Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
various customer companies at the IBM Datacenter in the Time-Life Building, New York
City."
On the scientific and engineering front, four 7090 systems were incorporated in the Air
Force's Ballistic Missile Warning System. Two more 7090 systems were used by Dr. Wern-
er Von Braun's development group at NASA's George C. Marshall Space Flight Center as
they worked to develop the Saturn rocket. Von Braun used the machines to simulate Saturn
flights, to create the most accurate and detailed trajectory simulations ever plotted, to simu-
late the real-space effects of design modifications, and to analyze vibration and heat trans-
fer effects caused by interaction of the eight powerful rocket engines in the Saturn booster.
IBM would sell and support the 7000 series to the end of the 1960s, withdrawing the
7094 from the market in July of 1969.
Concurrent with the introduction of the 7090, IBM in 1959 made available the 1401,
designed to handle the more limited business computing needs (and budgets) of smaller
firms. (Meanwhile, IBM's equally inexpensive 1620 provided an economical solution for
those interested in running scientific applications.)
Ideal for payroll and the range of accounting and inventory management applications,
the 1401 proved popular. As IBM literature stated: "The all-transistorized IBM 1401 Data
Processing System places the features found in electronic data processing systems at the
disposal of smaller businesses, previously limited to the use of conventional punched card
equipment. These features include: high speed card punching and reading, magnetic tape
input and output, high speed printing, stored program, and arithmetic and logical ability.
... New simplified programming techniques make the 1401 extremely powerful and more
efficient than many other systems of comparable or even larger size. Variable length data
and program instruction words provide maximum utilization of the magnetic core storage;
there is no waste of storage capacity as with fixed record length systems. Program steps
may be skipped or reread in any desired sequence, a feature which greatly increases pro-
gramming flexibility."
More than 10,000 of these machines were eventually installed, thus confirming for IBM
- and the industry as a whole - the growing voracious demand for robust data processing
capabilities not only in government and
Fortune 500
firms, but throughout the business
world. IBM marketed the 1401 until 1971.
The 1401's prime competitor was Honeywell's H200. Up to two or three times faster
than the 1401, the H200 was capable of executing 1401 programs without recompilation or
reassembly. After enjoying a short spurt of success during which several hundred machines
were sold, the H200 sputtered when IBM countered with a marketing emphasis on their
System/360.
The IBM System/360 - a mainframe computer system family announced in April
of 1964 - was a milestone in the industry, and in the history of computing generally.
IBM created these machines to handle the complete range of applications, small or large,
