The IBM 1720 was a pilot project to create a real-time

Real-time computing

In computer science, real-time computing , or reactive computing, is the study of hardware and software systems that are subject to a "real-time constraint"— e.g. operational deadlines from event to system response. Real-time programs must guarantee response within strict time constraints...

 process control

Process control

Process control is a statistics and engineering discipline that deals with architectures, mechanisms and algorithms for maintaining the output of a specific process within a desired range...

 computer based on the IBM 1620 Model I

IBM 1620 Model I

The IBM 1620 Model I was the original implementation of the IBM 1620 scientific computer, introduced in 1959.This unit was produced as inexpensively as IBM could make it, in order to keep the price low...

.

Only three 1720 systems were ever built: one for the Amoco

Amoco

Amoco Corporation, originally Standard Oil Company , was a global chemical and oil company, founded in 1889 around a refinery located in Whiting, Indiana, United States....

 oil refinery

Oil refinery

An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas...

 in Whiting, Indiana

Whiting, Indiana

Whiting is a city located in the Chicago Metropolitan Area in Lake County, Indiana, which was founded in 1889. The city is located on the southern shore of Lake Michigan. It is roughly 16 miles from the Chicago Loop and just short of two miles from Chicago's South Side. Whiting is home to Whiting...

; one for the Socal oil refinery in El Segundo, California

El Segundo, California

El Segundo is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located on the Santa Monica Bay, it was incorporated on January 18, 1917, and is one of the Beach Cities of Los Angeles County and part of the South Bay Cities Council of Governments...

; and one for E. I. du Pont

DuPont

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company , commonly referred to as DuPont, is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. DuPont was the world's third largest chemical company based on market capitalization and ninth based on revenue in 2009...

 in Wilmington, Delaware

Wilmington, Delaware

Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...

. All were installed in 1961. The Amoco and Socal systems ran for many years.

The 1720 led to the IBM 1710

IBM 1710

The IBM 1710 was a process control system that IBM introduced in March 1961. It used either a 1620 I or a 1620 II Computer and specialized I/O devices .The IBM 1620 used in the 1710 system was modified in several ways, the most obvious was the addition of a very...

Process Control systems that IBM introduced in March 1961; these were cheaper and less elaborate than the 1720.

External links

• "Evolution of Small Real-Time IBM Computer Systems" (1.25 MB PDF file), from the IBM Journal of Research and Development.