ABSTRACT
The International Business Machines (IBM) 1401 was announced in October 1959, and the first systems were delivered early in 1960 for upward of $2,500 per-month rental. The origin of the 1401 was the need to create a transistorized follow-up to the tube-based model 650 Magnetic Drum Computer. In 1960 IBM was producing no fewer than seven different computer models- some machines for scientific users, others for data-processing customers; some large machines, some small, and some in between. For twenty years, from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s, IBM was blessed with a unique combination of organizational capabilities that equipped it perfectly for the mainframe computer market. The proprietary electronics technology that IBM had chosen to use, known as Solid Logic Technology (SLT), was halfway between the discrete transistors used in second-generation computers and the true integrated circuits of later machines. Technology was secondary to marketing in IBM's success—;;and there was no question of trying to compete with IBM in marketing.
