IBM and Sears Roebuck & Co have chosen British Telecommunications Plc’sBT Tymnet Inc to provide US-wide access to the Prodigy viewdata service of their Prodigy Services Co joint venture. Use of the Tymnet network makes Prodigy the first such US service offered coast-to-coast and in reach of all 60m of the Americans that have potential access to a personal computer. Prodigy is building its own telecommunications system by installing Prodigy Local Sites across the country and these are being supplemented by Tymnet in over 300 locations to provide some 500 access points. Prodigy has installed IBM Series 1 minis at Tymnet node sites in New York, Fairfax, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, San Francisco and Newport Beach. Multiple Series 1s at these hub sites can each support up to 256 simultaneous users and are front-ended by Tumnet Compact XL Engine packet switches. No indication of the value of the contract to BT Tymnet.
