Call Number: OH 4
Interviewee: Birkenstock, James W. (James Warren), 1912-
Interviewer: Roger H. Stuewer
Interviewer: Erwin Tomash
Repository: Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
Description: Transcript, 67 pp.
Abstract: From his perspective as advisor to the president and subsequently as Director of Product Planning and Market Analysis at IBM, Birkenstock discusses the metamorphosis of the company from leader of the tabulating machine industry to leader of the data processing industry. He describes his involvement with magnetic tape development in 1947, the involvement of IBM in the Korean War, the development of the Defense Calculator and the 70l computer, and the emergence of magnetic core memory from the SAGE project. He then recounts the entry of IBM into the commercial computer market with the 702. The end of the interview concerns IBM's relationship with other early entrants in the international computer industry, including litigation with Sperry Rand, its cross-licensing agreements, and cooperation with Japanese electronics firms.
Subject(s):
SAGE (Air defense system) ; Patent suits -- United States ; Magnetic tapes ; Magnetic cores ; International Business Machines Corporation. ; IBM 702 (Computer) ; IBM 701 (Computer) ; Computer industry -- United States -- History ; Computer industry -- Japan -- History ; Computer industry -- History. ; Birkenstock, James W. (James Warren), 1912- ; Sperry Rand Corporation
Citation: James W. Birkenstock, OH 4. Oral history interview by Erwin Tomash and Roger H. Stuewer, 12 August 1980. Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Copyright: Copyright to this oral history is held by the Charles Babbage Institute. Distribution in any format of the transcript in its entirety is prohibited. Permission to quote from the transcript under the fair use provision of the copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code) is granted provided that this source is cited.
Transcript: Link to transcript
Call Number: OH 109
Interviewee: Watson, Thomas J., 1914-
Interviewee: Birkenstock, James W. (James Warren), 1912-
Interviewer: Arthur L. C. Humphreys
Repository: Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
Description: Transcript, 13 pp.
Abstract: Watson and Birkenstock discuss the circumstances surrounding the decision reached by Thomas J. Watson, Sr., and Raleigh Phillpotts, chairman of british Tabulating Machines Company (BTM), to end the original licensing agreement between International Business Machines (IBM), BTM, and International Computers, Ltd. during World War II and after 1949. the interview covers the original agreement made in the early 1900s by Herman Hollerith, the relationship between IBM and BTM during World War II and after 1949, and the IBM license agreements with Cyril Holland-Martin and Gerhard Dirks.
Subject(s):
Watson, Thomas John, 1874-1956 ; Watson, Thomas J., 1914- ; Phillpotts, Ralegh Buller ; Office equipment and supplies industry ; Martin, Cyril H., 1905- ; International Computers, ltd. ; International Computers and Tabulators, ltd. ; International Business Machines Corporation. ; Hollerith, Herman ; Dirks, Gerhard H. ; Computer industry -- United States -- History ; Computer industry -- License agreements ; Computer industry -- Great Britain -- History ; Birkenstock, James W. (James Warren), 1912-
Citation: Thomas J. Watson, Jr. and James W. Birkenstock, OH 109. Oral history interview by Arthur L. C. Humphreys, 25 April 1985, Armonk, New York. Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Copyright: Copyright to this oral history is held by the Charles Babbage Institute. Distribution in any format of the transcript in its entirety is prohibited. Permission to quote from the transcript under the fair use provision of the copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code) is granted provided that this source is cited.
Transcript: Link to transcript