Editing IBM 7030 Stretch (section)

==Development history==
In early 1955, Dr. [[Edward Teller]] of the [[University of California Radiation Laboratory]] wanted a new scientific computing system for three-dimensional [[fluid dynamics|hydrodynamic]] calculations. Proposals were requested from IBM and [[UNIVAC]] for this new system, to be called ''Livermore Automatic Reaction Calculator'' or [[UNIVAC LARC|LARC]]. According to IBM executive [[Cuthbert Hurd]], such a system would cost roughly $2.5 million and would run at one to two [[million instructions per second|MIPS]].<ref name="evans-360">{{cite magazine|author=Bob Evans|title=IBM System/360|url=https://archive.org/details/computermuseusum1984comp|magazine=The Computer Museum Report|pages=8–18|date=Summer 1984}}</ref>{{rp|12}} Delivery was to be two to three years after the contract was signed.

At IBM, a small team at [[Poughkeepsie, New York|Poughkeepsie]] including John Griffith and [[Gene Amdahl]] worked on the design proposal. Just after they finished and were about to present the proposal, Ralph Palmer stopped them and said, "It's a mistake."<ref name="evans-360"/>{{rp|12}} The proposed design would have been built with either [[point-contact transistor]]s or [[surface-barrier transistor]]s, both likely to be soon outperformed by the then newly invented [[diffusion transistor]].<ref name="evans-360"/>{{rp|12}}

IBM returned to Livermore and stated that they were withdrawing from the contract, and instead proposed a dramatically better system, "We are not going to build that machine for you; we want to build something better! We do not know precisely what it will take but we think it will be another million dollars and another year, and we do not know how fast it will run but we would like to shoot for ten million instructions per second."<ref name="evans-360"/>{{rp|13}} Livermore was not impressed, and in May 1955 they announced that UNIVAC had won the [[UNIVAC LARC|LARC]] contract, now called the ''Livermore Automatic Research Computer''. LARC would eventually be delivered in June 1960.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.computer-history.info/Page4.dir/pages/LARC.dir/LARC.Cole.html|title=The Remington Rand Univac LARC|author=Charles Cole}}</ref>

In September 1955, fearing that [[Los Alamos National Laboratory]] might also order a LARC, IBM submitted a preliminary proposal for a high-performance binary computer based on the improved version of the design that Livermore had rejected, which they received with interest. In January 1956, Project Stretch was formally initiated. In November 1956, IBM won the contract with the aggressive performance goal of a "speed at least 100 times the [[IBM 704]]" (i.e. 4 MIPS). Delivery was slated for 1960.

During design, it proved necessary to reduce the clock speeds, making it clear that Stretch could not meet its aggressive performance goals, but estimates of performance ranged from 60 to 100 times the IBM 704. In 1960, the price of $13.5 million was set for the IBM 7030. In 1961, actual [[benchmark (computing)|benchmark]]s indicated that the performance of the IBM 7030 was only about 30 times the IBM 704 (i.e. 1.2 MIPS), causing considerable embarrassment for IBM. In May 1961, [[Thomas J. Watson Jr.]] announced a price cut of all 7030s under negotiation to $7.78 million and immediate withdrawal of the product from further sales.

Its [[Floating-point arithmetic|floating-point]] addition time is 1.38–1.50 [[microsecond]]s, multiplication time is 2.48–2.70 microseconds, and division time is 9.00–9.90 microseconds.