IBM System/360: Getting smaller... thinking bigger

-origin

This is a great advert which perfectly encapsulates the evolution of electronics in one photo. 

It shows what is effectively the same functional component and how it has evolved over time: the board at the back is all valves as resistors and was installed in the IBM 709 computer of 1957. 

By the IBM 1401 of 1959, the transistor had made an appearance and the board - the yellow one in the photo - is about half the size and about half the parts count, although it's still discrete components. 

By the System/360 of 1964, the same part is about 100-times smaller and is now made up of 6 integrated circuits - and probably replaces about 100 of the original valve boards.

The advert also explains the obsession with miniaturisation: the smaller components are, the quicker signals travel between them and so the faster the computer is overall. 

[picture: ChrisEvans_MM_page56.webp|Dr. Chris Evans, author of The Might Micro, shows how large a human brain made out of computer components would have to be at various eras of the computer industry. From The Mighty Micro: The Impact of the Computer Revolution, Christopher Evans, ISBN 0 575 02708 8, p. 56]

IBM's System/360 was launched in April 1964 and was considered the first range of computers to cover all market segments - small to large and scientific to commercial. Compatibility with 360 software is still maintained in today's IBM's zSeries[source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System/360]. 

It sold until 1978 - well into the dawn of the "3rd generation" of computers like the Commodore PET, Apple II and so on.
