Second, I.B.M. lost the bid because the application was too large for the company's most powerful mainframes.

Thus the number of terminals with which powerful mainframe could otherwise communicate is severely limited.

The company also said that the powerful water-cooled mainframes that it announced a year ago would begin shipping next week.

Today, Microsoft appears bent on a similar broad array of conquests covering the computer industry, from the smallest hand-held systems to the most powerful mainframe.

Some very large and powerful mainframes had been built, and most all of them were powered by vacuum tubes.

A Widening Market Work stations, which look like personal computers but calculate at speeds rivaling powerful mainframes, have typically been used by engineers and scientists.

Thus the number of terminals with which powerful mainframes could otherwise communicate was limited.

I.B.M. said that it expected to move many of the features first developed for its powerful mainframes into the Intel-based computers.

I.B.M. delayed the introduction of a disk drive designed for its most powerful mainframes, blaming technical problems.

Hooked up to a powerful mainframe, the mayor knew the name, nickname, and favorite food of everyone with whom he shook hands.