IBM 7090
| 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 |
| Instruction Speed: | 4.4 µsec (basic add) |
| 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 IBM 7030 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
- 7090 Data Processing System - IBM Archive page
- From the IBM 704 to the IBM 7094
- IBM 7090/94 Architecture
- An IBM 7090 mainframe computer - from Paul Allen's collection at the LCM, includes several images
