<s>
Inforex	O
Inc	O
.	O
corporation	O
manufactured	O
and	O
sold	O
key-to-disk	B-Device
data	B-General_Concept
entry	I-General_Concept
systems	O
in	O
the	O
1970s	O
and	O
mid-1980s	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
company	O
was	O
founded	O
by	O
ex-IBM	O
engineers	O
to	O
develop	O
direct	O
data	B-General_Concept
entry	I-General_Concept
systems	O
that	O
allowed	O
information	O
to	O
be	O
entered	O
on	O
terminals	O
and	O
stored	O
directly	O
on	O
disk	B-Device
drives	I-Device
,	O
replacing	O
keypunch	B-Device
machines	I-Device
using	O
punched	B-Architecture
cards	I-Architecture
or	O
paper	O
tape	O
,	O
which	O
had	O
been	O
the	O
dominant	O
tools	O
for	O
data	B-General_Concept
entry	I-General_Concept
since	O
the	O
turn	O
of	O
the	O
twentieth	O
century	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Key-to-disk	B-Device
systems	O
were	O
systems	O
that	O
took	O
data	O
entered	O
by	O
users	O
from	O
keypunch-like	O
keyboards	O
and	O
held	O
the	O
information	O
on	O
a	O
hard	O
disk	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
information	O
was	O
then	O
transferred	O
from	O
disk	B-Device
to	O
1/2	O
-inch	O
magnetic	B-Architecture
tape	I-Architecture
for	O
processing	O
on	O
the	O
user	O
's	O
mainframe	B-Architecture
computer	I-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
the	O
time	O
,	O
large-scale	O
entry	O
of	O
data	O
for	O
processing	O
on	O
a	O
mainframe	B-Architecture
computer	I-Architecture
was	O
labor-intensive	O
and	O
expensive	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
4	O
)	O
Order	O
sheet	O
,	O
entered	O
by	O
a	O
keypunch	B-Device
operator	O
to	O
cards	O
for	O
processing	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
5	O
)	O
Order	O
card(s )	O
verified	O
by	O
a	O
second	O
keypunch	B-Device
operator	O
by	O
repeating	O
the	O
card-punching	O
,	O
to	O
verify	O
accuracy	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
advantage	O
of	O
key-to-disk	B-Device
systems	O
over	O
card	O
punches	O
was	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
see	O
the	O
entire	O
content	O
of	O
an	O
80	O
byte	O
card	O
on	O
a	O
monitor	O
to	O
edit	O
and	O
correct	O
mistakes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Inforex	O
Key-to-Disk-to-Tape	O
system	O
allowed	O
an	O
operator	O
to	O
directly	O
read	O
,	O
edit	O
,	O
and	O
write	O
back	O
any	O
single	O
tape	O
record	O
directly	O
onto	O
the	O
original	O
9	O
track	O
output	O
tape	O
,	O
in	O
the	O
record	O
's	O
original	O
position	O
on	O
the	O
tape	O
,	O
allow	O
keying	O
errors	O
to	O
be	O
corrected	O
quickly	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
original	O
disk	B-Device
capacity	O
was	O
800	O
kilobytes	O
(	O
kB	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
1303	O
was	O
a	O
total	O
redesign	O
of	O
the	O
1301	O
system	O
with	O
a	O
new	O
backplane	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
disk	B-Device
drive	I-Device
capacity	O
was	O
2.4	O
megabytes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Additional	O
capabilities	O
were	O
added	O
,	O
including	O
a	O
communications	O
card	O
which	O
allowed	O
the	O
system	O
to	O
send	O
data	O
using	O
a	O
300/1200/2400/4800	O
baud	O
modem	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
company	O
also	O
made	O
model	O
3300	O
max-edit	O
data	B-General_Concept
entry	I-General_Concept
and	O
model	O
5000	O
for	O
high	O
volume	O
data	O
base	O
management	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Already	O
a	O
leading	O
key-to-disk	B-Device
data	B-General_Concept
entry	I-General_Concept
system	O
maker	O
with	O
the	O
1300	O
series	O
,	O
in	O
the	O
early	O
1970s	O
Inforex	O
tried	O
to	O
expand	O
by	O
creating	O
turnkey	O
file	O
management	O
systems	O
,	O
in	O
response	O
to	O
a	O
request	O
from	O
Westinghouse	O
,	O
which	O
was	O
trying	O
to	O
keep	O
track	O
of	O
750,000	O
blueprints	B-Application
(	O
engineering	O
drawings	O
)	O
with	O
a	O
manual	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Most	O
business	O
computer	B-Application
applications	I-Application
were	O
written	O
in	O
the	O
COBOL	B-Application
programming	I-Application
language	I-Application
,	O
and	O
could	O
take	O
up	O
to	O
two	O
years	O
to	O
develop	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
System	O
5000	O
anticipated	O
by	O
more	O
than	O
a	O
decade	O
early	O
personal	B-Device
computer	I-Device
applications	O
such	O
as	O
PFS:File	O
and	O
dBASE	B-Application
II	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
v4.0	O
of	O
the	O
System	O
5000	O
,	O
a	O
processing	O
language	O
similar	O
to	O
IBM	B-Language
's	I-Language
RPG	I-Language
was	O
added	O
,	O
to	O
allow	O
computation	O
,	O
manipulation	O
and	O
transformation	O
of	O
data	O
across	O
multiple	O
files	O
when	O
records	O
were	O
added	O
or	O
updated	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Its	O
data	B-General_Concept
entry	I-General_Concept
products	O
were	O
sold	O
as	O
productivity	O
upgrades	O
to	O
production	O
data	B-General_Concept
entry	I-General_Concept
departments	O
,	O
which	O
during	O
the	O
1960s	O
had	O
used	O
keypunches	B-Device
to	O
enter	O
data	O
onto	O
punch	B-Architecture
card	I-Architecture
decks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
still	O
a	O
batch	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
and	O
often	O
found	O
itself	O
used	O
as	O
a	O
front	B-Architecture
end	I-Architecture
(	O
computing	O
)	O
to	O
a	O
mainframe	B-Architecture
computer	I-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
most	O
applications	O
,	O
tapes	O
needed	O
to	O
be	O
moved	O
between	O
the	O
5000	O
and	O
a	O
mainframe	B-Architecture
drive	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
the	O
company	O
was	O
trying	O
to	O
market	O
their	O
advanced	O
5000	O
product	O
,	O
it	O
quickly	O
became	O
obsolete	O
due	O
to	O
powerful	O
new	O
multi-user	O
interactive	O
systems	O
and	O
mainframe	B-Architecture
operating	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
that	O
now	O
used	O
CRT-equipped	O
terminals	O
to	O
enter	O
data	O
directly	O
to	O
a	O
mainframe	B-Architecture
or	O
minicomputer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
machine	O
was	O
very	O
innovative	O
and	O
powerful	O
,	O
featuring	O
virtual	O
memory	O
,	O
16-bit	O
architecture	O
,	O
features	O
that	O
only	O
previously	O
were	O
available	O
with	O
expensive	O
mainframes	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
Initially	O
maxed	O
out	O
at	O
64	O
kilobytes	O
capacity	O
,	O
it	O
had	O
barely	O
enough	O
memory	O
to	O
run	O
its	O
advanced	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
,	O
much	O
less	O
an	O
application	O
of	O
any	O
consequence	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
16-bit	O
architecture	O
made	O
it	O
difficult	O
to	O
expand	O
the	O
memory	O
;	O
by	O
the	O
time	O
Inforex	O
was	O
able	O
to	O
expand	O
to	O
128KB	O
,	O
32-bit	O
minicomputers	O
had	O
become	O
available	O
,	O
able	O
to	O
address	O
8MB	O
of	O
memory	O
and	O
disks	B-Device
of	O
very	O
much	O
higher	O
capacity	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
this	O
time	O
,	O
the	O
key	O
to	O
disk	B-Device
market	O
was	O
also	O
severely	O
declining	O
,	O
again	O
due	O
to	O
the	O
direct	O
entry	O
terminal-based	O
systems	O
that	O
now	O
prevailed	O
in	O
the	O
marketplace	O
.	O
</s>
