Honeywell/Ultimate Level-6

Our Level-6 has been deassessioned and shipped to EDF Energy who own and run eight nuclear power stations in the United Kingdom.

This Honeywell Level-6 was sold through the Ultimate Corporation. Ultimate specialized in systems that used the Pick operating system. There were two implementations of the Pick operating system on the Level-6. One used the Writable Control Store to translate Reality virtual machine instructions into Level-6 instructions. The second used a dedicated 7X bit-slice processor board to run the Pick instructions and used the Level-6 processor for I/O. If two 7X processor boards were installed the system was a 15X.

In 1957, Honeywell, along with Ratheon, introduced one of the first computers in the U.S., the Datamatic 1000. Two years later, Honeywell's 800 and 400 models earned a solid reputation for advanced features.In the mid-1960s, Honeywell's 200 series gave IBM serious competition. It outperformed IBM's very successful 1401 computer, which it emulated, causing IBM to accelerate its introduction of its System/360. In 1966, Honeywell acquired Computer Control Company's minicomputer line, and in 1970, it acquired the assets of GE's computer business. The computer division was renamed Honeywell Information Systems, Inc. Through Honeywell's association with Groupe Bull in Europe and Bull's association with NEC in Japan, research and development were mutually explored and products were jointly developed. In the late 1980s, the three companies formed Honeywell Bull, and later Bull acquired the majority interest, renaming the organization Bull HN. The famous Honeywell name, having been identified with the most advanced computers, remained only as the "H" in Bull HN. In 1970, Honeywell bought General Electric's computer division. The company was reorganized into two operating units: Honeywell Information Systems, headed by President Clarence (Clancy) Spangle and headquartered in Waltham, Mass., and Honeywell Control Systems, headed by President Edson Spencer and headquartered in Minneapolis with the corporation's overall HQ. After RCA's sale of its computer business to Univac not long after, the term "Seven Dwarfs" was replaced by "the BUNCH" based on the initials of the five remaining smaller firms: Burroughs, Univac, NCR, Control Data and Honeywell in that order.

In 1991 Honeywell's computer division was sold to Groupe Bull.

The rear and front views of the Honeywell/Ultimate Level-6.

The processor chassis. We need to inventory the boards to see if this is a microcoded or bit-slice based Ultimate system.