Business Computing:
the Second 50 Years

The Guildhall conference for business leaders

About LEO

LEO/1 at Cadby Hall (photo courtesy of LEO Computers Society)

On November 17th 1951, the J. Lyons company began weekly operation of a bakery valuations job on a computer called LEO (Lyons Electronic Office). This was the first business application to go live on a stored program computer anywhere in the world. David Caminer, LEO's systems and programming manager at the time, will describe this and subsequent developments at the conference.

J. Lyons did not plan to go into the computer business. They were first and foremost a catering company, proud to be in the vanguard of organisation and methods. In 1947 they had a vision that their ambitious efficiency goals might be realised by electronic means. Since no suitable computer was available they set out to build their own, and had to invent, from scratch, the disciplines of systems analysis and programming. Such was their success that other businesses asked them for help and so they were drawn into the computer business. But LEO's staff never forgot that the technology was merely a means to an end, and that the primary objective was to improve business efficiency. This conference continues to reflect that spirit.

The history of LEO

• From tea shops to computer company: an unlikely pioneer of business computing
• 1951: Those magnificent men and their computing machines
• The LEO story: key dates

Sources of information about LEO

• LEO Computer Society - photographs of and information about LEO computers
• Lexicon's History of Computing
• References to LEO at the National Archive for the History of Computing
• A bibliography of books and articles about LEO
• New book about LEO published in April 2003. A Computer Called LEO by Georgina Ferry, published by 4th Estate
• A review of Historiography in IS Research by Frank Bannister, Trinity College Dublin

Recent photos of LEO pioneers

• David Caminer showcases the new Chinese edition of the LEO book
• Pioneering LEO team members meet up again at London's Reform Club
  Back from left to right - Ralph Land, John Aris, Peter Hermon.
  Front from left to right - Jim Feeney, David Caminer, Frank Land.

The LEO Legacy

• A Modern Real-Time Software Design Tool: Applying Lessons from LEO Ferdinand Wagner andPeter Wolstenholme, IEE Computing and Control Engineering, February 2003.

Miscellaneous

• Bring LEO III back to life
  The Computer Conservation Society has a project to preserve software by emulation. They have obtained machine readable software for Leo III, and are looking for volunteers to work on producing an emulator that will bring the Leo III back to life. Contact David Holdsworth
• Report of wake for ICL
• LEO recognized as the first ever business computer by Guiness World Records

page last updated 17 June, 2004