| IBM Stretch | |
|---|---|
 IBM 7030 maintenance console at the Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris | |
| Design | |
| Manufacturer | IBM |
| Designer | Gene Amdahl |
| Release date | May 1961 |
| Units sold | 9 |
| Price | US$7,780,000 (equivalent to $79,320,000 in 2023) |
| Casing | |
| Weight | 70,000 pounds (35 short tons; 32 t)[1] |
| Power | 100 kW[1] @ 110 V |
| System | |
| Operating system | MCP |
| CPU | 64-bit processor |
| Memory | 128 to 2048 kilobytes (16,384 x 64 to 262,144 x 64 bits)[1] |
| MIPS | 1.2 MIPS |
The IBM 7030, also known as Stretch, was IBM's first transistorized supercomputer. It was the fastest computer in the world from 1961 until the first CDC 6600 became operational in 1964.[2][3]
Originally designed to meet a requirement formulated by Edward Teller at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the first example was delivered to Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1961, and a second customized version, the IBM 7950 Harvest, to the National Security Agency in 1962. The Stretch at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston, England was heavily used by researchers there and at AERE Harwell, but only after the development of the S2 Fortran Compiler which was the first to add dynamic arrays, and which was later ported to the Ferranti Atlas of Atlas Computer Laboratory at Chilton.[4][5]
The 7030 was much slower than expected and failed to meet its aggressive performance goals. IBM was forced to drop its price from $13.5 million to only $7.78 million and withdrew the 7030 from sales to customers beyond those having already negotiated contracts. PC World magazine named Stretch one of the biggest project management failures in IT history.[6]
Within IBM, being eclipsed by the smaller Control Data Corporation seemed hard to accept.[7] The project lead, Stephen W. Dunwell,[8] was initially made a scapegoat for his role in the "failure",[9] but as the success of the IBM System/360 became obvious, he was given an official apology and, in 1966 was made an IBM Fellow.[10]
In spite of Stretch's failure to meet its own performance goals, it served as the basis for many of the design features of the successful IBM System/360, which was announced in 1964 and first shipped in 1965.
- ^ a b c BRL Report 1961
- ^ "Designed by Seymour Cray, the CDC 6600 was almost three times faster than the next fastest machine of its day, the IBM 7030 Stretch." Making a World of Difference: Engineering Ideas into Reality. National Academy of Engineering. 2014. ISBN 978-0309312653.
- ^ "In 1964 Cray's CDC 6600 replaced Stretch as the fastest computer on earth." Andreas Sofroniou (2013). EXPERT SYSTEMS, KNOWLEDGE ENGINEERING FOR HUMAN REPLICATION. ISBN 978-1291595093.
- ^ "Some Early UK FORTRAN Compilers".
- ^ "HARTRAN Overview".
- ^ Widman, Jake (October 9, 2008). "Lessons Learned: IT's Biggest Project Failures". PCWorld. Retrieved October 23, 2012.
- ^ As noted in the famous "Janitor" memo, wherein IBM CEO T. J. Watson Jr asked "why we have lost our industry leadership" to "34 people, including the janitor.""Watson Jr. memo about CDC 6600". August 28, 1963.
- ^ "IBM Archives: Stephen W. Dunwell". IBM. Archived from the original on September 4, 2006.
- ^ "Stretch was considered a commercial failure, and Dunwell was sent into ..." Smotherman, Mark; Spicer, Dag. "IBM's Single-Processor Supercomputer Efforts".
- ^ " to pursue any research he wished." Wolfgang Saxon (March 24, 1994). "S. W. Dunwell, 80, Engineer at I.B.M.; Designed Computers". The New York Times.