SRI International history

SRI's first director resigned after only one year, but with its second director, who took over in March 1948, the institute began mapping a strategy of growth.

Gibson, Weldon B. “Acceleration of Airframe Production as a Function of Direct Labor Application and Productivity.” PhD diss., Stanford University, 1949.

By 1950 it had revenue of $2 million, and it had already been involved in one signal invention, ENIAC, the world's first digital computer.

In 1955 it invented a magnetic ink process that became the standard in banking worldwide and opened the door to the automation of finance.

One of the least known examples of industrial sponsorship for SRI’s international work came in 1957 when Henry Luce, the publisher of Time, Life, and Fortune, provided the institute with funding to host the first International Industrial Conference.

The first initiative was the Long Range Planning Service (LRPS) started in 1959.

It was chartered as a nonprofit corporation closely tied to the university, and its basic mission was to promote the educational objectives of Stanford, as well as to extend scientific knowledge in general. Its scientist Hew Crane invented the first all-magnetic core computer in 1961.

Maisel, Charles J., and Treva W. Jones. "A History of Stanford Research Institute." Menlo Park, CA: Stanford Research Institute, 1962.

By 1969, 10 percent of SRI's research was classified work for government agencies in the fields of biological and chemical warfare and in counterinsurgency techniques.

After SRI’s separation from Stanford in 1970 the institute continued to grow.

By 1981 its revenues stood at $163 million.

Douglas Engelbart is also credited with the first demonstration of the mouse and interactive computing, which since 1984 have formed the essence of all personal computing.

GE bought RCA in 1986, and the Sarnoff lab became redundant.

GE sold its consumer electronics business to the French firm Thomson in 1987.

Yet over the same period, a close competitor grew sixfold, and other research centers were larger and more profitable than SRI. SRI's management consulting unit was a drain on resources, losing an estimated $7 million in 1991.

Connecting people and places has also continued to be a key focus.Until 1992, the institute served as the Network Information Center (NIC), the clearinghouse and support center for all computer hosts connecting to ARPANET and the Internet.