Triangle Universities Computation Center

The Triangle Universities Computation Center was a nonprofit organization formed in 1965 by representatives of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, and Duke University to provide information processing facilities for these universities and for other educational institutions in North Carolina. The center also provided information processing services to governmental and industrial laboratories in the Research Triangle area on a time-available basis. The initial operating funds for the corporation were secured through a grant from the National Science Foundation.

From the guide to the Triangle Universities Computation Center Records, 1965-1973, (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. University Archives.)

The Triangle Universities Computation Center was a nonprofit organization formed in 1965 by representatives of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, and Duke University to provide information processing facilities for these universities and for other educational institutions in North Carolina. The Center also provided information processing services to governmental and industrial laboratories in the Research Triangle area on a time-available basis. The initial operating funds for the corporation were secured through a grant from the National Science Foundation.

From the description of Records of the Triangle Universities Computation Center, 1965- 1973. WorldCat record id: 26993031

The Triangle Universities Computation Center (TUCC) was incorporated in 1965 as a cooperative venture between Duke University, North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with the goal of providing main-frame computing services, such as electronic data and batch processing, to the universities, RTI International and others. It dissolved in 1990 due to financial difficulties, the increased use of personal computers, and disagreements among the partners.

From the description of Triangle Universities Computation Center (TUCC) records, 1954-1990 and undated. (Duke University Library). WorldCat record id: 191735674

The Triangle Universities Computation Center (TUCC) was incorporated in 1965 as a cooperative venture between Duke University, North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Owned by all three universities, its primary goals were to provide each institution with adequate computing facilities as economically as possible, minimizing the number of system programming personnel and fostering greater cooperation between the universities with an exchange of system programs and ideas. Housed in the Science and Technology Research Center in centrally located Research Triangle Park (RTP), North Carolina, TUCC eventually expanded its main-frame computer services beyond the three universities, to support the electronic data processing needs of RTI International and other research organization located in RTP.

TUCC's decline began in the mid-1980s with an unsuccessful bid to purchase and operate a supercomputer in RTP, with the goal of transforming RTP into a "Southern Silicon Valley". This failed bid, coupled with increasing financial difficulties, the growing number of clients purchasing their own personal computers and thus needing fewer TUCC services, and escalating disagreements among member institutions about how the center should be run, ultimately lead to the dissolution of TUCC in September, 1990.

From the guide to the Triangle Universities Computation Center (TUCC) records, 1954-1990 and undated, (University Archives, Duke University)