Editing IBM 1401 (section)

==History==
[[File:IBM1401 729Tape 1405Disk 1407Console COLOR.jpg|thumb|280px|IBM 1401 Data Processing System. From the left: [[IBM 1402|1402]] Card Read-Punch, 1406 Storage Unit, 1405 RAMAC Disk Unit, 1407 Console Inquiry Station, 1401 Processing Unit, two [[IBM 729|729]] Magnetic Tape Units, [[IBM 1403|1403]] Printer. (courtesy of IBM Archives)]] 
The 1401 project evolved from an IBM project named "World Wide Accounting Machine" (WWAM), which in turn was a reaction to the success of the [[Bull Gamma 3]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Origins of Architecture and Design of the 1401 |url=https://ibm-1401.info/1401Origins.html |access-date=2023-07-28 |website=ibm-1401.info}}</ref>

The 1401 was used as an independent system in conjunction with IBM punched card equipment. It was also operated as auxiliary equipment to [[IBM 700/7000 series|IBM 700 or 7000 series]] systems.<ref name="ibmarchives">{{cite web |title= 1401 Data Processing System |date= October 5, 1959 |work= IBM Archives |url= http://www.IBM.com/ibm/history/exhibits/mainframe/mainframe_PP1401.html |access-date= June 2, 2010 }}</ref>

Monthly rental for 1401 configurations started at US$2,500 (worth about ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|2500|1959|r=-2}}}} today).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/1401.html|title=The IBM 1401|website=www.columbia.edu|accessdate=March 28, 2024}}</ref> Demand exceeded expectations.

"IBM was pleasantly surprised (perhaps shocked) to receive 5,200 orders in just the first five weeks &ndash; more than predicted for the entire life of the machine!"<ref name=chm>{{cite web |url=http://www.computerhistory.org/core/pdf/ibm_1401.pdf |title=Back to Life: The story behind CHM's IBM 1401 Restoration |author=Spicer, Dag |publisher=Computer History Museum |access-date=May 27, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101105110749/http://www.computerhistory.org/core/pdf/ibm_1401.pdf |archive-date=November 5, 2010 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>  By late 1961, the 2000 units installed in the USA were about one quarter of all electronic [[stored-program computer]]s by all manufacturers. The number of installed 1401s peaked above 10,000 in the mid-1960s.  "In all, by the mid-1960s nearly half of all computer systems in the world were 1401-type systems."<ref name=chm/>  The system was marketed until February 1971.<ref>{{cite web |title= FAQ's for Products and Services |work= IBM Archives |url= http://www.IBM.com/ibm/history/reference/faq_0000000011.html |access-date= June 2, 2010 }}</ref>

Commonly used by small businesses as their primary data processing machines, the 1401 was also frequently used as an off-line [[peripheral]] controller for [[mainframe computer]]s. In such installations, with an [[IBM 7090]] for example, the mainframe computers used only [[magnetic tape]] for input-output. It was the 1401 that transferred input data from slow peripherals (such as the [[IBM 1402]] Card Read-Punch) to tape, and transferred output data from tape to the card punch, the [[IBM 1403]] Printer, or other peripherals. This allowed the mainframe's throughput to not be limited by the speed of a card reader or printer. 
(For more information, see [[spooling]].) Some later installations (e.g., at NASA) included the 1401 as a front-end peripherals controller to an IBM 7094 in a Direct Coupled System (DCS).

Elements within IBM, notably [[John Haanstra]], an executive in charge of 1401 deployment, supported its continuation in larger models for evolving needs (e.g., the [[IBM 1410]]) but the 1964 decision at the top to focus resources on the [[System/360]] ended these efforts rather suddenly.

IBM was facing a competitive threat from the [[Honeywell 200]]<ref>among other things, Honeywell used the name [[Easycoder]], resembling IBM's [[Autocoder]].</ref><ref>there was also a semi-automated converter of 1401 object code, named Liberator: {{cite web
   |url=http://ibm-1401.info/1401-Competition.html#UsingLib
   |title=Using Liberator}}</ref> and the 360's incompatibility with the 1401 design. IBM pioneered the use of [[microcode]] [[Emulator|emulation]], in the form of [[Read-only memory#Other technologies|ROM]], so that some System/360 models could run 1401 programs.<ref>{{cite book
   |title=Building IBM: Shaping an Industry and Its Technology 
   |author=Emerson W. Pugh |year=1995 |publisher=MIT 
   |isbn=0-262-16147-8 |page=273}}</ref>[[File:IBM 1401 signal tracing at CHM.jpg|thumb|A volunteer repairing a 1401 at the [[Computer History Museum]]]]

Due to its popularity and mass-production, the IBM 1401 was often considered to be the first electronic [[mainframe computer]] to be introduced in various countries, such as [[Singapore]] (1963; for the [[Central Provident Fund|Central Provident Fund Board]])<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.smartnation.gov.sg/about-smart-nation/our-journey/milestones/ | title=Milestones }}</ref> and [[South Korea]] (1967; for the [[Ministry of Economy and Finance (South Korea)|Economic Planning Board]]).<ref>[https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/mainframe/transform/ Mainframe transform]ibm.com {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230815083313/https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/mainframe/transform/ |date=August 15, 2023 }}</ref><ref>서현진. (1997). 처음쓰는 한국컴퓨터사 (서울: 전자신문사).</ref> During the 1970s, IBM installed many 1401s in [[India]] and [[Pakistan]] where they were in use well into the 1980s.

Two 1401 systems have been restored to operating order at the [[Computer History Museum]] in [[Mountain View, California]].<ref>{{cite web | title = 1401 Restoration Project | url = http://IBM-1401.info/index.html }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = 1401 "Rebuilding the IBM," by Philip E. Ross, IEEE Spectrum, November 2009 | url = https://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/hardware/rebuilding-the-ibm-1401| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091103110802/http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/hardware/rebuilding-the-ibm-1401| url-status = dead| archive-date = November 3, 2009}}</ref>