IBM 701
<computer> ("Defense Calculator") The first of the IBM 700 series of
computers.
The IBM 701 was annouced internally on 1952-04-29 as "the most advanced, most
flexible high-speed computer in the world". Known as the Defense Calculator
while in development at IBM Poughkeepsie Laboratory, it went public on
1953-04-07 as the "IBM 701 Electronic Data Processing Machines" (plural because
it consisted of eleven connected units).
The 701 was the first IBM large-scale electronic computer manufactured in
quantity and their first commercial scientific computer. It was the first IBM
machine in which programs were stored in an internal, addressable, electronic
memory. It was developed and produced in less than two years from "first pencil
on paper" to installation. It was key to IBM's transition from punched card
machines to electronic computers.
It consisted of four magnetic tape drives, a magnetic drum memory unit, a
cathode-ray tube storage unit, an L-shaped arithmetic and control unit with an
operator's panel, a punched card {reader, a printer, a card punch and three
power units. It performed more than 16,000 additions or subtractions per second,
read 12,500 digits a second from tape, print 180 letters or numbers a second and
output 400 digits a second from punched-cards.
The IBM 701 ran the following languages and systems: BACAIC, BAP, DOUGLAS,
DUAL-607, FLOP, GEPURS, JCS-13, KOMPILER, LT-2, PACT I, QUEASY, QUICK, SEESAW,
SHACO, SO 2, Speedcoding, SPEEDEX.
IBM History.
(2005-06-20)
Nearby terms:
IBM390 « IBM 650 « IBM 700 series « IBM 701 »
IBM 704 » IBM 7040 » IBM 705
|