Computers, India: history, milestones - Revision history

Jyoti: /* The 1950s-70s */

2023-12-01T00:36:44Z

‎The 1950s-70s

Pdewan: /* 2022: Param Pravega */

2023-11-12T17:11:55Z

‎2022: Param Pravega

Pdewan: /* 2022: Param Pravega */

2023-11-12T17:10:56Z

‎2022: Param Pravega

Pdewan: Pdewan moved page Computers: India to Computers, India: history, milestones

2023-11-12T17:05:56Z

Pdewan moved page Computers: India to Computers, India: history, milestones

Jyoti: /* HCL and its precursors */

2023-06-22T18:52:13Z

‎HCL and its precursors

Jyoti: /* The 1950s-70s */

2023-06-22T18:47:45Z

‎The 1950s-70s

Pdewan: /* TT1950s-70s */

2023-06-16T10:49:52Z

‎TT1950s-70s

Jyoti: /* India’s first computer */

2023-06-12T06:28:33Z

‎India’s first computer

Jyoti: /* As in 2020 */

2022-02-16T18:56:19Z

‎As in 2020

Jyoti at 15:15, 27 January 2022

2022-01-27T15:15:43Z

@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 The first Indians to undergo training on computers were probably professors Amresh Roy and Monimohan Mookerji of the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) in Kolkata in the mid-1950s. ISI purchased a HEC2M made by British Tabulating Machines (BTM) and designed by Andrew Booth at Birkbeck College London. The Indian professors trained with Booth on how to program and maintain this computer. BTM felt it would sell only one computer in India, and it was not economically viable to station their service team in India.
- In the 1960s, many young scientists recruited for India’s nuclear energy and space programmes were trained on the indigenous TIFRAC computer built by the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR). Abdul Kalam, who became the President of India, recalled that one of his first assignments when he joined the space programme was to work with the TIFRAC team. TIFR’s and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre’s capability in computer hardware were instrumental in setting up a public
+ In the 1960s, many young scientists recruited for India’s nuclear energy and space programmes were trained on the indigenous TIFRAC computer built by the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR). Abdul Kalam, who became the President of India, recalled that one of his first assignments when he joined the space programme was to work with the TIFRAC team. TIFR’s and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre’s capability in computer hardware were instrumental in setting up a public sector company, Electronics Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL). The TDC 12 from ECIL was India’s commercially produced computer.
 sector company, Electronics Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL). The TDC 12 from ECIL was India’s commercially produced computer.
 The first programmes to build Indian capability in high-level programming probably began in the early 1960s in IIT Kanpur. Since they were set up with US support, faculty from leading US universities visited IIT Kanpur to set up labs and teach. An IBM 1620 computer arrived in IIT Kanpur in 1963 and was among the first computers in India that could be programmed with a highlevel language like Fortran. The visiting American faculty along with the now legendary Indian fac- ulty, V Rajaraman and H N Mahabala, set up the IIT Kanpur computer lab and devised a ten-day course. The course covered Fortran programming, numerical methods, and introduction to computer architecture. This was open to professionals in government and industry. F C Kohli, the first CEO of TCS, attended this course.
@@ Line 43: / Line 42: @@
 ''N Dayasindhu is co-founder of itihaasa Research and Digital.''
 ===Training===
@@ Line 49: / Line 55: @@
 In-company training programmes evolved from the early 1970s when TCS invited the faculty of IIT Kanpur to teach computer programming to their college recruits. Later, they invited H N Mahabala to set up a training programme on programming and systems design and this became the foundation for the industrial scale in-house training programmes for fresh college recruits in TCS. A pinnacle of Indian IT’s capability building is Infosys’ Global Education Centre in Mysuru. It rivals the campuses of the best universities in the world in terms of its state-of-the-art learning and recreational facilities, and can simultaneously train about 13,500 professionals.
 ==HCL and its precursors==

@@ Line 274: / Line 274: @@
 The SahasraT supercomputer hosts an array of programme development tools, utilities, and libraries for developing and executing High Performance Computing (HPC) applications. Faculty members and students have been using this facility to carry out research in various areas. These include research on Covid-19 and other infectious diseases, such as modelling viral entry and binding, studying interactions of proteins in bacterial and viral diseases, and designing new molecules with antibacterial and antiviral properties. Researchers have also used the facility to simulate turbulent flows for green energy technologies, study climate change and associated impacts, analyse aircraft engines and hypersonic flight vehicles, and many other research activities. These efforts are expected to ramp up significantly with Param Pravega.
-[[Categ=See also=
+=See also=
 [[Computers, access to, and internet/ digital penetration: India ]]
 [[ Computers, India: business]]
 [[Computers, India: history, milestones ]]
-ory:China|CCOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIA
-COMPUTERS: INDIA]]
-[[Category:Economy-Industry-Resources|CCOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIA
-COMPUTERS: INDIA]]
-[[Category:India|CCOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIA
-COMPUTERS: INDIA]]
-[[Category:S&T|CCOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIA
+[[Category:China|CCOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS, INDIA: HISTORY, MILESTONES
-COMPUTERS: INDIA]]
-−
-[[Category:China|CCOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIA
 COMPUTERS, INDIA: HISTORY, MILESTONES]]
-[[Category:Economy-Industry-Resources|CCOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIA
+[[Category:Economy-Industry-Resources|CCOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS, INDIA: HISTORY, MILESTONES
 COMPUTERS, INDIA: HISTORY, MILESTONES]]
-[[Category:India|CCOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIA
+[[Category:India|CCOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS, INDIA: HISTORY, MILESTONES
 COMPUTERS, INDIA: HISTORY, MILESTONES]]
-[[Category:Pages with broken file links|COMPUTERS: INDIA
+[[Category:Pages with broken file links|COMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS, INDIA: HISTORY, MILESTONES
 COMPUTERS, INDIA: HISTORY, MILESTONES]]
-[[Category:S&T|CCOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIA
+[[Category:S&T|CCOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS, INDIA: HISTORY, MILESTONES
 COMPUTERS, INDIA: HISTORY, MILESTONES]]

@@ Line 274: / Line 274: @@
 The SahasraT supercomputer hosts an array of programme development tools, utilities, and libraries for developing and executing High Performance Computing (HPC) applications. Faculty members and students have been using this facility to carry out research in various areas. These include research on Covid-19 and other infectious diseases, such as modelling viral entry and binding, studying interactions of proteins in bacterial and viral diseases, and designing new molecules with antibacterial and antiviral properties. Researchers have also used the facility to simulate turbulent flows for green energy technologies, study climate change and associated impacts, analyse aircraft engines and hypersonic flight vehicles, and many other research activities. These efforts are expected to ramp up significantly with Param Pravega.
-[[Category:China|CCOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIA
+[[Categ=See also=
 COMPUTERS: INDIA]]
 [[Category:Economy-Industry-Resources|CCOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIA
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 [[Category:India|CCOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIA
 COMPUTERS: INDIA]]
-[[Category:Pages with broken file links|COMPUTERS: INDIA]]
 [[Category:S&T|CCOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIA
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@@ Line 51: / Line 51: @@
 ==HCL and its precursors==
-[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/article-share?article=16_06_2023_021_005_cap_TOI  Ajai Chowdhry, May 16, 2023: ''The Times of India'']
+[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/article-share?article=16_06_2023_021_005_cap_TOI  Ajai Chowdhry, June 16, 2023: ''The Times of India'']
@@ Line 68: / Line 68: @@
  Given the exploding demand for electronics now, all these skills will help us in becoming the product capital of the world, backed by favourable geo-politics.  Ajai Chowdhry is co-founder of HCL, chairman of EPIC Foundation, and author of Just Aspire
 [[Category:China|CCOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIA

@@ Line 50: / Line 50: @@
 In-company training programmes evolved from the early 1970s when TCS invited the faculty of IIT Kanpur to teach computer programming to their college recruits. Later, they invited H N Mahabala to set up a training programme on programming and systems design and this became the foundation for the industrial scale in-house training programmes for fresh college recruits in TCS. A pinnacle of Indian IT’s capability building is Infosys’ Global Education Centre in Mysuru. It rivals the campuses of the best universities in the world in terms of its state-of-the-art learning and recreational facilities, and can simultaneously train about 13,500 professionals.
-[[Category:China|CCOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIA
+==HCL and its precursors==
-COMPUTERS: INDIA]]
+[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/article-share?article=16_06_2023_021_005_cap_TOI  Ajai Chowdhry, May 16, 2023: ''The Times of India'']
-[[Category:Economy-Industry-Resources|CCOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIA
-COMPUTERS: INDIA]]
-[[Category:India|CCOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIA
+For years, the Indian computer industry has had arms swinging in both directions, hardware and software. The big boys of the Indian computer scene have been adept at both. It may come as a surprise to many that some of the leading software companies of today actually started out as hardware firms or had a hardware connect. The birth of Infosys, for example, can be traced to Mumbai-based Patni Computers, which used to be a distribution company for Data General (one of the first minicomputer firms of the late 1960s in the US).
-COMPUTERS: INDIA]]
-[[Category:Pages with broken file links|COMPUTERS: INDIA
+Founder Narendra Patni became one of the early software exporters when he started getting business for software. In 1977, Narendra Patni appointed NR Narayana Murthy to head the software division. Murthy left Patni Computers in 1980 along with six colleagues to found Infosys. Just like Murthy, other Infosys co-founders, including Nandan Nilekani and Kris Gopalakrishnan, too have a hardware connect, having started their career at Patni Computers.
-COMPUTERS: INDIA]]
+ Hinditron, founded in 1966 and now into software, telecom and more, too started with selling digital hardware and PCs. Harish S Mehta, co-founder of Nasscom, was in hardware initially. Tata Burroughs was formed following a collaboration between the Tata Group and Burroughs in 1977. While Burroughs was among the largest computer manufacturers in the world, its joint venture with TCS opened for Tatas many global opportunities including TCS’s first big IT outsourcing contract – to upgrade a hospital accounting system for about $24,000.
-[[Category:S&T|CCOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIA
-COMPUTERS: INDIA]]
+ HCL too has its origins embedded in hardware. We had set up a hardware manufacturing plant in Silicon Valley, US. But due to a US government specification, that hardware could not be supplied, and a large loan from ICICI Bank became a question mark. The product that we wanted to sell in America was a multiprocessor – a Unix-based minicomputer. The OS we created for this multi-processing hardware was absolutely unique – a fine grained Unix, the first in the world. Since we could not continue with the hardware business in America, we pivoted towards software, strengthening our R&D base. Our Unix capability led us to the software business. Wipro too moved to software because of its hardware capability. That’s how our homegrown firms started competing with biggies like Accenture and Capgemini.
 [[Category:China|CCOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIA

@@ Line 21: / Line 21: @@
 '' India’s first computer ''
-==TT1950s-70s==
+==The 1950s-70s==
 [https://epaper.timesgroup.com/article-share?article=19_05_2023_021_013_cap_TO N Dayasindhu, May 19, 2023: ''The Times of India'']
@@ Line 49: / Line 49: @@
 In-company training programmes evolved from the early 1970s when TCS invited the faculty of IIT Kanpur to teach computer programming to their college recruits. Later, they invited H N Mahabala to set up a training programme on programming and systems design and this became the foundation for the industrial scale in-house training programmes for fresh college recruits in TCS. A pinnacle of Indian IT’s capability building is Infosys’ Global Education Centre in Mysuru. It rivals the campuses of the best universities in the world in terms of its state-of-the-art learning and recreational facilities, and can simultaneously train about 13,500 professionals.
 [[Category:China|CCOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIA

← Older revision		Revision as of 06:28, 12 June 2023
Line 20:		Line 20:

	'' India’s first computer ''		'' India’s first computer ''
		+
		+	==TT1950s-70s==
		+	[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/article-share?article=19_05_2023_021_013_cap_TO N Dayasindhu, May 19, 2023: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+	[[File: IBM 1620 arrives at IIT Kanpur in 1963.jpg\|IBM 1620 arrives at IIT Kanpur in 1963 <br/> From: [https://epaper.timesgroup.com/article-share?article=19_05_2023_021_013_cap_TO N Dayasindhu, May 19, 2023: ''The Times of India'']\|frame\|500px]]
		+
		+
		+	The first Indians to undergo training on computers were probably professors Amresh Roy and Monimohan Mookerji of the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) in Kolkata in the mid-1950s. ISI purchased a HEC2M made by British Tabulating Machines (BTM) and designed by Andrew Booth at Birkbeck College London. The Indian professors trained with Booth on how to program and maintain this computer. BTM felt it would sell only one computer in India, and it was not economically viable to station their service team in India.
		+
		+	In the 1960s, many young scientists recruited for India’s nuclear energy and space programmes were trained on the indigenous TIFRAC computer built by the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR). Abdul Kalam, who became the President of India, recalled that one of his first assignments when he joined the space programme was to work with the TIFRAC team. TIFR’s and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre’s capability in computer hardware were instrumental in setting up a public
		+	sector company, Electronics Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL). The TDC 12 from ECIL was India’s commercially produced computer.
		+
		+	The first programmes to build Indian capability in high-level programming probably began in the early 1960s in IIT Kanpur. Since they were set up with US support, faculty from leading US universities visited IIT Kanpur to set up labs and teach. An IBM 1620 computer arrived in IIT Kanpur in 1963 and was among the first computers in India that could be programmed with a highlevel language like Fortran. The visiting American faculty along with the now legendary Indian fac- ulty, V Rajaraman and H N Mahabala, set up the IIT Kanpur computer lab and devised a ten-day course. The course covered Fortran programming, numerical methods, and introduction to computer architecture. This was open to professionals in government and industry. F C Kohli, the first CEO of TCS, attended this course.
		+
		+	The first course in programming for undergraduate students was the TA (Technical Arts)-306 in IIT Kanpur. Abhay Bhushan, an IIT Kanpur student of this era, went on to write the original specification for the seminal File Transfer Protocol while at MIT. In the mid-1960s, IIT Kanpur introduced the MTech programme in electrical engineering with a specialisation in computer science. N R Narayana Murthy, the founder of Infosys, is a graduate of this programme.
		+
		+	With the growing interest in programming in India, Rajaraman’s lecture notes were published as the book ₹Principles of Programming’ in the late 1960s. The publisher printed it on newsprint since the author insisted that the book should be affordable to students. IIT Kanpur went on to start one of India’s first undergraduate BTech courses in computer science in 1978.
		+
		+	In 1978, the department of electronics set up a manpower development committee headed by Rajaraman that recommended a new academic programme called the Master of Computer Applications (MCA), as a post BSc qualification. This improved the job prospects for young Indians with a BSc degree and provided a boost to the supply of trained IT professionals. A famous graduate of the MCA programme is N Chandrasekaran, who was the CEO of TCS and is now the chairperson of Tata Sons.
		+
		+	Mahabala moved to IIT Madras in the early 1970s to set up the computer science department there. IIT Madras got an IBM 370, which was one of Asia’s most powerful computers in that era and started an MTech programme in computer science. IIT Madras encouraged students with an MSc degree to enrol. This provided an opportunity for Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder of Infosys, to pursue this MTech programme.
		+
		+	''N Dayasindhu is co-founder of itihaasa Research and Digital.''
		+
		+	===Training===
		+	====The 1970s====
		+	'''INDUSTRIAL-SCALE TRAINING'''
		+
		+	In-company training programmes evolved from the early 1970s when TCS invited the faculty of IIT Kanpur to teach computer programming to their college recruits. Later, they invited H N Mahabala to set up a training programme on programming and systems design and this became the foundation for the industrial scale in-house training programmes for fresh college recruits in TCS. A pinnacle of Indian IT’s capability building is Infosys’ Global Education Centre in Mysuru. It rivals the campuses of the best universities in the world in terms of its state-of-the-art learning and recreational facilities, and can simultaneously train about 13,500 professionals.
		+
		+	[[Category:China\|CCOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIA
		+	COMPUTERS: INDIA]]
		+	[[Category:Economy-Industry-Resources\|CCOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIA
		+	COMPUTERS: INDIA]]
		+	[[Category:India\|CCOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIA
		+	COMPUTERS: INDIA]]
		+	[[Category:Pages with broken file links\|COMPUTERS: INDIA
		+	COMPUTERS: INDIA]]
		+	[[Category:S&T\|CCOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIACOMPUTERS: INDIA
		+	COMPUTERS: INDIA]]

	= Supercomputers and India=		= Supercomputers and India=