zlacker

>>sohkam+(OP)
That's an early version of the system. I've seen pictures of a later version, which was an IBM 3270 display with a phone handset, but no keyboard. The idea was that the executive would pick up the phone and be connected to someone in a call center who would then do spreadsheet-type operations for them. Don't know if that was deployed much.

>>Animat+V4
Very prescient! That's pretty much how my execs work with MS Teams and my Excel models - they call me and I manipulate them on the screen for them :-D

>>snthpy+ra
I'm trying to find a reference for this. I remember it from some ancient IBM ad. The system in the article sounds fancier but more like a one-off demo. The later system was just a second remote display plus a voice line; more deployable.

The concept comes from NASA's Apollo Mission Control in the 1960s. These screens on the consoles were all just TV receivers. All the display data went onto a cable TV network. Any console could view any source. The network was remoted out, and displays outside the control room could look, too. Any display could be routed to the big screens, too.

The same technology was still in use in some USAF facilities well into the 1980s. (Long story. Short version: the 1970s upgrade project failed.)

That kind of switching remains a feature of military command and control centers. Some display may suddenly become important, and others need to look at it.

>>Animat+1c
I work at a TV station and we use something like these [1]. Basically hundreds of video ins and outs that you can mix and match with the press of a button.

[1]: https://www.grassvalley.com/products/routing/vega-100-series...