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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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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 "Société pour l'informatique appliquée" for a new firm of which he was co-founder, thus creating a French version of the same name.<ref name="bauer-et"/>
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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==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
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>
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===Mark IV and Mark V===
{{main|
[[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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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 {{cite news | author-last=Snyders | author-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}}
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, [[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 [[Pansophic Systems]].<ref>Konsynski, "Advances in Information System Design", p. 27.</ref>
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[[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>
<!-- 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> -->
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"/>
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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"/>
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* {{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 | 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=978-0-471-88063-9 }}
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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 |
* {{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. 23)(and in this chapter essay https://books.google.com/books?id=NZOqCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA187),--> but was a privately published typescript and thus hard to find. Subsequently made available [https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102679129 at the Computer 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 }}
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