website/content/museum/ibm-an-fsq-7.md

title, categories, types, origins, years, cpus, params

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
IBM AN/FSQ-7	Computers	Professional Computer	U.S.A.	1958	55	name image company company_name specs tabs forum_thread photos links oc_id source AN/FSQ-7 /media/museum/photos/ibm_anfsq7_part_s1.jpg /companies/ibm IBM label value NAME AN/FSQ-7 label value MANUFACTURER IBM label value TYPE Professional Computer label value ORIGIN U.S.A. label value YEAR 1958 label value END OF PRODUCTION 1963 label value BUILT IN LANGUAGE None label value KEYBOARD IBM consoles label value CPU 55,000 vacuum tubes in each unit label value SPEED 75 KIPS (KiloInstructions Per Second) label value CO-PROCESSOR None label value RAM Core 8892-word label value ROM Unknown label value TEXT MODES None label value GRAPHIC MODES 256 x 256 label value COLORS Monochrome label value SOUND Speaker (see the ''Read more'' page) label value SIZE / WEIGHT 2000 square meters / 275 tons label value I/O PORTS Tape, punched cards, modem label value BUILT IN MEDIA Tape label value OS None label value POWER SUPPLY 3 MW label value PRICE $238 million, printer around $200,000 to $250,000 photos links 1023 title subtitle text image SYSTEM DIAGRAM An AN/FSQ-7 installed in a 4-story SAGE Direction Center building. Photo from **[Mitre](http://www.mitre.org/about/photo_archives/sage_photo.html)** /media/museum/photos/ibm_anfsq7_diagram_s1.jpg title url text Mitre Corp. museum http://www.mitre.org/about/photo_archives/sage_photo.html SAGE photo archives title url text Radomes, Inc. museum http://www.radomes.org/museum/equip/fsq-7.html More information and pictures about the AN/FSQ-7 title url text Reminiscences of Jack Gilmore http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/TheCompMusRep/TCMR-V02.html#Reminiscences title url text SMECC Museum http://www.smecc.org/sage_a_n_fsq-7.htm More pictures of the SAGE system 1050 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230603204628/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=1050 2023-06-03

The AN/FSQ-7 was by far the largest computer ever built, and is expected to hold that record. It consisted of two complete Whirlwind II computers installed in a 4-story building (See the impressive diagram in the 'More Pictures' section).

Each AN/FSQ supported more than 100 users. IBM had about 60 employees at each site for round-the-clock maintenance.
Keeping one unit operating and one on hot standby (to allow for switchover when vacuum tubes failed) resulted in better than 99% uptime. The roles of the two units were reversed at regular intervals, allowing diagnostics and maintenance to be carried out on the standby unit.

There were usually several hundred tube failures each day, replaced by workers racing up and down the tube racks with shopping carts full of replacements. Automated tests run by the computer itself would cycle the voltage to the tube racks down and back up to induce marginal tubes to fail early, so that the computer would normally run correctly for the rest of the day. Without this process, the MTBF would have been a few minutes.

By the time SAGE was deployed (22 or 23 stations in the period 1959-1963; sources disagree) it was nearly obsolete, since it was designed to detect bombers, not the new ICBMs. Nevertheless it was operational until 1979, when the ROCC (Regional Operations Control Centers) system took over, using much higher-speed computers. One SAGE station continued operating until 1983. This last unit was donated to the Boston Computing Museum, since relocated to Moffett Field in Mountain View, California. The museum also has a tube panel from the Whirlwind I. Whirlwind II consoles turned up in the TV series Battlestar Galactica.
In spite of its limited military value, the SAGE system served as an excellent prototype for an air-traffic control system. The FAA operated its own AN/FSQ-7 systems for many years after SAGE was shut down. IBM's experience with these systems had a great deal to do with its later success in computer systems, and its dominance of the market for large computers. The IBM 7090 was essentially a solid-state version of the AN/FSQ-7/8. (The 7090 has its own rich history, including hosting the first-ever multiuser APL system.)

• First CRT-based real-time user interface,
• First use of light gun to pick an item on the screen,
• First wide-area modem communications (1300 bps),
• First hot standby system for maximum uptime,
• First ground control of interceptor aircraft,
• The first in line microfilm fast processed 35 mm projection displays, preceding printer/plotters. A screen capture could be displayed within 30 seconds, • First two-pass assembler, permitting symbolic addresses.

Thanks to Edward Cherlin, Simputer Evangelist, for all this information.

The photo (from Mitre) shows the rear panel wiring of FSQ-7 arithmetic element frame.

We need more info about this computer ! If you designed, used, or have more info about this system, please send us pictures or anything you might find useful.