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A: Santa Monica, California, United States

Systems Development Corporation Produces the First Computerized Encyclopedia

1964

In 1964 Systems Development Corporation, Santa Monica, California, developed the first computerized encyclopedia.
SDC has been called the first software company. It began as the systems engineering group for the SAGE air-defense system at the RAND Corporation. In April 1955 the government contracted with RAND to help write software for the SAGE project. Within a few months, RAND's System Development Division had 500 employees developing SAGE applications. Within a year, the division had up to 1,000 employees.[2] RAND spun off the group in 1957 as a non-profit organization that provided expertise for the United States military in the design, integration, and testing of large, complex, computer-controlled systems.

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