A plan of magnetic core memory with 64x64 bits (4Kb) as used in a CDC 6600. The very first CDC 6600 was delivered to CERN in 1965 and was the fastest supercomputer of its time.
The most powerful IBM computer system of its time, the IBM 3090 high-end processor of the IBM 308X computer series incorporated one-million-bit memory chips.
The CERN computer centre has hundreds of racks like these. They are over a million times more powerful than our first computer in the 1960's. This tray is a 'dual-core' server. This means it effectively has two CPUs in it (eg. two of your home computers minimised to fit into a single box). Also note the copper cooling fins, to help dissipate the heat.
The IBM 3705 Communications Controller is a simple computer which attaches to an IBM System/360 or System/370. Its purpose is to connect communication lines to the mainframe channel. It was a first communications controller of the popular IBM 37xx series.
It’s a 20 GB uncompressed center-load cartridge used in StorageTek T9840 tape drives. The tape is a Metal Particle (MP) tape suitable for use on all Oracle/Sun/StorageTek 9840 A, B, C and D drives. The 9840 tape has an archival life of 15-30 years.
Western Digital hard drive.
This media disk, used for stored audio and visual information, has a stronger binding system than the tape and can last a million uses.
It has been introduced at CERN in 1994 and used until recently in the DEC TL820 robot. It has a capacity of 10 GB and 1.25 MB/s.
It occupies a quad-width, double-height flipchip board you can visually read off its contents (presence or absence of diodes). In its time it represented a giant leap forward since you no longer had to toggle the bootstrap in on the frontpanel switches.
In 1985 IBM announced a double density version. The Extended Capability Models of the 3380 (3380 E) having 5.04 gigabytes per chassis, that is, two 1.26 gigabyte actuators on two hard disk assemblies in one chassis.