{{Short description|Defunct American technology company}} {{Infobox company | name=Mohawk Data Sciences Corporation | image=Mohawk Data Sciences Headquarters Herkimer New York 1965.jpg | image_caption=Original headquarters in [[Herkimer (village), New York|Herkimer, New York]] | logo=Mohawk Data Sciences logo older.svg | logo_caption=Logo used from 1964 to the late 1970s | founded={{start date and age|1964}} in [[Herkimer (village), New York|Herkimer, New York]] | defunct={{end date and age|1988}} | successor=Qantel Corporation (1988–1992) | fate=Renamed Qantel Corporation in 1988; acquired by [[Decision Data]] Computer Corporation in 1992 | founders={{ubl|[[George Cogar]]|Lauren King|Ted Robinson}} | industry=Computer }} '''Mohawk Data Sciences Corporation''' ('''MDS''') was an early computer hardware company, started by former [[Univac]] engineers in 1964;<ref name=HistM>{{cite web |website=ComputerHistory.org |title=Mohawk Data Sciences Corporation (MDS) - Selling the Computer |url=http://www.computerhistory.org/brochures/m-p |access-date=2018-10-26 |archive-date=2018-10-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004110957/http://www.computerhistory.org/brochures/m-p/ |url-status=live }}</ref> by 1985 they were struggling to sell off part of their company.<ref name=NYT.85>{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |date=October 5, 1985 |title=Mohawk Data Set To Sell Five Units |author=Jonathan P. Hicks |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/05/business/mohawk-data-set-to-sell-five-units.html |quote=The Mohawk Data Sciences Corporation, which has strived unsuccessfully for months to sell many of its operations, said yesterday that ... |access-date=October 26, 2018 |archive-date=October 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181026222639/https://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/05/business/mohawk-data-set-to-sell-five-units.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
==History== {{plain image with caption|Mohawk Data Sciences logo.svg|Later logo, used from the late 1970s to 1988}} The company was founded in [[Herkimer (village), New York|Herkimer, New York]], by [[George Cogar]], Lauren King, and Ted Robinson, former Univac employees.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}
Their success in selling their first product, a Key-to-Tape [[Data entry|Data Entry]] device that allowed doing away with [[keypunch]] devices, brought them enough cash to also grow via acquisition.
Among their acquisitions was Atron Corporation, developer of a [[minicomputer]], the Atron 501 and 502. From the know-how acquired and absorbed, Mohawk expanded into the areas of controlling [[line printer]]s and also [[Remote Job Entry]] (RJE). This was the basis of their [[MDS 2400]] RJE product,<ref>{{cite web |title=Mohawk Data Sciences Corporation (1975). System 2400 The Peripheral Processor |url=http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/MDS/MDS.2400.1975.102646172.pdf |access-date=2018-10-26 |archive-date=2020-10-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023024006/http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/MDS/MDS.2400.1975.102646172.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> which supported [[IBM 2780/3780|2780]]<ref name=OpG>{{cite web |url=http://www.textfiles.com/bitsavers/pdf/mohawk/mds21/OperatorsGuide_1978.pdf |title=Operator's guide: MDS 21 series |quote=... MOBOL Compiler ... BSC2780 ...}}</ref> and [[Houston Automatic Spooling Priority|HASP]].
Another major acquisition was [[Anelex|Anelex Corporation]] of Boston, at the time the second-largest manufacturer of printers behind [[IBM]] and an early entrant in the [[hard disk drive]] market. Mohawk finalized their acquisition of Anelex in October 1967.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=August 14, 1967 | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-mohawk-data-plans-merge/141478579/ | title=Mohawk Data Plans Merger with Anelex | journal=The Boston Globe | page=26 | via=Newspapers.com | access-date=February 20, 2024 | archive-date=February 20, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240220042705/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-mohawk-data-plans-merge/141478579/ | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=October 18, 1967 | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-stockholder-blessing-on/138355298/ | title=Stockholder Blessing on Anelex–Mohawk Data | journal=The Boston Globe | page=73 | via=Newspapers.com | access-date=February 20, 2024 | archive-date=January 9, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240109053200/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-stockholder-blessing-on/138355298/ | url-status=live }}</ref>
Financial difficulties a decade-and-a-half<ref name=HistM/> after the company opened led to the company's [[restructuring]], renaming and eventual takeover. By that time, headquarters had been in [[Parsippany, New Jersey]], with manufacturing in Herkimer.<ref name=NYT.85/>
===Other Mohawk-branded RJE products=== * Mohawk's '''1103 Data Transmission System'''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/TNM_1103_Data_Transmission_System_from_Mohawk_Data_Sciences_Corporation |title=1103 Data Transmission System from Mohawk Data Sciences Corporation}}</ref> * Mohawk's '''Series 21''', which also had local processing capability. It ran [[CP/M]] and supported: ** [[COBOL]] ** [[#MOBOL|MOBOL]], their own variation<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/datapro/programmable_terminals/Datapro_C21_Mohawk.pdf |title=Mohawk Data Sciences Series 21 |access-date=2018-10-26 |archive-date=2019-01-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190125031616/http://bitsavers.org/pdf/datapro/programmable_terminals/Datapro_C21_Mohawk.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> ** office automation
===Qantel Corporation=== Mohawk acquired '''Qantel Corporation'''<ref>not to be confused with British-based [[Quantel]]</ref> in 1980, later called "its strongest asset".<ref name=NYT.85/> Having sold around 10,000 systems worldwide, in the sports world it was known as the supplier for the computer hardware and software for "12 of the 28 teams in the [[National Football League]]".<ref name=Times84>{{cite web |title=A Computer Scores in Sports |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/12/business/a-computer-scores-in-sports.html |website=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 12, 1984 |access-date=October 26, 2018 |archive-date=October 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181026222759/https://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/12/business/a-computer-scores-in-sports.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
Mohawk renamed itself Qantel in 1988,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapid=6195051 |title=Qantel Corporation |website=bloomberg.com |access-date=2018-10-26 |archive-date=2018-10-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181026222502/https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapid=6195051 |url-status=live }}</ref> and in 1992 the remains of the latter, after bankruptcy, was acquired by [[Decision Data|Decision Data Computer Corporation]].<ref>{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=January 20, 1992 | url=https://techmonitor.ai/technology/decision_data_acquires_most_of_bankrupt_qantel | title=Decision Data Acquires Most of Bankrupt Qantel | journal=Computer Business Review | publisher=New Statesman Media Group | archiveurl= | archivedate=}}</ref>
==MDS Series 21== <!-- a disappointment, it's not the console [[File:MDS 21 Maat 10.svg|thum|right|Mohawk MDS 21]] --> The '''MDS Series 21''' (21/20, 21/40, 21/50) was configured as a [[cathode-ray tube|CRT]] (which Mohawk called an "Operator Station") and a system unit (called a "Controller Console").<ref name=OpG/>{{rp|Intro_p.3}} Up to four [[floppy disk]] drives could be housed in the latter.
* Floppies contained 74 [[Track (disk drive)|tracks]], 26 128-character [[disk sector|sectors]] per track. Track 0 was the ''index'' track. A floppy contained up to 1,898 128-character records.<ref name=OpG/>{{rp|Diskettes, p.2}} * '''Screen''' - The 21/20 used a 480 character (12 lines x 40 characters) screen. The 21/40 could use either that screen or a larger, industry-standard sized 1,920 character screen (24 lines x 80 characters). * '''45 Characters/second printer ''' - The Model 2141 printer's line width was (up to) 132 characters; the character set accommodated a 96-character set. * '''Line printers''' - Lines/minute speeds were ** up to 185 LPM (Model {{not a typo|2142-1}}) ** up to 340 LPM (Model {{not a typo|2142-2}}) ** up to 600 LPM (Model 2145) * '''IBM Mainframe-compatible 9-track tapes drives:''' ** Model 2481 - 800 BPI ** Model 2482 - 1600 BPI
=={{anchor}}MOBOL== Mohawk's '''MOBOL'''—''Mohawk Business Oriented Language''—was described as "look[ing] nothing like COBOL".<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[Computerworld]] |date=October 2, 1978 |page=36 |title=MOBOL MOhawk Business Oriented Language |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QmEH10OiXZkC |quote=differs from the traditional Cobol ... MOBOL (MOhawk Business Oriented La...}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Mohawk Data Sciences (MDS) series 21, anyone know? |url=http://www.vcfed.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-24688.html |quote=written in MOBOL (Mohawk Business Oriented Language), which looked nothing like COBOL}}</ref>
The language's [[source code]] was [[compiler|compiled]], rather than being run [[interpreter (computing)|interpretively]].<ref name=OpG/>
After a MOBOL program was compiled, a utility named ''MOBOLIST'' was used to display applicable messages (if any) for errors detected during compilation.<ref name=OpG/>{{rp|Intro_p.1}}
===MOBOL Syntax=== The syntax <code>(5,1) '[["Hello, World!" program|Hello, World]]'</code> would output <code>Hello, World</code> to the screen at the beginning of the fifth line.
==References== {{reflist}}
[[Category:1964 establishments in New York (state)]] [[Category:1988 disestablishments in New York (state)]] [[Category:1988 mergers and acquisitions]] [[Category:American companies established in 1964]] [[Category:American companies disestablished in 1988]] [[Category:Computer companies established in 1964]] [[Category:Computer companies disestablished in 1988]] [[Category:Data processing]] [[Category:Defunct computer companies of the United States]] [[Category:Defunct computer companies based in New York (state)]] [[Category:Defunct computer hardware companies]] [[Category:Defunct computer systems companies]]