UNIVAC I

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UNIVAC I
Manufacturer: Remington Rand
Year Design Started: Early 1947
Year First Shipped: March. 1951
Form Factor: mainframe
Word Size: 72 bits
Logic Type: vacuum tubes
Design Type: serial asynchronous
Clock Speed: 2.25 Mhz (basic - serial machine; add - 120 usec for operation, 525 usec for complete instruction)
Memory Speed: 400 μsec (maximum)
Physical Address Size: 3 digits (decimal)
Predecessor(s): EDVAC
Successor(s): UNIVAC II
Price: US$1250-1500K (system)


The 'UNIVAC I ('UNIVersal Automatic Computer'; originally, just plain 'UNIVAC') was the first commercially available computer in the US.

It was a vacuum tube machine, using mercury delay lines for main memory, with the CPU operating in serial mode (to match the memory output). Its word size was 72 bits, with two instructions per word.

The only input/output devices were magnetic tape units, the 'UNISERVO'. Data could be tranferred to from tape with offline peripherals.