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4.

5.

U.S. Installed Computers by Classification

Growth Rate of Computer Systems in the U.S. by
Number and Dollar Value

Total Computers Installed (Federal Government-U.S.)

6. Computers Installed by Classification (Federal General Management Computers - General Purpose U.S. Computers)

7.

Computers Installed by Classification (Federal
Special Management Computers - Dedicated-
Application U.S. Computers)

8. Comparisons of U.S. Installed Computers with Federal Government Computers by Number of CPUs

9.

10.

Total Dollar Value of Computer Systems Installed
(in $Billions) (Federal Government-U.S.)
Dollar Value of Computer Systems Installed by
Classification (in $Billions) (Federal General
Management - General Purpose U.S.)

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11.

Dollar Value of Computer Systems Installed by
Classification (in $Billions) (Federal Special
Management - Dedicated-Application U.S.)

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12.

Comparisons of U.S. Computer Systems with Federal

Government Computer Systems by Dollar Value (in $Billions) 17

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15.

Agency Percentage of Annual Federal Installed Computer
Base (Table)

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16.

Agency Percentage of Annual Federal Installed Computer

Base (Graph)

22

17. Annual Federal ADP Costs by Agency

18. Agency Percentage of Annual Federal ADP Costs (Table) 19. Agency Percentage of Annual Federal ADP Costs (Graph)

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25

26

20.

Number of Computers in the Federal Government by
Computer Cost and by Fiscal Year

28

21.

Number of Computers in the Federal Government by
Computer Cost Category

29

22.

Growth Rate of Computers in the Federal Government
by Computer Cost and by Fiscal Year

30

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Summary of Findings

In Fiscal Year 1975 there were over 8000 computers in use in the Federal Government.

The dollar value of the computer systems in the Federal Government was $4.04 Billion in FY 75.

In Fiscal Year 1975 there were over 190,000 computers in use in the United States.

The dollar value of the computer systems in the U.S. was approximately $35.7 Billion for FY 75.

The number of computers in the Federal Government is increasing at a greater rate than the dollar value of the computer systems and will probably continue to do so.

The number of computers in the U.S. is increasing at a rate twice greater than the rate of the growth of the dollar value of the installed base.

The percentage of computers in the Federal Government compared to the U.S installed base has dropped from 10% in 1967 to less than 5% in 1975.

The percentage of the dollar value of computer systems in the Federal Government compared to the dollar value of the U.S. computer systems has dropped from almost 13% in 1970 to about 11% in 1975.

The Department of Defense continues to have the largest percentage of Federal computers among agencies and continues to show the largest ADP costs.

Minicomputers now represent about 55% of the Federal inventory.

Over the last eight years Federal minicomputers have grown with an average yearly growth rate of 22%.

Federal computers costing over $50K have grown over the last eight years with an average yearly growth rate between 3% and 8%.

The major areas for computer installations in the U.S. are business, trade and manufacturing.

I. General Introduction and Background of Sources

The

The Institute for Computer Sciences and Technology serves as the Federal Government focal point for computer technology activities. Institute programs are designed to provide standards and guidelines and technical advisory services to improve the effectiveness of computers and computer applications in the Federal Government. Appropriate research provides the foundation for these activities.

In the process of conducting its program, the Institute collects data from a variety of sources on the status of computer technology, the extent of computer use in the government and private sectors, and the projected trends in the technology and applications areas. These data are analyzed from a number of points of view in order to support ICST efforts in developing standards and guidelines and in providing technical advisory services. The analyzed data and resulting graphs and charts have proved most useful to ICST personnel.

It is in the light of its own experience with the utility of these data and analyses that ICST has prepared this publication. The compilation of data on computers in the Federal Government will, it is believed, be of general interest within and outside the Federal Government computer community.

The main sources of statistical information on computers in the Federal Government used in this report are:

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General Services Administration (GSA) - Statistics on numbers of computers in the Federal Government, value of Federal computer systems and annual costs of Federal agencies were taken from GSA publications or provided by the agency. [1,2]*

General Accounting Office (GAO) - Statistics on minicomputers in the GAO report on minicomputer use in the Federal Government [3] were analyzed and either included in this report or extrapolated for purposes of this report.

GSA figures are categorized by a management classification scheme to identify systems operated under a wide variety of operational environments. The General Management Classification identifies systems which are used in a general utility environment. The Special Management Classification identifies systems used in various operational environments such as control, classified and mobile. [1]

One of the aspects of this report is the relation of numbers of Federal computers to the total U.S. installed base of computers. The primary source of U.S. figures utilized is the annual Review and Forecast issue of EDP Industry Report, a publication of International Data

*Numbers in brackets refer to references listed at the end of the report.

Corporation [4]. The statistics given in that issue are listed for the end of the calendar year, and have been extrapolated for this report to estimate census figures for the fiscal year.

International Data Corporation classifies computers into two categories, general-purpose computer market and dedicated-application computer market. The computers included in the general-purpose category "comprise the bulk of digital computers (by value) in operation. They are byte or character oriented -- except for large-scale scientific computers that have large words -- and are primarily programmed in higher-level languages"; the computers in the dedicated application category "are those commonly referred to as mini computers, plus certain larger systems designed primarily for one application such as process control, data communications, or data entry." [4]

II. Compilation of Relevant Statistics

A. Federal Government Statistics

Figure 1 summarizes the numbers of computers in the Federal inventory from FY 1962 to FY 1975 and the classification of these computers. This figure shows that the number of special management computers has greatly increased since the classification scheme was established. It also shows that the number of computers in use in the Federal Government in 1975 is more than eight times the number used in 1962.

Figure 2 shows the growth rate for six years of the numbers of computers (CPUs) and the dollar value of Federal computer systems. For this time frame the numbers of computers in the inventory have been increasing by an average of 674 per year for an average yearly growth. rate of a little over 10%. (The growth rate is based on the increase in units for one year compared to the installed base the year before. The average yearly growth rate may also be called the average compound growth rate.) The dollar value of the computer systems has been increasing on an average $.248 Billion per year for an average yearly growth rate of almost 8%. With the increase of computers costing under $50K in the inventory (see Section III E, "Analysis of Minicomputers in the Federal Government") the numbers of computers will continue to grow at a much greater rate than the dollar value of the computer systems.

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