A man with a capital letter
The OGAS project traces back to Viktor Glushkov, a leading Soviet cybernetician who helped shape early computer development in the USSR. He designed machines large enough to fill halls and compact models that could fit in a technician’s apartment, all during the 1960s, when IBM was just beginning to miniaturize its systems in the West.
Around the same period, Glushkov began exploring what would become the idea of wide‑scale interconnection. The term Internet did not exist yet, but experiments in information transfer between computers were already underway. In 1958, he linked a Kiev computer to a processing plant’s converter shop via a telegraph line, enabling remote automation of some production tasks at what was once the USSR’s largest metallurgical facility. Today, many industrial systems are managed through what is now called the Internet of Things, and this early work foreshadowed that shift.
OGAS is often described as the forerunner of the Internet, yet its aim was not to serve as a consumer messaging or information portal. The project envisioned a closed computer network within industrial enterprises, where data about production volumes would circulate and influence decisions in real time.
Transition to cyberspace
A network needs many nodes. In the context of the Internet, nodes are computers. Glushkov proposed a three‑level OGAS architecture with numerous terminals. A central computer complex would exist in Moscow, supported by auxiliary centers in the country’s twenty major cities from Odessa to Vladivostok. Roughly 20 thousand terminals, or computers, would be deployed at key industrial sites across the USSR.
Two‑way communication was essential so that Moscow could process incoming data and issue automated directives to lower‑level machines. The system would not only gather information but also dispatch instructions automatically. In some ways, OGAS anticipated artificial intelligence, as it would identify patterns in large data sets and suggest optimal actions based on tasks at hand.
The objective was to speed up decisions about quotas and planning, reducing bureaucratic delay and increasing responsiveness. OGAS aimed to simulate the consequences of different choices and reveal how the national economy might respond under varying scenarios. The concept entailed a unified system for collecting, planning, and managing data, along with a knowledge base for modeling economic development paths.
Why did OGAS appear?
Glushkov presented the project to a high‑level government panel in 1962. The estimate placed OGAS at about 20 billion rubles, a sum comparable to the country’s annual budgets for space exploration and national defense at the time. He argued that the system could repay its cost within about 15 years from deployment.
Approval followed briefly, and detailed planning began. A year later, the plan faced scrutiny and was sent back for revision. Critics argued that OGAS duplicated the functions of the Central Statistical Office, a government body responsible for collecting economic data and generating statistics. Glushkov did not deny that overlap existed, but he contended that centralized statistical control could become transparent, whereas automated systems would remove human bias from the figures.
Western coverage shaped public perception as well. Reports from major outlets warned about both potential control and surveillance implications. In some pieces, computers were presented as reshaping governance, while others warned of pervasive monitoring. These stories reached the USSR leadership and added pressure to reassess the project. The broader thaw during the period also meant that ideas from foreign press could gain attention in political circles.
By 1964, a revised implementation plan was submitted, taking into account the concerns of statistical agencies. Yet many economists of the time remained skeptical. Even in its updated form, OGAS did not advance, and in 1966 the government shifted away from transferring economic management to a digital framework, citing the high costs involved.
Alternative history
Some experts believe that OGAS, if it had operated, could have laid the groundwork for a public information network. Glushkov himself harbored ideas that suggested personal, portable computing would become widespread. A future where books and newspapers were replaced by digital formats seemed plausible to him, and he anticipated mobile access to information across a global network.
In his perspective, the key idea was that a connected world would allow users to access texts, images, and later multimedia from vast databases, all through a compact electronic device. This foresight mirrors the evolution toward pocket computers and mobile internet, which now shape daily life in Canada, the United States, and beyond. A future of ubiquitous, on‑the‑go information access was something Glushkov described as the natural progression of computing.