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Pictures of the IBM 701's tape drive,
701's electrostatic storage tubes used for memory, the IBM 704 and the
650 EDPM. More on the history of the largest computer company in the world
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By
Mary
Bellis
This chapter in the "History of Modern
Computers" finally brings us to a name most of you will have heard of.
IBM
stands for International
Business
Machines, the largest
computer company in the world today. IBM is responsible for numerous inventions
having to do with computers.
The company incorporated in 1911,
starting as a major producer of punch card tabulating machines. In the
1930s, IBM built a series of calculators (the 600s) based on their card
processing equipment. In 1944, IBM co-sponsored the Mark
1 computer (together with Harvard University), the first machine to
compute long calculations automatically.
IBM
701 EDPM Control Board
The year 1953 saw the development
of IBM's 701 EDPM, which, according to IBM, was the first commercially
successful general-purpose computer. The 701's invention was part of the
Korean War effort. Thomas Johnson Watson, Jr. wanted to contribute a "defense
calculator" to aid in the United Nations' policing of Korea. One obstacle
he had to overcome was in convincing his father, Thomas Johnson Watson,
Sr. (then Chief Executive Officer of IBM) that computers would not harm
IBM's card processing business. The 701s were incompatible with IBM's punched
card processing equipment, a moneymaker for IBM.
Only nineteen 701s were manufactured
(the machine could be rented for $15,000 per month). The first 701 went
to IBM's world headquarters in New York. Three went to atomic research
laboratories. Eight went to aircraft companies. Three went to other research
facilities. Two went to government agencies, including the first use of
a computer by the U.S. Department of Defense. Two went to the navy and
the last machine went to the U.S. Weather Bureau in early 1955.
The 701 had electrostatic
storage tube
memory, used magnetic tape to store information, and had binary, fixed-point,
single address hardware. The speed of the 701 computers was limited by
the speed of its memory; the processing units in the machines were about
10 times faster than the core memory. The 701 also led to the development
of the programming language FORTRAN.
In 1956, a significant upgrade to
the 701 appeared. The IBM 704 was considered the world's first super-computer
and the first machine to incorporate floating-point hardware. The 704 used
magnetic core memory that was faster and more reliable than the magnetic
drum storage found in the 701. Also part of the 700 series, the IBM 7090
was the first commercial transistorized computer. Built in 1960, the 7090
computer was the fastest computer in the world. IBM dominated the mainframe
and minicomputer market for the next two decades with its 700 series.
After releasing the 700 series, IBM
built the 650 EDPM, a computer compatible with its earlier 600 calculator
series. The 650 used the same card processing peripherals as the earlier
calculators, starting the trend for loyal customers to upgrade. The 650s
were IBM's first mass-produced computers (universities were offered a 60%
discount).
In 1981, IBM created its first personal
home-use computer called the IBM
PC, another milestone in computer history.
Next
Chapter > John
Backus and IBM's FORTRAN
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