Informatics General: Difference between revisions

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{{Infobox company

| name = Informatics General Corporation

| logo = Informatics General logo 19831982.jpgsvg

| caption =

| type = [[Public company|Public]]

| traded_as = {{NYSE was|IG}}

| fate = Acquired

| predecessor =

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| location_city = Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California

| location_country = United States

| locations = 30 in North America<br />9 overseas

| area_served =

| key_people = {{unbulleted list|Frank Wagner|John Postley|Bill Plumb|Warner Blow|Mike Parrella|Geno Tolari}}

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| brands = "Fulfilling the computer's promise"<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qaS3FuQJfjcC&pg=PA64 | title=Position announcements | magazine=Computerworld | date=June 20, 1977 | page=64}}</ref>

}}

'''Informatics General Corporation''', earlier known as '''Informatics, Inc.''', was an American [[computer software]] company in existence from 1962 through 1985 and based in [[Los Angeles, California]]. It made a variety of software products, and was especially known for its [[MARK IV (software)|Mark IV file management and report generation product]] for [[IBM mainframe]]s, which became the best-selling corporate packaged software product of its time. It also ran [[computer service bureau]]s and sold [[turnkey system]]s to specific industries. By the mid-1980s Informatics had revenues of near $200 million and over 2,500 employees.

Computer historian [[Martin Campbell-Kelly]], in his 2003 volume ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog: A History of the Software Industry'', considers Informatics to be an exemplar of the independent, middle-sized software development firms of its era, and the [[Computer History Museum]] as well as the [[Charles Babbage Institute]] at the [[University of Minnesota]] have conducted a number of oral histories of the company's key figures.<ref>See Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', p. 57, and the seven oral histories listed in the Bibliography below, including three of Walter Bauer. Campbell-Kelly portrays [[Applied Data Research]] (ADR) and [[Advanced Computer Techniques]] (ACT) as two other typical software firms of the 1960s.</ref> Historian Jeff Yost identifies Informatics as a pioneering "system integration" company, similar to [[System Development Corporation]].<ref>Yost, ''Making IT Work'', pp. 87–88.</ref> The ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' wrote that Informatics was "long a legend in software circles".<ref name="ct-somuch"/>

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Walter F. Bauer (1924–2015),<ref name="legacy-bauer"/> the main founder of Informatics, was from Michigan and earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from the [[University of Michigan]] in 1951.<ref name="yost-it-208"/> His early work was at the [[Michigan Aeronautical Research Center]]; the [[National Bureau of Standards]], where he programmed the [[SEAC (computer)|early digital SEAC computer]]; and for Boeing's [[CIM-10 Bomarc|BOMARC interceptor missile]].<ref name="yost-it-208"/> He became a manager at the [[Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation]] in charge of a unit with 400 employees and two computers, an [[IBM 704]] and a [[UNIVAC 1103A]], and in 1958 joined the merged [[TRW Inc.|Thompson Ramo Wooldridge]] company.<ref name="bauer-oh-2-4-5"/><ref name="yost-it-208"/> Bauer later said that he "was never a green eyeshade programmer" nor a "strong technologist", but being a systems person and a manager gave him a good grasp of computer systems and their capabilities.<ref name="bauer-oh-2-5"/><ref name="yost-it-208">Yost, ''Making IT Work'', p. 108.</ref>

Another key founder was Werner L. Frank (1929–),<ref name="yost-wf">Yost, "Werner Frank".</ref> who during 1954–55 had done programming work on the [[ILLIAC I]] at the [[University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign]].<ref>Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", pp. 33–34.</ref> He was then recruited by Bauer and joined Ramo-Wooldridge in 1955, where he did [[numerical analysis]] and programming in [[assembly language]] and [[FORTRAN]].<ref>Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", pp. 33–36.</ref> Working with pioneers of [[scientific computing]] such as [[David M. Young, Jr.]] and [[George Forsythe]], Frank published several important articles on numerical analysis in ''[[Journal of the ACM]]'' and other publications.<ref>Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", pp. 36–37.</ref> By 1958, Ramo-Wooldridge had been acquired by Thompson Products, Inc. and becamecome to be known as [[TRW Inc.]]; Frank then did early programming on several defense industry computers, including the [[AN/UYK-1]], and spent long stretches of time in [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref>Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", pp. 38–39.</ref>

The third founder was another TRW colleague, Richard H. Hill, who had been a professor at [[UCLA]] and an assistant director of a joint data center between that university and [[IBM]].<ref name="yost-wf"/><ref name="yost-it-109">Yost, ''Making IT Work'', p. 109.</ref>

In January 1962, Bauer approached Frank and Hill to start a new independent company that would provide software services.<ref name="ck-65">Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', p. 65.</ref><ref name="frank-oh-39-40">Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", pp. 39–40.</ref> At the time, it was an unusual move since few people saw software as a viable business.<ref>Norborg, "An Interview with Walter Bauer", pp. 11–12.</ref><ref name="yost-wf"/> "Primarily, we were going to develop systems for large-scale computer systems, probably of a military nature. That was our first objective," stated Bauer in a later interview.<ref name="yost-it-109"/> Despite a lack of any kind of business school training, Bauer put together a business plan for the new company.<ref name="bauer-oh-2-4-5">Johnson, "Oral History of Walter Bauer" (1995), pp. 4–5.</ref> Indeed, throughout his time with the company, Bauer embodied the personality characteristics of [[entrepreneurship]].<ref>Aspray, ''An Interview with Bruce Coleman'', p. 14.</ref>

[[Venture capital]] was hard to locate for such start-ups in that era and Bauer met with several rejections.<ref name="yost-wf"/> He and the others then decided to join forces with [[Dataproducts|Data Products Corporation]], a newly formed manufacturer of [[Peripheral|computer peripheral equipment]].<ref name="ck-81">Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', p. 81.</ref> The co-founder of Data Products, [[Erwin Tomash]] (1921–2012),<ref>Yost, "Computer Industry Pioneer: Erwin Tomash", p. 4.</ref> was from Minnesota and had earlier worked at [[Engineering Research Associates]], a pioneering computer firm from the 1950s.<ref>Norborg, "An Interview with Erwin Tomash", pp. 2, 17–18.</ref> He had known Bauer and thought that the two new efforts being formed together would provide a hedge against either one of them encountering start-up difficulties.<ref>Webster, ''Print Unchained'', p. 122.</ref>

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==The name==

{{plain image with caption|Informatics, Inc. logo.svg|The earlier company logo, used from the 1960s to 1982<ref>{{cite journal | last=Informatics General Corporation | date=June 7, 1982 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2LaqX2JB6_UC&pg=PA93 | title=After 20 Years as a Captain of Industry, Informatics Makes General | journal=Computerworld | page=93 | format=Advertisement}}</ref>}}

[[Image:Informatics Inc logo 1978.GIF|thumb|right|260px|The earlier company logo, as seen in the 1970s]]

{{main|Informatics}}

The company's name came from the founders' desire to base it on "-atics", a Greek suffix meaning "the science of".<ref name="bauer-et">Bauer, "Informatics and (et) Informatique".</ref> Their first thought was "Datamatics", but a form of that was already taken by an early computer from [[Honeywell]]/[[Raytheon]]; Bauer and the others settled on "Informatics", meaning "the science of information handling".<ref name="bauer-et"/><ref name="frank-oh-39-40"/>

At the very same time, March 1962, French computer pioneer [[Philippe Dreyfus]] came up with the name Societe"Société pour Ll'Informatiqueinformatique et Appliqueappliquée" for a new firm of which he was co-founder, thus creating a French version of the same name.<ref name="bauer-et"/> However, in France, the term "[[wwiktionary:fr:Informatiqueinformatique#French|informatique]]" soon became a generic name, meaning the modern science of information handling, and would become accepted by the [[Académie française]] as an official French word.<ref name="bauer-et"/> The term then came into common use in a number of other European countries, adapted slightly for each language.<ref name="frank-oh-39-40"/>

In the United States, however, Informatics fought any such use as an infringement upon their legal rights to the name; this was partly in fear of the term becoming a [[brandnomer]].<ref name="bauer-et"/> Bauer later recalled that at one point the [[Association for Computing Machinery]], the leading academic organization in computer software, wanted to change its name to the Society for Informatics, but the company refused to allow that use.<ref name="bauer-et"/> Eventually the generic usage of the term around the world caused the company to reconsider and, according to Frank, was the reason for the 1982 name change to Informatics General.<ref name="frank-oh-39-40"/>

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[[Image:Supercomputer NSA-IBM360 85.jpg|thumb|right|260px|The IBM System/360 mainframe was the platform that Mark IV and many other Informatics software products ran on.]]

The history of what became Mark IV goes back to 1960 when GIRLS (the Generalized Information Retrieval and Listing System) was developed for the IBM 704 by [[John A. Postley]] (1923–2004),<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/latimes/obituary.aspx?n=john-a-postley&pid=2489965 | title=John A. Postley |newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=August 6, 2004}}</ref> an engineer who had worked for many years in the aerospace industry; the first customer for GIRLS was the [[Douglas Aircraft Company]].<ref>Johnson, "Oral History of John Postley", p. 7.</ref><ref name="haigh-79">Haigh, 'A Veritable Bucket of Facts', p. 79.</ref> Postley was working in the Advanced Information Systems subsidiary of [[Electrada Corporation]] along with [[Robert M. Hayes (information scientist)|Robert M. Hayes]] and others.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/30370716/?terms=electrada%2B%22advanced%2Binformation%2Bsystems%22 |title= UCLA Offers Short Courses for Engineers |newspaper=Valley News |___location=LosVan AngelesNuys, California |date=August 3, 1961 |page=29-A |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} </ref>

In April 1963, Advanced Information Systems was purchased from Electrada by [[Hughes Dynamics]],<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/74589265/?terms=electrada%2B%22advanced%2Binformation%2Bsystems%22 |title=Buys Data Firm |newspaper=The Cumberland News |___location=Cumberland, Maryland |agency=United Press International |date=April 30, 1963 |page=17 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} </ref>

an early 1960s subsidiary of the [[Hughes Tool Company]]

that provided computerized management and information services.<ref>Barlett and Steele, ''Empire'', p. 401.</ref>

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But IBM then decided to [[History of IBM#Unbundling of software and services in 1969|unbundle software from its mainframes in 1969]], which helped facilitate the growth of the commercial software industry in the 1970s and beyond.<ref name="s-f-76"/><ref>Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', pp. 109ff.</ref>

This accelerated sales of Mark IV severalfold from what Informatics had anticipated.<ref name="ck-116"/>

==Computing Technology Company subsidiary==

In 1968, Informatics announced it was acquiring a New Jersey firm, Computing Technology Inc.,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times/139228963/ | title=Acquisition Approved | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=August 30, 1968 | page=15 (Part III) | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> a transaction that closed during 1969.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times/139229016/ | title=Informatics Expands on East Coast | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=April 10, 1969 | page=19 (Part III) | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> This became the Informatics Inc. Computing Technology Company, a wholly owned operating unit of Informatics that was located in [[River Edge, New Jersey]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/valley-news/139229070/ | title=Albert S. Kaplan Named Executive of Informatics Inc. | newspaper=The Valley News | ___location=Van Nuys, California | date=June 29, 1973 | page=2-A | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

Within this subsidiary was the Communication Systems Division, and it developed a communications system for the [[Federal Reserve Bank of New York]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-record/139229250/ | title=People in Business | newspaper=The Record | ___location=Hackensack, New Jersey | date=September 12, 1973 | page=B-9 | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> This was one of several large contracts the River Edge division had with Wall Street firms for joint development of [[bank transfer]] systems and related services, with those other firms including [[Dun & Bradstreet]] and [[Dean Witter]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/los-angeles-evening-citizen-news/139229409/ | title=Business Briefs | newspaper=Citizen News | date=May 21, 1970 | page=17 | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

The Federal Reserve Bank effort had begun in 1968 and involved using advanced techniques for [[store-and-forward]]-based [[message switching]] and similar needs.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/valley-times/139229780/ | title=N.Y. Bank Engages Valley Firm | newspaper=The Valley Times | ___location=San Fernando Valley, California | date=June 26, 1969 | page=6 | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> The implementation was based around the [[SDS Sigma 5]] computer from [[Scientific Data Systems]], a computer line which had been acquired by [[Xerox Corporation]].<ref name="lat-pact"/> The Sigma 5 had a Communication Input/Output Processor that handled up to 128 communication lines at speed from 110 to 9600 baud.<ref>{{cite conference | first1 = Paul| last1 = Day| last2=Hines| first2=John| title= Argos: An Operating System for a Computer Utility Supporting Interactive Instrument Control | conference=SOSP '73: Proceedings of the fourth ACM symposium on Operating system principles | doi=10.1145/800009.808046| pages=28&ndash;37| publisher =Association for Computing Machinery| date = January 1973 |url=https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/800009.808046}}</ref> The communications system was a success and Informatics and Xerox made a joint agreement to market it to other customers,<ref name="lat-pact">{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times/139230666/ | title=Xerox Joins Informatics in Marketing Pact | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=October 19, 1969 | page=7 (Section I) | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> with the Informatics product being named the ICS IV/500.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.bitsavers.org/magazines/Datamation/197208.pdf | title=Communications Processors | first=D. J. | last=Theis | magazine=Datamation | date=August 1972 | pages=31&ndash;44}}</ref>

Informatics had hopes for the ICS IV becoming a strategic product for them, and while it was sold to [[General Foods]] and [[Japanese National Railways]], it proved a very high-priced, low-volume market and there was an effort to find a less expensive alternative. Informatics was contracted by Bankers Trust to develop a version of the system that ran on the [[DEC PDP-11]] minicomputer with a Sigma 5 emulation unit. However, the project was not successful, and by the mid-1970s Informatics departed this communications space.<ref>See Forman internal history, pp. 8-10&ndash;8-12 and 11-16&ndash;11-19.</ref>

Subsequently, the Computing Technology Company subsidiary produced the Accounting IV package.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5xOPmHIkDI4C&dq=%22informatics%22+%22computing+technology+company%22&pg=PA31 | title=Calendar | newspaper=Computerworld | date=October 9, 1974 | page=31}}</ref> This was a group of integrated financial applications for companies.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald/139233656/ | title=In Brief | newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald | date=November 28, 1978 | page=17 | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

==Equitable Life Assurance Society relationship==

Beginning in 1970 the computer industry hit a downturn that lasted several years.<ref>Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', pp. 82–86.</ref> Software houses of the time tended to suffer from unprofitable contracts, failed ventures, and slowing demand.<ref name="fishman-277">Fishman, ''The Computer Establishment'', pp. 277–278.</ref> Informatics' creation of a Data Services Division, and with it the acquisition of a number of [[computer service bureau]]s as a means of providing [[utility computing]], did not go well.<ref name="ck-85"/> In May 1970 Informatics announced a $4.2 million loss, its first since 1963.<ref name="ck-85">Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', p. 85.</ref> But in a time when many software firms did not survive,<ref name="fishman-277"/> the more conservatively managed Informatics did.<ref>Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', pp. 81, 85.</ref>

In 1971, Informatics and [[The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States]] announced a joint venture, Equimatics, Inc., headed by Werner Frank, that would develop and sell computer-related products for the insurance industry.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times/129474049/ | title=Informatics, Equitable in New Field | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=December 3, 1971 | page=13 (Part III) | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> In particular, Equimatics, sought to establish a data services business that would provide such services to Equitable and others in the insurance industry.<ref name="frank-52"/>

But in a time when many software firms did not survive,<ref name="fishman-277"/> the more conservatively managed Informatics did.<ref>Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', pp. 81, 85.</ref>

While Informatics revenues did increase during this period<!-- By 1974, Informatics revenues were up to $33 million. -->,<ref name="cw-15yrs"/><!-- 1978 logo is taken from

<!-- 1978 logo is taken from

https://books.google.com/books?id=azxRE2HtSRkC&pg=PA45

Computerworld ad March 27, 1978 --> in many respects choices about the direction of the business were forced by the inability of Informatics, in the economically gloomy early 1970s, to find investment capital.<ref name="ck-85"/>

Computerworld ad March 27, 1978 -->

Accordingly, in September 1973, it was announced that Informatics would be acquired by Equitable Life Assurance Society, for $7 per share in cash.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-sun/129475182/ | title=Informatics Being Acquired | newspaper=The Evening Sun | ___location =Baltimore | date=September 24, 1973 | page=C-13 | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> The deal closed in March 1974.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-morning-call/129475449/ | title=In Business: ... Equitable Life | newspaper=The Morning Call | ___location=Allentown, Pennsylvania | date=March 7, 1974 | page=61 | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Thus Informatics became a subsidiary of Equitable Life, with the goal of gaining the ability to grow organically and to acquire other businesses.<ref name="cw-15yrs"/>

[[Image:Financial Institutions, Ventura Blvd., Encino.JPG|thumb|left|260px|From the mid-1970s on, Informatics corporate headquarters was in an office building on Ventura Boulevard in Woodland Hills, similar to these structures along the same road]]

In 1974<!-- another source says 1973 -->, Informatics became a subsidiary of [[AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company|The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States]], with the goal of gaining the ability to grow organically and to acquire other businesses.<ref name="cw-15yrs"/> This followed a joint venture, called Equimatics, that Informatics had formed with Equitable in 1971 to establish a data services business that would provide such services to Equitable and others in the insurance industry.<ref name="frank-52"/> But in many respects the choice to become a subsidiary was forced by the inability of Informatics, in the gloomy early 1970s, to find investment capital.<ref name="ck-85"/>

For the year 1976, Informatics had revenues of $58 million.<ref name="cw-15yrs">{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oiB9AqI0GZ4C&pg=PA52 |title=After 15 Years, Informatics Confident of Its Survival |magazine=Computerworld |date=April 25, 1977 |page=52}}</ref> It had some 1,800 employees at locations around the world.<ref name="cw-15yrs"/> From around 1976 through to the end in 1985, Informatics corporate headquarters was located in an office along [[Ventura Boulevard]] in Woodland Hills.<ref>See corporate address in {{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0XjmsaVaPPwC&pg=PA15 | title=How Informatics can help you get the job done faster. And cut costs. | magazine=Computerworld | date=April 12, 1976 | page=15}} (advertisement) and {{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XxS89r_AA_0C&pg=PA47 | title=Informatics General enhances application tools | magazine=Computerworld | date=April 15, 1985 | page=47}}</ref>

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==Products and divisions==

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the company broke its revenues down into three sources: software products, professional services, and information processing services; from 1978 through 1982, the three were in rough balance, with each of the three comprising anywhere from 26 to 39 percent of the total.<ref name="ar-1982-reportings">{{cite book | title=1982 Annual Report | publisher=Informatics General Corporation | year=1983 | pages=2, 5, 16, 28}}</ref> Beginning in 1982, the company categorized revenues as coming from cross-industry customers versus vertical market segments;<ref name="ar-1982-reportings"/> by 1983, the verticals, which included products and services for the legal, accounting, insurance, and other industries, had eclipsed cross-industry revenues.<ref name="ar-1983-overall">{{cite book | title=1983 Annual Report | publisher=Informatics General Corporation | year=1984 | page=2}}</ref> These changes reflected complicated, and frequently changing, reporting structures within the company.<ref>Aspray, ''An Interview with Bruce Coleman'', p. 13.</ref>

===Mark IV and Mark V===

{{main|MARKMark IV (software)}}

[[Image:Informatics Mark IV keypunch card.jpg|thumb|right|260px|The Mark IV product became a big success back when keypunch cards were a common input mechanism in computing.]]

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Over the three decades of the 1970s through 1990s it had some $300 million in sales.<ref name="frank-47"/>

Indeed, Mark IV was the first software product to have cumulative sales of $1 million, $10 million, and later $100 million.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.softwarehistory.org/history/informatics.html |title=Informatics |year=2007 |work=Computer History Museum |access-date=June 2, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090705032544/http://www.softwarehistory.org/history/informatics.html |archive-date=July 5, 2009 |df=mdy }}</ref><ref name="haigh-83">Haigh, 'A Veritable Bucket of Facts', p. 83.</ref> It is not only that, as computer historian Thomas Haigh has written, "Mark IV [was] the most successful product of the early independent software industry"<ref name="haigh-paper-13"/> –

but that it remained the best-selling independent software product in the world for a 15-year stretch.<ref name="ck-58">Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', p. 58.</ref>

For a long time Mark IV had few effective rivals in its market niche; as Bauer later remembered, "We didn't have much competition with Mark IV for many, many years. It was just pure sailing for 10 or 15 years."<ref name="bauer-oh-2-10"/>

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However, starting in 1980, the technological age of the product became apparent and sales of Mark IV leveled off, amassing only about 60 percent of what Informatics had planned for.<ref>Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', p. 118. See also chart on p. 117.</ref>

A successor product, Mark V, was released in 1981–82.<ref>See name{{cite news | author-last="elecSnyders | author-markv">first=Jan | title=Programmer Aids Increase Productivity | work=Computer Decisions | date=January 1982 | page= 38 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/196846127 | id={{ProQuest|196846127}} }}, which implies it was either released in 1981 or this particular customer was a beta user. See also {{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tllJAQAAIAAJMMSvi567BMUC&qpg=informatics+%22mark+v%22PA57 |magazine title=ElectronicsIntroducing Mark V (TM) for CICS users |date newspaper=1982Computerworld |page date=136?March 5, 1984 |title page=uncertain57}}, an advertisement that refers to Mark V for IMS having come out two years prior.</ref> In contrast to the batch-only features of Mark IV, the goal of Mark V was the generation of online applications, although initially this was still done through some batch-oriented development steps.<ref name="elec-markv"/>{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tllJAQAAIAAJ&q=informatics+%22mark+v%22 |magazine=Electronics |date=1982 |page=136? |title=uncertain}}</ref>

The same taxonomy of application generators mentioned earlier placed Mark V in the category of "Application Development Systems", as it covered more advanced capabilities such as generating online systems with screen dialogue and similar features.<ref name="card-graf"/> Mark V was made available for two IBM mainframe online transaction processing environments, [[IBM Information Management System|IMS/DC]] and, beginning in 1983, [[CICS]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xg3P92QsSqIC&pg=PA57 |title=Informatics Updates Mark V For IBM CICS Environments |magazine=Computerworld |date=October 3, 1983 |page=57}}</ref> Mark V never become a dominant force in the marketplace like Mark IV was. It had many competitors, including products from Applied Data Research, IBM, [[Cincom Systems]], [[DMW Europe]], and [[CA-Telon#Pansophic Systems|Pansophic Systems]].<ref>Konsynski, "Advances in Information System Design", p. 27.</ref>

Following the acquisition by Sterling Software, Mark IV continued to be a significant product, but in 1994 it was renamed VISION:Builder.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qYgnAQAAMAAJ&q=%22sterling+software%22+%22mark+iv%22+%22vision:builder%22 | title=Product Life Cycle: Maturity Stage | magazine=Software Marketing Journal | date=1994 | pages=29–30?}}</ref> By one account, in the late 1990s the product still had close to $20 million in annual revenue.<ref name="frank-47"/> Ownership then passed again in 2000, when Sterling Software was sold to [[Computer Associates]] and the product remained under the name VISION:Builder.<ref name="Computer Associates">{{cite web | url=https://www.ca.com/us/services-support/ca-support/ca-support-online/knowledge-base-articles.TEC1054237.html | title=How do I upgrade applications from MARK IV to VISION:Builder? | publisher=Computer Associates | date=September 15, 2015}}</ref>

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By the late 1970s into the 1980s, Geno P. Tolari was the head of Informatics' government and military services operations, which was based in [[San Francisco, California]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ICoe1vr9x3kC&pg=PA164 | title=Executive Corner | magazine=Computerworld | date=June 5, 1978 | page=164}}</ref><ref name="oh-wyly-32"/>

Following the Sterling Software takeover, Tolari stayed on as chief of what became known as the Federal Systems Group.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9WUVAQAAMAAJ | title=The Texas 500 | publisher=Reference Press | date=1994 | page=144| isbn= 978-1-87-875339-7}}</ref>

===Data Services Division===

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Ordernet was an early [[e-commerce]] initiative that provided electronic interchange of [[purchase order]]s and associated business documents between manufacturers and distributors.<ref name="iw-ordernet">{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KTAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA9 | title=Ordernet: Buying electronically | magazine=Infoworld | date=July 12, 1982 | page=9}}</ref>

In particular, it was set up as a service bureau that would provide a solution to distributors looking to handle [[Business-to-business|business-to-business transactions]].<ref name="frank-55">Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", pp. 55–56.</ref> In 1975 Informatics had arranged with the National Wholesale Druggists’Druggists' Association to create a central clearinghouse for the processing of electronic purchase orders within the industry.<ref>Sokol, ''From EDI to Electronic Commerce'', pp. 208, 286.</ref> In 1978 that association formally endorsed the use of Ordernet, which led Informatics to create an Ordernet Services Division.<ref name="sokol-208">Sokol, ''From EDI to Electronic Commerce'', p. 208.</ref> As a business unit within Informatics, this division was essentially a one-person effort at the beginning.<ref name="notto-mhds"/>

The electronic data interchange industry continued to grow in its adoption of standards and more agreements were made in regards to Ordernet.<ref>Notto, ''Challenge And Consequence'', p. 309.</ref>

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The core idea was to allow, by the creation of tables and other specifications, the user to create all of the functionality needed by an online application, without requiring user programming.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SKiv04PgC-kC&pg=PT10 | title='Taps' Eases On-Line Program Tasks | magazine=Computerworld | date=March 29, 1976 | page=19}}</ref> TAPS was not only a development tool for making online applications but also a production environment to run them within, and as such provided essential capabilities including network security and control, screen mapping and data editing, menu processing, database maintenance and inquiry, concurrency protection, and network and database recovery.<ref name="TAPS-UG">{{cite book | title=TAPS User's Guide | publisher=Informatics General Corporation | date=November 1984 | page=1-1<!-- organized this way, meaning chapter 1, page 1 -->}}</ref>

During the late 1970s TAPS was ported to a number of minicomputer platforms, including the [[Digital Equipment Corporation]] [[PDP-11]], the [[Hewlett-Packard]] [[HP 3000]], [[Perkin Elmer]]'s [[Interdata]] minicomputers, and the [[IBM Series/1]], along with systems from [[Harris CorporationComputer Systems Division|Harris Computer]] and [[Tandem Computers]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aeMv0MQf9t4C&pg=PA26 | title=Letters to the Editor: 'Taps' Marketing | first=Linda C. | last=Diamond | magazine=Computerworld | date=April 23, 1979 | page=26}}</ref>

At this time some 70 percent of TAPS sales were to other companies doing software development, such as [[McCormack & Dodge]] and On-Line Systems, Inc.,<ref name="doc-prime">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jnbXHp5GdQ8C&pg=PA68 | title=Documentation Consultant Helps Firms Make Switch to End-User Marketing | magazine=Computerworld | date=June 22, 1981 | page=68}}</ref> in what the firm said was a deliberate strategy to first market the product to customers who would be "the toughest test of all".<ref name="cw-dsc-ad"/>

Line 254 ⟶ 265:

[[Image:Informatics General Corporation TAPS Division magnetic paperclip holder.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.67|Branded magnetic paperclip holder]]

TAPS found its biggest market in the U.S. government, with its portability a big advantage for such customers, since they often possessed a disparate collection of computer systems<ref name="cw-oalj"/> brought about by lowest-bid government contracting requirements. The U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy in particular were both major customers,<ref name="ar-1984-taps">{{cite book | title=1984 Annual Report | publisher=Informatics General Corporation | year=1985 | page=12}}</ref> with the Navy's use going back to the 1970s.<ref name="frank-95">Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", p. 95n.</ref> By the early-mid-1980s, TAPS had secured a new $1 million contract for the Army's modernization of its non-tactical administrative, logistical, and financial information management systems,<ref>{{cite book | title=A Presentation Before the New York Society of Security Analysts | author-first=Walter F. | author-last=Bauer | publisher=Informatics General Corporation | date=September 20, 1983 | page=19}} See [https://web.archive.org/web/20120926101922/http://www.history.army.mil/books/DAHSUM/1984/ch06.htm this U.S. Army Center of Military History page] for the explanation of Project VIABLE.</ref> and TAPS was heavily used inside the Navy's stock management and distribution system.<ref name="NAVADS">{{cite web | url=http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA155290 |title=An Overview of the Navy Automated Transportation Documentation System (NAVADS) | first=Joseph Ralph | last=Bonomo | publisher=Naval Postgraduate School | ___location=Monterey, California | date=March 1985 | format=thesis | pages=19, 57, and ''passim''}}{{dead link|date=June 2022|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

TAPS found its biggest market in the U.S. government, with its portability a big advantage for such customers, since they often possessed a disparate collection of computer systems<ref name="cw-oalj"/> brought about by lowest-bid government contracting requirements.

<!-- credible at all?? By 1982 Informatics said TAPS was in place in over 1,000 installations around the world.<ref>https://books.google.com/books?id=wGVWGF8phaUC&pg=PA23 {{Bare URL inline|date=May 2022}}</ref> -->

The U.S. Navy in particular was a major customer going back to the 1970s.<ref name="frank-95">Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", p. 95n.</ref> By the mid-1980s, TAPS was heavily used inside the Navy's stock management and distribution system.<ref name="NAVADS">{{cite web | url=http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA155290 |title=An Overview of the Navy Automated Transportation Documentation System (NAVADS) | first=Joseph Ralph | last=Bonomo | publisher=Naval Postgraduate School | ___location=Monterey, California | date=March 1985 | format=thesis | pages=19, 57, and ''passim''}}</ref>

During the early-mid-1980s TAPS underwent an implementation change from TAPS I, which was written in less-portable languages, to TAPS II, which was written in an explicitly designed portable dialect of the [[Pascal programming language]].<ref name="NAVADS"/> In 1984, a decision was made to focus TAPS entirely on the government market.<ref name="ar-1984-taps"/>

<!-- credible at all?? By 1982 Informatics said TAPS was in place in over 1,000 installations around the world.<ref>https://books.google.com/books?id=wGVWGF8phaUC&pg=PA23</ref> -->

During the early-mid-1980s TAPS underwent an implementation change from TAPS I, which was written in less-portable languages, to TAPS II, which was written in an explicitly designed portable dialect of the [[Pascal programming language]].<ref name="NAVADS"/>

<!-- Oct 1983

Robert A. Fuire new GM of TAPS Division ... replaces Parrella ?

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SOFT did development work to keep TAPS going on the Tandem and especially IBM platforms,<!-- LL --> and TAPS remained in use by the Army and Navy for accounting, personnel, and distribution and supply applications into the 2000s,<ref name="soft-taps"/> with license renewals and maintenance payments from the [[Defense Information Systems Agency]] of around $800,000 a year through at least 2009.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://govtribe.com/contract/award/hc101306p2002 | title= DISA Source Of Future Technology, Inc. Purchase Order | publisher=GovTribe | access-date=May 26, 2017}}</ref> It was not until 2015 that TAPS was finally retired from service by the U.S. military.<!-- LL --><ref>{{cite web | url=https://govtribe.com/vendors/source-of-future-technology-inc-dot-soft-1bp13 | title=Vendors: Source Of Future Technology, Inc. | publisher=GovTribe | access-date=September 9, 2020}}</ref>

===Equimatics Division / Life Insurance Systems Division===

United Systems International was a [[Dallas, Texas]]-based company that was building an ambitious solution for automating the back-office functions for companies that offer [[life insurance]].<ref name="frank-52"/> Informatics acquired it in 1971 as part of the aforementioned Equimatics, Inc. initiative.<ref name="frank-52">Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", pp. 52, 95n.</ref> From this the Life-Comm solution emerged;<ref name="frank-52"/> the Life-Comm III version in particular became popular in the mid-1970s, quickly getting to the $1 million level in sales<ref>{{cite news | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=auvoEl8SK9sC&pg=PA54 | title=29 Software Packages Join ICP $1 Million Club | magazine=Computerworld | date=April 26, 1976|page=54}}</ref> and growing to have several dozen customers among insurance companies.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=soGti0kvtgwC&pg=RA1-PA3 | title=Tapping External Data Sources | first=Forest Woody, Jr. | last=Horton | magazine=Computerworld | date=August 15, 1983 | pages=ID–1ff}}</ref> It eventually became the leading product in the field.<ref name="lat-target"/> The Equimatics initiative also put some other financial software, such as the Mortgage Loan System.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NDIWAQAAMAAJ&q=The+best+thing+about+the+Equimatics+Mortgage+Loan+System+is+what+it+doesnt+do | title=The best thing about ... | work=Mortgage Banker | volume=36 | issue=uncertain | date=1975 | page=19 | type=Advertisement}}</ref>

The Equimatics Division persisted as a name within Informatics even after the company was acquired by, and subsequently became independent from, Equitable Life Assurance itself.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OXsqAQAAMAAJ&q=Informatics+Inc.+has+named+WALTER+B.+RICKEL+direc-+tor | title=uncertain | work=Software Digest | publisher=EDP News Service | volume=12 | issue=uncertain | date=1980 | page=4 }}</ref> It released related insurance products, such as GROUP-COMM, for the administration of [[group insurance]] plans.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o1xUAAAAMAAJ&q=GROUP+COMM++equimatics | title=uncertain | work=Information & Records Management | volume =16 | issue=uncertain | date=1982 | page=16 }}</ref> However over time it became instead known as the Life Insurance Systems Division.<ref name="ar-1982-reportings"/>

But then around 1984 it fell into difficulty and was responsible for some of Informatics' declining financial fortunes.<ref name="lat-target"/> In late 1984, the division was sold to The Continuum Company.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://articles.latimes.com/1985-01-17/business/fi-7922_1_industry-notes | title=Industry Notes | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=January 17, 1985 }}</ref>

ButAround then1984, aroundthe 1984Life Insurance Systems itDivision fell into difficulty and was responsible for some of Informatics' declining financial fortunes.<ref name="lat-target"/> In late 1984, the division was sold to The Continuum Company.<ref>{{cite news | url=httphttps://articleswww.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-01-17/business/-fi-7922_1_industry7922-notesstory.html | title=Industry Notes | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=January 17, 1985 }}</ref>

===Legal software divisions===

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The other had its origins with

Professional Software Systems, Inc., a [[Phoenix, Arizona]]-based firm that created [[law practice management software]] for U.S. law firms. Founded around 1976,<ref name="aba-no1"/> it provided a [[Turnkey#Specific usage|turnkey solution]] that ran on the [[Wang VS]] minicomputer.<ref name="cw-ltms">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xy-Dcn-oHUQC&pg=PA54 | title=Mini Facilities Timekeeping for Law Firm | magazine=Computerworld | date=August 13, 1979 | pages=49, 54 }}</ref>

It was one of the first software companies to realize that law firms needed dedicated computer support for client billing operations, and from that need its Legal Time Management System product was created.<ref name="cw-ltms"/> By 1980 the firm had a customer base that included 75 major law firms and revenues of about $5 million per year.<ref name="az-pss">{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/119979417/ | title=LA firm takes over software supplier | agency=Republic Wire Services | newspaper=The Arizona Republic | date=May 8, 1981 | page=30 | via=[[Newspapers.com]] }}</ref>

In May 1981, Informatics acquired Professional Software Systems.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/07/business/briefs-112720.html | title=Briefs | newspaper=The New York Times | date=May 7, 1981 }}</ref>

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Continuing to sell the Wang-based Legal Time Management System turnkey solution,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ULU8AQAAIAAJ&q=informatics+legal+turnkey+%22wang+vs%22 | magazine=Los Angeles Lawyer | date=1983 | page=93? | title=uncertain}}</ref>

the Phoenix division had yearly revenues on the order of $30 million by the mid-1980s.<ref name="lat-lsd">{{cite news | url=httphttps://articleswww.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-04-08/business/-fi-25518_1_sterling25518-softwarestory.html | title=Sterling Sells Phoenix Unit of Informatics | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=April 8, 1986}}</ref> It would claim in advertisements in the ''[[ABA Journal]]'' to have 30 of the largest 100 law firms as customers and to be the top supplier of integrated legal word and data processing systems.<ref name="aba-no1">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=18AZJOghhXUC&pg=PA2 | title=Who's the leader in law office automation? | magazine=ABA Journal | date=February 1, 1987 | pages=4–5}}</ref>

Following the Sterling Software acquisition, the Rockville operation was sold in 1987 to ATLIS. As an entity, ATLIS Legal Information Services persisted at least into the early 1990s.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TjWtllGWXF0C&pg=PA83 | title=Legal Software Directory | magazine=ABA Journal | date=April 1993 | page=SD7}}</ref> The Phoenix operation was sold several times, beginning in 1986, and also was still active into the early 1990s as owned by [[Wang Laboratories]].<ref name="wang-1992"/>

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===Others===

CPM Systems, Inc. was a pioneer in [[Critical path method]] (CPM) and [[Program evaluation and review technique]] (PERT) techniques that had begun as part of [[Hughes Dynamics]].<ref name="Archibald PMWT interview">{{cite web | url=http://russarchibald.com/Part1_InterviewRussArchibald.pdf | title=Interview with Russ Archibald, Part 1 | magazine=PM World Today | date=September 2008 | access-date=April 18, 2017 | page=4 and ''passim''}}</ref> In 1965 Informatics acquired it and formed the CPM Systems Division, led by Russell D. Archibald and located in [[Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/160936076/?terms=informatics%2B%22cpm%2Bsystems%22 | title=Computer Firm Moved Into Van Nuys Plant | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=September 12, 1965 | page=31-J}}</ref><ref name="cpm-houses">{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/32852282/?terms=informatics%2B%22cpm%2Bsystems%22 | title=Seek Methods to Reduce Cost of Building Houses | newspaper=Valley News | ___location=Van Nuys, California | date=November 21, 1965 | page=36 | via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> Much of its focus was on the efficient planning and construction of [[tract housing]], but the business dissipated during a housing downturn in the late 1960s.<ref name="Archibald PMWT interview"/><ref name="cpm-houses"/>

During the 1970s Informatics brought out accounting software, but failed to compete effectively with that from [[Management Science America]].<ref name="bauer-oh-2-10">Johnson, "Oral History of Walter Bauer" (1995), p. 10.</ref>

Business Management Systems was another division of Informatics in early 1985, located in Atlanta.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/70571534/?terms=%22Business%2BManagement%2BSystems%22%2Binformatics | title=Gray promoted in advertising | newspaper=The Index-Journal | ___location=Greenwood, South Carolina | date=February 24, 1985 | page=6C | via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} See also many classified display ads for positions at Business Management Systems placed in ''The Atlanta Constitution''.</ref>

==Final years and the Sterling Software takeover battle==

Informatics continued to grow, both organically and via acquisition. Indeed, by the early-mid-1980s Informatics General had made more than thirty different acquisitions along the way.<ref>Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', p. 180.</ref> Depending upon when and how the counting was done, the company had some seventeen divisions within it, and sometimes subdivisions within those; some of these were small-sized businesses that revealed a lack of focus within the overall company.<ref>Aspray, ''An Interview with Bruce Coleman'', pp. 11–12.</ref> The divisions were organized into groups, and these groups were sometimes independent entities unto themselves.<ref>Grad, ''Oral History of Bruce Coleman'', p. 29.</ref>

Werner Frank had a parting of the ways with Informatics management and left the company at the end of 1982, with some acrimonious relations taking place between him and Bauer.<ref>Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", pp. 75–77.</ref>

There were attempts to change the structure of Informatics' management, such that Bauer would be less involved in operations.<ref name="oh-frank-24">Yost, "Oral History of Werner Frank", pp. 24–25.</ref> Accordingly, in February 1983, Bruce T. Coleman was named president of the company.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/02/10/business/executive-changes-221110.html | title=Executive Changes | newspaper=The New York Times | date=February 10, 1983}}</ref> He had originally been hired in 1978 as a group vice president.<ref>Grad, ''Oral History of Bruce Coleman'', pp. 28–29.</ref> However, during a large-scale reorganization of the company in August 1984, which involved the selling off of some unprofitable businesses, Coleman departed and Bauer resumed being both chairman and president.<ref name="lat-target"/> Coleman later said that Bauer had fired him after Bauer disagreed with his proposals to sell off several pieces of the company.<ref>Grad, ''Oral History of Bruce Coleman'', pp. 34–35.</ref>

[[Image:Informatics General corridor at night.jpg|thumb|left|260px|An Informatics staffer having a late night at the office]]

The company continued to have strong revenue growth, moving from $129 million in 1982 to $152 million in 1983 to $191 million in 1984.<ref name="lat-target">{{cite news | url=httphttps://articleswww.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-04-23/business/-fi-11631_1_takeover11631-targetstory.html | title=Woodland Hills' Informatics a Takeover Target : Analysts Give Dallas Software Company's Bid a Good Chance of Succeeding | first=Daniel | last=Akst | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=April 23, 1985 }}</ref> Profits followed the same path for most of the time, with seven straight years of increasing earnings through 1983,<ref name="ct-somuch"/> including moving from $5.4 million and $1.49 per share in 1982 to $8.5 million and $1.67 per share in 1983.<ref name="lat-target"/> But then in 1984 earnings declined to $4.7 million and 82 cents per share, with two of Informatics' ten divisions showing an outright loss.<ref name="ct-somuch"/><ref name="lat-target"/><ref name="nyt-earnings-0285">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/13/business/informatics-general-corp-reports-earnings-for-qtr-to-dec-31.html |title=Informatics General Corp reports earnings for Qtr to Dec 31 | newspaper=The New York Times | date=February 13, 1985}}</ref> The performance of Informatics stock became erratic, as exemplified by a market close in December 1983 where the ''New York Times'' wrote that Informatics General was the "big loser" of the day when its stock fell {{frac|5|5|8}} to {{frac|20|7|8}} after a poor earnings forecast was put out,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/10/business/dow-declines-1.83-turnover-increases.html | title=Dow Declines 1.83; Turnover Increases | first=Alexander R. | last=Hammer | newspaper=The New York Times | date=December 10, 1983}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url= https://www.newspapers.com/image/14573563/?terms=%22informatics%2Bgeneral%22 | title=Market has small loss for week | agency=Associated Press | newspaper= The Galvestone Daily News | date= December 10, 1983 |page=23 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> or by a drop of {{frac|4|7|8}} to {{frac|15|3|8}} on a day in July 1984 when another a forecast for a break-even quarter was released.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/47536018/?terms=%22informatics%2Bgeneral%22 | title=Wall Street | first=Chet | last=Currier | agency=Associated Press | newspaper=The Gettysburg Times | date=July 19, 1984 | page=12 | via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> <!-- [[Stock buyback]]s https://www.newspapers.com/image/986794/?terms=%22informatics%2Bgeneral%22

"Markets: Stocks holding modest gain", UPI, Ukiah Daily Journal, 4 Oct 1984, page=7

Stock up 1 to 16 3/4 after company announces stock buy-back of 600K shares -->

[[Image:Informatics General Corporation quarterly reports and analysts briefing.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.75|Mailed quarterly reports and an analysts' briefing by Bauer: Informatics General was under constant pressure to improve its stock price]]

By 1985, Informatics General had some 2,600 employees and offices in 30 cities in North America and in nine other locations around the world.<ref name="lat-target"/> It was the fourth largest independent software company in the world.<ref name="legacy-bauer"/> Informatics had a solid cash position and almost no long-term debt.<ref name="lat-finally"/>

However the company and its stock was considered, in the words of the ''Los Angeles Times'', a "chronic underachiever" and "a lackluster performer on Wall Street".<ref name="lat-target"/><ref name="lat-finally"/> Overall the stock had fallen from a one-time high of $34 per share to around $17,<ref name="frank-82">Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", p. 82.</ref> with a low point of $14.<ref name="ct-somuch"/> In the 1984 book ''The Coming Computer Industry Shakeout'', writer [[Stephen T. McClellan]] had characterized Informatics General as "Doing too many things, none of them well."<ref>McClellan, ''The Coming Computer Industry Shakeout'', p. 249.</ref> He criticized company management, saying further said that "Bauer, the longtime chairman, is 60 years of age and has managed the firm too autocratically and too monotonously for too long."<ref name="mcclellan-250">McClellan, ''The Coming Computer Industry Shakeout'', p. 250.</ref> As a result, Wall Street analysts considered the company a prime target for acquisition, with the expectation that new management could make it a better.<ref name="lat-target"/>

[[Sterling Software]] had been founded in 1981 by executive Sterling Williams and investor [[Sam Wyly]] and found growth via a series of acquisitions, becoming public in 1983.<ref name="frank-80-81">Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", pp. 80–81.</ref> Wyly had a controversial background with both successes and failures, the latter including a $100 million loss in attempting to establish Datran, a U.S. nationwide digital network in direct competition with [[AT&T]].<ref name="ct-somuch"/>

Werner Frank had begun consulting for Sterling Software almost as soon as he left Informatics and became an executive vice president of Sterling in October 1984.<ref name="frank-80-81"/>

Sterling Software saw Informatics General as a possible acquisition, but Informatics management decided it did not want to be acquired, and especially not by Sterling Software.<ref name="ct-somuch"/> On April 15, 1985, Sterling offered $25 per share for Informatics, then when that was rejected by the Informatics board, on April 22 increased the offer to $26 per share.<ref name="cw-may1985-0">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q03IhagslNsC&pg=RA2-PA85 | title=Sterling launches proxy fight | first=Kathleen | last=Burton | magazine=Computerworld | date=May 6, 1985 | pages=85, 99}}</ref><ref name="lat-full-ad">{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/173074527/ | title=An Important Message to the Stockholders of Informatics General Corporation |newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=April 26, 1985 | page=90 | via=[[Newspapers.com]] | format=Advertisement}}</ref>

When that too was rejected, the acquisition attempt became an overt [[hostile takeover]] that was later described by one Informatics executive as "an all-out war", with both financial interests and pure ego driving it.<ref name="ct-somuch"/> Sterling deciding to stage a [[proxy battle]], taking out full page advertisements in newspapers such as the ''Wall Street Journal'' and the ''Los Angeles Times'' to try to convince shareholders to elect Wyly and Williams to the Informatics board at an upcoming [[Annual general meeting|shareholders' meeting]].<ref name="cw-may1985-0"/><ref name="lat-full-ad"/>

Line 337 ⟶ 351:

| magazine=Computerworld | date=May 20, 1985 | title=Informatics nixes Sterling's takeover bid | first=Kathleen | last=Burton | pages=12–13}}</ref> But Sterling also had a victory because some proposed enhanced anti-takeover measures were not approved.<ref name="ct-somuch"/> Furthermore, the fact that trading on the stock on Wall Street had become quite heavy, with some 70 percent of its issue changing hands during the battle, led to Bauer concluding that the company's shareholders actually did want to be acquired.<ref name="cw-may1985"/> Attempts by Informatics to find a [[White knight (business)|white knight]] came up empty.<ref name="ct-somuch"/> A series of other possible proposals for Informatics soon emerged, however;<ref name="frank-82"/> these included two specific offers, one from a private leverage buyout proposed by Bauer, the other from an unidentified third party.<ref name="lat-finally"/> But these were seen as inferior.<ref name="lat-finally"/>

So finally, on June 21. 1985, it was announced that Informatics board of directors had agreed to be acquired by Sterling for $27 per share, meaning $135 million in total.<ref name="lat-finally">{{cite news | url=httphttps://articleswww.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-06-22/business/-fi-2225_1_sterling2225-softwarestory.html | title=Sterling Software Sweetens Offer to $135 Million: Informatics General OKs Merger | first=Daniel | last=Akst | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=June 22, 1985}}</ref> The acquisition was approved by Informatics shareholders in a process that ended on August 13, 1985.<ref>{{cite news | url=httphttps://articleswww.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-08-14/business/-fi-2871_1_sterling2871-softwarestory.html | title=Sterling completed its buy-out of Informatics | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=August 14, 1985}}</ref> At that point, as the ''Chicago Tribune'' later wrote, "the Informatics name, long a legend in software circles, was gone."<ref name="ct-somuch">{{cite news | url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1987/09/25/page/37/article/so-much-for-software-complacency | first=Christine | last=Winter | title=So much for software complacency | newspaper=Chicago Tribune | date=September 25, 1987 | pages=3–1, 3–2 }}</ref>

== Aftermath and legacy ==

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The entire Informatics corporate headquarters office in Woodland Hills was let go, including Bauer.<ref name="frank-83"/> Bauer had been CEO of Informatics for its entire 23-year history, in what he believed was a record at the time for the longest period that a founding CEO had lasted in that position in a company.<ref name="bauer-oh-2-5">Johnson, "Oral History of Walter Bauer" (1995), p. 5.</ref> Bauer also believed he was the longest-tenured CEO in the computer industry at that time.<ref name="bauer-oh-2-5"/>

In reflectionReflecting on the hostile takeover process a couple of years later, he said, "I've been associated with a lot of firsts in the software industry. This was one I could have done without."<ref name="ct-somuch"/>

Sterling Software management insisted in the first years after the acquisition, and later in oral histories, that the transition had gone well, that layoffs other than at the corporate office had been minimal, and that they had brought about better performance than Informatics management had.<ref name="ct-somuch"/><ref name="oh-wyly-32"/><ref>Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", pp. 83, 96n.</ref> Informatics employees sometimes had a different perspective, as some 40 percent of the staff at the Canoga Park facility were laid off in September 1985, during a day employees called Black Thursday.<ref name="ct-somuch"/>

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The Informatics brand name may have lasted longest in connection with one of its aforementioned legal software entities, the Professional Software Systems Division. Sterling Software renamed it as the Informatics Legal Systems division, then sold it in 1986 to Baron Data Systems,<ref name="lat-lsd"/> a company that made legal and medical systems.<ref name="nw-briefs"/> Advertisements from that entity stressed "Informatics" far more than "Baron Data".<ref name="aba-no1"/> In 1987 Baron Data was acquired by [[Convergent Technologies]], a computer maker;<ref name="nw-briefs">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cxwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA9 | title=Briefs | magazine=Network World | date=March 9, 1987 | page=9}}</ref> Informatics Legal Systems remained as the name of the subsidiary under Convergent.<ref name="nyt-wang"/> But the legal software still ran on Wang systems and thus was not a match with the parent, so in 1988 the Phoenix operation was acquired by [[Wang Laboratories]] itself.<ref name="nyt-wang">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/02/business/company-news-wang-to-acquire-convergent-unit.html | title=Wang to Acquire Convergent Unit | newspaper=The New York Times | date=February 2, 1988 }}</ref> There it became known as the Wang Informatics Legal & Professional Systems, Inc. wholly owned subsidiary and was still based in Phoenix.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cR0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA36 | title=LAN file mgmt. pack gets upgrade | first=Tom | last=Smith | magazine=Network World | date=June 4, 1990 | page=36}}</ref> Wang Informatics was still active in 1992<ref name="wang-1992">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=64DHhtObEY0C&pg=PA76 | title=1992 ABA Annual Meeting Exhibitors List | magazine=ABA Journal | date=August 1992 | page=10A}}</ref> when Wang Laboratories itself went into bankruptcy.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-08-19-fi-5728-story.html | title=Troubled Wang Decides to File for Chapter 11 | agency=Associated Press | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=August 19, 1992}}</ref>

In 2000, Sterling Software was sold to [[Computer Associates]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB950538698506309305 | title= Computer Associates Sets Deal To Acquire Sterling Software | author-first= William M. | author-last=Bulkeley | newspaper=The Wall Street Journal | date=February 15, 2000}}</ref> That same year, Sterling Commerce was sold to [[SBC Communications]]; it later became part of IBM.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/ibm-buys-sterling-commerce-for-us1-4-billion/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129003335/https://www.zdnet.com/article/ibm-buys-sterling-commerce-for-us1-4-billion/ | url-status=dead | archive-date=November 29, 2020 | title=IBM buys Sterling Commerce for US$1.4 billion | author-first=Larry | author-last=Dignan | publisher=ZDNet | date=May 25, 2010 }}</ref>

Relations between Bauer and Frank did not remain completely sundered, and in 1999 Frank attended, along with Wagner, Postley, and three other early executives, a private "Informatics Retrospective" hosted by Bauer, where they could, in Bauer's words, "discuss what happened, good and bad."<ref>Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", p. 97n.</ref>

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* {{cite journal | last=Bauer | first=Walter F. | title=Informatics and (et) Informatique | journal=IEEE Annals of the History of Computing | volume=18 | issue=2 | date=1996 | pages=323–334 | url=http://softwarehistory.org/history/Bauer1.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031219085236/http://softwarehistory.org/history/Bauer1.html | archive-date=December 19, 2003 }}

* {{cite book | first1=Charles P. | last1=Bourne | first2=Trudi Bellardo | last2=Hahn | title=A History of Online Information Services, 1963–1976 | publisher=MIT Press | ___location= Cambridge, Massachusetts | date=2003}}

* {{cite book | title=From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog: A History of the Software Industry | url=https://archive.org/details/fromairlinereser00mart_0 | url-access=registration | first=Martin | last=Campbell-Kelly | publisher=MIT Press | ___location=Cambridge, Massachusetts | year=2003 | isbn=9780262033039978-0-262-03303-9 }}

* {{cite conference | last1=Cardenas | first1=Alfonso F. | last2=Grafton | first2=William P. | contribution=Challenges and requirements for new application generators | url=https://www.computer.org/csdl/proceedings/afips/1982/5089/00/50890341.pdf | title=AFIPS '82 Proceedings of the June 7–10, 1982, National Computer Conference | publisher=American Federation of Information Processing Societies | date=June 1982 | pages=341–349}}

* {{cite book | title=The Computer Establishmentinterview | url=https://archiveconservancy.orgumn.edu/detailshandle/computerestablis00fish11299/107222 | url-accesstitle=registrationAn Interview with Bruce Coleman OH 337 | first=Katharine DavisBruce | last=FishmanColeman | interviewer=William Aspray | publisher=Charles McGraw-HillBabbage BookInstitute, CompanyUniversity of Minnesota | ___location=NewWashington, YorkD.C. | yeardate=1981May |3, isbn=97800702112782002 | type=paperback 1982}}

* {{cite interview | url=https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102746639 | title=Oral History of Bruce Coleman X6825.2013 | first=Bruce | last=Coleman | interviewer=Burt Grad | publisher=Computer History Museum | ___location=Telephonic| date=April 30, 2013 <!-- https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2020/01/102746639-05-01-acc.pdf -->}} Interview completed May 2, 2013.

* {{cite book | title=The Computer Establishment | url=https://archive.org/details/computerestablis00fish | url-access=registration | first=Katharine Davis | last=Fishman | publisher= McGraw-Hill Book Company | ___location=New York | year=1981 | isbn=978-0-07-021127-8 | type=paperback 1982}}

* {{cite book | last=Frank | first=Werner L. | title=Legacy: The Saga of a German-Jewish Family Across Time and Circumstance | publisher=Avotaynu Foundation | ___location= Bergenfield, New Jersey | year=2003 | chapter=Chapter 22: Achieving the American Dream: Becoming an Entrepreneur | chapter-url=http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/Oral_History/Frank_Werner/Frank_Werner.oral_history.2006.102657942.pdf | pages=478–529}} Chapter also appears beginning on p.&nbsp;31 of pdf and cited page numbers are to those pages.

* {{cite interview | last=Frank | first=Werner | interviewer=Jeff Yost | title=Oral History of Werner Frank | publisher=Computer History Museum | date=February 14, 2006 | ___location=Mountain View, California | url=http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/Oral_History/Frank_Werner/Frank_Werner.oral_history.2006.102657942.pdf }}

* {{cite journal | first1=James P. | last1=Fry | first2=Edgar H. | last2=Sibley | title=Evolution of Data-Base Management Systems | journal=ACM Computing Surveys | volume=8 | issue=1 | date=March 1976 | pages=7–42 <!-- | doi=10.1145/356662.356664 -->| doi=10.1145/356662.356664 | s2cid=14976899 | doi-access=free }}

* {{cite conference | last=Haigh | first=Thomas | contribution='A Veritable Bucket of Facts': Origins of the Data Base Management System, 1960–1980 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=76OOQannpBgC&pg=PA83 | title=The History and Heritage of Scientific and Technological Information Systems: Proceedings of the 2002 Conference | publisher=Information Today | ___location=Medford, New Jersey | date=2004 | pages=73–88 | editor-first=W. Boyd | editor-last=Rayward | editor2-first=Mary Ellen | editor2-last=Bowden}}

* {{cite journal | url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/369202 | title=How Data Got its Base: Information Storage Software in the 1950s and 1960s | first=Thomas | last=Haigh | journal= IEEE Annals of the History of Computing | volume= 31 | number=4 | date=October–December 2009 | pages= 6–25 |url-access=subscription |via=[[Project MUSE]] | doi=10.1109/MAHC.2009.123 | bibcode=2009IAHC...31d...6H | s2cid=8073037 }}

* {{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40397797 | title=Advances in Information System Design | author-first=Benn R. | author-last=Konsynski | journal=Journal of Management Information Systems | volume= 1 | number= 3 | date=Winter 1984–1985 | pages= 5–32 | jstor=40397797 }}

* {{cite book | title=The Coming Computer Industry Shakeout: Winners, Losers, and Survivors | url=https://archive.org/details/comingcomputerin0000mccl | url-access=registration | first=Stephen T. | last=McClellan | publisher=Wiley | ___location=New York | year=1984| isbn=9780471880639978-0-471-88063-9 }}

* {{cite book | last=Notto | first=Ralph W. | title=Challenge And Consequence: ... forcing change to eCommerce | publisher=Fenestra Books | ___location=Tucson, Arizona | date=2005}}

* {{cite interview | last=Postley | first=John | interviewer=Luanne Johnson | title=Oral History of John Postley | publisher=Computer History Museum | date=March 26, 1986 | ___location=Los Angeles, California | url=http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102658229 }}

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* {{cite book |last=Yost |first=Jeffrey R. |title=The Computer Industry |publisher=Greenwood Publishing |___location=Westport, Connecticut | date=2005}}

* {{cite book|last1=Yost|first1=Jeffrey R.|title=Making IT Work: A History of the Computer Services Industry|date=2017|publisher=The MIT Press|___location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|isbn=978-0-262-03672-6|oclc=978286108}}

* {{cite journal | last=Yost | first=Jeffrey R. | title=Computer Industry Pioneer: Erwin Tomash (1921–2012) | journal=IEEE Annals of the History of Computing | volume=35 | issue=2 | date=April–June 2013 | pages=4–7 | url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/522030 |url-access=subscription |via=[[Project MUSE]] | doi=10.1109/MAHC.2013.17 | bibcode=2013IAHC...35b...4Y | s2cid=11095958 | doi-access=free }}

* {{cite journal | last=Yost | first=Jeffrey R. | title=Werner Frank | journal=Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present | volume= 5 | editor-first= R. Daniel | editor-last=Wadhwani | publisher= German Historical Institute | date= August 9, 2013 | url= http://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entry.php?rec=156 }}

{{refend}}

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{{refbegin|30em}}

* {{cite journal | last=Bauer | first=Walter F. | title=Informatics: An Early Software Company | journal= IEEE Annals of the History of Computing | volume=18 | issue=2 | date=Summer 1996 | pages= 70–76}}

* {{cite journal | title=Informatics Acquisition by Sterling Software: Unsolicited Offer, Takeover Attempt, and Merger | first=Walter F. | last=Bauer | journal= IEEE Annals of the History of Computing | volume=28 | issue= 3 | date= July–September 2006 | pages=32–40| doi=10.1109/MAHC.2006.51 | bibcode=2006IAHC...28c..32B | s2cid=34259417 }}

* {{cite book | first=Richard L. | last=Forman | title=Fulfilling the Computer's Promise: The History of Informatics, 1962–1982 | publisher=Informatics General Corp. | date=1985 }} Exhaustive internal study. Praised by Campbell-Kelly as a major corporate history <!-- (p.&nbsp;23)(and in this chapter essay https://books.google.com/books?id=NZOqCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA187),--> but iswas a privately published typescript and thus hard to find. –Subsequently made available [httphttps://www.worldcatcomputerhistory.org/titlecollections/fulfilling-the-computers-promise-the-history-of-informatics-1962-1982catalog/oclc/29056478&referer=brief_results102679129 seeat WorldCatthe entryComputer History Museum].

* {{cite journal | last=Postley | first=John A. | title=Mark IV: Evolution of the Software Product, a Memoir | journal = IEEE Annals of the History of Computing | volume=20 | issue=1 | date=January–March 1998 | pages= 43–50| doi=10.1109/85.646208 }}

{{refend}}