Artifact Details

Title

Keet, Lee (Ernest E.) Oral History

Catalog Number

102702149

Type

Document

Description

Ernest E. "Lee" Keet describes the founding of Turnkey Systems in April 1967 and how their business strategy evolved from professional services to software products over the next several years. He describes the release of their product Task/Master, the first commercially available telecommunications monitor to be launched on a worldwide basis, and how the challenges of meeting customer expectations drove the continuous improvement of the product. He reveals how IBM's policy to require customers to use CICS to support products such as DL1 killed the market for independent vendors of telecommunications monitors and how Turnkey Systems made a decision to take Task/Master off the market as a result. He describes the sale of Turnkey Systems to National CSS which was shortly thereafter sold to Dun & Bradstreet and discusses the role of ADAPSO in attempting to define the software industry and address legal and regulatory issues impacting the industry.

Date

1986-04-09

Contributor

Johnson, Luanne, Interviewer; Editor
Keet, Ernest E., Interviewee

Publisher

Computer History Museum

Place of Publication

Houston, Texas

Extent

26 p.

Category

Transcription

Subject

Keet, Ernest E. (Lee); Turnkey Systems Inc (TSI); Bill-of-materials processor; BMP; DBMP; LAMP; CICS; Graphics software program; Task/Master; Farelly, Joe; ADR; Goetz, Marty; McGuire, John; Software AG; Information Science, Inc. (InSci); McGuffey, John; Shadow software product; Altergo; Datacomm DC; COM-PLETE; IDMSDC; Cullinane, John J.; IBM unbundling; ADAPSO; National CSSS (NCSSS); Dun & Bradstreet; Jacobson, Herb

Collection Title

Oral history collection

Lot Number

X5558.2010