IBM 702

{{Short description|Early vacuum-tube computer system}}

File:BRL61-IBM 702.jpg memory, 702 CPU, 717 printer, operator's console, 757 printer control unit, 752 tape control unit, five 727 tape drives, 732 drum storage, five 727 tape drives, card reader, card punch, and reader/punch control units.]]

The IBM 702 was an early generation tube-based digital computer produced by IBM in the early to mid-1950s. It was the company's response to Remington Rand's UNIVAC, which was the first mainframe computer to use magnetic tapes. As these machines were aimed at the business market, they lacked the leading-edge computational power of the IBM 701 and ERA 1103, which were favored for scientific computing,{{Cite book|title=IBM's 360 and Early 370 Systems|last1=Pugh|first1=Emerson W.|last2=Johnson|first2=Lyle R.|last3=Palmer|first3=John H.|publisher=MIT Press|year=1991|isbn=0-262-16123-0|pages=[https://archive.org/details/ibms360early370s0000pugh/page/26 26–27]|author-link=Emerson Pugh|url=https://archive.org/details/ibms360early370s0000pugh/page/26}} weather forecasting, the aircraft industry, and the military and intelligence communities.

Within IBM, the 702 was notable for adapting the new technology of magnetic-core memory for random-access applications.

The 702 was announced September 25, 1953, and withdrawn{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ohhbE13t0oC&q=IBM+702+withdrawn&pg=PA161|title=Structuring the Information Age: Life Insurance and Technology in the Twentieth Century|last=Yates|first=JoAnne|date=May 17, 2005|publisher=JHU Press|isbn=9780801880865|pages=161}} October 1, 1954, but the first production model was not installed until July 1955.{{Cite book|title=IBM's Early Computers|last1=Bashe|first1=Charles J.|last2=Johnson|first2=Lyle R.|last3=Palmer|first3=John H.|last4=Pugh|first4=Emerson W.|publisher=MIT Press|year=1985|isbn=0-262-02225-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/ibmsearlycompute00bash/page/176 176–178]|author-link4=Emerson Pugh|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/ibmsearlycompute00bash/page/176}}{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/ibms360early370s0000pugh|url-access=registration|quote=IBM 702 1954.|title=IBM's 360 and Early 370 Systems|last1=Pugh|first1=Emerson W.|last2=Johnson|first2=Lyle R.|last3=Palmer|first3=John H.|date=1991|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=0-262-16123-0|pages=[https://archive.org/details/ibms360early370s0000pugh/page/25 25]–26|author-link=Emerson Pugh}} It was superseded by the IBM 705.