A multi-host front end concentrator system for asynchronous consoles

Describes a front end concentrator system for asynchronous time sharing consoles which has recently been put into operation at CERN. The concentrator will control up to 36 consoles at speeds up to 9600 bits per second and has the capability of dynamically connecting these consoles to several large Host processors. Features of the system include specially designed hardware and software to connect a wide range of different types of consoles in a flexible and expandable way, and the use of special purpose microcode to optimise console handling and facilitate the implementation of the system. The system runs in an HP2100 computer initially front-ending CDC 6000 series computers using the INTERCOM time sharing system. (6 refs).