IBM System/360
In 1964, IBM bet $5 billion on a groundbreaking idea, equivalent to $50 billion today. Never before had a private company invested such sums in a technological project. At that time, IBM dominated the world of electromechanical computing machines with its famous 80-column punched card. But the company was facing a paradoxical crisis. Its product line included eight computers that were completely incompatible with each other. Each migration to a more powerful system forced customers to repurchase all their peripherals and rewrite their programs. This situation was untenable.
Thomas Watson Jr., who chaired IBM, entrusted this thorny issue to Thomas Vincent Learson. Learson appointed Bob O. Evans, head of systems development in Poughkeepsie. Evans quickly reached a radical and bold conclusion: all ongoing projects had to be abandoned and everything started from scratch. The decision sparked heated debates, particularly with Frederick P. Brooks Jr., who was leading the development of the 8000 series.
Evans’ team devised an audacious vision. Code written for the smallest model in the family had to run without modification on the most powerful processors. Printers, communication devices, and storage units had to work with any computer in the range. This universal compatibility required a complete rethinking of computing. Operating system software had to be created for a family of compatible processors, unprecedented peripherals had to be designed, and an integrated circuit technology called Solid Logic Technology had to be developed. IBM mobilized its worldwide resources. Teams of engineers worked simultaneously on six new processors and dozens of peripherals, both in America and Europe. Hundreds of programmers began writing millions of lines of code.
On April 7, 1964, IBM unveiled the System/360 with military precision. The company organized press conferences in 165 American cities and 14 countries. The presentation revealed six new processors and 44 peripherals. The reception exceeded all expectations: more than a thousand machines were ordered in four weeks. But the euphoria of orders gave way to two years of hell. The production of SLT modules posed the first problem. IBM built a factory of over 9,200 square meters in East Fishkill. Production soared from 500,000 modules in 1963 to 12 million in 1964, then 28 million the following year. Quality defects piled up, delaying deliveries by two to four months. In 1966, the factory produced 90 million modules, more than all other semiconductor manufacturers combined.
Logistics turned into a nightmare. Orders flooded in while delays accumulated in component manufacturing and software development. Tension mounted between sales teams and production departments. An amusing episode actually illustrates this period: the company ran out of copper circuit breakers, temporarily paralyzing all production.
Software development represented the third pitfall. Initially budgeted between $30 and $40 million, the final cost reached $500 million. The team had to create an operating system that worked across different processors and peripherals, a feat never before accomplished. The code grew from 100,000 lines for the IBM 1401 to over one million for the System/360.
By 1966, seven to eight thousand systems equipped companies, generating over $4 billion in new revenue. IBM hired 25,000 employees that year and built over 270,000 square meters of additional production space. Between 1964 and 1970, revenue doubled, rising from $3.2 to $7.5 billion.
The System/360 standardized the 8-bit byte and introduced numerous innovations in storage and memory. Its architecture immediately inspired competitors. RCA launched the Spectra 70 series, compatible with the System/360. The Soviet Union developed the Ryad, an almost exact copy. Gene Amdahl, who participated in the system’s design, founded Amdahl Corporation to produce compatible processors. An entire industry emerged around compatible peripherals with companies like Telex, Memorex, and Storage Technology.
Bank of America, NASA, and other major organizations chose the System/360 for applications ranging from banking transaction processing to scientific calculations. Thanks to its unified architecture, companies could now compare price and performance across an entire product range, simplifying their purchasing decisions and IT planning.
In 1985, President Ronald Reagan presented the National Medal of Technology to Erich Bloch, Fred Brooks, and Bob Evans for their contribution to the System/360. This official recognition underscored the project’s historical importance in the development of modern computing. Its architecture influenced all subsequent generations of IBM computers, from the System/370 to the System/390, up to today’s IBM zSeries servers. The principles of compatibility and standardization it established remain pillars of the contemporary computer industry.