IBM history of far Eastern languages in computing. Part 1. Requirements and initial phonetic product solutions in the 1960s

This article begins a three-part series, presenting an overview of events in IBM that preceded today´s versatility in handling Far Eastern languages in the IT arena. Here, Part 1 analyzes the complexities and characteristics of the Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Thai, and other Far Eastern languages in the context of 1960s technologies and early IT products that emerged.