The IBM 3800 printer is installed, the first printer to combine laser technology
and electrophotography. The technology speeded the printing of bank statements,
premium notices, and other high-volume documents, and remains a workhorse for
billing and accounts receivable departments.
The Enterprise, the first vehicle in the U.S. Space Shuttle program, makes its
debut at Palmdale, California, carrying flight computers and special hardware
built by the Federal Systems Division.
IBM also announces the 3838 array processor, designed to help pinpoint oil
deposits; the Series/1; the Series III Copier/Duplicator; the 6640 Document
Printer; the Word Processor/32; and the 2991 Model 2 Blood Cell Processor.
IBM Research scientists fabricate the world's narrowest experimental circuit
lines, measuring less than one-fiftieth of the wavelength of visible light.
The Santa Teresa, California, programming development laboratory is completed. IBM
Brazil dedicates Gavea Residential Educational Center, the first on-site customer
education facility in South America. IBM Columbia dedicates a new plant in Bogota.
IBM helps celebrate the U.S. Bicentennial by sponsoring "America on Stage: 200
Years of Performing Arts" at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,
Washington, D.C., and by announcing grants to the traveling exhibition "The World
of Franklin and Jefferson," and "Operation Sail," an international regatta
involving some 150 historic and contemporary sailing vessels from 30 countries.
Energy usage at IBM U.S. locations is reduced 36 percent from 1973 preconservation
levels, for a savings of more than $58 million.
