Operating instructions and problem data were read
into NORC from the ultra high-speed magnetic tape units
shown here. More than five times faster than the fastest
magnetic tape units then in use, each of eight of these
units -- developed at IBM's Poughkeepsie Lab -- could
read and write more than 70,000 digits a second, a speed
equivalent to that of 14,000 typists. In addition to
their use for input and output, the tapes also stored
intermediate results during calculations.