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IBM AS/400

Mainframe Family

The IBM AS/400, for Application System/400, is a family of midrange business computers that IBM announced in June 1988 and released that August as the successor to the System/36 and System/38, running IBM's OS/400 operating system. It was built to consolidate IBM's fragmented midrange computer lineup into a single lower cost but more powerful platform and to compete against Digital Equipment Corporation's VAX line; by the end of 1990 around 111,000 AS/400 systems were installed, growing to about 250,000 by 1994 and roughly 500,000 shipped by 1997. Its Technology Independent Machine Interface let application programs carry forward unchanged as IBM moved the underlying hardware from 48 bit CISC processors to 64 bit PowerPC chips, and the platform continued under later names including AS/400e, eServer iSeries and System i before being folded into IBM Power Systems in 2008; IBM discontinued the AS/400 name on September 30, 2013.

Facts
Status
Status
Discontinued 1
Year
1988 1
Sources
1. Wikipedia: IBM AS/400
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Lead section
    The IBM AS/400 (Application System/400) is a family of midrange computers from IBM announced in June 1988 and released in August 1988.
  • entity record, description (status)
    Its Technology Independent Machine Interface let application programs carry forward unchanged as IBM moved the underlying hardware from 48 bit CISC processors to 64 bit PowerPC chips, and the platform continued under later names including AS/400e, eServer iSeries and System i before being folded into IBM Power Systems in 2008; IBM discontinued the AS/400 name on September 30, 2013.
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