History of Informatics in Brazil in the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s
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THE HISTORY OF COMPUTERS IN BRAZIL
Brazilian informatics developed in two stages. The first, from 1958 to 1975, characterized by the importation of technology from advanced capitalist countries, mainly the United States. Electronic data processing was primarily carried out on large computers located in large companies and universities, as well as in government agencies and service agencies.
There were no national manufacturers, although, already in the 70s, the volume of sales had justified the installation of the first multinational assemblers in Brazil. Slowly, however, national technological competence began to develop, based on the work of some universities, such as the University of São Paulo, the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro and the State University of Campinas.
In 1972, the “Patinho Feio”, the first national computer, was built at USP, followed, in 1974, by the G-10 project, at USP and PUC in Rio de Janeiro, encouraged by the Navy, which needed equipment to its on-board electronics nationalization program.
The interest of various segments of Brazilian society, notably the military and scientific circles, seeking to achieve greater technological independence for Brazilian information technology, led to the creation, in 1972, of Capre (Commission for the Coordination of Electronic Processing Activities), with the objective to propose a government policy for the development of the sector. In 1974, the first Brazilian computer manufacturing company was created, Cobra (Computadores Brasileiros SA ), a state-owned company that received the mission of transforming the G-10 into a national product.
The second stage of the development of Brazilian informatics was characterized by the growth of a national industry. It began in 1976, with the restructuring of Capri and the creation of a market reserve in the range of minicomputers, for national companies, in addition to the institution of import control. The first national minicomputers, initially using foreign technology, were manufactured by five companies authorized by the federal government.
From 1979, government intervention in the sector was intensified, with the extension of the market reserve for microcomputers and with the creation of the SEI (special information technology secretariat), linked to the National Security Council, which has since then been the highest body orientation, planning, supervision and inspection of the sector.
In 1984, Law nº 7232 was enacted, establishing the National Informatics Policy and with which the reserve for some segments of the market, including software, was made official, with a limited duration of eight years. With such promotion mechanisms, national information technology reached growth rates of 30% per year in the mid-eighties. In 1986, the country reached sixth position in the world information technology market, being the fifth largest manufacturer; apart from Japan and the USA, it is the only country capable of supplying more than 80% of its internal market.
The most recent stage in the development of information technology in Brazil began in 1990, with a series of modifications introduced in the PNI, with the aim of adapting it to the so-called “liberalized” economic policies of greater openness to the foreign market, put into practice by the government Collor.
These “flexibilization” measures, as they were called, sought to respond to complaints from various industrial sectors that protested against Brazil's technological backwardness and against the high prices caused by the reserve; they also sought to meet the interests of developed countries, which came to establish temporary trade sanctions against Brazil, due to the lack of opening of the domestic market to commercial competition from abroad. Those countries also demanded an end to what they considered violations of their technological rights, such as the indiscriminate practice of illegally copying equipment and software.
Although the sectors protected by the PNI had not been dismantled, since the law itself established a maximum period of validity, there were relaxations in the legal provisions governing software and hardware imports, customs taxation, limitation of import quotas for industrial inputs, payment of technology bills, formation of joint ventures with foreign companies, posting of similarities. SEI was extinguished, and the attribution of directing policy in the sector, although still linked to Conim, passed in practice to the scope of the Special Secretariat for Science and Technology.
CHRONOLOGY
1917 - IBM begins its operations in Brazil. Through a service contract, the North American company Computing Tabulating Recording Company appears in Brazil, which in 1924, under the leadership of Thomas J. Watson, was registered in the United States as International Business Machines Corporation (IBM).
1924 - IBM is authorized to operate in Brazil by a decree signed by President Arthur Bernardes.
1939 - Inaugurated in Brazil the first IBM factory outside the United States, located in the neighborhood of Benfica, in Rio de Janeiro.
1957 - A Univac-120 arrived, the first computer in Brazil, acquired by the Government of the State of São Paulo, it was used to calculate all water consumption in the capital. It occupied the entire floor of the building where it was installed. Equipped with 4,500 valves, it performed 12,000 additions or subtractions per minute and 2,400 multiplications or divisions at the same time.
1959 - The company Anderson Clayton buys a Ramac 305 from IBM, the first computer in the Brazilian private sector. Eight feet wide, six feet tall, it took up an entire floor of the company. The company was one of the first outside the United States to use this computer.
1961 – (Zezinho) - As an end of course work in electronic engineering at ITA and financial aid from CNPq of 350 dollars, four students, José Ellis Ripper, Fernando Vieira de Souza, Alfred Wolkmer and Andras Vásárhelyi assisted by the head of the Electronics Division from ITA and professor Richard Wallauschek built “Zezinho”. With the available resources it was not possible to build a computer with a large memory capacity, the panel was two meters wide by one and a half meters high, around 1500 transistors and diodes of national manufacture were used, produced by Ibrape, a subsidiary of Philips, had the capacity to perform twenty operations. It was a didactic computer, for laboratory use. However, it gained a place in history as the first completely national non-commercial transistorized computer designed and built in Brazil, although a success, it was dismantled by students from the following classes, who used its circuits for new experiences.
The IBM Factory, in Benfica-RJ, starts assembling computers for line 1401.
1964 – 01/December – Serpro – Federal Data Processing Service is created, a public company created to modernize and streamline strategic sectors of public administration.
1968 – 1st CNI - National Congress of Informatics.
1969 – 24/July – Creation of Prodesp – Data Processing Company of the State of São Paulo.
1971 - The IBM factory in the city of Sumaré/SP starts operating.
1972 – April 5 - Creation of Capre – Commission for the Coordination of Electronic Processing Activities, a governmental body whose initial objective was to promote the more efficient use of computers in public administration and outline a technological policy for the IT area.
July - The "Ugly Duckling" was built in the Laboratory of Digital Systems - LSD of the Polytechnic School of USP, it was conceived as an end-of-course work. Patinho Feio is considered the first computer, documented and with a classical computing structure, developed in Brazil. It was one meter long, one meter high, 80 centimeters wide, weighed more than 100 kilograms and had 450 chips of integrated circuits, forming 3 thousand logic blocks distributed on 45 printed circuit boards. The memory could store 4096 8-bit words, i.e. 4K. The ugly duckling became an initial landmark because it generated critical mass for the consolidation of the information technology industry in Brazil.
1974 – 18/July - Foundation of COBRA – Computers and Brazilian Systems Ltda. Cobra was the first Brazilian company to develop, manufacture and market computers.
1975 - Founding of LSI – Laboratory of Integrable Systems at the Polytechnic School of USP.
June - Founding of Scopus, one of the main IT companies in Brazil. Company created by a group of former professors from Poli-USP who worked on the development of the G-10 minicomputer.
August - Launch of the magazine Dados & Idéias. Magazine launched by Serpro to show the technological reality in Brazil. Bimonthly frequency.
1976 – March - Launch of DataNews, a fortnightly tabloid specializing in news about information technology, edited by ComputerWorld do Brasil.
Prológica is founded in São Paulo, one of the largest manufacturers of data processing equipment, including the Sistema-700 and CP-500, both 8-bit micros, and the SP-16, compatible with PC-XT.
1978 – January - SID – Distributed Information Systems S/A is founded.
July - SBC – Brazilian Computing Society is founded in Porto Alegre. SBC is an academic institution that encourages and develops scientific research in the field of computing in Brazil.
1979 – 09/October - Creation of SEI – Special Secretariat for Informatics. After extensive restructuring of Organs government bodies responsible for the information technology sector, Capre was replaced by SEI in the formulation of the National Information Technology Policy.
Founded Elebra Informática S/A, a large manufacturer of printers, including the dot-matrix Emília.
1980 - For the first time a microcomputer was sold in a large department store. Among showcases with appliances, bed, table and bath offers, sundries, cameras and calculators, Mappin at Praça Ramos, in downtown São Paulo, sold the D-8000, a Dismac microcomputer.
Launched by Cobra at SUCESU in 1980, the first minicomputer entirely designed, developed and manufactured in Brazil to reach the market, the Cobra 530.
1981 - Founding of Microdigital, in the first half of the 80's the largest national manufacturer of microcomputers. Famous for its Sinclair line micros like the TK-85, TK-90X and TK-95.
Prológica's System 700 was developed, an 8-bit professional microcomputer.
October - Launch of MicroSistemas magazine, the first Brazilian publication dedicated exclusively to microcomputers.
October 16 – 23 - The 1st International Informatics Fair was held at the Exhibition Pavilion at Parque Anhembi/SP, with 117,253 visitors and 183 exhibitors. It was a parallel event to the XIV CNI – National Congress of Informatics.
23/October - Inauguration of the 1st microcomputer laboratory in Brazil, installed in a room inside the library of the Faculty of Economics and Administration at USP, it had five D-8000 microcomputers, provided by Dismac. The laboratory was open to all university students.
1982 – February – Founded the IBPI – Brazilian Institute of Research in Informatics, an institute created to teach IT professionals, in Rio de Janeiro/RJ.
1983 – March - The EGO microcomputer is launched by Softec, the first Brazilian microcomputer to use 16-bit microprocessor technology, compatible with the IBM PC, based on Intel's 8080 microprocessor and clocked at 5 MHz.
1984 - Launched by Telesp – Companhia Telefônica do Estado de São Paulo, the first Brazilian videotext system. The pilot test took place from 1982 to 1984 with 1,500 Telesp subscribers.
October 29 - Law no. 7,232, which established the principles, objectives and guidelines of the National Informatics Policy, was sanctioned, creating a reserve for the informatics market in Brazil.
1985 – August - Founded Gradiente Informática, manufacturer of Expert, an 8-bit microcomputer from the MSX line.
1986 – September 9 - Founded in São Paulo ABES – Brazilian Association of Software Companies.
1987 - Creation of Fácil Informática, a company that developed the text editor Fácil.
24 – 27/March – 1st FENASOFT - National Software Fair, at Riocentro, Rio de Janeiro.
1995 – 26 – 29/September - COMNET Fenasoft Brazil´95 held at Pq. Anhembi in São Paulo, international telecommunications and networks event.
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