It was part of the IBM 700/7000 series, and was based on discrete transistors rather than the vacuum tubes of the 1950s. It was the company's first transistorized stored-program computer. The 7070 was expected to be a "common successor to at least the 650 and the 705".

The IBM 700/7000 series has six completely different ways of storing data and instructions: The 700 class use vacuum tubes, the 7000 class is transistorized.

It was part of the IBM 700/7000 series, and was based on discrete transistors rather than the vacuum tubes of the 1950s. It was the company's first transistorized stored-program computer.

The IBM 7080 is a transistorized version of the 705, with various improvements. For backward compatibility it can be run in 705 I mode, 705 II mode, 705 III mode, or full 7080 mode. Data is represented by a variable-length string of characters terminated by a Record mark .