The UNIVAC division of the Sperry Corporation has its origins in the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation (EMCC), founded in 1946 by J. Presper Eckert and John W. Mauchly, who, under contract with the United States Army's Ordnance Department, developed Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer (ENIAC), the first electronic digital computer.

Shortly after the construction of ENIAC, the firm began improving on the ENIAC design, developing the Binary Automatic Computer (BINAC) and the Universal Automated Computer (UNIVAC), the first commercial digital computer. In 1950, Eckert and Mauchly sold their firm to Remington Rand, Inc, a major manufacturer of business machines, who continued development of the UNIVAC system. The first UNIVAC was delivered in March 1951 to the United States Department of Commerce Bureau of the Census, and the following year, CBS television used a UNIVAC to predict the outcome of the 1952 presidential election. That same year, Remington Rand acquired the Minneapolis-based computer-development firm Engineering Research Associates (ERA). ERA and EMCC were consolidated to form the UNIVAC Division of Remington Rand.