As information processing systems spread from headquarters departments to plants and sales offices, Hitachi developed the HITAC L-320 not as a conventional batch system or online real-time system, but rather as a distributed processing system based on the idea of "doing processing necessary for a site at that site".
This product was a forerunner of office computers, and could be used as an office computer at small-scale business sites.
The features of the HITAC L-320 system were as follows:
- In terms of routine work, this system could handle tasks such as billing, data entry, simple calculations and tabulation processing at the business or work site.
- The system allowed simple creation of programs for specific tasks like the above using a simple parameter description language called RFD (Record Format Descriptors).
Other models in the HITAC L-320 Series were developed later: the HITAC L-320/30H, 50H and 30D equipped with Japanese language document editing capability (word processing capability) with enhanced kanji (Chinese character) features, and the HITAC L-320/60 which realized a multi-station system.
