At the beginning of 1956, the blue giant IBM finally came out of the failure to develop a "defense computer". Watson Jr. was not able to develop the "national defense computer" before Carpenter Electronics launched the world's first transistor computer.

In the process of research and development, their machine was already lagging behind, and was finally ruthlessly abandoned by the Ministry of Defense. Fortunately, Watson Jr. had a contract to get this order, and even if the computer was backward, the Ministry of Defense had to order a few back. This money is more than enough to make up for the lost money of the IBM company.

However, IBM's lost time and manpower cannot be compensated. This was a big failure for Watson Jr. He was determined to compete with Carpenter Electronics in the computer market. In the past few years, he led IBM's technical staff to thoroughly study the "first" transistor computer.

Crucially, they have a powerful tool: "disk storage!" ”

This is Watson Jr.'s rapid establishment of a new laboratory and factory by his trusted engineer Renaud Johnson after the failure of the development of the "defense computer". Renault, a secondary school teacher and self-taught inventor, led more than 30 young engineers to develop an impressive technology for IBM in less than three years. That's disk storage.

Now, Watson Jr., believes it's time to start retaliating. He asked IBM to announce a plan: "IBM is ready to invest $12 million in research and development of the IBM 360 computer, which will use IBM's latest storage technology, disk storage!" ”

As soon as the news broke, it shocked all the companies and researchers in the computer world. They asked for details about the IBM360 project, and found that this computer, once developed, would be the fastest computer in the world.

After knowing the news, Alex couldn't sit still, and after he saw IBM's disk storage, he shouted repeatedly: "These hateful thieves! Thieves! ”

It turned out that IBM's disk storage was borrowed from the disks on the "original" computers. It's just that Alex had the intention to develop a large hard disk for later generations, but found that the technology at that time had not yet met the requirements. So the standard was lowered and a large disk in the style of a record player was used to record computer data. It's just that this kind of thing, which is barely called a disk, can only be written and cannot support repeated reads and writes.

This was very close to the disk that IBM would later develop, and Alex had his men work real disk storage. Unexpectedly, after IBM saw this idea from the "first" computer, he immediately joined in the research and development of this area, and as a result, IBM was the first to obtain the patent for this technology.

From the perspective of patent law, IBM has traces of suspected plagiarism, and Alex immediately asked the lawyer to organize the materials and prepare for a lawsuit over this matter.

When Alex was scolding others, he didn't think that he was also a habitual thief, and many of his songs and inventions were taken from later generations. At first, he was a little uneasy about this behavior, but after doing more of it, he took it for granted. When others copy it on his head, he feels uncomfortable.

"Gotta put some pressure on those guys!" Alex decided to go and see how Seymour Clay's R&D work was doing.

Escorted by bodyguards, Alex arrives at the Carpenter Electronics company's research room. The work here has always been led by Barth, and the specific research and development work is carried out by the people of each group. When he arrived, he found that Bart was already in a meeting with the team that developed disk storage, and after listening to the contents, they were discussing IBM's research and development plans.

Everyone had different opinions, and the scene was a mess. After reading this, Alex felt that his father, Bart, might only be suitable for managing the technical application team, but not capable of leading the research and development work. He was thinking about whether to find time to talk to Bart and let Bart give way and find someone capable to lead. He is very optimistic about Moses Clay, but it's a pity that this guy has the ability, but he doesn't want to care about so many people.

Alex's arrival was soon discovered. Bart also felt a little strange, he knew that Alex didn't like to do scientific work. Just a little thought, I understood the purpose of Alex's coming.

"Are you worried about IBM's 360 plan?" Bart asked solemnly.

Alex nodded, he looked left and right, and said, "What about the 'disk storage' you developed?" I'd like to see where your R&D progress is now. ”

"Our R&D work is almost complete, but IBM is one step ahead."

"Stop talking nonsense, take me to see it."

The person in charge of the development immediately took him to a prototype of a disk storage machine that looked the size of a 16-page book, much smaller than the one released by IBM.

"We can only do this at the very least, not at a young age." said the person in charge.

When Alex saw it, he understood in his heart that Carpenter Electronics was slower than IBM, and it turned out that the researchers developed it based on the hard disk standard mentioned by Alex. This has much higher technical requirements in all aspects, especially the highest requirements for the manufacturing process. Now they have developed this machine, which is the limit of craftsmanship in this era.

"How much information can be stored? What is the disk life? Alex asked.

"It can store 10M of information, and the disk life is 10 years." The person in charge replied.

At first, the capacity of disk storage was very small, as large as 10M, which is already a very amazing capacity, and IBM's disk storage was only 6M in size. As for the lifespan of 10 years, it is enough for an ordinary computer, but Alex wants to develop a disk with a longer lifespan, but the current manufacturing process has not yet reached that level.

"When will it be able to be studied and released?"

"It should be in a few weeks."

That's good news, looking at the huge disk storage on the table, Alex really wants it to be produced quickly. Faced with the approach of the blue giant IBM, Alex also felt a little flustered, he knew that he had seized the opportunity, but IBM's prestige was not a joke. Originally, IBM at this time in history was full of talents, and made countless patented inventions, occupying 70% of the market, so that others could only stare dryly.

If they are beaten by IBM this time, it is estimated that it will be more than ten years before Carpenter has a chance to gain the upper hand again. That's why Alex was so nervous, and he didn't want IBM to continue to grow. Watson and they have connections in the government and the military, and once they are caught up by the other party, even if they seem to be caught up, the Carpenter family will be suppressed.

Alex pulls Batra into his office to discuss disk storage, and both of them feel the pressure from IBM. Alex took the opportunity to mention: "Father, the research work is so heavy now, why don't you find a way to find someone to take over your work." You're spending more time in the factory than you're at home, so it's not good. ”

Bart thought about it, he felt that Alex's words made some sense, but he was a little reluctant to work now. "Let's wait a few more weeks, when the disk storage is released," he said. ”

Alex didn't push him anymore, nodded and agreed. He said, "What about Seymour Clay? I'm going to see him! ”

Seymour Clay had no idea that Alex had arrived at the factory, and he and his group were completely isolated from the rest of the group. Today, Carpenter Electronics is a key place for the military, producing the world's most advanced computers, as well as researching the next generation of the fastest computers.

When Alex saw Seymour, he was too busy testing the components of the computer to bother with anything else. Even Alex had been standing beside him for a long time, and he hadn't noticed it.

"Ahem!" Alex didn't want anyone else to disturb Seymour's research, but he didn't have that much time to spend here. He deliberately coughed a few times, interrupting Seymour's work.

"Alex! What are you doing here. After Seymour reacted, he immediately recognized who the handsome young man in front of him was. After all, Alex made a very deep impression on Seymour at the beginning, and sometimes he couldn't help but think of this peculiar boy in his mind.

In Seymour's eyes, Alex seems to know everything, everything. Sometimes, he even wonders if the other party has the ability to read minds, and whatever he thinks for Lu will be known.

"Seymour! Do you know that IBM has made a statement on computer research and development? ”

"IBM? I don't know if they have any new plans? ”

Seymour was a little strange and wondered if Alex was making too much of a fuss. IBM is indeed strong, but the "defense computer" that they have invested heavily in research and development is far worse than the "first" computer. In terms of technique, Seymour thinks that his side has an absolute advantage, and besides, they have been ahead for so many years, how can they care about the pursuers behind.

This is not to be worried about Alex, in later generations, IBM is simply a giant in the computer field. There is no one who does not live in its shadow, especially in the last three decades of this century, when IBM is simply covering the sky with one hand. If we hadn't missed the PC era, IBM might have been able to dominate the computer market for the next century.

Alex believes that an enemy like IBM should not be taken lightly. He handed Seymour a document, which was the performance parameters of the IBM 360 computer, a small part of which IBM itself had published, and most of which had been speculative.

After picking up the papers, Seymour looked at them carefully. He compared the IBM 360 computer to the computer he had designed and found that the performance of the two was comparable. In other words, whoever develops it first wins the market.

After closing the document, Seymour said with emotion: "They are not ambitious! ”

"Yes! Now I know what I'm looking for you for. I just want to know when our computers will be developed. ”

"There are still some problems to be solved in the Clay I, and if you want the exact time, I estimate that it will take two years at the earliest."

"Two years? Can't it be any faster? Alex was a little anxious, he was worried that IBM had already started research and development. Now the announcement of the R&D plan is just a mention of promoting the market. Once IBM achieves this victory, Watson Sr.'s connections will soon be able to swallow up their market.

"Faster? That's not going to work, I'm already working overtime every day, and I'm getting my work done slowly. ”

"I'll add you more people!"

"It's a waste to have more people, you can't hope that 10 women will have a baby in 1 month."

Seymour's words made everyone present chuckle. Alex laughed too, he had heard similar jokes in his previous life. It's usually programmers who mock bosses or project managers for not knowing how to work in R&D when they want to meet deadlines.

However, Alex is not a person who does not understand R&D. Or rather, he doesn't understand now, and when there is a need, he can understand.

"Then let me join you in R&D!"

Alex's words surprised many people, and even Seymour was surprised.

"Very well, I also happen to have some questions for you." After Seymour spoke to Alex last time, he was very inspired and had a lot of new ideas. Now the R&D work is in trouble, and it is also caused by what Alex proposed, otherwise he would have developed it a long time ago

"Let's get started now. Seymour, we must hurry! ”

"Then you're welcome to join our team!" Seymour reached out and took Alex's hand.