IBM Advanced Computer Systems project: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:39, 27 April 2024

Revision as of 15:12, 27 April 2024

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In the spring of 1962, [[Control Data Corporation]] (CDC) announced that they had installed two computers at [[Lawrence Radiation Laboratory]] and had received a contract for a third, a much more powerful design. That new machine was officially announced in August 1963 as the [[CDC 6600]], causing IBM CEO [[Thomas J. Watson Jr.]] to write a now-famous memo asking how it was that this small company could produce machines that outperformed those from IBM.{{sfn|Smotherman|Sussenguth|Robelen|2016|p=60}}

At a meeting in September 1963, the companyIBM decided to shore up the high-end of what was then known as the New Product Line, or NPL. Project X was directed to implement the NPL [[instruction set]], becoming a high-end machine in that lineup. When NPL was launched in 1964 as the [[System/360]], Project X became the Model 92. Eventually, about a dozen machines in the Model 90 series would be sold.{{sfn|Smotherman|Sussenguth|Robelen|2016|p=60}}

Project Y was never directed to use NPL, as it was a longer-term project aimed purely at the scientific market. Development was assigned to Jack Bertram and his Experimental Computers and Programming Group and started in earnest in late 1963. Bertram brought in [[John Cocke (computer scientist)|John Cocke]], [[Frances Allen]], [[Brian Randell]], Herb Schorr, and [[Edward H. Sussenguth]], among others. Schorr developed the initial instruction set and recruited his former student, [[Lynn Conway]], to work on a system simulator.{{sfn|Smotherman|Sussenguth|Robelen|2016|p=60}}