IBM 7090

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IBM 7090
Manufacturer: International Business Machines
Year First Shipped: November, 1959
Form Factor: mainframe
Word Size: 36 bits
Logic Type: transistors
Memory Speed: 2.2 µsec
Operating System: SOS, IBSYS, IBJOB, CTSS
Predecessor(s): IBM 709
Successor(s): IBM 7094


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

A pair of 7090's were used in the American Airlines SABRE real-time airline reservation system.