Editing Logica (section)

===Early projects and expansion===
[[Image:Newman Street looking north.jpg|thumb|left|Logica's headquarters were at 64, Newman Street, fourth building on the left, in the Fitzrovia section of central London (here seen in 2017)]]

The new firm's first major contract came in 1970 for a computerized hotel reservation system that would operate on a nationwide basis and was worth £100,000.<ref name=inde/> Another early project was the control system for the United Kingdom's natural gas grid in 1971.<ref name="quest"/>  In its early years the company focused on adapting software to specific customer needs and requirements and advising customers on trends in information technology.<ref name="summ-2007"/>  The company was premised on the idea that there was tremendous promise in communications technology and that an international approach was warranted.<ref name="quest"/>  Accordingly, Logica's first overseas office, in the Netherlands, was opened in 1973,<ref name="quest"/> the same year that turnover exceeded £1 million for the first time.<ref name=inde/> Overall, Logica played a role in putting into use many of the components that later made the [[Internet]] a large-scale success.<ref name="alca"/>

Logica had a major success that gave it visibility when it won the design of the [[SWIFT]] network for international money transfers in 1972–73.<ref name="dir"/><ref name=inde/>  The company produced a whole new production, transmission and management system for the BBC in the late 1970s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20032531|title=Ceefax: The early days|publisher=BBC|date=23 October 2012|access-date=1 August 2020}}</ref> Another involved the first bank cash dispenser in the UK.<ref name="hscot-jmcn"/>  The company's staffing levels were around 200 employees in the early years, and their successes at pulling off large-scale and difficult projects garnered them a reputation for technical excellence and able management.<ref name="quest"/>

McNeil led the teams that did many of the company's early projects.<ref name="hscot-jmcn"/>  He left Logica in 1977 and ended up in a successful career as a novelist and a writer for BBC dramas.<ref name="hscot-jmcn"/>

In 1974, Logica, together with the French company SESA, set up a joint venture, Sesa-Logica, to undertake the ''[[Packet switching#Euronet|Euronet]]'' development. The project, with the support of partners throughout Europe and the assistance of [[Bolt, Beranek and Newman]] in Cambridge, Massachusetts, used the [[packet switching]] technology of the [[NPL network]] and [[ARPANET]] and [[X.25]] protocols to form [[virtual circuit]]s. It established a network linking research centres in a number of European countries.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Origins, development and future of the Euronet|date=1977-12-31|publisher=Emeraldinsight.com|doi=10.1108/eb046759|last1=Dunning|first1=A.J.|journal=Program|volume=11|issue=4|pages=145–155}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kerssens|first=Niels|date=2019-12-13|title=Rethinking legacies in internet history: Euronet, lost (inter)networks, EU politics|journal=Internet Histories|volume=4|pages=32–48|doi=10.1080/24701475.2019.1701919|issn=2470-1475|doi-access=free}}</ref> They hired [[Roger Scantlebury]] in 1977 who had worked on the [[European Informatics Network]], a [[datagram]] network linking [[CERN]], the French research centre [[INRIA]] and the UK’s [[National Physical Laboratory (United Kingdom)|National Physical Laboratory]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3EaeBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA203|title=Communications Standards: State of the Art Report 14:3|first=A. V.|last=Stokes|date=23 May 2014|publisher=Elsevier|isbn=9781483160931 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/networking/19/375/2062|title=EIN (European Informatics Network) - CHM Revolution|website=www.computerhistory.org|access-date=2020-02-05}}</ref>

Logica set up operating subsidiaries in the Sweden and the United States in 1977.<ref name=inde/>

While there were many other British computer services firms started up during this period, most ended up being bought out by bigger companies or overseas services firms.<ref name="dir"/> As such Logica became the dominant independent UK computer services company.<ref name="dir"/>

The firm was involved in the development of the original automatic train control system for San Francisco [[Bay Area Rapid Transit]] (BART) in the late 1970s and early 1980s as part of the original construction of BART.<ref name="ar-1983">{{cite book | url=https://archivesit.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Logica-Annual-Report-1983.pdf | title=Logica Annual Review 1983 | publisher=Logica | date=1983 | pages=12, 13, 18, 32 }}</ref>