FACOM 128B

FACOM128B is a relay-based commercial computer that was developed by the Fuji Tsushinki Manufacturing Corporation (now Fujitsu Limited). The vacuum tube used in early computers was unstable. To overcome this, Toshio Ikeda, head of computer development at the company, introduced the use of relay elements from telephone exchange equipment as logical elements. FACOM100, a relay-based computer, was completed in 1954. FACOM128A was the first relay-based commercial computer made in Japan and was completed in 1956, FACOM128B, a functionally enhanced version of FACOM128A, was completed in 1958. An existing unit, a FACOM128B model, was manufactured in 1959. This unit is still fully operable.