Difference between revisions of "IBM 7090"

From Computer History Wiki
Jump to: navigation, search
(Add more about construction type)
m (Add link)
Line 38: Line 38:
 
* [http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/mainframe/mainframe_PP7090.html 7090 Data Processing System] - IBM Archive page
 
* [http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/mainframe/mainframe_PP7090.html 7090 Data Processing System] - IBM Archive page
 
* [http://www.quadibloc.com/comp/cp0309.htm From the IBM 704 to the IBM 7094]
 
* [http://www.quadibloc.com/comp/cp0309.htm From the IBM 704 to the IBM 7094]
 +
* [http://www.frobenius.com/7090.htm IBM 7090/94 Architecture]
  
 
{{stub}}
 
{{stub}}
  
 
[[Category:IBM Computers]]
 
[[Category:IBM Computers]]

Revision as of 15:48, 13 November 2017


IBM 7090
Manufacturer: International Business Machines
Year Announced: December, 1958
Year First Shipped: November, 1959
Year Discontinued: July, 1969
Form Factor: mainframe
Word Size: 36 bits
Logic Type: SMS cards using alloy-junction transistors
Clock Speed: 4.4 µsec (basic add instruction)
Memory Speed: 2.2 µsec
Physical Address Size: 15 bits (32K words)
Operating System: SOS, IBSYS, IBJOB, FMS, CTSS
Predecessor(s): IBM 709
Successor(s): IBM 7094
Price: US$2.9M (and up)


The IBM 7090 was IBM's first commercial transistor scientific mainframe (built at a time when computers for scientific and business computing used separate instruction sets).

It was upwardly compatible with its vacuum tube technology predecessor, the IBM 709. It had a performance of six times that of a 709, but only cost one third more.

It was designed hurriedly to meet the requirements of Sylvania, the data processing subcontractor for the BMEWS missile warning radar network, which was under a mandate to use transistor computers.

For this reason, it relied heavily on engineering from the STRETCH project; units such as power supplies, back panels and the memory unit were transplanted from STRETCH.

In addition to its use for the ground-breaking CTSS operating system, a pair of 7090's were used in the equally influential American Airlines SABRE real-time airline reservation system.

Further reading

  • Charles J. Bashe, Lyle R. Johnson, John H. Palmer, Emerson W. Pugh, IBM's Early Computers, MIT Press, Cambridge, 1986

External links