Westi
| Industry | Software, Teleprocessing |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1970 |
| Founder | Steve Robert O'Donnell |
| Headquarters | Orlando , United States |
Area served | Worldwide (including Europe) |
Key people | John Gaston, Dr. Ray Ferguson, Eric Lutaud, David Hazlewood, Leigh Lundin |
| Products | Teleprocessing software for IBM DOS/VSE platform |
Westi (Westinghouse Teleprocessing Interface System) was among the earliest teleprocessing software solutions designed for IBM's DOS/VSE platform. The name Westi, an abbreviation of Westinghouse Terminal Interactive, referred to a user interface and access method that allowed developers to communicate with terminals and handle data input. These access methods laid the groundwork for modern APIs and supported transaction processing operations.
By 1981, WESTI had established itself as the primary rival to IBM's CICS, securing the second-largest share in the market for mainframe transaction processing monitors.
Initially created for use with the IBM 2260 terminals under DOS on IBM mainframes, Westi was originally distributed at no cost to IBM customers. With the advent of DOS/VS and the introduction of IBM 3270 terminals, Westinghouse transitioned Westi into a commercial product around 1970 to offset development expenses. Around 1980, functionality for transparent remote access was incorporated.
A notable benefit of Westi during the 1970s—an era marked by limited memory resources—was its relatively modest memory footprint compared to CICS. While 256KB was considered substantial at the time, Westi required approximately 24K of memory, about half the usage of CICS on similar hardware.
Functioning as the main program within an application, Westi demanded that programmers develop subroutines to handle terminal and disk input/output operations. This approach established a real-time transaction processing framework comparable to IBM's CICS. In contrast, its chief competitor, DUCS, operated as a subroutine package focusing on monitor I/O management. Although Westi was less intuitive than DUCS, it efficiently coordinated tasks.
In terms of performance, Westi delivered speeds that were intermediate between DUCS and the more resource-intensive CICS.
Pittsburgh
The original DOS 2260 package was created by Steve Robert O'Donnell and initially distributed without charge. Its early success highlighted Westi’s commercial viability to Westinghouse.
Columbus
With IBM’s release of DOS/VS alongside the IBM/370 system and IBM 3270 terminals in 1972, Westinghouse’s software division undertook rewriting its products for these new platforms. Leadership passed to John Gaston after O'Donnell departed in the late 1970s to establish GOAL Systems, Inc.
Paris
Within its marketing sector, Westinghouse established an autonomous European subsidiary named Westinghouse Electric Management Systems, SA (WEMSSA) based in Paris. This resulted in a division of the product line into two separate paths: WDU and WESTI.
Orlando
The principal development team moved to Orlando, Florida under the direction of Dr. Ray Ferguson. Their focus centered on enhancing integration with VSE and aligning feature sets more closely with those offered by CICS.
Avignon
Led by Eric Lutaud, WEMSSA engaged GOAL Systems and developer Leigh Lundin (originator of DUCS Remote) to implement remote teleprocessing functionality in Avignon, France. This collaboration produced WestiTAM, a compact 4k bi-sync module that garnered attention from the Florida-based team.
In 1978, WEMSSA and the Orlando group reconnected and merged under David Hazlewood’s leadership in London. The objective was to consolidate the product portfolio and spearhead new development efforts guided by Dr. Ferguson and Leigh Lundin. However, amid Reaganomics-era outsourcing initiatives, poorly managed negotiations led to dissolution of the division, leaving Westinghouse without internal developers or external partners and effectively terminating this significant software unit.
Marketing
Westinghouse Electric Management Systems, SA (WEMSSA) maintained sales offices across multiple cities including Pittsburgh, San Jose, Paris, Lyon, London, Geneva, Zürich, Munich, and Amsterdam. Its development hubs were primarily based in Orlando, supported by supplementary teams situated in Columbus and Avignon.