The IBM 1401 is a variable-wordlength decimal computer that was announced by IBM on October 5, 1959. The first member of the highly successful IBM 1400 series, it was aimed at replacing unit record equipment for processing data stored on punched cards and at providing peripheral services for larger computers. [1] .

The IBM 1401 Data Processing System was introduced on October 5, 1959, via a splashy closed-circuit television presentation seen by more than 50,000 prospective customers in 102 cities across the United States.

Jul 5, 2015 · Although the IBM 1401 Data Processing System was not the earliest solid-state commercial computer, it rapidly became the world s most widely used and held that distinction through most of the 1960s [Figure 5].

The IBM 1401 Data Processing System, a stored-program transistor-logic computer announced October 1959. At $2500 per month minimally configured, this was IBM's first affordable general-purpose computer, and it was intended to take the place of all the accounting machines and calculators that still provided a cheaper alternative to IBM's 650 and ...

Feb 19, 2015 · The 1401 was a “stored program computer,” allowing programmers to write (and share) applications loaded into the machine from punched cards or magnetic tape, all without the need to physically reconfigure the machine for each task.

We cover IBM’s development of the 1401’s basic enabling technologies and trace its origins in business account-ing machines. We highlight its key features and characteristics, its mar -ket succession, and even its appear-ance in popular culture.

The goal of the 1401 design was to offer a flexible business computer of at least three times the speed and at a lower cost than the ubiquitous, card/unit-record, collate/merge/print, plug-board-based accounting machines of the 1950’s (such as the IBM 407 and 604).

IBM provided several models compatible (or nearly so) with the 1401. 1460 is twice as fast, and many special features of 1401 were standard. 1440 was a popular lower-cost alternative, although not fully compatible with the 1401. 1240, 1420, 1450 are systems specially designed for banking.

acquaint you with a computer in the Museum’s collection that has had dramatic social, technical and economic consequences and which has been brought back to life by Museum volunteers. This mass-produced computer, the IBM 1401 Data Processing System (1959), reflected a need by industry and government to process rapidly growing amounts of

IBM's second successful commercial computer (the first was the 650). Introduced in 1959 and offered until 1971, the 1401 was an outstanding success.