The '''801''' was a RISC microprocessor architecture designed by IBM in the 1970s, and used in various roles in IBM until the 1980s. The 801 started as a pure research project led by John_Cocke at the Thomas_J._Watson_Research_Center in building 801. They were looking for ways to improve performance of their existing machines, studying traces of programs running on System/370 mainframes and looking at the compiler code. From this project led the idea that it was possible to make a very small and very fast core, which could then be used to implement the Microcode for any machine. The project then moved on to produce the design as a CPU, also called the 801. The resulting CPU was operational by the summer of 1980 and was implemented using Motorola MECL-10K technology on large wire wrapped custom boards. The CPU was clocked at 66 ns cycles (approximately 15.15 MHz) and was running at the then-fast speed of approximately 15 MIPS. This prototype design was a 24-bit implementation without Virtual_memory. The 801 architecture was used in a variety of IBM devices including Channel_controllers for their 370 mainframes, various networking devices, and eventually the IBM_9370 mainframe core itself. In the early 1980s the lessons learned on the 801 were put back into the new ''America Project'', which led to the IBM_POWER architecture and the RS/6000 deskside scientific microcomputer. John_Cocke later won both the Turing_award and the Presidential_Medal_of_Science for his work on the 801. ==External links== *The evolution of RISC technology at IBM by John Cocke – IBM Journal of R&D;, Volume 44, Numbers 1/2, p.48 (2000) 801 Category:Microprocessors De:IBM_801 Ja:IBM_801 It:IBM_801 Pl:IBM_801