UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) was a line of electronic digital stored-program computers starting with the products of the

Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation The Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation (EMCC) (March 1946 – 1950) was founded by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly. It was incorporated on December 22, 1947. After building the ENIAC at the University of Pennsylvania, Eckert and ...

. Later the name was applied to a division of the

Remington Rand Remington Rand was an early American business machine manufacturer, originally a typewriter manufacturer and in a later incarnation the manufacturer of the UNIVAC line of mainframe computers. Formed in 1927 following a merger, Remington Rand w ...

company and successor organizations. The

BINAC BINAC (Binary Automatic Computer) was an early electronic computer designed for Northrop Aircraft Company by the Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation (EMCC) in 1949. Eckert and Mauchly, though they had started the design of EDVAC at the Unive ...

, built by the Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation, was the first general-purpose computer for commercial use, but it was not a success. The last UNIVAC-badged computer was produced in 1986.

History and structure

J. Presper Eckert John Adam Presper Eckert Jr. (April 9, 1919 – June 3, 1995) was an American electrical engineer and computer pioneer. With John Mauchly, he designed the first general-purpose electronic digital computer (ENIAC), presented the first course in c ...

and

John Mauchly John William Mauchly (August 30, 1907 – January 8, 1980) was an American physicist who, along with J. Presper Eckert, designed ENIAC, the first general-purpose electronic digital computer, as well as EDVAC, BINAC and UNIVAC I, the first ...

built the

ENIAC ENIAC (; Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was the first programmable, electronic, general-purpose digital computer, completed in 1945. There were other computers that had these features, but the ENIAC had all of them in one pac ...

(Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

Moore School of Electrical Engineering The Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania came into existence as a result of an endowment from Alfred Fitler Moore on June 4, 1923. It was granted to Penn's School of Electrical Engineering, located in the Towne ...

between 1943 and 1946. A 1946 patent rights dispute with the university led Eckert and Mauchly to depart the Moore School to form the Electronic Control Company, later renamed

(EMCC), based in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. That company first built a computer called

(BINary Automatic Computer) for Northrop Aviation (which was little used, or perhaps not at all). Afterwards began the development of UNIVAC. UNIVAC was first intended for the

Bureau of the Census The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, which paid for much of the development, and then was put in production. With the death of EMCC's chairman and chief financial backer

Henry L. Straus Henry Lobe Straus (March 10, 1896 – October 25, 1949) was an American electrical engineer, horse and cattle breeder, sportsman, entrepreneur and computer pioneer. Biography Straus was a 1913 graduate of the Baltimore City College high school a ...

in a plane crash on October 25, 1949, EMCC was sold to typewriter maker Remington Rand on February 15, 1950. Eckert and Mauchly now reported to

Leslie Groves Lieutenant General Leslie Richard Groves Jr. (17 August 1896 – 13 July 1970) was a United States Army Corps of Engineers officer who oversaw the construction of the Pentagon and directed the Manhattan Project, a top secret research project ...

, the retired army general who had previously managed building the Pentagon and the

Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...

, where he was exposed to ENIAC. The most famous UNIVAC product was the

UNIVAC I The UNIVAC I (Universal Automatic Computer I) was the first general-purpose electronic digital computer design for business application produced in the United States. It was designed principally by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, the inven ...

mainframe computer of 1951, which became known for predicting the outcome of the U.S. presidential election the following year: this incident is noteworthy because the computer predicted an Eisenhower landslide over Adlai Stevenson, whereas the final Gallup poll had Eisenhower winning the popular vote 51–49 in a close contest. The prediction left

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

's news boss in New York, Sigfried Mickelson, to believe the computer was in error, and he refused to allow the prediction to be read. Instead, the crew showed some staged theatrics that suggested the computer was not responsive, and announced it was predicting 8–7 odds for an Eisenhower win (the actual prediction was 100–1 in his favour). When the predictions proved true – Eisenhower defeated Stevenson in a landslide, with UNIVAC coming within 3.5% of his popular vote total and four votes of his Electoral College total – Charles Collingwood, the on-air announcer, announced that they had failed to believe the earlier prediction. The

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

requested a UNIVAC computer from Congress in 1951. Colonel Wade Heavey explained to the Senate subcommittee that the national mobilization planning involved multiple industries and agencies: "This is a tremendous calculating process...there are equations that can not be solved by hand or by electrically operated computing machines because they involve millions of relationships that would take a lifetime to figure out." Heavey told the subcommittee it was needed to help with mobilization and other issues similar to the invasion of Normandy that were based on the relationships of various groups. Remington Rand had its own calculating machine lab in Norwalk, Connecticut, and later bought

Engineering Research Associates Engineering Research Associates, commonly known as ERA, was a pioneering computer firm from the 1950s. ERA became famous for their numerical computers, but as the market expanded they became better known for their drum memory systems. They were ev ...

(ERA) in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1953 or 1954 Remington Rand merged their Norwalk tabulating machine division, the ERA "scientific" computer division, and the UNIVAC "business" computer division into a single division under the UNIVAC name. This severely annoyed those who had been with ERA and with the Norwalk laboratory. In 1955 Remington Rand merged with

Sperry Corporation Sperry Corporation was a major American equipment and electronics company whose existence spanned more than seven decades of the 20th century. Sperry ceased to exist in 1986 following a prolonged hostile takeover bid engineered by Burroug ...

to become Sperry Rand. The UNIVAC division of Remington Rand was renamed the Univac division of Sperry Rand. General Douglas MacArthur was chosen to head the company. In the 1960s, UNIVAC was one of the eight major American computer companies in an industry then referred to as " IBM and the seven dwarfs" – a play on

Snow White "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection '' Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as T ...

and the seven dwarfs, with IBM, by far the largest, being cast as Snow White and the other seven as being dwarfs: Burroughs, Univac, NCR,

CDC The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...

, GE,

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

and

Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building technologies, performance ma ...

. In the 1970s, after GE sold its computer business to Honeywell and RCA sold its to Univac, the analogy to the seven dwarfs became less apt and the remaining small firms became known as the "

BUNCH Bunch may refer to: * Bunch (surname) * Bunch Davis (), American baseball player in the Negro leagues * BUNCH, nickname of five computer manufacturing companies, IBM's main competitors in the 1970s * Tussock (grass) or bunch grass, members of t ...

" (Burroughs, Univac, NCR, Control Data, and Honeywell). To assist "corporate identity" the name was changed to Sperry Univac, along with Sperry Remington, Sperry New Holland, etc. In 1978, Sperry Rand, a conglomerate of various divisions (computers, typewriters, office furniture, hay balers, manure spreaders, gyroscopes, avionics, radar, electric razors), decided to concentrate solely on its computing interests and all of the unrelated divisions were sold. The company dropped the ''Rand'' from its title and reverted to Sperry Corporation. In 1986, Sperry Corporation merged with

Burroughs Corporation The Burroughs Corporation was a major American manufacturer of business equipment. The company was founded in 1886 as the American Arithmometer Company. In 1986, it merged with Sperry UNIVAC to form Unisys. The company's history paralleled many ...

to become

Unisys Unisys Corporation is an American multinational information technology (IT) services and consulting company headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. It provides digital workplace solutions, cloud, applications, and infrastructure solutions, ...

. After the 1986 merger of Burroughs and Sperry, Unisys evolved from a computer manufacturer to a computer services and outsourcing firm, competing at that time in the same marketplace as IBM, Electronic Data Systems (EDS), and

Computer Sciences Corporation Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) was an American multinational corporation that provided information technology (IT) services and professional services. On April 3, 2017, it merged with the Enterprise Services line of business of HP Ente ...

. Unisys continues to design and manufacture enterprise class computers with the ClearPath server lines.

Models

Univac-I-Navy-Electronics-Supply-Office-BRL61-0992

AlbanyStateUniversity ComputerOperationsRoom 1981 Univac1100-80 skaliert

In the course of its history, UNIVAC produced a number of separate model ranges. One early UNIVAC line of

vacuum tube A vacuum tube, electron tube, valve (British usage), or tube (North America), is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric potential difference has been applied. The type known as ...

computers was based on the ERA 1101 and those models built at ERA were rebadged as UNIVAC 110x; despite the 1100 model numbers, they were not related to the latter 1100/2200 series. The 1103A is credited in the literature as the first computer to have interrupts. The original model range was the

(UNIVersal Automatic Computer I), the second commercial computer made in the United States. The main memory consisted of tanks of liquid mercury implementing

delay-line memory Delay-line memory is a form of computer memory, now obsolete, that was used on some of the earliest digital computers. Like many modern forms of electronic computer memory, delay-line memory was a refreshable memory, but as opposed to modern ran ...

, arranged in 1000 words of 12 alphanumeric characters each. The first machine was delivered on 31 March 1951. The

UNIVAC II The UNIVAC II computer was an improvement to the UNIVAC I that the UNIVAC division of Sperry Rand first delivered in 1958. The improvements included the expansion of core memory from 2,000 to 10,000 words; UNISERVO II tape drives, which could us ...

was an improvement to the UNIVAC I that UNIVAC first delivered in 1958. The improvements included magnetic (non-mercury)

core memory Core or cores may refer to: Science and technology * Core (anatomy), everything except the appendages * Core (manufacturing), used in casting and molding * Core (optical fiber), the signal-carrying portion of an optical fiber * Core, the centra ...

of 2000 to 10000 words, UNISERVO II tape drives, which could use either the old UNIVAC I metal tapes or the new PET film tapes, and some circuits that were

transistor upright=1.4, gate (G), body (B), source (S) and drain (D) terminals. The gate is separated from the body by an insulating layer (pink). A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch ...

ized (although it was still a

vacuum-tube computer A vacuum-tube computer, now termed a first-generation computer, is a computer that uses vacuum tubes for logic circuitry. Although superseded by second-generation transistorized computers, vacuum-tube computers continued to be built into the 196 ...

). It was fully compatible with existing UNIVAC I programs for both code and data. The UNIVAC II also added some instructions to the UNIVAC I's instruction set. Sperry Rand began shipment of

UNIVAC III The UNIVAC III, designed as an improved transistorized replacement for the vacuum tube UNIVAC I and UNIVAC II computers, was introduced in June 1962, with Westinghouse agreeing to furnish system programing and marketing on June 1, 1962. It was ...

in 1962, and produced 96 UNIVAC III systems. Unlike the UNIVAC I and UNIVAC II, it was a binary machine as well as maintaining support for all UNIVAC I and UNIVAC II decimal and alphanumeric data formats for backward compatibility. This was the last of the original UNIVAC machines. The

UNIVAC Solid State The UNIVAC Solid State was a magnetic drum-based solid-state computer announced by Sperry Rand in December 1958 as a response to the IBM 650. It was one of the first computers to be (nearly) entirely solid-state, using 700 transistors, and 3000 ...

was a 2-address, decimal computer, with memory on a rotating drum with 5000 signed 10-digit words, aimed at the general-purpose business market. It came in two versions: the Solid State 80 (IBM-Hollerith 80-column cards) and the Solid State 90 (Remington-Rand 90-column cards). This computer used magnetic logic, not transistors, because the transistors then available had highly variable characteristics and were not sufficiently reliable. Magnetic logic gates were based on magnetic cores with multiple wire windings; unlike vacuum tubes, they were solid-state devices and had a virtually infinite lifetime. The magnetic gates required drive pulses of current produced by a transmitter-type vacuum tube, of a type still used in amateur radio final amplifiers. Thus the Solid State depended, at the heart of its operations, on a vacuum tube, however, only a few tubes were required, instead of thousands, greatly increasing reliability. The

UNIVAC 1100/2200 series The UNIVAC 1100/2200 series is a series of compatible 36-bit computer systems, beginning with the UNIVAC 1107 in 1962, initially made by Sperry Rand. The series continues to be supported today by Unisys Corporation as the ClearPath Dorado Ser ...

is a series of compatible 36-bit

ized computer systems initially made by Sperry Rand. The series continues to be supported today by Unisys Corporation as the ClearPath Forward Dorado Series. * Remington Rand 409 was a control panel programmed

punched card A punched card (also punch card or punched-card) is a piece of stiff paper that holds digital data represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions. Punched cards were once common in data processing applications or to di ...

calculator, designed in 1949. * The

UNIVAC 418 UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) was a line of electronic digital stored-program computers starting with the products of the Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation. Later the name was applied to a division of the Remington Rand company and ...

(aka 1219) was an

18-bit 18 binary digits have (1000000 octal, 40000 hexadecimal) distinct combinations. 18 bits was a common word size for smaller computers in the 1960s, when large computers often used 36 bit words and 6-bit character sets, sometimes implemented a ...

word core memory machine. Over the three different models, more than 392 systems were manufactured. * The

UNIVAC 490 UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) was a line of electronic digital stored-program computers starting with the products of the Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation. Later the name was applied to a division of the Remington Rand company and ...

was a 30-bit word core memory machine with 16K or 32K words; 4.8 microsecond cycle time. The UNIVAC 1232 was a military version of the 490. * The

UNIVAC 492 UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) was a line of electronic digital stored-program computers starting with the products of the Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation. Later the name was applied to a division of the Remington Rand company and ...

is similar to the

, but with

extended memory In DOS memory management, extended memory refers to memory above the first megabyte (220 bytes) of address space in an IBM PC or compatible with an 80286 or later processor. The term is mainly used under the DOS and Windows operating systems. D ...

to 64K 30-bit words. * The

UNIVAC 494 UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) was a line of electronic digital stored-program computers starting with the products of the Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation. Later the name was applied to a division of the Remington Rand company and ...

was a 30-bit

word A word is a basic element of language that carries an objective or practical meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no conse ...

machine and successor to the UNIVAC 490/492 with faster CPU and 131K (later 262K) core memory. Up to 24 I/O channels were available and the system was usually shipped with UNIVAC FH880 or UNIVAC FH432 or FH1782 magnetic drum storage. Basic operating system was OMEGA (successor to REX for the 490) although custom operating systems were also used (e.g. CONTORTS for airline reservations). * The UNIVAC 1004 was a plug-board programmed punched card data processing system, introduced in 1962 by UNIVAC. Total memory was 961 characters (6 bits) of

. Peripherals were a card reader (400 cards/minute), a card punch (200 cards/minute) using proprietary 90-column, round-hole cards or IBM-compatible, 80-column cards, a drum printer (400 lines/minute) and a Uniservo tape drive. The 1004 was also supported as a remote card reader & printer via synchronous communication services. A U.S. Navy (Weapons Station, Concord) 1004 was dedicated to printing from tape as a means of offloading the task from their Solid State 80 mainframe, which produced the tapes. A plug-board program called Emulator was widely installed to convert 1004s to stored-program operation, reading in instructions from program decks of cards which determined the processing of the following data decks. Once installed, Emulator was rarely removed as it could run the machine as desired and, as almost every machine function was used, it was physically heavy from the sheer mass of installed jumpers filling nearly the entire board. Emulator was not a Univac product, rather it was built by each customer, a tedious task. Its heavy use of the 1004's program-branching reed relays, called selectors, caused increased failures, later solved by the use of electronic selectors in the follow-on 1005. * The UNIVAC 1005, an enhanced version of the UNIVAC 1004, was first shipped in February 1966. The machine saw extensive use by the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

, including the first use of an electronic computer on the battlefield. Additional peripherals were also available including a paper tape reader and a three pocket stacker selectable card read/punch. The machine had a two-stage assembler (SAAL – Single Address Assembly Language) which was its primary assembler; it also had a three-stage card based compiler for a programming language called SARGE. 1005s were used as some nodes on

Autodin The Automatic Digital Network System, known as AUTODIN, is a legacy data communications service in the United States Department of Defense. AUTODIN originally consisted of numerous AUTODIN Switching Centers (ASCs) located in the United States and ...

. There were actually two versions of the 1005. The Federal Systems (military) version described above and a Commercial Systems version for civilian use. While the two versions shared common memory and peripherals they had two completely different instruction sets. The Commercial Systems version had a three pass assembler and a program generator. * The

UNIVAC 1050 The UNIVAC 1050 was a variable word-length (one to 16 characters) decimal and binary computer. Instructions were fixed length (30 bits – five characters), consisting of a five-bit " op code", a three-bit index register specifier, one reser ...

was an internally programmed computer with up to 32K of six-bit character memory, which was introduced in 1963. It was a one-address machine with 30-bit instructions, had a 4K operating system and was programmed in the PAL assembly language. The 1050 was used extensively by the U.S. Air Force supply system for inventory control. * The

UNIVAC 9000 series The UNIVAC 9000 series (9200, 9300, 9400, 9700) is a discontinued line of computers introduced by Sperry Rand in the mid-1960s to compete with the low end of the IBM System/360 series. The 9200 and 9300 (which differ only in CPU speed) implement ...

(9200, 9300, 9400, 9700) was introduced in the mid-1960s to compete with the low end of the IBM 360 series. The 9200 and 9300, which differed in CPU speed and maximum memory capacity (16K for the original 9200 vs 32K for the other variants) implemented the same 16-bit modified subset of the 360 architecture as the Model 20, while the UNIVAC 9400 implemented a subset of the full 360 instruction set. This didn't violate IBM patents or copyrights; Sperry got the rights to "clone" the 360 as settlement of a lawsuit concerning IBM's infringement of Remington Rand's core memory patents. The 9400 was roughly equivalent to the IBM 360/30. The 9000 series used

plated wire memory Plated-wire memory is a variation of core memory developed by Bell Laboratories in 1957. Its primary advantage was that it could be machine-assembled, which potentially led to lower prices than the almost always hand-assembled core. Instead of t ...

, which functioned somewhat like

but used a non-destructive read. Since the 9000 series was intended as direct competitors to IBM, they used 80-column cards and EBCDIC character encoding. Memory capacity started as low as 8K byte primary storage for a batch-configured system. Optionally a disk drive subsystem could be added, with 8414 5MB disk drives as well as tape drives, using the Uniservo VI. * The

UNIVAC Series 90 The Univac 90/60 system front panel The Univac Series 90 is an obsolete family of mainframe class computer systems from UNIVAC first introduced in 1973. The low end family members included the 90/25, 90/30 and 90/40 that ran the OS/3 operating s ...

: :* High-end: (90/60, 90/70, 90/80): The high-end Series 90 machines were successors to the high-end UNIVAC 9000 machines, but added virtual memory and thus were similar, or equivalent, to later

IBM System/370 The IBM System/370 (S/370) is a model range of IBM mainframe computers announced on June 30, 1970, as the successors to the System/360 family. The series mostly maintains backward compatibility with the S/360, allowing an easy migration path ...

mainframes. :* Low-end: (90/30, 90/25, 90/40): Separately from the high-end series, Sperry Univac introduced the Univac 90/30 in about 1975 to provide an upgrade path for 9x00 users and to compete with IBM's System 3. It used a disk operating system and had either a 300 or 600 lines per minute printer, a card reader, optionally a card punch, a console (Uniscope 100), attached disk drives that had removable disk packs, several 1600 or 6250 BpI tape drives, and an optional communications controller supporting up to 16 terminals (later 32) The standard disk drive was the 8416 which held a multi-layer platter removable disk pack that held approximately 29 million bytes. The 8418 drive was an enhanced version that supported both 29MB and "double-density" 58MB disk packs. These disk drives operated on the IDA (Integrated Disk Adapter). There was also an optional 8430 drive with a 100MB capacity that operated on a separate high speed selector channel. Available tape drives were the Uniservo 10 (Mux Channel) and Uniservo 14 (Selector channel). The optional Selector Channel also enabled the use of other high speed devices such as the 1200 lpm 0776 printer or the 2000 lpm 0770 printer. The machine had either 4K or 16K memory chips, and typical machines had between 128 to 512

KiB The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable unit ...

memory. It ran an OS called OS/3, and could run up to 7 jobs at one time, not counting various OS extensions such as the print spooler and telecommunications access (ICAM). It was an upgrade path for users who had outgrown the IBM System/3. It ran Cobol-74, RPG2, Fortran, and Assembler. The instruction set of the 90/xx series was implemented in microcode and was loaded into control storage as part of the boot up process, before loading the operating system. ::Shortly after the 90/30 was introduced, Sperry Univac introduced the 90/25 which was the same basic hardware, however had an option for a smaller 80 column card reader and was a bit slower. The machine executed 3 instructions and then a NOP (no op) to slow it down, as nearly every component was identical to the 90/30). Later a 90/40 model was added, with improved performance from a faster clock rate (cycle time of 500ns vs 600ns), pre-fetching of the next instruction, and greater maximum main memory capacity (1M vs 512K). * The Sperry UNIVAC System 80 series: The entire 90/xx series was eventually replaced in 1981 by the System 80, models 4 and 6. More powerful System 80's (models 8, 10 and 20) were introduced in 1984. These were Sperry-badged, IBM/360-like mainframes actually developed and engineered by Mitsubishi in Japan. The final System 80 was the model 7E, released in 1990 by Unisys.

Operating systems

The 1107 was the first 36-bit, word-oriented machine with an

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

close to that which came to be known as that of the " 1100 Series." It ran the

EXEC I Exec or EXEC may refer to: * Executive officer, a person responsible for running an organization * Executive producer, provides finance and guidance for the making of a commercial entertainment product * A family of kit helicopters produced by Rot ...

or EXEC II operating system,

batch-oriented Computerized batch processing is a method of running software programs called jobs in batches automatically. While users are required to submit the jobs, no other interaction by the user is required to process the batch. Batches may automatically ...

second-generation

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also i ...

s, typical of the early to mid-1960s. The 1108 ran EXEC II or

EXEC 8 Exec or EXEC may refer to: * Executive officer, a person responsible for running an organization * Executive producer, provides finance and guidance for the making of a commercial entertainment product * A family of kit helicopters produced by Rot ...

. EXEC 8 allowed simultaneous handling of real-time applications,

time-sharing In computing, time-sharing is the sharing of a computing resource among many users at the same time by means of multiprogramming and multi-tasking.DEC Timesharing (1965), by Peter Clark, The DEC Professional, Volume 1, Number 1 Its emergence ...

, and background batch work.

Transaction Interface Package Transaction or transactional may refer to: Commerce *Financial transaction, an agreement, communication, or movement carried out between a buyer and a seller to exchange an asset for payment *Debits and credits in a Double-entry bookkeeping syst ...

(TIP), a transaction-processing environment, allowed programs to be written in COBOL whereas similar programs on competing systems were written in assembly language. On later systems, EXEC 8 was renamed OS 1100 and

OS 2200 OS 2200 is the operating system for the Unisys ClearPath Dorado family of mainframe systems. The operating system kernel of OS 2200 is a lineal descendant of Exec 8 for the UNIVAC 1108. Documentation and other information on current and past Un ...

, with modern descendants maintaining backwards compatibility. Some more exotic operating systems ran on the 1108one of which was RTOS, a more bare-bones system designed to take better advantage of the hardware. The affordable System 80 series of small mainframes ran the OS/3 operating system which originated on the Univac 90/30 (and later 90/25, and 90/40). The

first ran with Univac developed OS/9, which was later replaced by RCA's Virtual Memory Operating System (VMOS). RCA originally called this operating system Time Sharing Operating System (TSOS), running on RCA's

Spectra 70 The RCA Spectra 70 was a line of electronic data processing (EDP) equipment manufactured by the RCA, Radio Corporation of America’s computer division beginning in April 1965. The Spectra 70 line included several CPU models, various configuratio ...

line of virtual memory systems and changed its name to VMOS before the Sperry acquisition of RCA CSD. After VMOS was ported to the 90/60, Univac renamed it

VS/9 VS/9 is a computer operating system for the UNIVAC Series 90 mainframes (90/60, 90/70, and 90/80), used during the late 1960s through 1980s. The 90/60 and 90/70 were repackaged Univac 9700 computers. After the RCA acquisition by Sperry, it ...

Trademark

UNIVAC has been, over the years, a registered trademark of: *

Remington Rand Corporation Remington Rand was an early American business machine manufacturer, originally a typewriter manufacturer and in a later incarnation the manufacturer of the UNIVAC line of mainframe computers. Formed in 1927 following a merger, Remington Rand wa ...

Sperry Rand Corporation Sperry Corporation was a major American equipment and electronics company whose existence spanned more than seven decades of the 20th century. Sperry ceased to exist in 1986 following a prolonged hostile takeover bid engineered by Burroughs ...

* Unisys Corporation

References

* David E. Lundstrom: A Few Good Men from Univac, * Nancy Beth Stern, From Eniac to UNIVAC: An Appraisal of the Eckert–Mauchly Computers, * Arthur L. Norberg, Computers and Commerce: A Study of Technology and Management at Eckert–Mauchly Computer Company, Engineering Research Associates, and Remington Rand, 1946–1957 (History of Computing) (Hardcover), * James W. Cortada, Before the Computer: IBM, NCR, Burroughs, and Remington Rand and the Industry They Created, 1865–1956 (Studies in Business and Technology),

External links

UNIVAC Conference Oral history on 17–18 May 1990.

Charles Babbage Institute The IT History Society (ITHS) is an organization that supports the history and scholarship of information technology by encouraging, fostering, and facilitating archival and historical research. Formerly known as the Charles Babbage Foundation, ...

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. 171-page transcript of oral history with computer pioneers involved with the Univac computer, held on 17–18 May 1990. The meeting involved 25 engineers, programmers, marketing representatives, and salesmen who were involved with the UNIVAC, as well as representatives from users such as General Electric, Arthur Andersen, and the U.S. Census.
Oral history interview with Isaac Levin Auerbach
Oral history interview by Nancy B. Stern, 10 April 1978.

, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Auerbach recounts his experiences at Electronic Control Company (later the Eckert–Mauchly Computer Company) during 1947–1949. He discusses the

computer project for

Northrop Aircraft Northrop Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer from its formation in 1939 until its 1994 merger with Grumman to form Northrop Grumman. The company is known for its development of the flying wing design, most successfully the B-2 Spiri ...

, the UNIVAC, as well as the roles of the

National Bureau of Standards The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sci ...

Raytheon Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitali ...