General Electric Company (GE)

General Electric had a thriving computer division in the late 1950s and early 1960s (the time of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” – IBM was Snow White and Burroughs, Control Data Corporation, Honeywell, RCA, Univac, NCR, and GE are usually considered the dwarves).

Perhaps their biggest accomplishment was the creation, with the Bank of America, of the ERMA system for automating the processing of check clearing. This resulted in the creation of the magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) standards used on checks today.

When, in 1964, IBM brought out the System /360, GE attempted to compete with its “Compatibles 200” line, they eventually realized that the cost was too great, and sold its computer division to Honeywell in 1970.