Datalantic

Datalantic was an electronic typesetting company originally located in Atlanta, Georgia. The company relocated to Stuart, Florida some time after 1983. The company was sold in 1992 at which time it effectively ceased to exist. (Note that the company's name left out the first t in Atlantic.)

The company played a role in two important facets of American history. In 1981 Datalantic was contracted by Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Fund (VVMF), to collate, re-case and ultimately typeset the original set of 58,159 names that appear on the United States National Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. Such a typesetting project was no small feat given the technology that existed in 1981. Datalantic had a Computer Automation mini-computer with what, at the time, was considered a very large 80 megabyte hard disk. The mini-computer was connected to an Alphatype CRS typesetting device. The data was supplied by the Department of Defense on a 9 track tape. Datalantic wrote custom software to facilitate the process. The software was written using the BASIC programming language. The process included reconstructing data to the specifications, adding typesetting commands making all the names cap size and sorting by date of casualty within a line and alphabetizing at the same time. The names were printed and sent to the Gold Star Mothers for proofing. Finally, the panels were typeset and sent to Tennessee for sand blasting.

The company was also responsible for the development of a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) database relating to the breakup of AT&T.