Raised floors

[Jules Richardson]

Vernon Wright wrote:
> Cabling was an issue, cooling the other. The 1401 was in a well-air
> conditioned room, and the cabling was OVERHEAD!! Damn cheaper than raised
> floor. 

That was my first thought upon reading this thread - how come raised floors 
even came about? Message systems based on air-filled tubes seem to have always 
been overhead, and of course lots of stores still pass power and data down to 
terminals from above; if in a room with a false ceiling it seems a natural 
thing to take advantage of.  Maybe the sheer weight of the cabling needed for 
a mainframe environment was just too much to justify running it overhead?