Computer Work Stations: A Manager’s Guide to Office Automation and Multi-User Systems

309 Pages·1985·16.033 MB·English

by  Herman Holtz (auth.)

Computer Work Stations
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Computer Work Stations
A Manager's Guide to Office
Automation and Multi-User Systems
Herman Holtz
NEW YORK LONDON
CHAPMAN AN 0 HALL
First published 1985
by Chapman and Hall
29 West 35th Street, New York NY 10001
Published in Great Britain by
Chapman and Hall Ltd
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
© 1985 Herman Holtz
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reprinted, or reproduced or utilized in any form
or by any electronic, mechanical or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Holtz, Herman.
Computer work stations.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Microcomputers. 2. Local area networks
(Computer networks) I. Title.
QA76.5.H6368 1984 001.64'404 84-17670
ISBN-13: 978-0-412-00711-8 e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4613-2537-6
DOl: 10.1007/978-1-4613-2537-6
PREFACE
Most of us do not realize that we are living in revolutionary times. To
a large degree, we are in a time of massive economic and industrial change,
and perhaps history will one day record this era as the Second Industrial
Revolution. Certainly we have been made aware of the decline of "smoke
stack industries" and of the rapid rise of what might be called the "infor
mation industries" in the United States and, presumably, in most of the
western world. Several best-selling authors have assured us that we must
change or perish, and a great many industrialists appear to agree.
Ironically, we have also been all but promised a return to a modern form
of that very cottage industry economy that the first Industrial Revolution
wiped out: Some of our leading savants envision individuals working at
home on desktop computers, connected via hardwire (telephone) to an
employer's large, central computer. Will this come to pass? Perhaps; the
industrial/economic indicators appear to point in that direction, although
there are the problems of numerous laws and regulations -labor laws and
OSHA laws, to name only two areas, and ignoring for the moment the
reaction of our labor unions - that would be most difficult to reconcile
with such an arrangement.
In a sense, it is the computer that has brought about this condition.
And yet, it is not the computer per se, for despite the existence of com
puters since shortly after World War II, this condition is of recent origin
and is the result of that which is called the microcomputer. It is the
advent of the small and [relatively I inexpensive computer that has brought
us to the threshold of this era of industrial change. It is the small and
inexpensive computer that has made the integrated computer work station
a practical reality.
The term "office automation" has been used widely in advertising in
recent times, and has thus become well known to many people. Less well
known, but bearing the same implications, is the term "work station" or
"computer work station." In fact, the latter is the broader term, and office
automation is but one application of the work-station idea; many other work
environments, such as engineering laboratories and drafting rooms, can
vi
apply the idea to their own operating needs, although they may not be
"offices" in the strictest sense.
However, this does not mean that for successful application the work
station system must be installed in the same room, or even in the same
building. That, in fact, is one of the advantageous features of the whole
idea: individuals geographically separated, even by relatively long distances,
can work cooperatively as though they were seated together around a
conference table, through the agency of a system of integrated work sta
tions. A multi-office firm of architects or engineers, for example, can bring
together professionals in several of the offices, and enable them to work
together on a project, or to confer on a problem. And, of course, the same
kind of activity is possible for any other kind of organization, for-profit
or nonprofit, private-sector or public-sector, services-oriented or product
oriented, or fitting almost any other description.
Another term that has not yet become well known to the public at large,
but which is directly connected with the idea of computer work stations, is
"local area networks" or "LANs," its acronym. The two terms are related,
although a local area network - LAN - is generally a comunications system
ranging over not much more than a mile in its total coverage.
Even that latter idea does not express all the benefits and advantages
of the work-station system, for while work stations do enable the individual
to work closely with others at other locations, it also gives the individual
access to resources without leaving the desk. For example, the individual
can summon up on the computer screen data-text, drawings, charts, graphs,
and other useful and necessary information - stored in the host computer or
master work station. Or the individual can present materials - designs,
for example - to clients via a shared network.
The economies in both time and other resources are easily evident, of
course. But, aside from and in addition to those economies, there is the
consideration that such a system also creates new capabilities - enables an
organization to do that which was never before possible, or at least never
before practicable. For example, many organizations - even nonprofit
organizations-must prepare proposals, some of them rather large docu
ments, the preparation of which places strains on the organization's re
sources. Many firms have already turned to word processing to facilitate
this and similar work. The work station is the next step, a system that
promotes the efficiency of word processing by an order of magnitude. With
a comprehensive and integrated network of stations and a host computer
in which has been installed a plenitude of resource data, the proposal
writers have almost infinitely greater resources. But perhaps more signifi
cantly for the large, multifacility organization, the organization is able,
through the work-station concept, to apply its most capable and most
valuable human resources more effectively in such important missions as
vii
winning contracts because, for one thing, work stations make sight-and
sound communication possible and thus reduce the need for travel, to meet
and work together on projects.
The same may be said for many other documents and the efforts required
to produce them - technical manuals, reports, studies, parts lists, specifi
cations, and others. One may summon up from a host computer, or from
another station, models, general information, detailed information, newly
generated inputs from others, or almost any other kind of data relevant
to the project. But one may also implement conferences, reviews, and
research spontaneously, despite the geographic displacement of the princi
pals, by the simple expedient of a network of computer stations.
The integration of resources for preparing proposals, manuals, and other
such products is one of the earliest and perhaps most obvious applications
of the work-station idea. Perhaps that is due, at least in part, to the im
mense popUlarity of word processing as an application of modern micro
computers.
There is some tendency on the part of manufacturers of microcomputers
to claim that their products are individual work stations, and there is
some merit in the claim - at least, it is true that an individual may work
at a computer and, if equipped with a modem so that the computer can
transmit data over a telephone line, can communicate with any other
computer also equipped with a modem. This, however, is not quite the
same as being part of an integrated work-station network, such as systems
currently being offered by manufacturers.
Users are equally confused about the deeper implications of modern
computers. Many large corporations have placed mass orders for desktop
computers, placing one on the desk of every executive, with the thought
that a personal computer on an executive's desk will make the executive
far more efficient. (The new Macintosh of Apple Computers has already
been favored with at least one such order.) In so doing they are missing
the point: It is not only the computers which are integrated in a network
of computer work stations; the organization's staff, facilities, and other
resources are integrated by such a network, and that integration is a
synergy - the whole is now far greater than the sum of its parts.
There are two sides to work-station implementation: There is, of course,
the technical side of hardware and software, an area of intense interest and
development by the technological experts. But there is also the managerial
side of the question, in which the most efficient work organization must be
identified, and systems selected to suit the work requirements. That requires
considering not only the nature of the work, but also the size of the organi
zation, the manner in which the organization is physically deployed, and
many other related considerations. The engineers and software experts can
suggest system designs to managers, but it is the managers who must make
viii
the final decisions of types and sizes of systems, as well as of specific
equipment to be purchased and installed. And the manager will find that
that is not a set of decisions that can be delegated, for the manager will
bear the ultimate responsibility for the success or failure of the system.
What is to follow in these pages is not a technical treatise - will not, that
is, delve into technical specifications of hardware and software to any great
extent - but will be devoted primarily to aiding the manager understand the
several configurations possible, the differences among them, the criteria to
be taken into account in analyzing needs and possible designs for satisfying
needs, and, finally, in arriving at sensible decisions as to work-station
configurations to be opted for. The intent here is to also equip the manager
to discuss work stations with the technical experts, and to be able to
understand them and the literature they supply, with all the specifications
and claims. And this is based on the assumption that the reader is a lay
person, rather than a technical expert, in the field of computers and related
equipment and systems.
Herman Holtz
Silver Spring, Maryland 1985
NOTES ON MOST RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE INDUSTRY:
Shortly before this book went to press and too late to change the text
without delaying publication LIST magazine suspended monthly publication
and announced a return to a policy of publishing semi-annual directories.
Too, the business press announced that Exxon would either sell (if it could
find a buyer) or shut down its office systems/automation division. Personal
Software magazine also discontinued publication and merged with its
popular sister magazine, Personal Computing. And Apple Computer has
introduced the "Fat Mac," a provision for upgrading the Macintosh from
its original I28K memory to a 5I2K memory.
CONTENTS
Preface v
1 The work-station concept 1
Perhaps the first completely successful application. The
most basic design configuration.
2 A more sophisticated model 7
Systems and subsystems. Advantages of this configuration.
A few functional insights. LAN, work station, or multiuser
station?
3 Some off-the-shelf systems 15
Two possible approaches. Some basic system character
istics. A closer look at two systems. Central nodes and
system integration. Some typical applications. Must you
use complex, sophisticated LAN devices? The essence of
the work-station system. System versus subsystem.
4 The basic integrated computer work station 25
First the basics. The CPU - central processing unit. Com
puter components and nomenclature. The hardware units
of a computer. Advantages of the "separates" configuration.
Why more memory and storage?
5 Planning for the future: compatibility 35
and expandability
The concept of compatibility. Electronic interface com
patibility. Functional incompatibility. Computer (machine)
language. Higher-level languages. Operating systems. CP/M
and MS-DOS. UNIX, XENIX, et al. The concept of inte
gration. Some reasons for integration problems. Some other
incompatibilities. Buffering and spooling. Tradeoffs. Value
analysis can be useful here.