Computer History: IBM SABRE Reservation System, American Airlines (1960 scheduling air fare flights) @ComputerHistoryArchivesProject

Computer History Archives Project (CHAP) | Computer History: IBM SABRE Reservation System, American Airlines (1960 scheduling air fare flights) @ComputerHistoryArchivesProject | Uploaded January 2021 | Updated October 2024, 1 week ago.
American Airlines: IBM Computer History: Origin of the IBM SABRE Airline Reservation System, developed from 1957 to 1959, installed in 1960. The world’s first large scale electronic reservation system. Built utilizing IBM 7090 mainframe and technologies used in the Air Force’s missile defense program, it revolutionized the airline industry of the 1960’s. With vintage films from the 1950’s and a rare IBM film of the SABRE Experimental Agent’s workstation of 1958, we can see how the system evolved over time. We also discuss the pre-SABRE “Reservisor” system developed by Teleregister Corporation. A 4 minute historical into, followed by the 8 minute IBM Experimental workstation, and short image glossary. Total run time about 13 mins.

{Presented for Educational and Historical use only. IBM film clip is copyrighted by International Business Machines Corporation and used here with permission. Computer History Archives Project ("CHAP")

IBM originally named the project SABER for “Semi-Automatic Business Environment Response”.
In 1959, American Airlines changed it to SABRE for “Semi-Automatic Business Research Environment”, for marketing purposes.

With Special Thanks to:

IBM Corporate Archives
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
Max Campbell, Archivist
ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/sabre

Computer History Museum
Mountain View, California
Dag Spicer, Senior Curator
computerhistory.org

Charles Babbage Institute
(Oral history interview of R. Blair Smith)
https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/107637

San Diego Air and Space Museum Archives
youtube.com/user/sdasmarchives

Vintage Airport film footage
The Prelinger Archives

Modern Narration: David Melvin

Reference Links:

SABRE: 10 page report describing the System (Computer History Museum)
computer.org/csdl/pds/api/csdl/proceedings/download-article/12OmNC943FL/pdf

Teleregister Corporation brochure (Computer History Museum)
archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/Teleregister/Teleregister.SpecialPurposeSystems.1956.102646324.pdf

(IBM 7090 Specs) A Third Survey of Domestic Electronic Digital Computing Systems
Report No. 1115, March 1961, by Martin H. Weik, by Ballistic Research Lab.(BRL),
Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland
ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/BRL61.html

Datamation magazine, March 1969
Issue Topic: “The busy crowded world of air transportation”
bitsavers.org/magazines/Datamation/196903.pdf

The Sabre Story (Sabre Corporation)
sabre.com/files/Sabre-History.pdf

Sabre Holdings Corporation (history, profile)
referenceforbusiness.com/history/Ro-Sh/Sabre-Holdings-Corporation.html

Book: “Airline Operations and Management “
by Gerald N. Cook and Bruce G. Billig, 2017, Routledge, New York, NY

DC 7 History --
epicflightacademy.com/dc-7

1968 HOW VACUUM TUBES are Made: English Electric Valve Co EEV Television Radio Radar CRT Cameras

HOW TELEVISION WORKS 1952 Educational overview

DO YOU REMEMBER XEROX WORD PROCESSING? 1975 Computer History Secretary Typing Women Office Machines

Brief History of MOTOROLA 1930 - 1997 (auto radios, TV, Cell phones, microprocessors)

Computer History IBMs FIRST PERSONAL COMPUTER?? The IBM 610 AUTO-POINT (Auto Point) 1957

$Computer History: 1966 PLATO Computer Aided Learning System Univ. Illinois (CDC education teaching) Computer History 1966: This vintage film focuses on the early PLATO COMPUTER CAL (Computer Assisted Learning) system developed at the University of Illinois, starting in 1960. PLATO was a pioneering computer-based education system created in 1960 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by a team led by Donald Bitzer, who is regarded as the “Father of Plato.” Originally running on an ILLIAC I computer, it was later redesigned and expanded to run on a CDC 1604 computer, as seen in this film. Donald L. Bitzer is an American electrical engineer and computer scientist. He was also the co-inventor of the plasma display and a long time advocate of computer learning technologies. In October 2002, Dr. Bitzer was awarded an Emmy by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for his efforts in advancing television technology. PLATO: By the late 1970s, PLATO supported several thousand graphics terminals distributed worldwide, running on nearly a dozen different networked mainframes. Many modern concepts in multi-user computing were originally developed or expanded on PLATO. Control Data Corporation (CDC) purchased commercial rights to PLATO around 1976 and brought about many innovations and engaged in widespread promotion. However, sales were hurt by high costs which impacted long term viability. PLATO related software and technologies wove their way into many future applications, with influences seen in modern computers. {Note: This brief excerpt is from the film: The “Process of Communication” (circa 1966) by the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.} With thanks to SpeakeasyArchives for film restoration. http://www.speakeasyarchives.com See More about PLATO (Wikip) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLATO_(computer_system)) More about Donald Bitzer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Bitzer) More about CDC: Control Data Corporation (Wikip) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_Data_Corporation Terms and Acronyms: CBT – Computer Based Training CAL – Computer Aided Learning CAL – Computer Assisted Learning CAI – Computer Aided Instruction CAI – Computer Assisted Instruction UIUC – University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Speakers Include: Donald L. Bitzer Elisabeth R. Lyman Harvey Gelder SOCRATES, another CAL system. During the same early time period (1960’s), University of Illinois was also home to the “SOCRATES” Project. “SOCRATES” stood for “System for Organizing Content to Review And Teach Educational Subjects.” The pioneering SOCRATES system included specialized student terminals connected to a central IBM 1710 computer, which provided highly adaptive individualized instruction to several students simultaneously. One of the first computer aided learning systems at a university campus. See Video: https://youtu.be/LcUyZPpAYas * Welcome! If you enjoy our historical videos, please help us provide more vintage content with a donation. https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=LCNS584PPN28E ~ Your contribution greatly helps! Thank you for your support! - Computer History Archives Project (CHAP)$

1967 Navy Satellite Navigation training film (IBM 7094 data center, AN/UYK, IBM 1410, 7702)

Sperry Univac 1100/60 Mainframe Computer announcement 1979 (Unisys history)

1970 Vintage Electronics- The CATHODE RAY OSCILLOSCOPE - CRT Tektronix 561A HP 180A

NASA Apollo Space Program: Communications (Computers; Telemetry, Skylab) 1973

1969 IBM Mag Card Selectric Typewriter MC/ST Electronic Word Processing Magnetic Storage automation