IBM®
Skip to main content
    Country/region [change]    Terms of use
 
 
 
    Home    Products    Services & solutions    Support & downloads    My account    

IBM Technical Journals
Special report: Celebrating 50 years of the IBM Journals
All topics > Computing System Architectures >

The Random-Access Memory Accounting Machine—I. System organization of the IBM 305

 Award plaque by M. L. Lesser
and J. W. Haanstra

The design features of a new automatic data processing machine for business applications, utilizing a random-access memory system, are described. Unlike the usual “batch” method of machine-processing business transactions, the technique used permits transfer of information between any two points in the system and allows multi-choice decisions according to the current status of the information. The “in-line” operational concept is discussed in detail and the data transfer routes and processing controls are shown. Employing punched-card input and printed-record output, the IBM 305 accounting machine is designed to handle 10,000 line-transactions per day.

Originally published:

IBM Journal of Research and Development, Volume 1, Issue 1, pp. 62-71 (1957).

Significance:

The ground-breaking IBM 305 RAMAC (Random Access Memory Accounting and Control) machine was announced in September 1956. It was one of the last computer systems to use vacuum tubes, employed punched card input and printed-record output, and handled 10,000 line-transactions per day, a revolutionary feat for its time. This paper, which appeared in the first issue of the IBM Journal of Research and Development, then simply called the IBM Journal, discusses the logical organization of the RAMAC machine. A companion paper in the same issue (see below) describes the IBM 250 Magnetic Disk Random Access File used by the RAMAC machine.

Comments:

Related paper: The Random-Access Memory Accounting Machine—II. The magnetic-disk, random-access memory (JRD 1957) by T. Noyes and W. E. Dickinson

    About IBM    Privacy    Contact