{{Short description|Service bureau providing computer services}} {{One source|date=October 2025}}
A '''computer bureau'''<ref>{{cite web |title=FROM THE ARCHIVE: Early days of computing in the Highlands |url=https://www.ross-shirejournal.co.uk/news/from-the-archive-early-days-of-computing-in-the-highlands-349258/ |website=ross-shirejournal.co.uk |access-date=7 October 2025 |language=en |date=5 May 2024}}</ref> is a service bureau providing computer services.
Computer bureaus developed during the early 1960s, following the development of time-sharing operating systems. These allowed the services of a single large and expensive mainframe computer to be divided up and sold as a fungible commodity. Development of telecommunications and the first modems encouraged the growth of computer bureau as they allowed immediate access to the computer facilities from a customer's own premises.
The computer bureau model shrank during the 1980s, as cheap commodity computers, particularly the PC clone but also the minicomputer allowed services to be hosted on-premises.
== See also == * Batch processing * Cloud computing * Grid computing * Service Bureau Corporation * Utility computing
==References== <references/>
Category:Time-sharing Category:Computer systems Category:Business models
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