Editing Digital Equipment Corporation (section)

== Legacy and accomplishments ==
{{As of|2012}},{{update inline|date=January 2021}} decades-old hardware (including PDP-11, VAX, and [[AlphaServer]]) is being [[Virtual machine|emulated]] to allow legacy software to run on modern hardware; funding for this is planned to last at least until 2030.<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=[[PC World]] |url=https://www.pcworld.com/article/249951/if-it-aint-broke-dont-fix-it-ancient-computers-in-use-today.html?page=2 |title=If it aint broke don't fix it: Ancient Computers in Use Today |author=Benj Edwards |date=February 19, 2012}}</ref>

DEC supported the [[American National Standards Institute|ANSI]] standards, especially the [[ASCII]] character set, which survives in [[Unicode]] and the [[ISO 8859]] character set family. DEC's own [[Multinational Character Set]] also had a large influence on [[ISO 8859-1]] (Latin-1) and, by extension, Unicode.
[[File:Locale_RS6_DEC VAXstation 4000 96 OpenVMS 6.1.jpeg|thumb|right|DEC [[VAXstation]]]]
Beyond DECsystem-10/20, PDP, VAX and Alpha, DEC was known for its work in communication subsystem designs, such as [[Ethernet]], DNA ([[DIGITAL Network Architecture]]: predominantly DECnet products), DSA (Digital Storage Architecture: disks/tapes/controllers), and its "dumb terminal" subsystems including VT100 and DECserver products.<ref>For in-depth articles regarding DEC technologies, refer to the archived [https://www.hpl.hp.com/hpjournal/dtj/past.htm Digital Technical Journal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123052747/https://www.hpl.hp.com/hpjournal/dtj/past.htm |date=January 23, 2023 }}</ref>

=== Software ===
{{plain image with caption|Digital Equipment Corporation Software logo.svg|Logo of Digital Equipment Corporation's Software division}}
* The first versions of the [[C (programming language)|C]] language and the [[Unix]] operating system ran on DEC's [[Programmed Data Processor|PDP]] series of computers (first on a PDP-7, then the [[PDP-11]]), which were among the first commercially viable [[minicomputer]]s, although for several years DEC itself did not encourage the use of Unix.
* DEC produced widely used and influential interactive operating systems, including [[OS/8|OS-8]], [[TOPS-10]], [[TOPS-20]], [[RSTS/E]], [[RSX-11]], [[RT-11]], and [[OpenVMS]]. PDP computers, in particular the PDP-11 model, inspired a generation of programmers and software developers. Some PDP-11 systems more than 25 years old (software and hardware) are still being used to control and monitor factories, transportation systems and nuclear plants. DEC was an early champion of [[time-sharing]] systems.
* The [[command-line interface]]s found in DEC's systems, eventually codified as [[DIGITAL Command Language|DCL]], would look familiar to any user of modern microcomputer CLIs; those used in earlier systems, such as [[Compatible Time-Sharing System|CTSS]], [[IBM]]'s [[Job Control Language|JCL]], or [[Univac]]'s time-sharing systems, would look utterly alien. Many features of the [[CP/M]] and MS-DOS CLI show a recognizable family resemblance to DEC's OSes, including command names such as DIR and HELP and the "name-dot-extension" file naming conventions.
* [[Notes-11]] and its follow-on product, {{vanchor|VAX Notes}}, were two of the first examples of online collaboration software, a category that has become to be known as [[Collaborative software|groupware]]. [[Len Kawell]], one of the original Notes-11 developers, later joined [[Lotus Development Corporation]] and contributed to their [[Lotus Notes]] product.
* The [[MUMPS]] programming language, with its built-in database, was developed on the PDP-7, 9, and 15 series machines. MUMPS is still widely used in [[Health informatics|medical information systems]], such as those provide by [[Meditech]] and [[Epic Systems]].
* The [[Babel Fish (website)|Babel Fish]] machine translation service was developed by DEC researchers, and was one of the first machine translators to achieve broad success using natural language processing techniques.
* [[ALL-IN-1]] was an office automation system developed by Skip Walter and others in Central Engineering under Gordon Bell. They developed a customizable list of application invocations and the robust DECMail product that provided one of the first commercially available electronic mail systems.<ref>{{cite web |date=January 30, 1998 |title=1982 Timeline |url=https://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/gbell/Digital/timeline/1982.htm |access-date=January 9, 2014 |work=DIGITAL Computing Timeline}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=January 30, 1998 |title=ALL-IN-1 |url=https://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/gbell/Digital/timeline/1982-4.htm |work=DIGITAL Computing Timeline}}</ref>

=== Hardware ===
==== DECtape ====
{{Main|DECtape}}

One of the most unusual peripherals produced for the PDP-10 was the [[DECtape]]. The DECtape was a length of special 3/4-inch wide magnetic tape wound on 5-inch reels. The recording format was a highly reliable redundant 10-track design using fixed-length numbered data "blocks" organized into a standard file structure, including a directory. Files could be written, read, changed, and deleted on a DECtape as though it were a disk drive. For greater efficiency, the DECtape drive could read and write to a DECtape in both directions.

In fact, some PDP-10 systems had no disks at all, using DECtapes alone for their primary data storage. The DECtape was also widely used on other PDP models, since it was much easier to use than hand-loading multiple paper tapes. Primitive early time-sharing systems could use DECtapes as system devices and [[swapping device]]s. Although superior to paper tape, DECtapes were relatively slow, and were supplanted once reliable disk drives became affordable.

==== Magnetic disk storage ====
[[File:Locale_RS6_DEC Scratch Pack.jpg|thumb|DEC disk platters]]
DEC was both a manufacturer and a buyer of magnetic disk storage, offering more than 100 different models of [[hard disk drive]] (HDD) and [[floppy disk drive]] (FDD) during its existence.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ultimate.com/phil/pdp10/dec.disks|title=DEC disk histor|first=Phil|last=Budne}}</ref> In the 1970s, it was the single largest [[OEM]] purchaser of HDDs, procuring from [[Diablo Data Systems|Diablo]], [[Control Data Corporation#Magnetic Peripherals Inc.|Control Data Corporation]], Information Storage Systems, and [[Memorex]], among others.

DEC's first internally developed HDD was the RS08, a 256 kWord fixed-head contact-start-stop drive using plated media; it shipped in 1969.

Beginning in the 1970s, DEC moved first its HDD manufacturing and then its mass storage development labs to [[Colorado Springs]].<ref name="SaviersOH">{{cite interview|url=http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2012/08/102746014-05-01-acc.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141227091643/http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2012/08/102746014-05-01-acc.pdf |archive-date=2014-12-27 |url-status=live|title=Oral History of Grant Saviers|first=Grant|last=Saviers|interviewer=Tom Gardner|website=[[Computer History Museum]]|date=May 17, 2011}}</ref>

DEC pioneered a number of HDD technologies, including sampled data servos (RL01, 1977) and serial HDD interfaces ([[Standard Disk Interconnect]], 1983). The last internally developed disk drive family (RA9x series) used plated media, departing from the HDD industry trend to carbon overcoated sputtered media. DEC designated a $400 million investment to bring this product line into production.<ref name="SaviersOH"/> The RA92 (1.5 GB) was introduced in 1992, using a 14-inch platter.

DEC purchased its FDDs from OEMs such as [[Shugart Associates]], Toshiba, and Sony.

==== RX50 ====
The way the 400&nbsp;KB<ref name=DEC.prof>{{cite magazine  |magazine=DEC Professional Magazine
|title=The VMS/MicroVMS merge  |author=Kathleen D. Morse
|pages=74–84}}</ref> DEC standard{{efn|vs. 360KB IBM-compatible/industry standard}} RX50<ref name="Stravers">{{cite web|last=Stravers|first=Kees|title=The RX50 FAQ|url=http://users.bart.nl/users/pb0aia/vax/rx50.html|work=Kees's VAX page|access-date=March 21, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519043222/http://users.bart.nl/users/pb0aia/vax/rx50.html|archive-date=May 19, 2011}}</ref> [[floppy disk drive]] supported DEC's initial offerings seemed to encapsulate their approach to the personal computer market. Although the mechanical drive hardware was nearly identical to other [[5.25" floppy disk|5 {{frac|1|4}}" floppy disk]] drives available on competing systems,<ref name="GeekHist">{{cite web|title=RX50 Field Maintenance Print Set|url=http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/disc/rx50/MP01482_RX50_schem_Jul82.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110314203007/http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/disc/rx50/MP01482_RX50_schem_Jul82.pdf |archive-date=2011-03-14 |url-status=live|publisher=Digital Equipment Corporation|date=July 13, 1982|id=MP-01482|access-date=October 15, 2022}}</ref> DEC sought to differentiate their product by using a proprietary disk format for the data written on the disk. The DEC format had a higher capacity for data, but the RX50 drives were incompatible with other PC floppy drives. This required DEC owners to buy higher-priced, specially formatted floppy media, which was harder to obtain through standard distribution channels. DEC attempted to enforce exclusive control over its floppy media sales by [[copyright]]ing its proprietary disk format, and requiring a negotiated license agreement and royalty payments from anybody selling compatible media. The proprietary data format meant that RX50 floppies were not interchangeable with other PC floppies, further isolating DEC products from the developing de facto standard PC market. Hardware hackers and DEC enthusiasts eventually reverse-engineered the RX50 format,<ref name=Stravers /><ref>{{cite web|last=Wilson|first=John|title=PUTR.COM V2.01|url=http://www.dbit.com/pub/putr/|access-date=March 21, 2011}} This relatively recent work is a well-developed example of programs to enhance interchange of data between DEC formatted media and standard PC systems</ref> but the damage had already been done, in terms of market confusion and isolation.

==== Video and Interactive Information Server ====
The [[video-on-demand]] project at DEC started in 1992, following Ken Olsen's retirement. At the time the company was rapidly downsizing under Robert Palmer, and it was difficult to gain funding for any new project. DEC's Interactive Video Information Server architecture gained traction and excelled over those of other companies, in that it was highly scalable, using a gateway to set up interactive video delivery sessions on large numbers of video and information servers. Initially high-end VAXes were used, then Alphas.<ref>{{cite press release|title= Digital Equipment Corporation Enters Video-on-demand Market|date=October 19, 1993|publisher=Digital Equipment Corporation|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/press-releases/1993-10-19/digital-equipment-corporation-enters-video-on-demand-market}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|publisher=IGI Consulting, Inc|title=Video Dialtone & Video-on-Demand, Market & Technology Assessment Study|date=1994|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bPlY3VCWdyUC}}</ref>

In 1993 the DEC video-on-demand design team developed a system with a session gateway between the users and a large number of servers. The system was successful in winning video-on-demand trials at US West and other companies. Shortly after the first patent was filed,<ref>{{cite patent| country = US| number = 5414455 | status = patent
     | title = Segmented video on demand system
     | fdate = 1993-07-07
     | gdate = 1995-05-09
       | invent1 = Donald F. Hooper
     | invent2 = Matthew S. Goldman
     | invent3 = Peter C. Bixby
     | invent4 = Suban Krishnamoorthy
     | assign1 = Digital Equipment Corporation
}}</ref> the session gateway and session gateway and server concept was released to the public domain and proposed in the early Digital Audio Visual Council and [[MPEG-2]] international standards deliberations, with approximately 50 companies attending. The architecture was accepted and voted into the final standards. 

In 1993 the design team further developed a media client buffer design that used receive-side buffering for media streaming with read and write pointers. This enabled VCR-like features pause, fast forward, and rewind to be performed at the user's device, e.g. cellphone or laptop, even before the full video was downloaded. This enabled more servers to be allocated to the system, as these features did not always have to be performed at the servers.
<ref>{{ cite patent| country = US| number = 5442390| status = patent
     | title = Video on demand with memory accessing and or like function
     | fdate = 1993-07-07
     | gdate = 1995-08-15
     | invent1 = Donald F. Hooper
     | invent2 = Matthew S. Goldman
     | invent3 = Peter C. Bixby
     | invent4 = Suban Krishnamoorthy
     | assign1 = Digital Equipment Corporation
}}.</ref>
 
In 1995 the system, renamed the "Video and Interactive Information Server", was upgraded with the capability of providing exponentially more video and information access using a hierarchy of session gateways, session gateway proxies, and servers.<ref>{{cite patent| country = US| number = 5671225 | status = patent
     | title = Distributed interactive multimedia service system
     | fdate = 1995-08-01
     | gdate = 1997-09-23
     | invent1 =  Donald F. Hooper
     | invent2 = Dave M. Tongel
     | invent3 = Michael B Evans
     | assign1 = Digital Equipment Corporation
}}</ref>
 
With this 1995 Video and Interactive Information Server design, 333,000 streams were provided by [[US West]] to set-top box users,<ref name= "VOD2SCALE">{{cite book | first=Daniel | last=Minoli | title=Video Dialtone Technology | year=1995 | page=233}}</ref> and was used by Adlink to distribute advertising to over two million subscribers.
<ref>{{cite press release|publisher=Digital Equipment Corporation|title=Adlink selects Digital to implement new video ad insertion system|date=January 11, 1995|url=http://www.digital.com/info/PR003R/PR003RSC.TXT|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961220125337/http://www.digital.com/info/PR003R/PR003RSC.TXT|archive-date=December 20, 1996|url-status=dead}}</ref> The DEC video-on-demand patents portfolio has been cited over 350 times. A [[Google]] search in 2025 asking performance improvement of computers from 1995 (the date of this invention) to 2025 yielded 100-1000x performance increase, depending on the usage. Assuming the conservative value of 100x performance, the DEC Video and Interactive Information Server would be able to supply 33 million streams in 2025.

The scalability feature allowed it to win contracts for many of the [[Video on demand#History|trials in the 1993-97 timeframe]], since the system could theoretically accommodate an extremely large amount of video streams and other non-video content.<ref name= "VOD2SCALE"/><ref>{{cite book|editor-first1=Borko |editor-last1=Furht |title=Multimedia Technologies and Applications for the 21st Century: Visions of World Experts|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|date=November 30, 1997|doi=10.1007/978-0-585-28767-6 |isbn=978-0-585-28767-6|url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-0-585-28767-6}}</ref>

The design was proposed and incorporated into the [[MPEG-2]] international standard (finalized in 1995).
<ref>{{cite ISO standard|csnumber=25039|title=ISO/IEC 13818-6:1998 Information technology — Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information — Part 6: Extensions for DSM-CC}}</ref> Its [[Object-oriented programming|object-oriented]] interface became the mandatory user-to user core interface in [[DSM-CC]], widely used in video stream and file delivery for [[MPEG-2]] compliant systems, and was carried forward to [[MPEG-3]] compliant systems.

==== Other ====
* VAX and [[MicroVAX]] computers (very widespread in the 1980s) running [[OpenVMS|VAX/VMS]] formed one of the most important proprietary networks, [[DECnet]], which linked business and research facilities. The DECnet protocols formed one of the first peer-to-peer networking standards, with DECnet phase I being released in the mid-1970s. Email, file sharing, and distributed collaborative projects existed within the company long before their value was recognized in the market.
* The LA36 and LA120 [[dot matrix printer]]s became industry standards and may have hastened the demise of the [[Teletype Corporation]].
* The [[VT100]] computer terminal became the industry standard, implementing a useful subset of the [[ANSI X3.64]] standard, and even today [[Computer terminal|terminal]] emulators such as [[HyperACCESS|HyperTerminal]], [[PuTTY]] and [[Xterm]] still emulate a VT100 (or its more capable successor, the [[VT220]]).
* DEC invented [[Digital Linear Tape]] (DLT), formerly known as CompacTape, which began as a compact backup medium for MicroVAX systems, and later grew to capacities of 800 gigabytes.
* Work on the first hard-disk-based MP3 player, the [[Personal Jukebox]], started at the [[DEC Systems Research Center]]. (The project was started about a month before the merger into [[Compaq]] was completed.)
* DEC's Western Research Lab created the [[Itsy Pocket Computer]]. This was developed into the Compaq [[iPaq]] line of [[Personal digital assistant|PDAs]], which replaced the [[Compaq Aero]] PDA.
* DEC also produced a proprietary personal computer known as the [[Rainbow 100]]. It could run either MS-DOS or CP/M but from a hardware standpoint it was largely incompatible with the IBM PC.<ref>{{cite web
 |url=https://www.vintagecomputing.com/index.php/archives/639/retro-scan-of-the-week-dec-rainbow
 |title= <nowiki>[</nowiki>Retro Scan of the Week<nowiki>]</nowiki> The DEC Rainbow 100
 |last=Edwards  |first=Benji  |date=March 8, 2010 |website=Vintage Computing and Gaming  |access-date=October 23, 2021 }}</ref>

=== Networking ===
* DEC, [[Intel]] and [[Xerox]], through their collaboration to create the DIX standard, were champions of [[Ethernet]], but DEC is the company that made Ethernet commercially successful. Initially, Ethernet-based DECnet and [[Local Area Transport|LAT]] protocols interconnected VAXes with [[DECserver]] [[terminal server]]s. Starting with the [[Unibus]] to Ethernet adapter, multiple generations of Ethernet hardware from DEC were the de facto standard. The CI "computer interconnect" adapter was the industry's first network interface controller to use separate transmit and receive "rings".
* DEC also invented [[Computer cluster|clustering]], an operating system technology that treated multiple machines as one logical entity. Clustering permitted sharing of pooled disk and tape storage via the HSC50/70/90 and later series of Hierarchical Storage Controllers (HSC). The HSCs delivered the first hardware [[RAID 0]] and [[RAID 1]] capabilities and the first serial interconnects of multiple storage technologies. This technology was the forerunner to architectures such as [[Network of Workstations]], which are used for massively cooperative tasks such as web searches and drug research.
* The [[X Window System]] is the network transparent window system used on [[Unix]] and [[Linux]] and available on other operating systems such as [[MacOS]]. It was developed at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] jointly between [[Project Athena]] and the [[Laboratory for Computer Science]]. DEC was the primary sponsor for the project, which was a contemporary of the [[GNU Project]] but not associated with it.
* In the period 1994–99 [[Linus Torvalds]] developed versions of Linux on early [[AlphaServer]] systems provided by the engineering department.{{Disputed inline|Linux_not_DEC-accomplishment|date=August 2014}} Compaq software engineers developed special Linux kernel modules.<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.informatica.co.cr/linux/research/1999/0302-a.htm|title=Compaq Offers Linux-ready ProLiant Servers, AlphaServers and Professional Workstations|publisher=[[Compaq]]|date=March 2, 1999|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812183609/http://www.informatica.co.cr/linux/research/1999/0302-a.htm|archive-date=August 12, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> A well-known [[Linux distribution]] that ran on AlphaServer systems was [[Red Hat]] 7.2.<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.informatica.co.cr/linux/research/2002/0108.htm|title=Red Hat and Compaq Announce Port of Red Hat Linux 7.2 to Compaq's Alpha Processors|publisher=[[Red Hat]]|date=January 8, 2002|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812183611/http://www.informatica.co.cr/linux/research/2002/0108.htm|archive-date=August 12, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> Another distribution that ran on Alpha was [[Gentoo Linux]].
* DEC was one of the first businesses connected to the Internet, with ''dec.com'', registered in 1985,<ref>{{cite web |date=January 30, 1998 |title=dec.com |url=https://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/gbell/Digital/timeline/1985-6.htm |access-date=September 6, 2022 |work=DIGITAL Computing Timeline}}</ref> being one of the first of the now ubiquitous ''.com'' domains. DEC's ''gatekeeper.dec.com'' was a well-known [[software repository]] during the pre-[[World Wide Web]] days, and DEC was also the first computer vendor to open a public website, on October 1, 1993.<ref>{{Cite web|title=LISTSERV 16.5 - Archives - Error|url=https://listserv.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9402&L=dectei-l&T=0&P=200|access-date=February 18, 2021|website=listserv.buffalo.edu|archive-date=June 12, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210612055442/https://listserv.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9402&L=dectei-l&T=0&P=200|url-status=dead}}</ref> The popular [[AltaVista]], created by DEC, was one of the first comprehensive Internet [[search engine]]s. (Although [[Lycos]] was earlier, it was much more limited.)
* DEC once held the [[Classful network|Class A]] [[IP address]] block 16.0.0.0/8.

=== Corporate ===
* [[Digital Federal Credit Union]] (DCU) is a [[credit union]] which was chartered in 1979 for employees of DEC. Today its field of membership is open to existing family members, over 900 different sponsors, several communities in Massachusetts and several organizations. Many of the sponsors are companies that had acquired pieces of DEC.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}}
* [[Matrix management]]