IBM 709

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IBM 709
Manufacturer: International Business Machines
Year Announced: January, 1957
Form Factor: mainframe
Word Size: 36 bits
Logic Type: vacuum tubes
Operating System: SOS, IBSYS, IBJOB
Predecessor(s): IBM 704
Successor(s): IBM 7090


The IBM 709 was IBM's last major vacuum tube scientific mainframe (built at a time when computers for scientific and business computing used separate instruction sets). It was announced in January, 1957

Major advances over its predecessor, the IBM 704, included indirect addressing, and channels (called 'Data Synchronizers' at the time). A Data Synchronizer had two channels, to each of which could be attached a card reader, card punch and printer; up to eight magnetic tape drives could be attached to a single channel.

Its lifetime was shortened by the switch to transistors as the technology for computers.