
IBM 7950 Harvest - privong
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_7950_Harvest
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ams6110
I found it interesting that the 7030 "Stretch" that was the base platform for
this system was initially considered a failure. It didn't come close to
achieving its design performance, forcing IBM to slash the price to contracted
customers and pull the product off the market. But many elements of its
architecture were later used successfully in the IBM 360 and other models.

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chuckdries
Some of the concepts they pioneered are still used today. Fascinating story.

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frankharv
The last sentence seemed odd and would be nice for clarification. Not many
government contractors say no from my experience.

"IBM declined to re-implement the architecture in a more modern technology."

They must have had something else they were trying to sell them.

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convolvatron
there are lots of factors. the government is a very needy customer.

in the secure world, a further compounding problem is that the government
demands exclusive access to many of the technologies you develop - making it
difficult or impossible to leverage the work in the market. since that line
isn't well defined, and the risks are so high, both you and the government err
on the side of caution.

there is a constant struggle to keep your best engineers from being locked in
a scif for the rest of their lives.

many people on the government side see themselves as the overall architects of
the system with absolute fiat authority. this can lead to huge uncosted scope
changes, difficult or impossible deliverables, the whole project lurching into
the swamp because of some tertiary issues, etc.

despite the high price tag and hefty support contract, a lot of these deals
are strategically poor and don't end up making you alot of money. in the limit
your entire company functionally gets absorbed into the government.

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jacquesm
That reads like an early version of BULLRUN.

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kristianp
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullrun_(decryption_program)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullrun_\(decryption_program\))

