CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY.
5
MEMORANDUM FOR: Dr. Betsy Ancker-Johnson
Assistant Secretary for Science and. Department of Commerce,4
of the0 Computer
Telegram,S7
State Department reporting claims thatjump has taken place in Soviet computerevidenced in0 model computer displayed atexhibition in Moscow. Thesefar too dramatic when0 is assessed incontext of Soviet computer development. summarizes our judgments regarding
omputer is the largesteries of
Ministry of Instrument Building, Automation Equipment, and Control Systems. The ASVT series is one of two lines ofoapatible computers built by the USSR. The other is the so-called Ryad series which is the responsibility of the Ministry of the Radio Industry anduch larger program combining the resources of the USSR and most of the Eastern European countries. It is the Ministry of the Radio Industry, not the Ministry of Instrument Building, which has formal authority toull range of general-purpose computers. The Ministry of Instrument Building has authority only to develop and manufacture computers for industrial control applications. Thus extension of the ASVT series much beyondhich compares with the Ryadr thos very unlikely.
subject: evaluation of the0 computer
sramatically new machine. edesign of the earlierates back it incorporates the sameintegrated circuits as doadndmost of its other parts are manufactured withinplant in kiev. the efforts of the kiev plant tointegrated, rather than depending on largerparts available elsewhere, imply that large0 probably will never be realized. theworkmanship and reliability reported for0
is not surprising; the products of the ministryood reputation for quality. for what itto be0ood machine but certainlygiant leap
greatest importance is the fact that muchryad computer models already exist, such aswhich compares with thes. also,new ryad series is planned which willthecries, hhile there have beenassociated with the ryad models, there isthat the ministry of the radio industrythe authority and the bulk of soviet resourcesfurther development and manufacture of kith these greater resources, tne ryadbe able to provide far more extensive softwareuser support in the future than can be suppliedasvt models. also, while both the ryad andompatible, some differences certainly existcause problems in upgrading from an asvt model toryad machine.
weber director scientific intelligence
Original document.
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