The division within RCA that manufactured and sold computers from 1956 to 1971. After four years of development, its first computer was the BIZMAC. Commissioned by the U.S. military, BIZMAC used vacuum tubes, but the RCA 501, the company's first transistorized computer, debuted for commercial use in 1958. See
BIZMAC.
In 1965, RCA introduced the Spectra 70 family to compete directly with IBM's System/360, which was formidable competition. The Spectra/70 hardware was compatible and the operating system could run IBM applications with minor changes. However, due to model and software delays as well as hardware and software reliability issues, the Spectra 70 could not compete successfully. RCA exited the computer business in 1971. See
RCA and
System/360.