"It was clear we needed something that could provide a reduction in cost in an order of a magnitude, and an improvement in performance in an order of magnitude," Bloch says. "And we needed an increase in circuitry density by a factor of 10 to 100, and that was just not available."
The decisions made by IBM executives beginning in 1961, and culminating with the formal introduction of the 360 series on April 7, 1964, would cement the company's position at the forefront of the computer revolution of the last half of the 20th century.
"It was clear we were taking a major risk," says Erich Bloch, who led development of microcircuit technology for IBM in the early 1960s. "It was clear that this was all or nothing."
"If the 360 didn't succeed, we knew we were dead in the water," says Bob Evans, who led the project as development VP for IBM's Data Systems Division. "The competition would have rolled over us. But we also knew the market was wide open for innovation, and while IBM at the time was emerging as a leader, we certainly didn't have command of the market."
In 1961, computing remained more science fiction than everyday reality. Fewer than 30,000 computers were installed worldwide, and most of them were used by the scientific community and government agencies. Circuit technology had only recently moved beyond vacuum tubes to discrete transistors placed on boards at a density of a few thousand per cubic foot. "Supercomputers" with less capability than a modern laptop sold for many millions of dollars, and most systems were rented, not sold.
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