During the height of the Cold War in the 1950s, IBM was commissioned to build a computer to analyze results from atomic bomb tests. IBM named it Stretch because it was supposed to be 100 times faster than any previous computer.

Completed in 1961, Stretch was the first commercial computer to use transistors. Though transistors are smaller than vacuum tubes, Stretch was still gargantuan, consuming about 2,500 square feet of floor space.

Unfortunately for IBM, Stretch turned out to be only 50 times faster than any previous computer and it cost far more to make than the company charged for it. These two factors combined to make Stretch a commercial failure.