From Mainframe Computers to Network Computing

2019/06/28

Image: Transistorized Electronic Computer "K-1"

In 1958 (Showa 33), the transistorized electronic computer "K-1" was developed at the Faculty of Engineering located on the Koganei Campus. It was the first computer installed at the Juku. In the 60-plus years since then, the Juku's computing environment has undergone constant change throughout the Showa and Heisei eras.

The Juku's computing environment during the Showa era can be thought of as a "history of improving mainframe computer processing power." Following the K-1, commercial electronic computers manufactured by IBM and Toshiba were installed at Mita and the Faculty of Engineering, respectively, between 1963 and 1965. Furthermore, in 1969, an IBM 7040 was installed at the Hiyoshi Campus for the purpose of shared use within Keio.

In 1973, as the successor to the IBM 7040, a UNIVAC with approximately 10 times the main memory capacity (though it was only 262K) was introduced to the Hiyoshi Campus. Processing performance and the user environment improved, including connections to other campuses via 4,800 bps communication lines.

In 1979, successors to the UNIVAC (manufactured by Fujitsu) were installed at two locations, Hiyoshi Campus and Mita. Since then, mainframes have been replaced approximately every three to five years, continuously improving processing performance.

On the other hand, the Juku's computing environment during the Heisei era can be viewed as a "history of network development."

In 1984, network connections were established between the Tokyo Institute of Technology and the University of Tokyo. This was the origin of the internet in Japan.

At the Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC), which opened in 1990 (Heisei 2), a campus network called SFC-CNS was installed, providing an environment where computers could be used as everyday tools.

In 1996, the "Keio Information Super Highway (KISH)" was installed to interconnect campuses via a high-speed, broadband network. KISH has been updated approximately every four years to increase speed and bandwidth. Currently, campuses are connected by high-speed lines of 20 Gbps, with external connections at 100 Gbps. The seventh phase of updates will take place in the summer of 2019 (Reiwa 1).

From the Showa era, when users carried punch cards to terminal rooms to share a single mainframe with 12 MB of main memory and 6 GB of auxiliary storage while storing data on magnetic tape, to the Heisei era, when PC performance improved dramatically and the internet spread, the Juku has continued to provide users with the latest computing environments. Even when the term "AI" becomes a thing of the past in the Reiwa era, the Juku will likely continue to pursue the cutting edge.

The K-1 electronic computer introduced at the beginning was certified as an Information Processing Technology Heritage by the Information Processing Society of Japan in 2018 and is currently on display at the Yagami Campus.

(Yasuki Kaneko, Administrative Director, ITC Headquarters)