Mobile digital computer
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MOBIDIC, for mobile digital computer, was part of a pioneering effort by the US Army Signal Corps to computerize the distribution of intelligence around the battlefield, known as Fieldata. Fieldata standardized the character format, electrical signals and other details, allowing standardized computers to be built by many companies. MOBIDIC computers, built by Sylvania, were housed in two large tractor-trailer trucks, and demanded reliability that tube-based machines of the era simply couldn't provide. Although the project never left the experimental phase, two machines were delivered in 1957 and used in Germany for some time. In 1962 Fieldata was cancelled as part of a general reorganization within the Army.
A third machine was constructed and installed off the lobby of one of Sylvania's Needham, Mass. buildings. It ran at least until 1965. Since it was derived from MOBIDIC but couldn't move, it was known informally as RIGIDIC.
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