<
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/exhibits/701/701_intro.html">IBM History
(http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/701/701_intro.html)}.
(2005-06-20)