves and this radiation may emanate from the target, it may be provided by the missile itself, or it may be provided by a friendly third party. The first two are known as fire-and-forget as they need no further support or control from the launch vehicle/platform in order to function. Another method is to use a TV guidance—using either visible light or infrared—in order to see the target, the picture may be used either by a human operator who steers the missile onto its target or by a computer doing much the same job. One of the more bizarre guidance methods instead used a pigeon to steer the missile to its target, many missiles use a combination of two or more of the above methods to improve accuracy and the chances of a successful engagement. Another method is to target the missile by knowing the location of the target and using a system such as INS. This guidance system guides the missile by knowing the current position and the position of the target
21.
Military aircraft
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A military aircraft is any fixed-wing or rotary-wing aircraft that is operated by a legal or insurrectionary armed service of any type. Military aircraft can be either combat or non-combat, Combat aircraft are designed to destroy enemy equipment using their own aircraft ordnance, Combat aircraft are normally developed and procured only by military forces. Non-combat aircraft are not designed for combat as their primary function and these mainly operate in support roles, and may be developed by either military forces or civilian organizations. In 1783, when the first practical aircraft were established, they were adopted for military duties. The main role of fighters is destroying enemy aircraft in air-to-air combat, many are fast and highly maneuverable. Escorting bombers or other aircraft is also a common task and they are capable of carrying a variety of weapons, including machine guns, cannons, rockets and guided missiles. Many modern fighters can attack enemy fighters from a great distance, examples of air superiority fighters include the F-22 Raptor. World War II fighters include the British Spitfire, the American P-51 Mustang, an example of an interceptor would be the MiG-25. An example of a fighter is the Messerschmitt Bf 110. The term fighter is also applied to aircraft that have little air-to-air combat capability – for example the A-10 ground-attack aircraft is operated by USAF Fighter squadrons. Bombers are normally larger, heavier, and less maneuverable than fighter aircraft and they are capable of carrying large payloads of bombs, torpedoes or cruise missiles. Bombers are used almost exclusively for ground attacks and not fast or agile enough to take on enemy fighters head-to-head, a few have a single engine and require one pilot to operate and others have two or more engines and require crews of two or more. A limited number of bombers, such as the B-2 Spirit, have stealth capabilities that keep them from being detected by enemy radar, an example of a conventional modern bomber would be the B-52 Stratofortress. An example of a World War II bomber would be a B-17 Flying Fortress, bombers include light bombers, medium bombers, heavy bombers, dive bombers, and torpedo bombers. The U. S. Navy and Marines have traditionally referred to their light, attack aircraft can be used to provide support for friendly ground troops. Some are able to carry conventional or nuclear weapons far behind enemy lines to strike priority ground targets, attack helicopters attack enemy armor and provide close air support for ground troops. An example historical ground-attack aircraft is the Soviet Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik, several types of transport airplanes have been armed with sideways firing weapons as gunships for ground attack. These include the AC-47 and AC-130 aircraft, in modern air forces the distinction between bombers, fighter-bombers, and attack aircraft has become blurred
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Mainframe computer
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The term originally referred to the large cabinets called main frames that housed the central processing unit and main memory of early computers. Later, the term was used to distinguish high-end commercial machines from less powerful units, most large-scale computer system architectures were established in the 1960s, but continue to evolve. Their high stability and reliability enable these machines to run uninterrupted for decades, Mainframes are defined by high availability, one of the main reasons for their longevity, since they are typically used in applications where downtime would be costly or catastrophic. The term reliability, availability and serviceability is a characteristic of mainframe computers. Proper planning and implementation is required to exploit these features, and if improperly implemented, in the late 1950s, most mainframes had no explicitly interactive interface, but only accepted sets of punched cards, paper tape, or magnetic tape to transfer data and programs. In cases where interactive terminals were supported, these were used almost exclusively for applications rather than program development, typewriter and Teletype devices were also common control consoles for system operators through the 1970s, although ultimately supplanted by keyboard/display devices. By the early 1970s, many mainframes acquired interactive user interfaces and operated as timesharing computers, users gained access through specialized terminals or, later, from personal computers equipped with terminal emulation software. By the 1980s, many mainframes supported graphical terminals, and terminal emulation and this format of end-user computing reached mainstream obsolescence in the 1990s due to the advent of personal computers provided with GUIs. After 2000, most modern mainframes have partially or entirely phased out classic green screen terminal access for end-users in favour of Web-style user interfaces, the infrastructure requirements were drastically reduced during the mid-1990s, when CMOS mainframe designs replaced the older bipolar technology. IBM claimed that its newer mainframes could reduce data center energy costs for power and cooling, modern mainframes can run multiple different instances of operating systems at the same time. This technique of virtual machines allows applications to run as if they were on physically distinct computers, in this role, a single mainframe can replace higher-functioning hardware services available to conventional servers. While mainframes pioneered this capability, virtualization is now available on most families of computer systems, Mainframes can add or hot swap system capacity without disrupting system function, with specificity and granularity to a level of sophistication not usually available with most server solutions. Modern mainframes, notably the IBM zSeries, System z9 and System z10 servers, such a two-mainframe installation can support continuous business service, avoiding both planned and unplanned outages. In practice many customers use multiple mainframes linked either by Parallel Sysplex and shared DASD, or with shared, Mainframes are designed to handle very high volume input and output and emphasize throughput computing. Since the late-1950s, mainframe designs have included subsidiary hardware which manage the I/O devices and it is common in mainframe shops to deal with massive databases and files. Gigabyte to terabyte-size record files are not unusual, compared to a typical PC, mainframes commonly have hundreds to thousands of times as much data storage online, and can access it reasonably quickly. Other server families also offload I/O processing and emphasize throughput computing, Mainframes also have execution integrity characteristics for fault tolerant computing. This hardware-level feature, also found in HPs NonStop systems, is known as lock-stepping, not all applications absolutely need the assured integrity that these systems provide, but many do, such as financial transaction processing
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