IP: Re: E2A is worse than Y2K

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

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> Date: Sat, 25 Dec 1999 08:11:59 -0800
> To: farber () cis upenn edu
> From: "Thomas Petzinger Jr." <tom () petzinger com>
> Subject: Re: IP: E2A is worse than Y2K
>
> Dave,
>
> A footnote on Les Earnest's fascinating missive on the origins of acronyms,
> in particular the acronym SAGE--the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment
> created to simulate missile attacks on the U.S.
>
> The prime contractor on that early Cold War project was IBM, which was
> right proud of the technology. It wanted to transfer the technology to the
> commercial sector, but no one could think of an application nearly so large
> or challenging as the defense of the U.S. against nuclear attack.
>
> One day a sales rep from the IBM Federal Systems Division was seated on an
> airplane next to C.R. Smith, the great builder of American Airlines. Smith
> mentioned that he had a huge storage and calculation problem on his hands:
> coping with the growth of airline reservations in the postwar era. Bingo:
> IBM soon has a contract to help American develop the first computer-based
> airline-reservation system.
>
> The point of the story is this: IBM ported the SAGE acronym to the airline
> project, calling it Semi-Automatic Business Environment Research, or SABER.
> The name stuck to the service itself.
>
> In promoting the customer convenience of the new system, American, inspired
> by the 1960 Buck LeSabre, revered the last two letters, leading to the
> SABRE System, as it is still known today.
>
> (I covered this story in an airline history I wrote called _Hard Landing,_
> Random House, 1995.)
>
> cheers,
> tom
>
>
>
> -----------------------
> Thomas Petzinger Jr.
> Millennium edition editor
> The Wall Street Journal.
> http://www.petzinger.com
> ------------------------


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A Happy Holiday and a safe New Year

from Dave and GG Farber

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