The traffic-counting company Bill Gates co-founded with Paul Allen in 1972 was called Traf-O-Data.
Traf-O-Data developed a system for processing data from rubber traffic-counting tubes placed across roads. The company’s equipment read traffic patterns and produced reports that could help local authorities analyze vehicle flow.
The venture preceded Microsoft and gave Gates and Allen practical experience designing hardware and software for a real customer problem. Its early machine used a computer based on the Intel 8008 processor, an important early microprocessor.
Traf-O-Data is often confused with Microsoft because both companies were founded by Gates and Allen. However, Microsoft was established in 1975 after the pair adapted BASIC for the Altair 8800. Traf-O-Data was an earlier business experiment in traffic-data processing, not the company that became Microsoft.