00100	           A PLAN FOR STANFORD'S NEXT GENERATION COMPUTING
00200	
00300	
00400		The Computer Science Department recommends the following plan
00500	for next generation computing for  consideration  by  the  University
00600	Computer Facilities Committee:
00700	
00800		1.  The  University Computation Center acquire an IBM 370/168
00900	and a Digital Equipment Corporation KI10 computer system.
01000	
01100		2. Each of these systems  should  be  operated  in  the  most
01200	advanced time-sharing mode provided by its manufacturer.  In the case
01300	of the KI10 this is probably the Tenex system, and in the case of the
01400	168  it  is probably the variant of CMS currently recommended by IBM.
01500	The Computation Center should not modify these systems to  the  point
01600	where  adopting  further manufacturer sponsored improvements requires
01700	substantial work.
01800	
01900		3. The two systems should interact by a direct connection and
02000	through  sharing  files, but neither should be considered a satellite
02100	of the other. Both systems admit this degree of  interaction  without
02200	doing violence to the manufacturers software .
02300	
02400		4.  As  soon  as  it  becomes  technically  and  economically
02500	feasible,  the  Computation  Center  should  operate  a  campus  wide
02600	keyboard  and display based terminal system.  Current technology will
02700	permit terminals that can be located in faculty and graduate  student
02800	offices  and will permit undergraduate access through terminals rooms
02900	in university public areas and in dormitories.  The system  currently
03000	being  developed  for  the Computer Science Department can serve as a
03100	prototype of such a system.
03200	
03300		The advantages of this system are the following:
03400	
03500		1. Most of the programs in the world are  developed  for  and
03600	available on the IBM 370 computer.  However, IBM has still not solved
03700	the problem of adequate interactive computing at a reasonable cost.
03800	
03900		2. The best  and  most  economical  interactive  software  is
04000	available  on the PDP-10 computer, and further such software is being
04100	developed at Stanford and many other  places.   The  PDP-10  lead  in
04200	interactive software is likely to continue for a number of years.
04300	
04400		3.  In  this system, the 370 can be used interactively either
04500	with such software as IBM provides or indirectly via the PDP-10.  The
04600	indirect  access  can  be either by having files edited on the PDP-10
04700	put into the 370 batch stream or by  having  the  PDP-10  simulate  a
04800	number of interactive terminals for the 370.
04900	
05000		4.  The  terminal  system  connected  to  both  machines  can
05100	accomodate whatever relative demand turns out to exist.
05200	
05300		We regard this scheme as superior to one based on a dual  168
05400	system optimized for the needs of the Linear Accelerator Center.