Interdata

Interdata, Inc., was a computer company, founded in 1966 by a former Electronic Associates engineer, Daniel Sinnott, and was based in Oceanport, New Jersey. The company produced a line of 16- and 32-bit minicomputers that were loosely based on the IBM 360 instruction set architecture but at a cheaper price.^[2] In 1974, it produced one of the first 32-bit minicomputers,^[3] the Interdata 7/32. The company then used the parallel processing approach, which uses more than one computer processor simultaneously to perform work on a problem. This helped in making real-time computing a reality.^[4][5]

Interdata

Industry	Technology
Founded	1966; 59 years ago (1966)
Fate	Purchased by Perkin-Elmer and later known as Concurrent Computer Corporation
Headquarters	Oceanport, New Jersey
Key people	Daniel Sinnott
Products	Interdata 7/32

Interdata's offices and manufacturing facility in Oceanport, New Jersey (here seen in 2022), consisted of four interconnected buildings that were constructed from the 1960s through 1983.^[1]

Some real-time applications Interdata computers were used for included: Core Protection Calculator, used in some later Combustion Engineering designed nuclear power plants; lottery systems manufactured by GTech; the NexRad weather radar system. Many companies used them for internal high speed laboratory data capture, such as United Technologies Research Center in East Hartford, Connecticut wind tunnel, General Electric R&D in Schenectady, New York, and Perkin-Elmer in Connecticut (which later acquired Interdata).

The operating system for the 16-bit computers was called OS/16, and for the 32-bit computers OS/32. The assembly language could generate series independent object code. Later, as with Gould, SEL, Modcomp and other real time competitors, they offered a 32-bit time sharing system called MTM (Multi Terminal Monitor).

Acquisitions

In 1973, Interdata was purchased by Perkin-Elmer Corporation,^[6] a Connecticut-based producer of scientific instruments for $63.6 million.^[4] Interdata was already making $19 million in annual sales but this merger made Perkin-Elmer's annual sales rise to over $200 million.^[4] Interdata then became the basis for Perkin-Elmer's Data Systems Group.^[7] In 1985, the computing division of Perkin-Elmer was spun off as Concurrent Computer Corporation.^[8]

List of products

Interdata 7/32

• Interdata Model 1 – 1970^[9]
• Interdata Model 3 – 1967^[10][11]
• Interdata 4 (autoload, floating point)
• Interdata 5 (list processing, microcoded automatic I/O channel)
• Interdata 70 (1971), 74 (1973), 80 (1971), 85 (Writable Control Store, 1973)^[9]
• Interdata 50, 55 (Communications systems)
• Interdata 5/16, 6/16, 7/16 (1974)^[9]
• Interdata 8/16, 8/16e (double precision floating point, extended memory)
• Interdata RD-800 and RD-850 – 1975^[9]
• Interdata 7/32 – 1974^[9]
• Interdata 8/32 – 1975^[9]
• Perkin-Elmer 3205, 3210, 3220, 3230, 3240, 3250, 3280

A simulator is available: http://simh.trailing-edge.com/interdata.html