Informatics General

{{Infobox company | name = Informatics General Corporation | logo = Informatics General logo 1982.svg | caption = | type = [[Public company|Public]] | traded_as = {{NYSE was|IG}} | fate = Acquired | predecessor = | successor = | founded = [[Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California]] ({{Start date|1962|03|19}}) | founders = {{unbulleted list|Walter Bauer|Werner Frank|Richard Hill}} | defunct = {{End date|1985|08|13}} | hq_location_city = Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California | hq_location_country = United States | num_locations = 30 in North America<br />9 overseas | area_served = | key_people = {{unbulleted list|Frank Wagner|John Postley|Bill Plumb|Warner Blow|Mike Parrella|Geno Tolari}} | industry = {{unbulleted list|[[Software product]]s|[[Information technology consulting|Software contracting]]|[[Service bureau]]s}} | products = File management and report generation; many others | production = | services = | revenue = $191 million (1984, equivalent to ${{Formatprice| {{Inflation|US|191000000|1984|r=-6}} }} today) | operating_income = | net_income = $5 million (1984) | aum = | assets = | equity = | owner = | num_employees = 2,600 (1985) | parent = | divisions = {{unbulleted list|Software Products Group|Data Services|Answer|Management Services|TAPS|Life Insurance Systems|Legal Information Services|Professional Software Systems|others}} | subsidiaries = | website = | footnotes = | brands = "Fulfilling the computer's promise"<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qaS3FuQJfjcC&pg=PA64 | title=Position announcements | magazine=Computerworld | date=June 20, 1977 | page=64}}</ref> }} '''Informatics General Corporation''', earlier known as '''Informatics, Inc.''', was an American [[computer software]] company in existence from 1962 through 1985 and based in [[Los Angeles, California]]. It made a variety of software products, and was especially known for its [[MARK IV (software)|Mark IV file management and report generation product]] for [[IBM mainframe]]s, which became the best-selling corporate packaged software product of its time. It also contracted with government entities such as the [[NASA Ames Research Center]] for long-running professional services engagements; ran [[computer service bureau]]s; and sold [[turnkey system]]s to specific industries. By the mid-1980s Informatics had revenues of near $200 million and over 2,500 employees.

Computer historian [[Martin Campbell-Kelly]], in his 2003 volume ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog: A History of the Software Industry'', considers Informatics to be an exemplar of the independent, middle-sized software development firms of its era, and the [[Computer History Museum]] as well as the [[Charles Babbage Institute]] at the [[University of Minnesota]] have conducted a number of oral histories of the company's key figures.<ref>See Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', p. 57, and the seven oral histories listed in the Bibliography below, including three of Walter Bauer. Campbell-Kelly portrays [[Applied Data Research]] (ADR) and [[Advanced Computer Techniques]] (ACT) as two other typical software firms of the 1960s.</ref> Historian Jeff Yost identifies Informatics as a pioneering "[[system integration]]" company, similar to [[System Development Corporation]].<ref>Yost, ''Making IT Work'', pp. 87–88.</ref> The ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' wrote that Informatics was "long a legend in software circles".<ref name="ct-somuch"/>

Informatics General was acquired by [[Sterling Software]] in 1985 in what was the first [[hostile takeover]] in the software industry. Immediately, Sterling Software became a member of the largest corporations within the software industry, with $200 million in revenue.

==Background and founding== Walter F. Bauer (1924–2015),<ref name="legacy-bauer">{{cite web | url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/walter-bauer-obituary?pid=1000000179314003 | title=Walter Ferdinand Bauer: Obituary | date=March 25, 2016 | publisher=Legacy.com | access-date=March 18, 2017}}</ref> the main founder of Informatics, was from Michigan and earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from the [[University of Michigan]] in 1951.<ref name="yost-it-208"/> His early work was at the [[Michigan Aeronautical Research Center]]; the [[National Bureau of Standards]], where he programmed the [[SEAC (computer)|early digital SEAC computer]]; and for Boeing's [[CIM-10 Bomarc|BOMARC interceptor missile]].<ref name="yost-it-208"/> He became a manager at the [[Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation]] in charge of a unit with 400 employees and two computers, an [[IBM 704]] and a [[UNIVAC 1103A]], and in 1958 joined the merged [[TRW Inc.|Thompson Ramo Wooldridge]] company.<ref name="bauer-oh-2-4-5"/><ref name="yost-it-208"/> Bauer later said that he "was never a green eyeshade programmer" nor a "strong technologist", but being a systems person and a manager gave him a good grasp of computer systems and their capabilities.<ref name="bauer-oh-2-5"/><ref name="yost-it-208">Yost, ''Making IT Work'', p. 108.</ref>

Another key founder was Werner L. Frank (1929–),<ref name="yost-wf">Yost, "Werner Frank".</ref> who during 1954–55 had done programming work on the [[ILLIAC I]] at the [[University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign]].<ref>Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", pp. 33–34.</ref> He was then recruited by Bauer and joined Ramo-Wooldridge in 1955, where he did [[numerical analysis]] and programming in [[assembly language]] and [[FORTRAN]].<ref>Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", pp. 33–36.</ref> Working with pioneers of [[scientific computing]] such as [[David M. Young, Jr.]] and [[George Forsythe]], Frank published several important articles on numerical analysis in ''[[Journal of the ACM]]'' and other publications.<ref>Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", pp. 36–37.</ref> By 1958, Ramo-Wooldridge had been acquired by Thompson Products, Inc. and come to be known as [[TRW Inc.]]; Frank then did early programming on several defense industry computers, including the [[AN/UYK-1]], and spent long stretches of time in [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref>Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", pp. 38–39.</ref>

The third founder was another TRW colleague, Richard H. Hill, who had been a professor at [[UCLA]] and an assistant director of a joint data center between that university and [[IBM]].<ref name="yost-wf"/><ref name="yost-it-109">Yost, ''Making IT Work'', p. 109.</ref>

In January 1962, Bauer approached Frank and Hill to start a new independent company that would provide software services.<ref name="ck-65">Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', p. 65.</ref><ref name="frank-oh-39-40">Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", pp. 39–40.</ref> At the time, it was an unusual move since few people saw software as a viable business.<ref>Norborg, "An Interview with Walter Bauer", pp. 11–12.</ref><ref name="yost-wf"/> "Primarily, we were going to develop systems for large-scale computer systems, probably of a military nature. That was our first objective," stated Bauer in a later interview.<ref name="yost-it-109"/> Despite a lack of any kind of business school training, Bauer put together a business plan for the new company.<ref name="bauer-oh-2-4-5">Johnson, "Oral History of Walter Bauer" (1995), pp. 4–5.</ref> Indeed, throughout his time with the company, Bauer embodied the personality characteristics of [[entrepreneurship]].<ref>Aspray, ''An Interview with Bruce Coleman'', p. 14.</ref>

[[Venture capital]] was hard to locate for such start-ups in that era and Bauer met with several rejections.<ref name="yost-wf"/> He and the others then decided to join forces with [[Dataproducts|Data Products Corporation]], a newly formed manufacturer of [[Peripheral|computer peripheral equipment]].<ref name="ck-81">Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', p. 81.</ref> The co-founder of Data Products, [[Erwin Tomash]] (1921–2012),<ref>Yost, "Computer Industry Pioneer: Erwin Tomash", p. 4.</ref> was from Minnesota and had earlier worked at [[Engineering Research Associates]], a pioneering computer firm from the 1950s.<ref>Norborg, "An Interview with Erwin Tomash", pp. 2, 17–18.</ref> He had known Bauer and thought that the two new efforts being formed together would provide a hedge against either one of them encountering start-up difficulties.<ref>Webster, ''Print Unchained'', p. 122.</ref> Informatics was thus created as a wholly owned subsidiary of Data Products.<ref>Yost, ''The Computer Industry'', p. 120.</ref> The new software firm was capitalized at all of $40,000, of which Data Products contributed $20,000, Bauer $10,000, and Frank and Hill $5,000 each.<ref name="frank-oh-39-40"/>

==The name== {{plain image with caption|Informatics, Inc. logo.svg|The earlier company logo, used from the 1960s to 1982<ref>{{cite journal | last=Informatics General Corporation | date=June 7, 1982 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2LaqX2JB6_UC&pg=PA93 | title=After 20 Years as a Captain of Industry, Informatics Makes General | journal=Computerworld | page=93 | format=Advertisement}}</ref>}} {{main|Informatics}} The company's name came from the founders' desire to base it on "-atics", a Greek suffix meaning "the science of".<ref name="bauer-et">Bauer, "Informatics and (et) Informatique".</ref> Their first thought was "Datamatics", but a form of that was already taken by an early computer from [[Honeywell]]/[[Raytheon]]; Bauer and the others settled on "Informatics", meaning "the science of information handling".<ref name="bauer-et"/><ref name="frank-oh-39-40"/> At the very same time, March 1962, French computer pioneer [[Philippe Dreyfus]] came up with the name "Société pour l'informatique appliquée" for a new firm of which he was co-founder, thus creating a French version of the same name.<ref name="bauer-et"/> However, in France, the term "[[wiktionary:informatique#French|informatique]]" soon became a generic name, meaning the modern science of information handling, and would become accepted by the [[Académie française]] as an official French word.<ref name="bauer-et"/> The term then came into common use in a number of other European countries, adapted slightly for each language.<ref name="frank-oh-39-40"/>

In the United States, however, Informatics fought any such use as an infringement upon their legal rights to the name; this was partly in fear of the term becoming a [[brandnomer]].<ref name="bauer-et"/> Bauer later recalled that at one point the [[Association for Computing Machinery]], the leading academic organization in computer software, wanted to change its name to the Society for Informatics, but the company refused to allow that use.<ref name="bauer-et"/> Eventually the generic usage of the term around the world caused the company to reconsider and, according to Frank, was the reason for the 1982 name change to Informatics General.<ref name="frank-oh-39-40"/>

==Early history== [[Image:DEVELOPMENT NEAR MULHOLLAND DRIVE IN THE SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS NEAR MALIBU, CALIFORNIA, WHICH IS LOCATED ON THE... - NARA - 557547.jpg|thumb|left|260px|Informatics began in the Woodland Hills area of Los Angeles, California.]]

Informatics, Inc. began operations on March 19, 1962, in Frank's empty house in [[Woodland Hills, Los Angeles|Woodland Hills]]<ref name="frank-oh-39-40"/> in the [[San Fernando Valley]] area of Los Angeles.<ref name="ct-somuch"/> In addition to the three founders, the fourth initial employee was a secretary, Marie Kirchner.<ref name="frank-oh-39-40"/> An important early hire was Frank Wagner, a [[North American Aviation]] executive who was past president of the [[SHARE (computing)|IBM user group SHARE]] and had many contacts among that community.<ref name="yost-wf"/><ref>Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', pp. 65–66.</ref> Data Products, which served as the Informatics back office, was located in nearby [[Culver City, California|Culver City]] at that time.<ref name="yost-wf"/>

The company struggled at first, winning only a few small contracts, until it improved its presence in government circles and finally, in early 1963, won a $150,000 contract with the [[Rome Laboratory|Rome Air Defense Center]].<ref name="ck-66"/> This was a forerunner of several large contracts it would have with that U.S. Air Force facility in years to come, and several other defense sector contracts soon followed.<ref name="ck-66">Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', p. 66.</ref> By its second year, Informatics was profitable and had 37 employees; by the third year it was growing well.<ref name="webster-123">Webster, ''Print Unchained'', p. 123.</ref><ref name="yost-wf"/> Informatics was one of the major companies of the time involved in the software contracting business.<ref name="ck-58"/> An early description of the company used in press releases was "Informatics provides analysis, design and consulting services for users of digital processing equipment."<ref name="m-and-r"/>

At the time Informatics did little marketing, mostly relying upon its network of personal contacts.<ref name="ck-66"/> The firm was one of forty or fifty software companies started in the early 1960s (many of which are little known to history).<ref name="ck-58"/> Two other prominent firms were [[Applied Data Research]] (ADR) and [[Advanced Computer Techniques]] (ACT).<ref name="ck-58"/> All three are credited by Campbell-Kelly as firms that succeeded because, and gained awareness due to, the personality of their principal founder; in this case it was Bauer who "succeeded in combining his entrepreneurial activities with his role as a leader in the technical computing community."<ref name="ck-58"/>

Meanwhile, Data Products, which had moved its office to [[Sherman Oaks, California]] in 1964 and renamed itself slightly to Dataproducts,<ref name="yost-wf"/><ref name="yost-cip-5"/> was suffering from falling behind IBM on disk drive technology; its eventually successful printer business had not yet taken off.<ref name="webster-123"/> In order to placate its subsidiary, the three Informatics co-founders were given 7.5 percent of Data Products stock in 1965.<ref name="ck-81"/> As Tomash later said, "To satisfy them, we deliberately took the step that we knew would separate us in the long run."<ref name="webster-123"/>

In May 1966 there was an [[IPO]] of Informatics stock, priced at $7.50 per share, that brought in $3.5 million.<ref name="ck-81"/> It was only the fourth software company to go public (after [[C-E-I-R]], [[Computer Usage Company|Computer Usage Corporation]], and [[Computer Sciences Corporation]]).<ref>Bauer, "Informatics Acquisition by Sterling Software", pp. 32, 39n–40n.</ref> It was listed on the [[Over-the-counter (finance)|over-the-counter market]], based in New York.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1970/09/27/90422358.pdf | title=Over-the-Counter Quotations | newspaper=The New York Times | date=September 27, 1970 | page=175}}</ref> However, 60 percent of its stock was still held by Dataproducts.<ref name="cw-15yrs"/> At that time Informatics had revenues of $4.5 million and a net income of $171,000, and the number of employees was around 300.<ref name="ck-81"/> By 1967 Informatics had something possessed three to four percent of the total market for custom-built software.<ref name="ck-66"/>

During the mid-1960s the U.S. stock market went through what was known as the "go-go market" boom, and computer companies become special darlings of traders.<ref>Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', pp. 79–80.</ref> Informatics was no exception; its [[price–earnings ratio]] rose from 25 at the time of its IPO to 200 by mid-1968 and over 600 by early 1969, despite the company having only $40,000 in earnings for the previous year.<ref name="ck-81"/> Informatics used the proceeds from additional offerings during this period to fund development of its Mark IV product and to create a Data Services Division.<ref name="ck-81"/>

Dataproducts sold off the last of its Informatics stock in 1969, and in doing so Informatics thus became fully independent.<ref name="cw-15yrs"/> For its initial investment of $20,000 in Informatics, Dataproducts had gained about $20 million in return.<ref name="yost-cip-5">Yost, "Computer Industry Pioneer: Erwin Tomash", p. 5.</ref> By 1969, Informatics had revenues of over $11 million with earnings of $561,000.<ref name="cw-15yrs"/>

==Origins of Mark IV and the software product business== [[Image:Supercomputer NSA-IBM360 85.jpg|thumb|right|260px|The IBM System/360 mainframe was the platform that Mark IV and many other Informatics software products ran on.]]

The history of what became Mark IV goes back to 1960,<ref name="postley-oh-7">Johnson, "Oral History of John Postley", p. 7.</ref> when GIRLS (the Generalized Information Retrieval and Listing System) was developed at [[Douglas Aircraft Company]] for the [[IBM 7090]].<ref name="johnson-39"/><ref>Postley, "Evolution of the Software Product", p. 46.</ref> Its creator was [[John A. Postley]] (1923–2004),<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/latimes/obituary.aspx?n=john-a-postley&pid=2489965 | title=John A. Postley |newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=August 6, 2004}}</ref> an engineer who had worked for many years in the aerospace industry.<ref name="postley-oh-7"/><ref name="haigh-79">Haigh, 'A Veritable Bucket of Facts', p. 79.</ref> Postley was working in the Advanced Information Systems subsidiary of [[Electrada Corporation]] along with [[Robert M. Hayes (information scientist)|Robert M. Hayes]] and others.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/30370716/?terms=electrada%2B%22advanced%2Binformation%2Bsystems%22 |title= UCLA Offers Short Courses for Engineers |newspaper=Valley News |location=Van Nuys, California |date=August 3, 1961 |page=29-A |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

In April 1963, Advanced Information Systems was purchased from Electrada by [[Hughes Dynamics]],<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/74589265/?terms=electrada%2B%22advanced%2Binformation%2Bsystems%22 |title=Buys Data Firm |newspaper=The Cumberland News |location=Cumberland, Maryland |agency=United Press International |date=April 30, 1963 |page=17 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> an early 1960s subsidiary of the [[Hughes Tool Company]] that provided computerized management and information services.<ref>Barlett and Steele, ''Empire'', p. 401.</ref> Subsequent versions of GIRLS were called Mark I and Mark II; made for the IBM 1401, they were increasingly stronger in their capabilities.<ref name="s-f-76"/><ref name="oh-postley-5">Johnson, "Oral History of John Postley", p. 5.</ref> Under Hughes, Mark III was in development, with key performance improvements.<ref name="ck-104">Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', p. 104.</ref><ref>Johnson, "Oral History of John Postley", p. 8.</ref>

Hughes Dynamics then decided it wanted to exit the activity of making software.<ref name="s-f-76">Swedin and Ferro, ''Computers'', p. 76.</ref> While accounts later told by some Informatics executives imply that [[Howard Hughes]] himself was aware of, or played a role, in what was going on,<ref name="oh-postley-5"/><ref name="bauer-86-7"/> Hughes biographers suggest that in the secretive world of his empire, it appears that Hughes was never informed of the existence of Hughes Dynamics until a couple of years after its creation; once he found out about it, he had it shut down.<ref>Barlett and Steele, ''Empire'', pp. 401, 554.</ref>

In any case, in May 1964, Informatics acquired Advanced Information Systems from Hughes Dynamics.<ref name="m-and-r">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/missilesrockets1415unse/missilesrockets1415unse_djvu.txt | title=The Industry Week: Mergers and Acquisitions | magazine=Missiles and Rockets | date=May 11, 1964 | page=37 }}</ref> For this it paid essentially nothing: Hughes actually paid Informatics $38,000 to take it, but in doing so Informatics assume some existing customer obligations of about the same amount.<ref name="bauer-86-7">Johnson, "Oral History of Walter Bauer" (1986), p. 7.</ref><ref name="s-f-76"/>

Within Informatics, Postley became the champion of making another version, Mark IV, that was for the new [[IBM 360]] computer line.<ref name="s-f-76"/> Mark IV was not the first file management system/report generator; indeed there had been several efforts in the late 1950s towards this end, including one from SHARE called [[9PAC]].<ref name="haigh-paper-13">Haigh, "How Data Got its Base", p. 13.</ref> Indeed, it is possible Bauer and Wagner, who were both active in SHARE (Wagner had been a chair of it), were influenced as to the value of such a product by their exposure to previous efforts in that users group.<ref name="haigh-paper-13"/> But the Mark IV iteration was intended from the start to be a true software product,<ref>Postley, "Evolution of the Software Product", p. 48.</ref> and it was Postley who had the full vision of what a software product might be.<ref name="ck-104"/> While Bauer had seen the value of  "items of a proprietary nature" from the beginning, he viewed them as internal to Informatics in the performance of contracted work, not as software products in and of themselves.<ref name="johnson-39">Johnson, "A View From the 1960s", p. 39.</ref> Informatics as a whole was reluctant to finance the development cost, which Postley estimated to be half a million dollars.<ref name="s-f-76"/> So Postley recruited five companies, each of whom provided $100,000: [[Sun Oil]], National Dairy Industries, [[Allen-Bradley]], [[Getty Oil]], and [[Prudential Financial|Prudential]].<ref name="ck-106">Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', p. 106.</ref> Existence of the new product was first announced in 1967.<ref name="ck-6"/>

Mark IV found quick success as a product: during 1968, its initial year of availability, it garnered orders for 117 installations and sales of nearly $2 million.<ref name="ck-116">Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', p. 116.</ref> But IBM then decided to [[History of IBM#Unbundling of software and services in 1969|unbundle software from its mainframes in 1969]], which helped facilitate the growth of the commercial software industry in the 1970s and beyond.<ref name="s-f-76"/><ref>Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', pp. 109ff.</ref> This accelerated sales of Mark IV severalfold from what Informatics had anticipated.<ref name="ck-116"/>

==Computing Technology Company subsidiary== In 1968, Informatics announced it was acquiring a New Jersey firm, Computing Technology Inc.,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times/139228963/ | title=Acquisition Approved | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=August 30, 1968 | page=15 (Part III) | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> a transaction that closed during 1969.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times/139229016/ | title=Informatics Expands on East Coast | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=April 10, 1969 | page=19 (Part III) | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> This became the Informatics Inc. Computing Technology Company, a wholly owned operating unit of Informatics that was located in [[River Edge, New Jersey]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/valley-news/139229070/ | title=Albert S. Kaplan Named Executive of Informatics Inc. | newspaper=The Valley News | location=Van Nuys, California | date=June 29, 1973 | page=2-A | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Within this subsidiary was the Communication Systems Division, and it developed a communications system for the [[Federal Reserve Bank of New York]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-record/139229250/ | title=People in Business | newspaper=The Record | location=Hackensack, New Jersey | date=September 12, 1973 | page=B-9 | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> This was one of several large contracts the River Edge division had with Wall Street firms for joint development of [[bank transfer]] systems and related services, with those other firms including [[Dun & Bradstreet]] and [[Dean Witter]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/los-angeles-evening-citizen-news/139229409/ | title=Business Briefs | newspaper=Citizen News | date=May 21, 1970 | page=17 | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

The Federal Reserve Bank effort had begun in 1968 and involved using advanced techniques for [[store-and-forward]]-based [[message switching]] and similar needs.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/valley-times/139229780/ | title=N.Y. Bank Engages Valley Firm | newspaper=The Valley Times | location=San Fernando Valley, California | date=June 26, 1969 | page=6 | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> The implementation was based around the [[SDS Sigma 5]] computer from [[Scientific Data Systems]], a computer line which had been acquired by [[Xerox Corporation]].<ref name="lat-pact"/> The Sigma 5 had a Communication Input/Output Processor that handled up to 128 communication lines at speed from 110 to 9600 baud.<ref>{{cite conference | first1 = Paul| last1 = Day| last2=Hines| first2=John| title= Argos: An Operating System for a Computer Utility Supporting Interactive Instrument Control | conference=SOSP '73: Proceedings of the fourth ACM symposium on Operating system principles | doi=10.1145/800009.808046| pages=28–37| publisher =Association for Computing Machinery| date = January 1973 | doi-access=free}}</ref> The communications system was a success and Informatics and Xerox made a joint agreement to market it to other customers,<ref name="lat-pact">{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times/139230666/ | title=Xerox Joins Informatics in Marketing Pact | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=October 19, 1969 | page=7 (Section I) | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> with the Informatics product being named the ICS IV/500.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.bitsavers.org/magazines/Datamation/197208.pdf | title=Communications Processors | first=D. J. | last=Theis | magazine=Datamation | date=August 1972 | pages=31–44}}</ref>

Informatics had hopes for the ICS IV becoming a strategic product for them, and while it was sold to [[General Foods]] and [[Japanese National Railways]], it proved a very high-priced, low-volume market and there was an effort to find a less expensive alternative. Informatics was contracted by Bankers Trust to develop a version of the system that ran on the [[DEC PDP-11]] minicomputer with a Sigma 5 emulation unit. However, the project was not successful, and by the mid-1970s Informatics departed this communications space.<ref>See Forman internal history, pp. 8-10–8-12 and 11-16–11-19.</ref>

Subsequently, the Computing Technology Company subsidiary produced the Accounting IV package.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5xOPmHIkDI4C&dq=%22informatics%22+%22computing+technology+company%22&pg=PA31 | title=Calendar | newspaper=Computerworld | date=October 9, 1974 | page=31}}</ref> This was a group of integrated financial applications for companies.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald/139233656/ | title=In Brief | newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald | date=November 28, 1978 | page=17 | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

==Equitable Life Assurance Society relationship== Beginning in 1970 the computer industry hit a downturn that lasted several years.<ref>Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', pp. 82–86.</ref> Software houses of the time tended to suffer from unprofitable contracts, failed ventures, and slowing demand.<ref name="fishman-277">Fishman, ''The Computer Establishment'', pp. 277–278.</ref> Informatics' creation of a Data Services Division, and with it the acquisition of a number of [[computer service bureau]]s as a means of providing [[utility computing]], did not go well.<ref name="ck-85"/> In May 1970 Informatics announced a $4.2 million loss, its first since 1963.<ref name="ck-85">Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', p. 85.</ref> But in a time when many software firms did not survive,<ref name="fishman-277"/> the more conservatively managed Informatics did.<ref>Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', pp. 81, 85.</ref>

In 1971, Informatics and [[The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States]] announced a joint venture, Equimatics, Inc., headed by Werner Frank, that would develop and sell computer-related products for the insurance industry.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times/129474049/ | title=Informatics, Equitable in New Field | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=December 3, 1971 | page=13 (Part III) | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> In particular, Equimatics, sought to establish a data services business that would provide such services to Equitable and others in the insurance industry.<ref name="frank-52"/>

While Informatics revenues did increase during this period,<ref name="cw-15yrs"/> in many respects choices about the direction of the business were forced by the inability of Informatics, in the economically gloomy early 1970s, to find investment capital.<ref name="ck-85"/> Accordingly, in September 1973, it was announced that Informatics would be acquired by Equitable Life Assurance Society, for $7 per share in cash.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-sun/129475182/ | title=Informatics Being Acquired | newspaper=The Evening Sun | location =Baltimore | date=September 24, 1973 | page=C-13 | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> The deal closed in March 1974.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-morning-call/129475449/ | title=In Business: ... Equitable Life | newspaper=The Morning Call | location=Allentown, Pennsylvania | date=March 7, 1974 | page=61 | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Thus Informatics became a subsidiary of Equitable Life, with the goal of gaining the ability to grow organically and to acquire other businesses.<ref name="cw-15yrs"/>

[[Image:Financial Institutions, Ventura Blvd., Encino.JPG|thumb|left|260px|From the mid-1970s on, Informatics corporate headquarters was in an office building on Ventura Boulevard in Woodland Hills, similar to these structures along the same road]]

For the year 1976, Informatics had revenues of $58 million.<ref name="cw-15yrs">{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oiB9AqI0GZ4C&pg=PA52 |title=After 15 Years, Informatics Confident of Its Survival |magazine=Computerworld |date=April 25, 1977 |page=52}}</ref> It had some 1,800 employees at locations around the world.<ref name="cw-15yrs"/> From around 1976 through to the end in 1985, Informatics corporate headquarters was located in an office along [[Ventura Boulevard]] in Woodland Hills.<ref>See corporate address in {{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0XjmsaVaPPwC&pg=PA15 | title=How Informatics can help you get the job done faster. And cut costs. | magazine=Computerworld | date=April 12, 1976 | page=15}} (advertisement) and {{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XxS89r_AA_0C&pg=PA47 | title=Informatics General enhances application tools | magazine=Computerworld | date=April 15, 1985 | page=47}}</ref>

Seeking to capitalize on the brand of its most known entity, some other Informatics products were named with a "IV" in their title, including "Production IV" for planning in manufacturing and "Accounting IV" for the financial sector.<ref name="cw-15yrs"/> Additional products included Life-Comm and Issue-Comm for the insurance sector, Minicomm and Intercomm for teleprocessing and communications, and CSS, for corporate shareholder processing.<ref name="cw-15yrs"/> In addition to packaged software, Informatics continued to make custom software and engage in professional services contracts.<ref name="cw-15yrs"/>

The relationship with Equitable did not work out well, and by the late 1970s Informatics sought to be an independent company again.<ref name="frank-56"/> It had a second IPO and starting in 1979 began trading as an [[Over-the-counter (finance)|Over-the-counter stock]] with the symbol IMAT.<ref name="frank-56"/> Then on June 7, 1982, the recently renamed Informatics General Corporation began trading on the [[New York Stock Exchange]] under the symbol IG.<ref name="frank-56">Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", p. 56.</ref> It was only the second software company ever to be listed on the NYSE.<ref name="bauer-ieee2006-32">Bauer, "Informatics Acquisition by Sterling Software", p. 32.</ref>

==Products and divisions== During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the company broke its revenues down into three sources: software products, professional services, and information processing services; from 1978 through 1982, the three were in rough balance, with each of the three comprising anywhere from 26 to 39 percent of the total.<ref name="ar-1982-reportings">{{cite book | title=1982 Annual Report | publisher=Informatics General Corporation | year=1983 | pages=2, 5, 16, 28}}</ref> Beginning in 1982, the company categorized revenues as coming from cross-industry customers versus vertical market segments;<ref name="ar-1982-reportings"/> by 1983, the verticals, which included products and services for the legal, accounting, insurance, and other industries, had eclipsed cross-industry revenues.<ref name="ar-1983-overall">{{cite book | title=1983 Annual Report | publisher=Informatics General Corporation | year=1984 | page=2}}</ref> These changes reflected complicated, and frequently changing, reporting structures within the company.<ref>Aspray, ''An Interview with Bruce Coleman'', p. 13.</ref>

===Mark IV and Mark V=== {{main|Mark IV (software)}} [[Image:Informatics Mark IV keypunch card.jpg|thumb|right|260px|The Mark IV product became a big success back when keypunch cards were a common input mechanism in computing.]]

Mark IV was a [[batch processing]], early [[fourth-generation programming language]] that combined file management and upkeep with report generation capabilities.<ref name="haigh-83"/> One taxonomy of application generators published in a scholarly setting placed Mark IV in the category of "Generalized file-management systems and sophisticated report writers".<ref name="card-graf">Cardenas and Grafton, "Challenges and requirements for new application generators", p. 344.</ref> Mark IV was originally designed to be usable by non-programmers, with simple interfaces given for report requests and data updates.<ref>Haigh, 'A Veritable Bucket of Facts', p. 80.</ref> This interface consisted of filling out one of several paper forms by hand and then having it [[keypunch]]ed into a machine-readable form, that was then run by a batch operation.<ref name="haigh-83"/> To some extent the goal was reached and non-programmers were able to use it.<ref>Haigh, "How Data Got its Base", p. 19.</ref> However experience showed that non-programmers had difficulty understanding the increasingly complex capabilities of the product and that only those with some data processing background were able to use those capabilities effectively.<ref name="haigh-84">Haigh, 'A Veritable Bucket of Facts', pp. 83–84.</ref>

Mark IV and [[Applied Data Research]]'s [[Autoflow]] are generally considered to be the two most influential early software products.<ref name="ck-6">Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', p. 6.</ref><ref name="johnson-39"/>

At this time [[IBM mainframe]]s dominated the computer landscape, but IBM failed to seize control of the database management or file management areas.<ref name="bauer-oh-2-9">Johnson, "Oral History of Walter Bauer" (1995), p. 9.</ref> Instead, Informatics built up a large sales force that was explicitly modeled after IBM's, with long [[Sales decision process|sales cycles]] also a characteristic of their market space.<ref>Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', pp. 108–109, 116.</ref>

An independent [[users' group]] of Mark IV customers, named the IV League (a play on the [[Ivy League]] of universities), was created and had its first full meeting in 1969.<ref>Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', p. 109.</ref> By 1972 the group's meetings up to 750 attendees.<ref name="ck-116"/> Chapters of the group were established in different countries in Europe as well as Japan,<ref name="ck-116"/> and regional groups existing in the United States as well. Existence of the users' group, which tended to be populated by [[computer programmer]]s, helped push Mark IV towards more sophisticated features with which intricate applications could be built, and further away from the model where non-programmers were intended users.<ref name="haigh-84"/>

In the eight years between its introduction in 1968 and 1976, Mark IV was sold into some 1,100 installations around the world and had $50 million in sales.<ref name="cw-15yrs"/> At the start, and for a long time, the base price of Mark IV was $30,000.<ref>Johnson, "Oral History of John Postley", pp. 17–18.</ref> A lot of Mark IV special features were developed as separately priced add-ons, each of which became financially successful.<ref name="postley-49">Postley, "Evolution of the Software Product", p. 49.</ref> Mark IV later sold for up to over $100,000 depending upon mainframe size and those features desired,<ref name="frank-47">Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", p. 47.</ref> and that higher price became a typical cost for customers.<ref name="ck-8">Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', p. 8.</ref>

So unfamiliar was the software product business that for the first four years or so, Informatics did not charge at all for Mark IV product support.<ref name="johnson-40">Johnson, "A View From the 1960s", p. 40.</ref> However, beginning in 1973, the company began to impose an 'Annual Improvement and Maintenance Service' fee.<ref name="postley-50">Postley, "Evolution of the Software Product", p. 50.</ref> In terms of non-IBM platforms, Informatics made a few efforts to develop a version of Mark IV for them, but they were generally not fruitful.<ref name="postley-49">Postley, "Evolution of the Software Product", p. 49.</ref>

[[Image:Informatics General Corporation mug.jpg|thumb|right|Branded mug]]

By 1977,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=liFebAEUnTEC&q=%22software+products+group%22+informatics&pg=PA75 | title=Position announcements: Contracts Administrator | magazine=Computerworld | date=October 10, 1977 | page=75}}</ref> Informatics had created a Software Products Group to conduct the Mark IV business.<ref name="ck-8"/> By 1984 it was still the best-selling software product targeted to corporations in the world, with some 3,000 installations.<ref>Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', p. 7.</ref> At its peak, it was responsible for $30 million in revenues per year.<ref name="frank-47"/> Over the three decades of the 1970s through 1990s it had some $300 million in sales.<ref name="frank-47"/>

Indeed, Mark IV was the first software product to have cumulative sales of $1 million, $10 million, and later $100 million.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.softwarehistory.org/history/informatics.html |title=Informatics |year=2007 |work=Computer History Museum |access-date=June 2, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090705032544/http://www.softwarehistory.org/history/informatics.html |archive-date=July 5, 2009 }}</ref><ref name="haigh-83">Haigh, 'A Veritable Bucket of Facts', p. 83.</ref> It is not only that, as computer historian Thomas Haigh has written, "Mark IV [was] the most successful product of the early independent software industry"<ref name="haigh-paper-13"/> – but that it remained the best-selling independent software product in the world for a 15-year stretch.<ref name="ck-58">Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', p. 58.</ref> For a long time Mark IV had few effective rivals in its market niche; as Bauer later remembered, "We didn't have much competition with Mark IV for many, many years. It was just pure sailing for 10 or 15 years."<ref name="bauer-oh-2-10"/>

However, starting in 1980, the technological age of the product became apparent and sales of Mark IV leveled off, amassing only about 60 percent of what Informatics had planned for.<ref>Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', p. 118. See also chart on p. 117.</ref> As that happened, much of the Mark IV-related revenues came to consist of the annual maintenance fees as well as charges for company-offered product training courses.<ref name="postley-50"/>

A successor product, Mark V, was released in 1981–82.<ref>See {{cite news | author-last=Snyders | author-first=Jan | title=Programmer Aids Increase Productivity | work=Computer Decisions | date=January 1982 | page= 38 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/196846127 | id={{ProQuest|196846127}} }}, which implies it was either released in 1981 or this particular customer was a beta user. See also {{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MMSvi567BMUC&pg=PA57 | title=Introducing Mark V (TM) for CICS users | newspaper=Computerworld | date=March 5, 1984 | page=57}}, an advertisement that refers to Mark V for IMS having come out two years prior.</ref> In contrast to the batch-only features of Mark IV, the goal of Mark V was the generation of online applications, although initially this was still done through some batch-oriented development steps.<ref name="elec-markv">{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tllJAQAAIAAJ&q=informatics+%22mark+v%22 |magazine=Electronics |date=1982 |page=136? |title=uncertain}}</ref> The same taxonomy of application generators mentioned earlier placed Mark V in the category of "Application Development Systems", as it covered more advanced capabilities such as generating online systems with screen dialogue and similar features.<ref name="card-graf"/> Mark V was made available for two IBM mainframe online transaction processing environments, [[IMS/DC]] and, beginning in 1983, [[CICS]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xg3P92QsSqIC&pg=PA57 |title=Informatics Updates Mark V For IBM CICS Environments |magazine=Computerworld |date=October 3, 1983 |page=57}}</ref> Mark V never become a dominant force in the marketplace like Mark IV was. It had many competitors, including products from Applied Data Research, IBM, [[Cincom Systems]], [[DMW Europe]], and [[Pansophic Systems]].<ref>Konsynski, "Advances in Information System Design", p. 27.</ref>

Following the acquisition by Sterling Software, Mark IV continued to be a significant product, but in 1994 it was renamed VISION:Builder.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qYgnAQAAMAAJ&q=%22sterling+software%22+%22mark+iv%22+%22vision:builder%22 | title=Product Life Cycle: Maturity Stage | magazine=Software Marketing Journal | date=1994 | pages=29–30?}}</ref> By one account, in the late 1990s the product still had close to $20 million in annual revenue.<ref name="frank-47"/> Ownership then passed again in 2000, when Sterling Software was sold to [[Computer Associates]] and the product remained under the name VISION:Builder.<ref name="Computer Associates">{{cite web | url=https://www.ca.com/us/services-support/ca-support/ca-support-online/knowledge-base-articles.TEC1054237.html | title=How do I upgrade applications from MARK IV to VISION:Builder? | publisher=Computer Associates | date=September 15, 2015}}</ref>

===Government services and online search=== [[Image:Aerial view of Ames 40x80 foot wind subsonic wind tunnel complex (A71-2828).jpg|thumb|right|Informatics had long-running professional services contracts with the NASA Ames Research Center.]]

During the 1960s and 1970s Informatics played a key role in the development of online information services. One of these was RADCOL at [[Rome Air Development Center]] (site of some of Informatics's earliest contracts); this was short for RADC Automatic Document Classification On-Line, which ran from the late 1960s into the mid-1970s.<ref>Bourne and Hahn, ''A History of Online Information Services'', p. 333.</ref>

Informatics had several contracts with [[NASA]]. The earliest, in 1966 (and possibly earlier) was in support of NASA efforts at the [[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]]<ref name="nasa-antenna"/> and the [[Ames Research Center]]. In conjunction with the contract, Informatics opened a branch office in [[Glendale, California]]. Work done there included software developed for the [[Surveyor program|Surveyor]], [[Mariner program|Mariner]] and [[Apollo program|Apollo]] programs with applications as diverse as satellite tracking, redesigning the [[Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex|Goldstone Observatory]]'s antenna,<ref name="nasa-antenna">{{cite web |author-last2=Firnett |author-first2= P. | author4-last= Gerritsen | author4-first=R. | author3-last= Jarvie | author3-first= P. | author-last=Ludwig | author-first= A. |title=Computer program aids dual reflector antenna system design |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19680000139 | publisher=NASA Technical Reports | date=April 1, 1968 }}</ref> and a database application for maintaining information about [[Monkeys and apes in space|primates in use]] at various NASA laboratories. The program for redesign of the Goldstone antenna used what came to be called a [[hill climbing]] algorithm and was given special recognition by NASA in the form of a small monetary prize for its developers.

Work done at Ames included the creation of software in support of the [[Ames_Research_Center#Wind_tunnels|Ames wind tunnel complex]],<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-peninsula-times-tribune/187451395/ | title=Ames wind tunnel being remodeled | newspaper=Palo Alto Times | date=March 3, 1973 | page=8 | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> which included real-time data collection systems for it.<ref>{{cite conference | url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19740056459 | title=Real time computer data system for the 40 x 80 ft wind tunnel facility at Ames Research Center | first=Joseph M. | last=Cambra | first2=Geno P. | last2=Tolari | conference=International Instrumentation Symposium, May 21–23, 1974 | location=Albuquerque, New Mexico | date= 1974 | pages= }}</ref> The Ames operation lasted through the lifetime of the company and was considered well-run and consistently turned a profit.<ref>Grad, "Sterling Software", pp. 80–81.</ref>

Later, Informatics had another long-running contract with NASA from 1968 to 1980.<ref name="bh-163">Bourne and Hahn, ''A History of Online Information Services'', p. 163.</ref> This began with winning an over-$4 million business to operate the Scientific and Technical Information Facility at [[College Park, Maryland]].<ref name="frank-49">Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", pp. 49–50.</ref> There Informatics maintained NASA online bibliographic systems, including the pioneering RECON facility.<ref name="bh-163"/> These systems involved abstracts and indexes created against microfilm and other representations of documents on NASA-related subject areas.<ref name="frank-49"/> Informatics made continual improvements to it, including reducing the response time for queries down to three seconds or less.<ref>Bourne and Hahn, ''A History of Online Information Services'', p. 307.</ref>

Using some of the technology in place at NASA, including the DIALOG system which had been placed in the public domain, Informatics developed online search services in other areas as well during the 1970s, including TOXLINE and CHEMLINE for the [[United States National Library of Medicine]].<ref name="bh-321">Bourne and Hahn, ''A History of Online Information Services'', pp. 168, 181, 320–321.</ref> At one point Informatics made an offer to DIALOG founder [[Roger K. Summit]] to join and had he done so, it is possible that Informatics would have entered the commercial online services world with some form of what became DIALOG. Instead, Informatics focused on government and private information services that were developed and maintained on a contractual basis.<ref name="bh-321"/>

By the late 1970s into the 1980s, Geno P. Tolari was the head of Informatics' government and military services operations, which was based in [[San Francisco, California]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ICoe1vr9x3kC&pg=PA164 | title=Executive Corner | magazine=Computerworld | date=June 5, 1978 | page=164}}</ref><ref name="oh-wyly-32"/>

Following the Sterling Software takeover, Tolari stayed on as chief of what became known as the Federal Systems Group.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9WUVAQAAMAAJ | title=The Texas 500 | publisher=Reference Press | date=1994 | page=144| isbn= 978-1-87-875339-7}}</ref>

===Data Services Division=== Although Informatics was always best known as a software company, it always had a presence in the services arena, with service processing and facilities management often accounting for around a quarter of Informatics' revenue.<ref>Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', p. 64.</ref>

This activity was the responsibility of the Data Services Division, which was funded out of Informatics' stock offerings during the late 1960s.<ref name="ck-81"/> Informatics spent $3.6 million acquiring a number of existing [[computer service bureau]]s with the goal of providing [[utility computing]].<ref name="ck-85"/> The timing was poor, as the boom in such services soon turned to bust, and the Data Services Division lost $100,000 a month during 1970.<ref name="ck-85"/>

Nevertheless, the division kept on going. Based in [[Fairfield Township, Essex County, New Jersey|Fairfield, New Jersey]], by the mid-1970s it offered a virtualized [[VM/370]] platform, based on both [[IBM System/370]] systems and [[Hitachi Data Systems|Itel]]'s IBM mainframe-compatible AS/5 and AS/6 systems.<ref name="sd-dsd"/><ref name="cw-dsd-outline"/> The network access featured [[multiplexer]]s located in various U.S. cities.<ref name="cw-dsd-outline">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3NtbSHJUvBsC&pg=PA13 | title=Informatics Offers Users VM/370 Services on Remote Network | magazine=Computerworld | date=August 27, 1975 | page=13}}</ref> Users could work in either [[OS/VS]] batch mode or [[VM/CMS]] interactive mode with a variety of programming language and program development tools available as well as access to an IMS database.<ref name="cw-dsd-outline"/> The service offering also provided programs to optimize telecommunications usage and costs.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GpEtWjI3whwC&pg=PA21 | title=Informatics Division to Provide 'Hilo' Optimization Program | magazine=Computerworld | date=October 23, 1974 | page=21}}</ref>

Typical customers of the Data Services Division during the 1970s included the [[General Services Administration]] for hosting a teleprocessing services program,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mHkuAQAAIAAJ&q=John+Callanan | magazine=Information Hotline | date=1977 | page=9? | title=uncertain}}</ref> the [[National Highway Traffic Safety Administration]] for hosting a reporting system,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L7fv8Ls0pMAC&pg=RA1-PA56 | title=Contacts | magazine=Computerworld | date=October 23, 1978 | page=56}}</ref> and Simplan Systems, Inc. for macroeconomic modeling.<ref name="sd-dsd">{{cite news | magazine=Software Digest | date=1979 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=inwqAQAAMAAJ&q=informatics+%22data+services+division%22 | page=16? | title=uncertain}}</ref>

Informatics still offered time-sharing services into the early 1980s.<ref name="cw-slowcycle"/> Then the Fairfield division, by that time known as the Data Services Operation, was sold to Mellonics Systems Development, a division of the [[Litton Industries]] conglomerate, in 1984.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MdBP83DW6g4C&pg=RA1-PA102 | title=Mergers and Acquisitions | magazine=Computerworld | date=July 16, 1984 | page=102}}</ref>

===Answer Division=== [[Image:Informatics computer room wide view.jpg|thumb|left|260px|An Informatics raised-floor computer room in the early 1980s]]

During 1979 and 1980 Informatics tried to broaden its range of IBM mainframe-related products beyond just Mark IV.<ref name="cw-eggs">{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xO3lFEMUpVoC&pg=RA1-PA55 |title=Informatics Putting Its Eggs Info IBM-Compatible Basket |first=Marcia |last=Blumenthal |magazine=Computerworld |date=August 4, 1980 |pages=55, 56}} See also "A Risky Route" sidebar on p. 56.</ref> [[Database management system]]s were becoming increasingly popular, but Informatics decided not to create its own such system, instead making products that worked in conjunction with IBM's database and data communications products, such as [[IBM Information Management System|IMS]] and [[CICS]], respectively.<ref name="cw-eggs"/> The Answer Division was created to fulfill this goal, although at one point, the Mark IV product line itself was also moved into the division.<ref name="oh-frank-24"/> The Answer Division was located in the [[Canoga Park, Los Angeles|Canoga Park area of Los Angeles]].<ref name="ct-somuch"/>

Answer/2 was a product released in 1979 that was billed as a moderately priced [[Report generator|report writer]] for files on [[History of IBM mainframe operating systems#System.2F370 and virtual memory operating systems|IBM mainframe operating systems]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aeMv0MQf9t4C&pg=PA50 | title=Introducing Answer/2 by Informatics | magazine=Computerworld | date=April 23, 1979 | page=50}} Advertisement.</ref> It was followed by Answer/DB, a product introduced in 1981, that allowed end users at terminals to make queries against various files and IMS databases on the same IBM mainframe operating systems.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dSMB0yE18cUC&pg=PA46 | title=Introducing Answer/DB by Informatics | magazine=Computerworld | date=August 17, 1981 | page=46}}</ref>

Informatics then put out a series of a products that linked specific popular PC-based applications to Answer/DB on the mainframe. Such linkages were a frequent aim of products being developed during this time.<ref>Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', p. 214.</ref> For Informatics, these products were called and released as Visi/Answer in 1983, dBASE/Answer in 1984, and Lotus/Answer also in 1984, so named because they represented links for [[VisiCalc]], [[dBASE]], and [[Lotus 1-2-3]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-C_xVnQCcsEC&pg=PA43 |title=Ashton-Tate, Informatics Link PCs to Mainframes |magazine=PC Magazine |date=August 7, 1984 |page=43}}</ref><ref name="pcmag-jan85">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l9C7NnwCf1gC&pg=PA181 | title=The Future of the Connection | magazine=PC Magazine | date=January 22, 1985 | pages=179–181}}</ref> The products generally communicated to the mainframe over [[IRMA board]]s or the FORTE package.<ref name="pcmag-jan85"/> Another implementation of these products, for the [[IBM 3270 PC]], was billed as Micro/Answer and released in early 1985.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CR4n14lZ9_wC&pg=RA1-PA89 | title=Micro/Answer for IBM 3270 Personal Computer | magazine=Computerworld | date=November 12, 1984 | page=89}}</ref>

Sales of Visi/Answer were much slower than Informatics had anticipated.<ref name="cw-slowcycle"/> Instead of seeing the sort of short sales cycle that one would anticipate with PC products, potential customers viewed the link as a strategic decision and Informatics saw the same kind of long sales cycles they were used to encountering with their mainframe products.<ref name="cw-slowcycle">{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_cW4xOV1gBsC&pg=PA7 | title=Informatics targets links for market leadership |magazine=Computerworld | date=July 30, 1984 | page=7}}</ref> By 1985 the Answer product line was continuing to experience high costs and disappointing sales.<ref name="lat-target"/> In general, Informatics was one of a number of successful mainframe-based software companies that failed to do well in the microcomputer market, either because they did not see that market as being worth the effort or because the high-volume, low-price nature of that domain was the opposite of the low-volume, high-price environment they were used to.<ref>Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', p. 221.</ref>

===Management Services Division and Ordernet=== William D. Plumb was a pioneer of [[electronic data interchange]] who began thinking about it while at a [[Columbus, Ohio]]-based firm known as Management Horizons.<ref name="notto-mhds">Notto, ''Challenge And Consequence'', pp. 242–245.</ref> The data processing part of this firm was spun off as a subsidiary, Management Horizons Data Systems (MHDS), which provided transaction-based computer services to wholesale distributors. MHDS was subsequently acquired by [[Citibank]].<ref name="notto-mhds"/><ref name="frank-55"/>

Informatics then bought the MHDS subsidiary from Citibank in 1974 or 1975  for $3.4 million.<ref name="frank-55"/><ref name="sokol-208"/> Plumb's vision of electronic data interchange was constructed as a service called Ordernet, which entered the market in 1978.<ref name="notto-mhds"/>

Ordernet was an early [[e-commerce]] initiative that provided electronic interchange of [[purchase order]]s and associated business documents between manufacturers and distributors.<ref name="iw-ordernet">{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KTAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA9 | title=Ordernet: Buying electronically | magazine=Infoworld | date=July 12, 1982 | page=9}}</ref> In particular, it was set up as a service bureau that would provide a solution to distributors looking to handle [[Business-to-business|business-to-business transactions]].<ref name="frank-55">Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", pp. 55–56.</ref> In 1975 Informatics had arranged with the National Wholesale Druggists' Association to create a central clearinghouse for the processing of electronic purchase orders within the industry.<ref>Sokol, ''From EDI to Electronic Commerce'', pp. 208, 286.</ref> In 1978 that association formally endorsed the use of Ordernet, which led Informatics to create an Ordernet Services Division.<ref name="sokol-208">Sokol, ''From EDI to Electronic Commerce'', p. 208.</ref> As a business unit within Informatics, this division was essentially a one-person effort at the beginning.<ref name="notto-mhds"/>

The electronic data interchange industry continued to grow in its adoption of standards and more agreements were made in regards to Ordernet.<ref>Notto, ''Challenge And Consequence'', p. 309.</ref> By 1982 four trade associations had endorsed the use of Ordernet, the most recent being the National Association of Service Merchandising.<ref name="iw-ordernet"/>

Informatics' Columbus operation, subsequently known as the Management Services Division, included more than just Ordernet and Warner Blow was the executive in charge of it.<ref>Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", p. 24.</ref>

Ordernet was one of the main prizes that Sterling Software sought by acquiring Informatics in 1985.<ref name="oh-wyly-32"/> It was expanded greatly under Sterling Software as a series of [[e-commerce]] initiatives, so much so that it was later spun off as its own company, [[Sterling Commerce]], in 1996.<ref name="Allison p. 33">Allison, "An Interview with Sam Wyly", p. 33.</ref><ref name="sterling-spinoff">{{cite news | url=http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/1996/10/21/newscolumn1.html | title=Sterling polishes off new building, needs more space | first=John | last=Frees | publisher=Bizjournals | date=October 21, 1996}}</ref> Warner Blow became the CEO of Sterling Commerce.<ref name="sterling-spinoff"/>

Frank would later say, "Little did we realize that this business would one day be a raging success that would bring its owner into the great New World of E-commerce and ultimately the Internet."<ref name="frank-55"/>

===TAPS Division=== [[Image:Informatics General programmer at terminal.jpg|thumb|right|260px|An Informatics programmer working on the TAPS product in 1983]]

The Terminal Application Processing System, known as TAPS, had been created by a [[Midtown Manhattan]]-based firm named Decision Strategy Corporation,<ref name="cw-with-corr">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Idn6b5E06sC&pg=PA24 | title=On-Line Programming Supported by 'Taps' | magazine=Computerworld | date=September 10, 1975 | page=24}} See also associated {{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G41aIKMQG5sC&pg=PA17 | title=Correction | magazine=Computerworld | date=October 29, 1975 | page=17}}</ref> which was founded by Michael J. Parrella.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.twst.com/interview/michael-parrella-noise-cancellation-technologies-ncti | title=Michael Parrella – Noise Cancellation Technologies (ncti) | publisher=The Wall Street Transcript | date=August 10, 1998}}</ref> Intended to significantly reduce the development time for online, CRT terminal-based applications, TAPS had been around since 1974<ref name="cw-dsc-ad">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BO24urtO-OoC&pg=RA1-PA52 | title=8 of the world's major software companies have built 29 on-line products using a software system you never heard of | magazine=Computerworld | date=May 28, 1979 | page=NCC Preview/52}} Advertisement.</ref> and initially ran on [[IBM mainframe]]s under the [[CICS]] teleprocessing monitor and the [[Telecommunications Access Method|TCAM]] access method.<ref name="cw-with-corr"/>

The core idea was to allow, by the creation of tables and other specifications, the user to create all of the functionality needed by an online application, without requiring user programming.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SKiv04PgC-kC&pg=PT10 | title='Taps' Eases On-Line Program Tasks | magazine=Computerworld | date=March 29, 1976 | page=19}}</ref> TAPS was not only a development tool for making online applications but also a production environment to run them within, and as such provided essential capabilities including network security and control, screen mapping and data editing, menu processing, database maintenance and inquiry, concurrency protection, and network and database recovery.<ref name="TAPS-UG">{{cite book | title=TAPS User's Guide | publisher=Informatics General Corporation | date=November 1984 | page=1-1}}</ref>

During the late 1970s TAPS was ported to a number of minicomputer platforms, including the [[Digital Equipment Corporation]] [[PDP-11]], the [[Hewlett-Packard]] [[HP 3000]], [[Perkin Elmer]]'s [[Interdata]] minicomputers, and the [[IBM Series/1]], along with systems from [[Harris Computer Systems Division|Harris Computer]] and [[Tandem Computers]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aeMv0MQf9t4C&pg=PA26 | title=Letters to the Editor: 'Taps' Marketing | first=Linda C. | last=Diamond | magazine=Computerworld | date=April 23, 1979 | page=26}}</ref> At this time some 70 percent of TAPS sales were to other companies doing software development, such as [[McCormack & Dodge]] and On-Line Systems, Inc.,<ref name="doc-prime">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jnbXHp5GdQ8C&pg=PA68 | title=Documentation Consultant Helps Firms Make Switch to End-User Marketing | magazine=Computerworld | date=June 22, 1981 | page=68}}</ref> in what the firm said was a deliberate strategy to first market the product to customers who would be "the toughest test of all".<ref name="cw-dsc-ad"/>

Over time Decision Strategy Corporation fell under financial stress and went through a significant downsizing. In October 1980, it was acquired by Informatics.<ref name="cw-aq-taps">{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Um4zkCCo38C&pg=RA1-PA68 | title=Informatics Buys 'Taps' Software | magazine=Computerworld | date=October 20, 1980 | page=68}}</ref> Bauer stated that Informatics wanted an entré into the minicomputer market and Frank had been looking for a while for a transaction- and terminal-based application building system.<ref name="cw-aq-taps"/><ref name="frank-95"/> As part of the acquisition, Informatics created a TAPS Division in New York with Parrella as its head.<ref name="cw-aq-taps"/>

[[Image:Informatics General Corporation TAPS Division magnetic paperclip holder.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.67|Branded magnetic paperclip holder]]

Freedom from vendor-specific databases and data communications were desirable qualities in application generators,<ref>Cardenas and Grafton, "Challenges and requirements for new application generators", p. 346.</ref> and Informatics continued to stress the portability of TAPS across different hardware, operating systems, and terminal models.<ref name="TAPS-UG"/><ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CLEcAQAAMAAJ | title=Program portability eases manufacturer's entry into foreign markets | magazine=Infosystems | date=1982 | page=120?  }}</ref> [[Prime Computer]] became an important minicomputer platform for the product;<ref name="cw-aq-taps"/><ref name="doc-prime"/> also supported was the [[NCR Corporation#Small computers|NCR 9300 under ITX]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X_o3RYqR1x0C&pg=PA37 | title=NCR 9300 | magazine=Computerworld | date=May 9, 1983 | pages=35–37}} Advertisement.</ref> Projects were undertaken to expand the number of IBM platforms that could host TAPS, to include not just System 370 OS-based ones such as [[OS/VS1]] but also the DOS-based [[DOS/360 and successors#SSX/VSE|SSX/VSE]] for the [[IBM 4300]], and even the relatively obscure [[IBM 8100]] distributed processing engine.<ref>"Project Assignments – Development". Memorandum, Informatics General Corporation, June 8, 1984.</ref> The overall goal was a product that could span across mainframes, minicomputers, and microcomputers.<ref name="cw-oalj">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tnAU_FUOjU4C&pg=RA1-PA58 | title=On-Line Information System Shreds Red Tape | magazine=Computerworld | date=June 28, 1982 | page=58}}</ref> Applications could be built and tested in one environment, such as an IBM mainframe in a data center, and then run in another environment, such a minicomputer located in a regional location or a microcomputer located in the field.<ref name="TAPS-UG"/>

[[Image:Informatics General Corporation TAPS User's Guide.jpg|thumb|right|upright|TAPS User's Guide from 1984]]

TAPS found its biggest market in the U.S. government, with its portability a big advantage for such customers, since they often possessed a disparate collection of computer systems<ref name="cw-oalj"/> brought about by lowest-bid government contracting requirements. The U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy in particular were both major customers,<ref name="ar-1984-taps">{{cite book | title=1984 Annual Report | publisher=Informatics General Corporation | year=1985 | page=12}}</ref> with the Navy's use going back to the 1970s.<ref name="frank-95">Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", p. 95n.</ref> By the early-mid-1980s, TAPS had secured a new $1 million contract for the Army's modernization of its non-tactical administrative, logistical, and financial information management systems,<ref>{{cite book | title=A Presentation Before the New York Society of Security Analysts | author-first=Walter F. | author-last=Bauer | publisher=Informatics General Corporation | date=September 20, 1983 | page=19}} See [https://web.archive.org/web/20120926101922/http://www.history.army.mil/books/DAHSUM/1984/ch06.htm this U.S. Army Center of Military History page] for the explanation of Project VIABLE.</ref> and TAPS was heavily used inside the Navy's stock management and distribution system.<ref name="NAVADS">{{cite web | url=http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA155290 |title=An Overview of the Navy Automated Transportation Documentation System (NAVADS) | first=Joseph Ralph | last=Bonomo | publisher=Naval Postgraduate School | location=Monterey, California | date=March 1985 | format=thesis | pages=19, 57, and ''passim''}}{{dead link|date=June 2022|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>  During the early-mid-1980s TAPS underwent an implementation change from TAPS I, which was written in less-portable languages, to TAPS II, which was written in an explicitly designed portable dialect of the [[Pascal programming language]].<ref name="NAVADS"/> In 1984, a decision was made to focus TAPS entirely on the government market.<ref name="ar-1984-taps"/>

Although he was gone from Informatics by that time, Frank later wrote that "Unfortunately, TAPS did not become economically viable and was ultimately de-committed."<ref name="frank-95"/> In any case, an early 1985 reorganization within Informatics saw a proposal that the TAPS Division be moved from New York to [[Rockville, Maryland]]. Instead, most of the division's employees left. Effective control of the TAPS product went to SOFT, Inc. (Source of Future Technology),<ref name="soft-taps">{{cite web | url=http://www.soft-inc.com/stories.php |title=Success Stories: Government: US Army and US Navy | publisher=SOFT, Inc. | access-date=May 26, 2017}}</ref> a consulting company in New York City that had previously done work on the product and was known for being one of the few consulting firms that was owned by women.<ref>{{cite book | title=National Directory of Woman-Owned Business Firms | publisher=Business Research Services | date=1998 | pages=341, 459}}</ref>

SOFT did development work to keep TAPS going on the Tandem and especially IBM platforms, and TAPS remained in use by the Army and Navy for accounting, personnel, and distribution and supply applications into the 2000s,<ref name="soft-taps"/> with license renewals and maintenance payments from the [[Defense Information Systems Agency]] of around $800,000 a year through at least 2009.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://govtribe.com/contract/award/hc101306p2002 | title= DISA Source Of Future Technology, Inc. Purchase Order | publisher=GovTribe | access-date=May 26, 2017}}</ref> It was not until 2015 that TAPS was finally retired from service by the U.S. military.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://govtribe.com/vendors/source-of-future-technology-inc-dot-soft-1bp13 | title=Vendors: Source Of Future Technology, Inc. | publisher=GovTribe | access-date=September 9, 2020}}</ref>

===Equimatics Division / Life Insurance Systems Division=== United Systems International was a [[Dallas, Texas]]-based company that was building an ambitious solution for automating the back-office functions for companies that offer [[life insurance]].<ref name="frank-52"/> Informatics acquired it in 1971 as part of the aforementioned Equimatics, Inc. initiative.<ref name="frank-52">Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", pp. 52, 95n.</ref> From this the Life-Comm solution emerged;<ref name="frank-52"/> the Life-Comm III version in particular became popular in the mid-1970s, quickly getting to the $1 million level in sales<ref>{{cite news | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=auvoEl8SK9sC&pg=PA54 | title=29 Software Packages Join ICP $1 Million Club | magazine=Computerworld | date=April 26, 1976|page=54}}</ref> and growing to have several dozen customers among insurance companies.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=soGti0kvtgwC&pg=RA1-PA3 | title=Tapping External Data Sources | first=Forest Woody Jr. | last=Horton | magazine=Computerworld | date=August 15, 1983 | pages=ID–1ff}}</ref> It eventually became the leading product in the field.<ref name="lat-target"/> The Equimatics initiative also put some other financial software, such as the Mortgage Loan System.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NDIWAQAAMAAJ&q=The+best+thing+about+the+Equimatics+Mortgage+Loan+System+is+what+it+doesnt+do | title=The best thing about ... | work=Mortgage Banker | volume=36 | issue=uncertain | date=1975 | page=19 | type=Advertisement}}</ref>

The Equimatics Division persisted as a name within Informatics even after the company was acquired by, and subsequently became independent from, Equitable Life Assurance itself.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OXsqAQAAMAAJ&q=Informatics+Inc.+has+named+WALTER+B.+RICKEL+direc-+tor | title=uncertain | work=Software Digest | publisher=EDP News Service | volume=12 | issue=uncertain | date=1980 | page=4 }}</ref> It released related insurance products, such as GROUP-COMM, for the administration of [[group insurance]] plans.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o1xUAAAAMAAJ&q=GROUP+COMM++equimatics | title=uncertain | work=Information & Records Management | volume =16 | issue=uncertain | date=1982 | page=16 }}</ref> However over time it became instead known as the Life Insurance Systems Division.<ref name="ar-1982-reportings"/>

Around 1984, the Life Insurance Systems Division fell into difficulty and was responsible for some of Informatics' declining financial fortunes.<ref name="lat-target"/> In particular, it was burdened with fixed-price contracts where product development costs had been badly underestimated.<ref name="bauer-ieee2006-33">Bauer, "Informatics Acquisition by Sterling Software", p. 33.</ref> In late 1984, the division was sold to The Continuum Company.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-01-17-fi-7922-story.html | title=Industry Notes | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=January 17, 1985 }}</ref>

===Legal software divisions=== Informatics had two divisions that related to computer support for [[law firm]]s. One was the Legal Information Services Division, which was begun around 1974, was based in [[Rockville, Maryland]], and provided a service bureau for litigation support services.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o7kNYfytNeQC&pg=PA14 | title=Letters | first=Cornell D. | last=Hills | magazine=ABA Journal | date=June 1, 1986 | page=14}}</ref> In particular it offered a legal support service that assisted law firms with large-scale document maintenance and retrieval functions in complex litigation efforts.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=inwqAQAAMAAJ&q=informatics+%22Legal+Information+Services+division%22 | magazine=Software Digest | date=April 5, 1979 | page=5 | title=uncertain}}</ref><ref name="az-pss"/> The basis for this service was online search work in the legal area that Informatics had done as part of its government services work in such areas.<ref name="bh-321"/> This unit was also sometimes known as Legal Information Services Operations.<ref name="az-pss"/>

The other had its origins with Professional Software Systems, Inc., a [[Phoenix, Arizona]]-based firm that created [[law practice management software]] for U.S. law firms. Founded around 1976,<ref name="aba-no1"/> it provided a [[Turnkey#Specific usage|turnkey solution]] that ran on the [[Wang VS]] minicomputer.<ref name="cw-ltms">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xy-Dcn-oHUQC&pg=PA54 | title=Mini Facilities Timekeeping for Law Firm | magazine=Computerworld | date=August 13, 1979 | pages=49, 54 }}</ref> It was one of the first software companies to realize that law firms needed dedicated computer support for client billing operations, and from that need its Legal Time Management System product was created.<ref name="cw-ltms"/> By 1980 the firm had a customer base that included 75 major law firms and revenues of about $5 million per year.<ref name="az-pss">{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/119979417/ | title=LA firm takes over software supplier | agency=Republic Wire Services | newspaper=The Arizona Republic | date=May 8, 1981 | page=30 | via=Newspapers.com }}</ref>

In May 1981, Informatics acquired Professional Software Systems.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/07/business/briefs-112720.html | title=Briefs | newspaper=The New York Times | date=May 7, 1981 }}</ref> In so doing the Professional Software Systems Division was created.<ref name="cw-first-phx">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=45AYSePz-dAC&pg=RA1-PA79 | title=Position announcements: Phoenix Director Software Development | magazine=Computerworld | date=August 10, 1981 | page=79}}</ref>

Continuing to sell the Wang-based Legal Time Management System turnkey solution,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ULU8AQAAIAAJ&q=informatics+legal+turnkey+%22wang+vs%22 | magazine=Los Angeles Lawyer | date=1983 | page=93? | title=uncertain}}</ref> the Phoenix division had yearly revenues on the order of $30 million by the mid-1980s.<ref name="lat-lsd">{{cite news | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-04-08-fi-25518-story.html | title=Sterling Sells Phoenix Unit of Informatics | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=April 8, 1986}}</ref> It would claim in advertisements in the ''[[ABA Journal]]'' to have 30 of the largest 100 law firms as customers and to be the top supplier of integrated legal word and data processing systems.<ref name="aba-no1">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=18AZJOghhXUC&pg=PA2 | title=Who's the leader in law office automation? | magazine=ABA Journal | date=February 1, 1987 | pages=4–5}}</ref>

Following the Sterling Software acquisition, the Rockville operation was sold in 1987 to ATLIS. As an entity, ATLIS Legal Information Services persisted at least into the early 1990s.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TjWtllGWXF0C&pg=PA83 | title=Legal Software Directory | magazine=ABA Journal | date=April 1993 | page=SD7}}</ref> The Phoenix operation was sold several times, beginning in 1986, and also was still active into the early 1990s as owned by [[Wang Laboratories]].<ref name="wang-1992"/>

===Professional services=== Even with the success of Mark IV, contract programming services still remained the primary revenue generator for the company during much of its history.<ref name="ck-8"/>

The company was still engaged in professional services as of 1984.<ref name="cw-slowcycle"/> Bauer later said that while Informatics had a good start on professional services, they never really grew that business and thus missed a major market opportunity.<ref name="bauer-oh-2-10"/>

===Others=== CPM Systems, Inc. was a pioneer in [[Critical path method]] (CPM) and [[Program evaluation and review technique]] (PERT) techniques that had begun as part of [[Hughes Dynamics]].<ref name="Archibald PMWT interview">{{cite web | url=http://russarchibald.com/Part1_InterviewRussArchibald.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221217105419/http://russarchibald.com/Part1_InterviewRussArchibald.pdf | url-status=usurped | archive-date=December 17, 2022 | title=Interview with Russ Archibald, Part 1 | magazine=PM World Today | date=September 2008 | access-date=April 18, 2017 | page=4 and ''passim''}}</ref> In 1965 Informatics acquired it and formed the CPM Systems Division, led by Russell D. Archibald and located in [[Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/160936076/?terms=informatics%2B%22cpm%2Bsystems%22 | title=Computer Firm Moved Into Van Nuys Plant | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=September 12, 1965 | page=31-J}}</ref><ref name="cpm-houses">{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/32852282/?terms=informatics%2B%22cpm%2Bsystems%22 | title=Seek Methods to Reduce Cost of Building Houses | newspaper=Valley News | location=Van Nuys, California | date=November 21, 1965 | page=36 | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Much of its focus was on the efficient planning and construction of [[tract housing]], but the business dissipated during a housing downturn in the late 1960s.<ref name="Archibald PMWT interview"/><ref name="cpm-houses"/>

During the 1970s Informatics brought out accounting software, but failed to compete effectively with that from [[Management Science America]].<ref name="bauer-oh-2-10">Johnson, "Oral History of Walter Bauer" (1995), p. 10.</ref> Nor was it competitive with software from [[McCormack & Dodge]], the other leader in that field, and it was sold to that firm a year after the Sterling Software takeover.<ref name="grad-80"/>

Business Management Systems was another division of Informatics in early 1985, located in Atlanta.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/70571534/?terms=%22Business%2BManagement%2BSystems%22%2Binformatics | title=Gray promoted in advertising | newspaper=The Index-Journal | location=Greenwood, South Carolina | date=February 24, 1985 | page=6C | via=Newspapers.com}} See also many classified display ads for positions at Business Management Systems placed in ''The Atlanta Constitution''.</ref>

==Final years and the Sterling Software takeover battle== Informatics continued to grow, both organically and via acquisition. Indeed, by the early-mid-1980s Informatics General had made more than thirty different acquisitions along the way.<ref>Campbell-Kelly, ''From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog'', p. 180.</ref> Depending upon when and how the counting was done, the company had some seventeen divisions within it, and sometimes subdivisions within those; some of these were small-sized businesses that revealed a lack of focus within the overall company.<ref>Aspray, ''An Interview with Bruce Coleman'', pp. 11–12.</ref> The divisions were organized into groups, and these groups were sometimes independent entities unto themselves.<ref>Grad, ''Oral History of Bruce Coleman'', p. 29.</ref>

Werner Frank had a parting of the ways with Informatics management and left the company at the end of 1982, with some acrimonious relations taking place between him and Bauer.<ref>Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", pp. 75–77.</ref>

There were attempts to change the structure of Informatics' management, such that Bauer would be less involved in operations.<ref name="oh-frank-24">Yost, "Oral History of Werner Frank", pp. 24–25.</ref> Accordingly, in February 1983, Bruce T. Coleman was named president of the company.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/02/10/business/executive-changes-221110.html | title=Executive Changes | newspaper=The New York Times | date=February 10, 1983}}</ref> He had originally been hired in 1978 as a group vice president.<ref>Grad, ''Oral History of Bruce Coleman'', pp. 28–29.</ref> However, during a large-scale reorganization of the company in August 1984, which involved the selling off of some unprofitable businesses, Coleman departed and Bauer resumed being both chairman and president.<ref name="lat-target"/> Coleman later said that Bauer had fired him after Bauer disagreed with his proposals to sell off several pieces of the company.<ref>Grad, ''Oral History of Bruce Coleman'', pp. 34–35.</ref>

[[Image:Informatics General corridor at night.jpg|thumb|left|260px|An Informatics staffer having a late night at the office]]

The company continued to have strong revenue growth, moving from $129 million in 1982 to $152 million in 1983 to $191 million in 1984.<ref name="lat-target">{{cite news | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-04-23-fi-11631-story.html | title=Woodland Hills' Informatics a Takeover Target: Analysts Give Dallas Software Company's Bid a Good Chance of Succeeding | first=Daniel | last=Akst | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=April 23, 1985 }}</ref> Profits followed the same path for most of the time, with seven straight years of increasing earnings through 1983,<ref name="ct-somuch"/> including moving from $5.4 million and $1.49 per share in 1982 to $8.5 million and $1.67 per share in 1983.<ref name="lat-target"/> But then in 1984 earnings declined to $4.7 million and 82 cents per share, with two of Informatics' ten divisions showing an outright loss.<ref name="ct-somuch"/><ref name="lat-target"/><ref name="nyt-earnings-0285">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/13/business/informatics-general-corp-reports-earnings-for-qtr-to-dec-31.html |title=Informatics General Corp reports earnings for Qtr to Dec 31 | newspaper=The New York Times | date=February 13, 1985}}</ref> The performance of Informatics stock became erratic, as exemplified by a market close in December 1983 where the ''New York Times'' wrote that Informatics General was the "big loser" of the day when its stock fell {{frac|5|5|8}} to {{frac|20|7|8}} after a poor earnings forecast was put out,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/10/business/dow-declines-1.83-turnover-increases.html | title=Dow Declines 1.83; Turnover Increases | first=Alexander R. | last=Hammer | newspaper=The New York Times | date=December 10, 1983}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url= https://www.newspapers.com/image/14573563/?terms=%22informatics%2Bgeneral%22 | title=Market has small loss for week | agency=Associated Press | newspaper= The Galvestone Daily News | date= December 10, 1983 |page=23 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> or by a drop of {{frac|4|7|8}} to {{frac|15|3|8}} on a day in July 1984 when another a forecast for a break-even quarter was released.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/47536018/?terms=%22informatics%2Bgeneral%22 | title=Wall Street | first=Chet | last=Currier | agency=Associated Press | newspaper=The Gettysburg Times | date=July 19, 1984 | page=12 | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

[[Image:Informatics General Corporation quarterly reports and analysts briefing.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.75|Mailed quarterly reports and an analysts' briefing by Bauer: Informatics General was under constant pressure to improve its stock price]]

By 1985, Informatics General had some 2,600 employees and offices in 30 cities in North America and in nine other locations around the world.<ref name="lat-target"/> It was the fourth largest independent software company in the world.<ref name="bauer-ieee2006-32"/> Informatics had a solid cash position and almost no long-term debt.<ref name="lat-finally"/> However the company and its stock was considered, in the words of the ''Los Angeles Times'', a "chronic underachiever" and "a lackluster performer on Wall Street".<ref name="lat-target"/><ref name="lat-finally"/> Overall the stock had fallen from a one-time high of $34 per share to around $17,<ref name="frank-82">Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", p. 82.</ref> with a low point of $14.<ref name="ct-somuch"/> In the 1984 book ''The Coming Computer Industry Shakeout'', writer [[Stephen T. McClellan]] had characterized Informatics General as "Doing too many things, none of them well."<ref>McClellan, ''The Coming Computer Industry Shakeout'', p. 249.</ref> He criticized company management, saying further said that "Bauer, the longtime chairman, is 60 years of age and has managed the firm too autocratically and too monotonously for too long."<ref name="mcclellan-250">McClellan, ''The Coming Computer Industry Shakeout'', p. 250.</ref> As a result, Wall Street analysts considered the company a prime target for acquisition, with the expectation that new management could make it a better.<ref name="lat-target"/>

[[Sterling Software]] had been founded in 1981 by executive Sterling Williams and investor [[Sam Wyly]] and found growth via a series of acquisitions, becoming public in 1983.<ref name="frank-80-81">Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", pp. 80–81.</ref><ref>Grad, "Sterling Software", p. 77.</ref> Wyly had a controversial background with both successes and failures, the latter including a $100 million loss in attempting to establish Datran, a U.S. nationwide digital network in direct competition with [[AT&T]].<ref name="ct-somuch"/> Werner Frank had begun consulting for Sterling Software almost as soon as he left Informatics and became an executive vice president of Sterling in October 1984.<ref name="frank-80-81"/>

Sterling Software saw Informatics General as a possible acquisition, but Informatics management decided it did not want to be acquired, and especially not by Sterling Software.<ref name="ct-somuch"/> On April 15, 1985, Sterling offered $25 per share for Informatics, then when that was rejected by the Informatics board, on April 22 increased the offer to $26 per share.<ref name="cw-may1985-0">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q03IhagslNsC&pg=RA2-PA85 | title=Sterling launches proxy fight | first=Kathleen | last=Burton | magazine=Computerworld | date=May 6, 1985 | pages=85, 99}}</ref><ref name="lat-full-ad">{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/173074527/ | title=An Important Message to the Stockholders of Informatics General Corporation |newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=April 26, 1985 | page=90 | via=Newspapers.com | format=Advertisement}}</ref>

When that too was rejected, the acquisition attempt became an overt [[hostile takeover]] that was later described by one Informatics executive as "an all-out war", with both financial interests and pure ego driving it.<ref name="ct-somuch"/> Sterling deciding to stage a [[proxy battle]], taking out full page advertisements in newspapers such as the ''Wall Street Journal'' and the ''Los Angeles Times'' to try to convince shareholders to elect Wyly and Williams to the Informatics board at an upcoming [[Annual general meeting|shareholders' meeting]].<ref name="cw-may1985-0"/><ref name="lat-full-ad"/>

This was the first hostile takeover attempt that the software industry had ever seen<ref name="nyt-93">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/02/business/company-news-sterling-software-to-buy-systems-center.html | title=Sterling Software to Buy Systems Center | first=Andrea | last=Adelson | newspaper=The New York Times | date=April 2, 1993}}</ref> (and the next would not be until two decades later, with [[Oracle Corporation]]'s hostile takeover of [[PeopleSoft]]). <ref name="grad-79">Grad, "Sterling Software", p. 79.</ref> Received opinion had been that it would be counterproductive,<ref name="ct-somuch"/> due to the rationale, as Wyly later said, that "nobody can do a hostile takeover of a software company because the talent will walk out the door."<ref name="oh-wyly-32">Allison, "An Interview with Sam Wyly", p. 32.</ref> However, Wyly felt that in this case, the staff in question would view more competent management coming in "not as conquerors but as liberators."<ref name="oh-wyly-32"/> Financing for the takeover attempt came from [[Michael Milken]] and the [[High-yield debt|"junk bonds"]] of [[Drexel Burnham Lambert]].<ref name="oh-wyly-32"/><ref name="frank-82"/><ref name="lat-finally"/> Bad feelings ensued all over, including a lawsuit by Informatics that in part charged that Sterling had benefited from confidential information from Frank, a charge that many people gave credence to but that he always strongly denied.<ref name="ct-somuch"/><ref name="frank-83">Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", p. 83.</ref> (In Bauer's later rueful estimation, the main beneficiaries of the takeover struggle were lawyers and investment bankers, who received millions of dollars in fees no matter the outcome.<ref name="ct-somuch"/>)

On May 9, 1985, Informatics management won the proxy battle, by a 70-to-30-percent margin reelecting Bauer and another board member rather than electing Wyly and Williams.<ref name="cw-may1985">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ygHfUXZWXlcC&pg=PA12 | magazine=Computerworld | date=May 20, 1985 | title=Informatics nixes Sterling's takeover bid | first=Kathleen | last=Burton | pages=12–13}}</ref> But Sterling also had a victory because some proposed enhanced anti-takeover measures were not approved.<ref name="ct-somuch"/> Furthermore, the fact that trading on the stock on Wall Street had become quite heavy, with some 70 percent of its issue changing hands during the battle, led to Bauer concluding that the company's shareholders actually did want to be acquired.<ref name="cw-may1985"/> Attempts by Informatics to find a [[White knight (business)|white knight]] came up empty.<ref name="ct-somuch"/> A series of other possible proposals for Informatics soon emerged, however;<ref name="frank-82"/> these included two specific offers, one from a private leverage buyout proposed by Bauer, the other from an unidentified third party.<ref name="lat-finally"/> But these were seen as inferior.<ref name="lat-finally"/>

So finally, on June 21. 1985, it was announced that Informatics board of directors had agreed to be acquired by Sterling for $27 per share, meaning $135 million in total.<ref name="lat-finally">{{cite news | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-06-22-fi-2225-story.html | title=Sterling Software Sweetens Offer to $135 Million: Informatics General OKs Merger | first=Daniel | last=Akst | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=June 22, 1985}}</ref> The acquisition was approved by Informatics shareholders in a process that ended on August 13, 1985.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-08-14-fi-2871-story.html | title=Sterling completed its buy-out of Informatics | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=August 14, 1985}}</ref> At that point, as the ''Chicago Tribune'' later wrote, "the Informatics name, long a legend in software circles, was gone."<ref name="ct-somuch">{{cite news | url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1987/09/25/page/37/article/so-much-for-software-complacency | first=Christine | last=Winter | title=So much for software complacency | newspaper=Chicago Tribune | date=September 25, 1987 | pages=3–1, 3–2 }}</ref>

== Aftermath and legacy == [[Image:Informatics General Corporation visor.jpg|thumb|right|An Informatics General-branded golf visor, seen decades after the company's existence ended]]

Overnight, Sterling Software became a $200 million in revenue company, up from $20 million, and one of the biggest firms in the software industry.<ref name="nyt-93"/> One ''[[Computerworld]]'' writer referred to the takeover as "the guppy swallowing the whale."<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9VIcNk5bRkEC&pg=PA95 | title=Merger mania strikes at the heart of the information economy | first1=Charles | last1=Varga | first2=Vicki | last2=Brooks | magazine=Computerworld | date=February 10, 1986 | pages=93–98}}</ref>

The entire Informatics corporate headquarters office in Woodland Hills was let go, including Bauer.<ref name="frank-83"/> Bauer had been CEO of Informatics for its entire 23-year history, in what he believed was a record at the time for the longest period that a founding CEO had lasted in that position in a company.<ref name="bauer-oh-2-5">Johnson, "Oral History of Walter Bauer" (1995), p. 5.</ref> Bauer also believed he was the longest-tenured CEO in the computer industry at that time.<ref name="bauer-oh-2-5"/> Reflecting on the hostile takeover process a couple of years later, he said, "I've been associated with a lot of firsts in the software industry. This was one I could have done without."<ref name="ct-somuch"/> Two decades later, Bauer was still ruing the combination of circumstances and timing that had led to the takeover, writing: "Without just one of these factors, the bid for the company might not have occurred and Informatics might be a viable and thriving entity today."<ref>Bauer, "Informatics Acquisition by Sterling Software", p. 34.</ref>

Sterling Software management insisted in the first years after the acquisition, and later in oral histories, that the transition had gone well, that layoffs other than at the corporate office had been minimal, and that they had brought about better performance than Informatics management had.<ref name="ct-somuch"/><ref name="oh-wyly-32"/><ref>Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", pp. 83, 96n.</ref><ref name="grad-80">Grad, "Sterling Software", p. 80.</ref> Informatics employees sometimes had a different perspective, as some 40 percent of the staff at the Canoga Park facility were laid off in September 1985, during a day employees called Black Thursday.<ref name="ct-somuch"/>

Sterling sold off several Informatics divisions as part of paying off the takeover financing,<ref name="ct-somuch"/> in some cases keeping professional services and processing services units in preference to what they viewed as underperforming software products.<ref>Grad, "Sterling Software", pp. 80–81.</ref> Some of what they kept became part of the core of Sterling Software going forward. The Ordernet business of Informatics was expanded greatly under Sterling Software as a series of [[e-commerce]] initiatives under the rubrics Electronic Document Interchange and Electronic Data Interchange, so much so that it was later spun off as its own company, [[Sterling Commerce]], in 1996.<ref name="Allison p. 33"/>

The Informatics brand name may have lasted longest in connection with one of its aforementioned legal software entities, the Professional Software Systems Division. Sterling Software renamed it as the Informatics Legal Systems division, then sold it in 1986 to Baron Data Systems,<ref name="lat-lsd"/> a company that made legal and medical systems.<ref name="nw-briefs"/> Advertisements from that entity stressed "Informatics" far more than "Baron Data".<ref name="aba-no1"/> In 1987 Baron Data was acquired by [[Convergent Technologies]], a computer maker;<ref name="nw-briefs">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cxwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA9 | title=Briefs | magazine=Network World | date=March 9, 1987 | page=9}}</ref> Informatics Legal Systems remained as the name of the subsidiary under Convergent.<ref name="nyt-wang"/> But the legal software still ran on Wang systems and thus was not a match with the parent, so in 1988 the Phoenix operation was acquired by [[Wang Laboratories]] itself.<ref name="nyt-wang">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/02/business/company-news-wang-to-acquire-convergent-unit.html | title=Wang to Acquire Convergent Unit | newspaper=The New York Times | date=February 2, 1988 }}</ref> There it became known as the Wang Informatics Legal & Professional Systems, Inc. wholly owned subsidiary and was still based in Phoenix.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cR0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA36 | title=LAN file mgmt. pack gets upgrade | first=Tom | last=Smith | magazine=Network World | date=June 4, 1990 | page=36}}</ref> Wang Informatics was still active in 1992<ref name="wang-1992">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=64DHhtObEY0C&pg=PA76 | title=1992 ABA Annual Meeting Exhibitors List | magazine=ABA Journal | date=August 1992 | page=10A}}</ref> when Wang Laboratories itself went into bankruptcy.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-08-19-fi-5728-story.html | title=Troubled Wang Decides to File for Chapter 11 | agency=Associated Press | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=August 19, 1992}}</ref>

In 2000, Sterling Software was sold to [[Computer Associates]];<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB950538698506309305 | title= Computer Associates Sets Deal To Acquire Sterling Software | author-first= William M. | author-last=Bulkeley | newspaper=The Wall Street Journal | date=February 15, 2000}}</ref> that software giant would later be acquired by [[Broadcom]].<ref name="Broadcom_acquisition_closing">{{Cite press release |title=Broadcom Inc. Completes Acquisition of CA Technologies |date=November 5, 2018 |publisher=[[PR Newswire]] |url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/broadcom-inc-completes-acquisition-of-ca-technologies-300743810.html}}</ref> That same year, Sterling Commerce was sold to [[SBC Communications]]; it later became part of IBM.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/ibm-buys-sterling-commerce-for-us1-4-billion/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129003335/https://www.zdnet.com/article/ibm-buys-sterling-commerce-for-us1-4-billion/ | url-status=dead | archive-date=November 29, 2020 | title=IBM buys Sterling Commerce for US$1.4 billion | author-first=Larry | author-last=Dignan | publisher=ZDNet | date=May 25, 2010 }}</ref>

Relations between Bauer and Frank did not remain completely sundered, and in 1999 Frank attended, along with Wagner, Postley, and three other early executives, a private "Informatics Retrospective" hosted by Bauer, where they could, in Bauer's words, "discuss what happened, good and bad."<ref>Frank, "Achieving the American Dream", p. 97n.</ref>

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography== {{refbegin|30em}} * {{cite book | first1=Donald L. | last1=Barlett | first2=James B. | last2=Steele | title=Empire: The Life, Legend, and Madness of Howard Hughes | publisher=W. W. Norton & Company | location=New York | year=1981}} * {{cite interview |last=Bauer |first=Walter |interviewer=[[Arthur Norberg|Arthur L. 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==Further reading== {{refbegin|30em}} * {{cite journal | last=Bauer | first=Walter F. | title=Informatics: An Early Software Company | journal= IEEE Annals of the History of Computing | volume=18 | issue=2 | date=Summer 1996 | pages= 70–76}} May be missing from the IEEE Xplore digital library. * {{cite book | first=Richard L. | last=Forman | title=Fulfilling the Computer's Promise: The History of Informatics, 1962–1982 | publisher=Informatics General Corp. | date=1985 }} Exhaustive internal study. Praised by Campbell-Kelly as a major corporate history  but was a privately published typescript and thus hard to find. Subsequently made available [https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102679129 at the Computer History Museum], as a collection of separate page images. {{refend}}

==External links== * [http://www.dvq.com/ads/acm/informatics_acm_72.pdf Informatics brochure for Mark IV, 1972] * [http://www.softwarememories.com/2011/02/12/management-horizons-data-systems-mhds/ Software Memories entry – MHDS and its successors]

[[Category:Defunct software companies of the United States]] [[Category:International information technology consulting firms]] [[Category:Software companies based in California]] [[Category:Companies based in Los Angeles]] [[Category:Software companies established in 1962]] [[Category:Software companies disestablished in 1985]] [[Category:1962 establishments in California]] [[Category:1985 disestablishments in California]]