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UNIVAC 1005

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UNIVAC
Company typeBrand / Division
IndustryComputer hardware
PredecessorEckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation
Founded1946
FounderJ. Presper Eckert, John Mauchly
Defunct1986
FateBrand discontinued; operations merged into Sperry Computer Systems and later Unisys
Headquarters
Philadelphia
,
United States
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
William Norris (Vice-President & General Manager, 1955–1957), Thornton C. Fry, Jay W. Schnackel, Dr. Louis T. Rader, J. Frank Forster, Robert E. McDonald, Gerald G. Probst, Richard L. Gehring, Joseph J. Kroger
ProductsElectronic digital stored-program computers (e.g., UNIVAC I, UNIVAC II, UNIVAC 1100/2200 series)
ParentRemington Rand (1950), Sperry Rand (from 1955), later Unisys (from 1986)

UNIVAC (an acronym for Universal Automatic Computer) referred to a series of electronic digital stored-program computers initially developed by the Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation. This brand eventually became integrated into Remington Rand and its subsequent successor organizations.

The BINAC, created by Eckert and Mauchly, was recognized as the first general-purpose commercial computer, though it achieved only limited commercial adoption. The production of computers under the UNIVAC name ceased in 1986.

History and design

Between 1943 and 1946, J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly engineered the ENIAC at the University of Pennsylvania. After resolving patent conflicts, they established the Electronic Control Company, which was later renamed the Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation (EMCC), based in Philadelphia. EMCC developed the BINAC for Northrop Aviation, though this system saw minimal operational use. The development of UNIVAC commenced in April 1946, with initial financial support from the Bureau of the Census.

Following the passing of EMCC chairman Henry L. Straus in 1949, the company was acquired by Remington Rand in 1950, placing Eckert and Mauchly under the management of Leslie Groves. Among UNIVAC's most prominent products was the UNIVAC I mainframe, launched in 1951, which gained widespread attention for accurately forecasting Dwight Eisenhower's decisive victory in the 1952 U.S. presidential election—marking a key demonstration of computing power in predictive analytics.

In 1951, the U.S. Army commissioned a UNIVAC computer to support intricate mobilization planning that involved coordination across various industries and governmental agencies.

Production occurred at Remington Rand’s Eckert-Mauchly Division facility in Philadelphia, supplemented by engineering laboratories located in Norwalk, Connecticut, and later at Engineering Research Associates (ERA) in St. Paul, Minnesota following acquisition. By the mid-1950s, Remington Rand consolidated its Norwalk tabulating operations, ERA’s scientific computing efforts, and UNIVAC’s business computing units under the unified UNIVAC brand.

The merger of Remington Rand with Sperry Corporation in 1955 resulted in Sperry Rand, led by General Douglas MacArthur as chairman and Harry Franklin Vickers as president and CEO. Within this structure, the UNIVAC division was designated as Remington Rand Univac. William Norris held the position of Vice-President and General Manager from 1955 until his resignation in 1957 amid ongoing organizational challenges that extended into the early 1960s.

# Name Years in office Title
1 William Norris 1955-1957 Vice-President & General Manager UNIVAC Division
2 Thornton C. Fry 1957-1959 Vice-President & General Manager UNIVAC Division
3 Jay W. Schnackel 1959-1962 Vice-President & General Manager UNIVAC Division
4 Dr. Louis T. Rader 1962-1964 President of the UNIVAC Division
5 J. Frank Forster 1964-1966 President of the UNIVAC Division
6 Robert E. McDonald 1966-1971 President of the UNIVAC Division
7 Gerald G. Probst 1971–1978 President of the UNIVAC Division
8 Richard l. Gehring 1978-1981 President of the UNIVAC Division
9 Joseph J. Kroger 1981-1985 President of the UNIVAC / Sperry Computer Systems Division.

During the 1960s, UNIVAC was counted among eight leading American computer manufacturers collectively known as "IBM and the seven dwarfs," which included Burroughs, NCR, Control Data Corporation (CDC), General Electric (GE), RCA, and Honeywell.Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag

Models

Throughout its development, UNIVAC introduced numerous model families. Early vacuum tube-based computers derived from the ERA 1101 were rebranded as UNIVAC 110x models; however, these were distinct from the later 1100/2200 series. Notably, the 1103A holds the distinction of being the first computer to implement interrupts.

The original UNIVAC I (Universal Automatic Computer I), delivered in March 1951, was the second commercially available computer in the United States to utilize liquid mercury delay-line memory technology.

The Remington Rand 409, a punched card calculator programmed via plugboard, was marketed as the UNIVAC 60 in 1952 and later as the UNIVAC 120 in 1953.

Released in 1956, the UNIVAC File Computer incorporated up to ten drums, each capable of storing 180,000 alphanumeric characters. It found particular application in airline reservation systems such as those used by Eastern Air Lines. This model competed with IBM machines like the IBM 650 and IBM 305 RAMAC, with approximately 130 units produced.

The UNIVAC II, introduced in 1958, enhanced its predecessor by incorporating magnetic core memory ranging from 2,000 to 10,000 words, transistorized circuitry, and upgraded tape drives compatible with both earlier metal tapes and newer PET film tapes. It maintained full backward compatibility with programs designed for the UNIVAC I.

The UNIVAC Solid State series targeted commercial users with a decimal architecture featuring magnetic logic gates and drum memory capable of holding 5,000 signed ten-digit words. This line included the Solid State 80 and Solid State 90 models, which supported IBM-Hollerith and Remington-Rand card formats respectively.

In 1962, Sperry Rand introduced the binary UNIVAC III, which preserved backward compatibility with earlier decimal formats; only 96 units were produced.

The UNIVAC 418, equipped with an 18-bit core memory system, began shipping in 1962 with over 392 units manufactured.

Designed for military applications, the UNIVAC 490 was a 30-bit machine that included variants such as the UNIVAC 1232. The subsequent UNIVAC 492 expanded memory capacity up to 64K words. Its successor, the UNIVAC 494, offered increased CPU performance, supported up to 262K words of core memory, featured multiple input/output channels, and provided magnetic drum storage options. These systems operated either on the OMEGA operating system or customized OSes like CONTORTS tailored for airline reservation management.

Launched in 1963, the UNIVAC 1050 was a one-address architecture machine supporting up to 32K six-bit characters of memory. It was widely utilized by the U.S. Air Force for inventory control applications.

The UNIVAC 1004, debuted in 1962, was a plugboard-controlled punched-card system featuring magnetic-core memory and peripherals such as card readers and punches compatible with both proprietary and IBM card standards. An optional "Emulator" board allowed execution of programs directly from card decks but increased susceptibility to relay malfunctions.

Building upon the 1004 design, the UNIVAC 1005 was released starting February 1966. It saw extensive deployment within U.S. Army operations including battlefield environments. This model supported additional peripherals like paper tape readers and stackers and utilized assemblers such as SAAL alongside compilers including SARGE. Two variants existed: a Federal Systems military version and a Commercial Systems version with distinct instruction sets.

The UNIVAC 1100/2200 series comprises compatible transistor-based systems utilizing a 36-bit architecture that began with the delayed yet influential Model 1107 featuring Thin-Film Memory technology. The more commercially successful Model 1108 helped establish this series' competitive stance against IBM's System/360. Today, this series continues to be supported by Unisys under the ClearPath Forward Dorado product line.

Introduced in the mid-1960s to rival lower-end IBM System/360 models, the UNIVAC 9000 series (spanning models from 9200 to 9700) implemented licensed subsets of IBM's architecture following patent settlements. These models incorporated plated-wire memory technology and supported standard IBM peripherals such as 80-column cards and EBCDIC character encoding. Memory capacities started at approximately 8K bytes and extended upwards with disk and tape storage options available.

The UNIVAC Series 90 encompassed:

  • High-end configurations (90/60, 90/70, and 90/80) that succeeded earlier high-end UNIVAC 9000 machines by introducing virtual memory capabilities comparable to those found on IBM System/370 mainframes.
  • Lower-end models (90/25, 90/30, and 90/40) launched around the mid-1970s aimed at upgrading users from previous systems while competing against IBM System/3 offerings. These featured disk operating systems (OS/3), support for multiple peripherals including printers and card readers/punches, removable disk packs ranging from roughly 29 MB up to over 100 MB capacity, tape drives, and communications controllers capable of managing dozens of terminals. Typical memory sizes ranged from approximately128 KB to over half a megabyte. The instruction set was microcoded and loaded into control storage during system startup.

In the early to mid-1980s, Sperry UNIVAC replaced Series 90 with the System 80 series. These systems varied from entry-level to high-performance configurations developed by Mitsubishi in Japan but marketed under Sperry Univac branding. The final model of this line was released by Unisys in1990.

Operating systems

The 1107 marked the introduction of the first 36-bit, word-oriented computer featuring a design closely resembling the later "1100 Series." It operated on the batch-processing, second-generation operating systems typical of the early to mid-1960s, namely EXEC I or EXEC II. The 1108 model supported EXEC II as well as EXEC 8, which facilitated concurrent real-time tasks, time-sharing, and background batch operations. Unlike competitors that depended on assembly language, the Transaction Interface Package (TIP) allowed transaction-processing applications to be written in COBOL. EXEC 8 was subsequently renamed OS 1100 and later OS 2200, with contemporary iterations preserving backward compatibility. Additionally, specialized operating systems such as RTOS were created for the 1108 to maximize hardware efficiency.

The economical System 80 line of compact mainframes ran OS/3, an operating system derived from the Univac 90/30 platform and its successors, including the 90/25 and 90/40 models.

Initially, the UNIVAC Series 90 utilized Univac's OS/9 before transitioning to RCA’s Virtual Memory Operating System (VMOS). VMOS originated as the Time Sharing Operating System (TSOS) for RCA's Spectra 70 computers but was renamed prior to Sperry’s acquisition of RCA CSD. After adapting VMOS for use on the 90/60 system, Univac rebranded it as VS/9.

Trademark

The name UNIVAC has been officially registered as a trademark by:

See also

Further reading


External links

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