IP: Re: E2A is worse than Y2K

[Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

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


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A Happy Holiday and a safe New Year

from Dave and GG Farber

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