11 Dec
2008
11 Dec
'08
4:21 p.m.
On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 07:44:11 -0600, Jules Richardson wrote:
Vernon Wright wrote:
> Cabling was an issue, cooling the other. The 1401 was in a well-air
> conditioned room, and the cabling was OVERHEAD!! Damn cheaper than raised
> floor.
That was my first thought upon reading this thread -
how come raised floors
even came about? Message systems based on air-filled tubes seem to have always
been overhead, and of course lots of stores still pass power and data down to
terminals from above; if in a room with a false ceiling it seems a natural
thing to take advantage of. Maybe the sheer weight of the cabling needed for
a mainframe environment was just too much to justify running it overhead?
Cooling!
cold air is plumbed through the floors to where it is needed.
Hot air rises and is easily collected and recycled.
The fact that one could hide the cabeling easily under the floor was just a bennie :-)
Glass walls became popular with management, as did windowless concrete bunker like
basements.
Not sure when it began but there is little question that it became the standard by the mid
60's.
Back under my rock ...
The other Bob