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{{short description|American computing vendor}}
{{Use American English|date=August 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{About|the American computer company|the Canadian software company|Harris Computer Systems (Canadian Company)}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Harris Computer Systems
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| foundation = {{start date and age|1994}}
| founder =
| fate
| traded_as
| key_people = {{ubl|E. Courtney "Corky" Siegel}}
| products = {{ubl|H-series|Night Hawk}}
| industry
| location_city
| location_country = U.S.
| revenue = $60 million (1994)
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| parent =
| footnotes =
| homepage
}}
'''Harris Computer Systems Corporation''' was an American computer company, in existence during the mid-1990s, that made [[real-time computing]] systems. Its products powered a variety of applications, including those for [[aerospace simulation]], [[Data acquisition|data acquisition and control]], and [[signal processing]]. It was based in [[Fort Lauderdale, Florida]]. For twenty years prior, it had been the '''Harris Computer Systems Division''' of [[Harris Corporation]], until being spun off as an independent company in 1994. Then in 1996, Harris Computer Systems Corporation itself was acquired by [[Concurrent Computer Corporation]].
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<!--base/dist-->The origins of Harris Computer Systems began in 1967 in [[Fort Lauderdale, Florida]], when [[Datacraft Corporation]] was founded.<ref name="sent-hawkish"/> It would specialize in minicomputers for the scientific engineering market and for educational use.<ref name="sent-hawkish"/>
The best known of these were the DC-6024 line, which were based on a [[24-bit computing]] architecture and debuted in 1969.<ref name="sigarch"/> Successive models were denoted with names such as DC-6024/1 and DC-6024/4, which became known as "Slash 1", "Slash 4", and so forth.<ref name="sigarch">{{cite journal | url=https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/48675.48680 | date= June 1988 | title= Evolution of the Harris H-series computers and speculations on their future | author-first= Chuck | author-last=Crawford | journal = ACM SIGARCH Computer Architecture News |volume=16 | issue =3 | pages= 33–39 | doi=10.1145/48675.48680 | s2cid= 32635502 | doi-access= free }}</ref> The Slash 1 made cost-effective use of hardware for floating-point operations and quickly became popular as alternatives to computers from [[Systems Engineering Laboratories]].<ref name="sigarch"/>
== Harris Computer Systems Division ==
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The operating system for the H-Series was called Vulcan, which around 1982 started being replaced by one called VOS.<ref name="cw-1982">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5qavlrkWpjQC&pg=PA8 | title=Harris Upgrades H80, H100 Minis | author-first=Tim | author-last=Scannell | newspaper=Computerworld | date=March 22, 1982 | pages=1, 8}}</ref>
The H-series systems typically had support for a number of different programming languages, including [[Fortran]], [[
In addition, as a company involved in defense-related contracts, Harris Computer Systems Division came out with a line of [[Ada programming language]] compiler products.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lYnGAAAAIAAJ&q=harris+computer+systems+ada | title=Aerospace Engineering | year=1988 }}</ref><ref name="ajn-sep93">{{cite news | title=JOVIAL (J73) and MIL-STD-1750A ISA Software Support Tools | work=Ada–JOVIAL Newsletter | publisher=High Order Language Control Facility, Wright-Patterson AFB, U.S. Air Force | date=September 1993 | page=38}}</ref>
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In this fashion, Harris Computer offered three operating systems: CX/RT, built around real-time processing features and constraints; CX/SX, for customers needing government-specified levels of security, and CX/UX, for a system offering a Unix basis.<ref name="ci-88000"/> The three CX variants shared the same object and file formats and could reside on the same disk drive as each other.<ref name="ci-88000"/>
The secure version of Unix was popular among some government contracts where security was a primary consideration.<ref name="iw-1992"/><!-- https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.27.8581&rep=rep1&type=pdf cert warning, don't try -->
In particular, CX/SX reached B1 Orange Book and B1 Red Book status in the U.S. government's [[Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria]].<ref>{{cite book | title=Network+ Study Guide | author=David Groth | author2= Toby Skandier | publisher=John Wiley & Sons | year=2006 | pages=
By the late 1980s/early 1990s, the major product of Harris Computer Systems Division was the Night Hawk series of real-time systems.<ref name="iw-1992"/><ref name="njbiz"/>
In 1989, the first Night Hawk systems based on the [[Motorola 88000]] processor line came out. The systems were mainly targeted for the real-time ___domain, including for [[aerospace simulation]], [[signal processing]], and [[Command and control|C<sup>3</sup>I]] uses.<ref name="ci-88000">{{cite news | url=https://techmonitor.ai/technology/harris_launches_its_first_88000_based_night_hawks | title=Harris Launches Its First 88000-Based Night Hawks | work=[[Computergram International]] | date=December 18, 1989 }}</ref> Night Hawk models included the NH-1200, NH-3400, NH-4400, NH-4800, and NH-5800.<ref name="ajn-sep93"/>
Then in 1992, Harris announced it was switching to the [[PowerPC]] architecture.<ref name="iw-1992"/>
The Harris Computer Systems Division also made a [[network firewall]] product, that they sold to their governmental agency customers.<ref name="signals-1994"/>
E. Courtney "Corky" Siegel was general manager of the division.<ref name="iw-1992">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KlEEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Harris+Computer+Systems%22+1994&pg=PA46 | title=Harris to use PowerPC in Night Hawks | author-first=Tom | author-last=Quinlan | magazine=InfoWorld | date=November 9, 1992 | page=46}}</ref>
<!-- == Spin-off == I'M DOING TOO MUCH ON THIS. STOP. -->
On October 7, 1994, Harris Computer Systems Corporation came into being, as a spinoff to Harris Corporation shareholders.<ref name="nyt-spinoff"/> There were some 480 employees who joined the new enterprise.<ref name="sent-spun"/> It had revenues of about $60 million,<ref>''High Technology Market Place Directory'' (Princeton Hightech Group, 1996), p. 97.</ref> and had earned about $2 million over the year prior.<ref name="sent-spun"/> Said John Hartley, the head of Harris Corporation: "This is a well-established, profitable business that we believe will best realize its full potential as a stand-alone public corporation."<ref name="njbiz"/> The CEO of the new company was Siegel, who said "this move will give the new company greater access to capital markets for future growth."<ref name="sent-spun">{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105585674/south-florida-sun-sentinel/ | title=Harris spins off computer division | author-first=Jay | author-last=Weaver | newspaper=South Florida Sun-Sentinel • | date=September 30, 1994| page=3D | via=Newspapers.com }}</ref>
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The new company's business focus was on systems for [[real-time simulation]] and [[Simulation#Simulation in education and training|simulation for training]] and for [[Data acquisition|data acquisition and control]].<ref name="nyt-spinoff">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/30/business/company-news-harris-approves-spinoff-of-computer-systems-unit.html |title=Company News: Harris Approves Spinoff of Computer Systems Unit | agency=Bloomberg News |newspaper=The New York Times | date=September 30, 1994 | page=D3}}</ref> An additional focus was on [[Computer security|secure systems]].<ref name="signals-1994">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Ig-AQAAIAAJ&q=%22Harris+Computer+Systems%22+spun+off&pg=RA6-PA41 | title=Trans-Atlantic Pact Spurs Processing Power, Security | magazine=Signal | date=January 1995 | author=CAR | pages=41–44 }}</ref> Its headquarters were those of the division prior, being in [[Fort Lauderdale, Florida]].<ref name="nyt-spinoff"/>
The company's main product was (continued to be) the Night Hawk computer system, which featured high
The main competitor of Harris Computer Systems Corporation was [[Concurrent Computer Corporation]] of [[Monmouth County, New Jersey]].<ref name="app-move"/><ref name="njbiz"/> A secondary competitor was [[Encore Computer]] of Massachusetts.<ref name="sent-hawkish"/>
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At the same time, Harris Computer Systems introduced a product for network security called CyberGuard, whose purpose was to protect systems against unauthorized incursion over the Internet.<ref name="signals-1994"/>
Harris Computer Systems continued to be involved in the Ada language world. In addition to compilers, the company put out [[APSE]]-related runtime environments with symbolic debugging and tracing capabilities.<ref>{{cite journal | title=Ada design language/CASE developers matrix | author-first= Judy | author-last=Kerner | journal=ACM SIGAda Ada Letters | volume=XIV | issue =6 | date=November–December 1994 | pages= 19–40 |
== Acquisition ==
{{main|Concurrent Computer Corporation#Merger with Harris Computer Systems}}
In March 1995, Harris Computer Systems, led by CEO Siegel, looked to buy Concurrent Computer Corporation, its main competitor, but the discussions tripped over business, legal, and cultural issues and ended in acrimony.<ref name="njbiz">{{cite news | url=https://njbiz.com/anatomy-of-a-failed-merger/ | title=Anatomy of a Failed Merger | author-first=Daniel J. | author-last=Munoz | publisher=NJBiz | date= June 14, 1995 | access-date=April 24, 2022}}</ref>
Negotiations resumed late in the year,<ref name="ci-1996"/> albeit in the opposite direction, and in June 1996, Concurrent acquired the high-performance computer business of Harris Computer Systems.<ref name="app-move"/>
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris Computer Systems Corporation}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Defunct computer hardware companies]]
[[Category:Minicomputers]]
[[Category:1994 establishments in Florida]]
[[Category:1996 disestablishments in Florida]]
[[Category:1996 mergers and acquisitions]]
[[Category:Companies based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida]]
[[Category:
[[Category:
[[Category:Computer companies established in 1994]]
[[Category:Computer companies disestablished in 1996]]
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