CUC is generally considered the first company to develop software independently and to have pioneered the field of programming services. Before this time, software was developed either by the users of the computers, or by the few commercial computer vendors. Computer Usage Company (CUC) was founded in March 1955 by
Elmer C. Kubie (1926–2004) and
John W. Sheldon. They had formerly worked together at
IBM, and planned to offer services to help develop computer programs. The initial investment of US$40,000 supported the founders and a staff of five. The first offices were located in
New York City. CUC's first project was a program written for California Research Corporation to simulate the flow of oil. On October 3, 1955, Computer Usage Company, Inc., was incorporated in
Delaware. George R. Trimble Jr. became Corporate Technical Director in February 1956 after work on the
IBM 650. Trimble headed a project to computerize the
air traffic control system of the
Federal Aviation Administration. This work was done at the
National Aviation Facilities Experimental Center in
New Jersey. In 1959 an office in
Washington, DC was opened, since CUC had business with the
US Navy. In April 1960 the company had an
initial public offering of stock shares, and grew to three managers, 37 mathematicians, 6 physicists, and 3 engineers. Later in 1960 CUC established a division to sell computer time and in Spring 1961 opened an office in
Los Angeles.
Cuthbert Hurd joined the company as
chairman in 1962, a former division director from IBM. The FAA was planning to use the
IBM 9020 model of the new
IBM System/360, so contracted with CUC to develop a compiler for the
JOVIAL computer language. The compiler was first developed on a simulator using the
IBM 7030 before actual hardware was available. In early 1964, CUC developed software used by
CBS Television to track the election results. Sheldon left later in 1964. Another major contract was to implement part of IBM's first
time-sharing system,
TSS/360. CUC was asked to manage the TSS project, as it was seen as losing ground to competitors in time-sharing. Realizing that performance would never meet expectations, CUC declined. In 1965 the Computer Usage Education subsidiary was formed, headed by Ascher Opler, which published software books and offered courses. One of its best sellers was on Programming the IBM system/360. Carl H. Reynolds joined as President of the new Computer Usage Development Company subsidiary in 1966. Reynolds had been director of programming for the Data Systems Division of IBM during the development of the System/360. By 1967 CUC had a staff of over 700 people in 12 offices and revenues over $13 million. An office in
Dallas, Texas was established to work on a contract with
Texas Instruments to develop software including an
operating system and a
FORTRAN compiler for the
TI Advanced Scientific Computer. Benton hired sales people instead of technical people, and contracts did not keep up with overhead. By early 1970 Benton resigned and Hurd stepped in as president, although he lived in
California. Other potential mergers were discussed, including
Ross Perot who by now had founded his own service business
Electronic Data Systems. ==See also==