Genigraphics

The Genigraphics presentation graphics was derived from a flight simulator designed by General Electric for NASA in the late 1960s The Computed Images System & Services division (CISS, to become Genigraphics) of General Electric delivered the first presentation graphics system to Amoco Oil's corporate headquarters in 1973. It was named the 100 Series, and was based on DEC's PDP 11 series of mini computer systems. The first Genigraphics systems(100 Series and 100A Series)used an array of buttons, dials, knobs and joysticks, along with a built in keyboard, as the means of user interface. The PDP-11/40 computer was housed in a tall cabinet and used random access magnetic tape drives(DECtape)for storing completed presentations.

The graphics generator (Forox recorder) was capable of outputting 2,000 line resolution, suitable for 35mm and 72mm film and large sheet film positive using larger cassettes for recording to. 4000 and 8000 line resolution was later achieved with "Duplex" scanning and "4x" scanning by modifying to the Forox recoder's settings menu. Subsequent models (100B,C,D,D+ and D+/GVP) replaced the knobs and dials with an on screen, text based menu system, a graphics tablet and a pen. The pen/tablet combination gave way to a mouse like device in later models, and served to provide the interface with the graphics tools. User interaction with the computer for functions such as media initialization or modem to modem data transfer required a DECwriter serial terminal. In 1982, General Electric divested the Genigraphics division along with a host of other "non essential" business units (Genitext, Geniponics to name 2) and Genigraphics Corporation was born. Shortly after the divestiture, the headquarters of Genigraphics was moved from Liverpool, New York to Saddle Brook, New Jersey. Major success followed as the company grew exponentially over the next few years selling both systems and slide creation services. At its peak, Genigraphics Corporation employed roughly 300 people, had 24 offices worldwide revenues upwards of $70 million annually. An IPO was abruptly aborted in 1984 as the result of impending recession. The remainder of the 80's would see Genigraphics Corporation's fortunes rise and fall—a series of poorly executed mergers and acquisitions and the failure of a major initiative to develop the next generation of graphic processors drained the company's finances and distracted executives. Ultimately, the company was simply unable to respond to the rapidly changing market with a sufficient PC based product. In 1989 the systems business was sold off leaving the service bureau to continue operation under the name Genigraphics. Just prior to the sale of the hardware business, the service division partnered with Microsoft licensing their clipart library for use in the new PowerPoint product—which had been acquired by Microsoft a year or so earlier. In addition to the licensing agreement, Microsoft included a "Genigraphics Driver" enabling users to have their PowerPoint presentations output as full color 35mm slides by transferring film recorder ready files to the nearest Genigraphics location for imaging.

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