What an amazing story ...
System/3 | 1969-1975 | Product of General Systems Division, formed as result of anti-trust legislation. Low-end batch system replacement for unit-record equipment. Used RPG programming language. Disk and terminals soon added. 28-instruction CPU. Over 25,000 sold. |
System/32 | 1975-1977 | System/3 follow-on. |
System/34 | 1977-1981 | System/32 follow-on. Ran SSP OS. |
System/36 | 1981-1986 | System/34 follow-on. Ran SSP OS. |
System/38 | 1978-1988 | Pioneering design, revolutionary architecture system, continued in AS/400, iSeries, System i5, IBM i to date, provides complete insulation for user applications against technology change. Also, first system line to include in-built relational database system. Ran CPF OS. |
AS/400 | 1988-2000 | Repackaged and improved S/38, hugely successful in medium business markets, using S/38 architecture. By mid-late 1990s, became open, e-business capable server. 200,000th AS/400 sold by 1992. OS/400 OS. From 1995 based on RISC chip (PowerPC). |
iSeries | 2000-2002 | Repackaged and re-branded AS/400, under eServer strategic initiative. |
New iSeries | 2003-2004 | Radically reshaped and extended, repackaged and re-priced iSeries, repositioned as "On Demand" e-business hub platform consolidating Windows/Intel, Linux, AIX, Java and Domino (as well as traditional OS/400) workloads. Over $500M IBM investment. |
System i5 | 2004-2007 | Technology convergence with pSeries, including AIX in a partition. Operating system now called i5/OS. |
IBM i on PowerSystems hardware | 2007- | No distinction between i and p hardware - all just Power Systems. Operating system now called IBM i. |
IBM i on PureSystems platforms | 2012- | Expert integrated systems: ranges of infrastructure and application platforms with full support for IBM i workloads. |
P.S. I didn't write the pre-2004 bits, and nor can I remember where I found them - if you know, please comment!
ReplyDeleteMandy
In the 70s I worked for the Hospital Financial Management Association (publications) and the S/32 was packaged with a few applications, like association management. IBM sent a team of GSD salespeople and sold our CEO on using the system. Replaced timeshare bureau's reporting on membership, etc.
Delete