The Univac 7900 was designed by Engineering Research Associates, a team including many of the same people who had done the IBM 650 design for IBM. Its first "incarnation" was as the "Cambridge Air Force Computer". >That was "productized" as the UET (Universal Electronic Tabulator"), >filling much the same niche for Rem Rand customers that the 1401 would >later fill for IBM customers. The interesting thing about these machines >is hinted at by the name "Solid State 90" (or 80, depending on whether >the machine used RemRand 90-column, or Hollerith 80-column cards). >Although all the logic functions were performed by either transistors >or diode-core logic, the machines included several vacuum- tubes, >particularly in the drum memory and clock circuitry. Nonetheless, their >"mostly solid state" design was a major step, and some folks consider >them the first "commercial" solid-state computers, waffling a bit >about the few tubes. Other claimants to the title included the CDC-1604 >(later, but more completely transistorized) or the Philco Transac-2000, >which _may_ have shipped before the 1604, but may also not have actually >worked at a customer's site first :-)
