Remington Rand, UNIVAC 1
The UNIVAC I was the first American computer designed at the outset for business and administrative use (i.e., for the fast execution of large numbers of relatively simple arithmetic and data transport operations, as opposed to the complex numerical calculations required by scientific computers). As such the UNIVAC competed directly against punch-card machines (mainly made by IBM). Oddly enough the UNIVAC originally could not read or punch cards, hindering sales to companies concerned about the high cost of manually converting large quantities of data on cards. This was corrected by adding offline card processing equipment, the UNIVAC Card to Tape converter and the UNIVAC Tape to Card converter, to transfer data between cards and UNIVAC magnetic tapes. However, the early market share of the UNIVAC I was lower than the Remington Rand Company wished. To promote sales, the company joined with CBS to have UNIVAC I predict the result of the 1952 Presidential election. UNIVAC I predicted Eisenhower would have a landslide victory over Adlai Stevenson whom the pollsters favored. The result was a greater public awareness of computing technology.
UNIVAC I used 5,600 vacuum tubes, 18,000 diodes, 300 relays, total weight 19 tons, consumed 125 kW, and could perform about 1,905 operations per second running on a 2.25 MHz clock. The Central Complex alone (i.e. the processor and memory unit) was 4.3 m by 2.4 m by 2.6 m high. The complete system occupied more than 35.5 m² of floor space. Altogether 49 of these computer systems were built. The selling price was a million dollars in 1957.
This computer was in operation at the Batelle Institute in Frankfurt from October 19, 1956 until 1963.
Remington Rand, UNIVAC 1
The UNIVAC I was the first American computer designed at the outset for business and administrative use (i.e., for the fast execution of large numbers of relatively simple arithmetic and data transport operations, as opposed to the complex numerical calculations required by scientific computers). As such the UNIVAC competed directly against punch-card machines (mainly made by IBM). Oddly enough the UNIVAC originally could not read or punch cards, hindering sales to companies concerned about the high cost of manually converting large quantities of data on cards. This was corrected by adding offline card processing equipment, the UNIVAC Card to Tape converter and the UNIVAC Tape to Card converter, to transfer data between cards and UNIVAC magnetic tapes. However, the early market share of the UNIVAC I was lower than the Remington Rand Company wished. To promote sales, the company joined with CBS to have UNIVAC I predict the result of the 1952 Presidential election. UNIVAC I predicted Eisenhower would have a landslide victory over Adlai Stevenson whom the pollsters favored. The result was a greater public awareness of computing technology.
UNIVAC I used 5,600 vacuum tubes, 18,000 diodes, 300 relays, total weight 19 tons, consumed 125 kW, and could perform about 1,905 operations per second running on a 2.25 MHz clock. The Central Complex alone (i.e. the processor and memory unit) was 4.3 m by 2.4 m by 2.6 m high. The complete system occupied more than 35.5 m² of floor space. Altogether 49 of these computer systems were built. The selling price was a million dollars in 1957.
This computer was in operation at the Batelle Institute in Frankfurt from October 19, 1956 until 1963.