IBM Adds to Its Line of Mainframes
International Business Machines Corp. introduced a new design and new internal software for its largest computers Monday, continuing a chain of enhancements dating back to the first System-360 in 1964.
The world’s dominant maker of mainframe computers, IBM controls about 70% of the market. The huge computers are used by the government and almost all major businesses.
IBM said the improvements would allow computers to obtain access to information more rapidly and allow users to develop new programs for their own needs more easily.
New Operating System
IBM also unveiled new models of its biggest line of mainframe computers, the 3090 series, and of its slightly smaller 4381 series. IBM said the new architecture--a way of putting computers and data storage devices together--would permit more productive use of existing computers.
The computer giant said the new operating system, which governs the internal workings of a computer, was a major new development comparable to the advent of the System-360 in 1964, the System-370 in 1970 and the 370-Extended Architecture of 1981.
The Enterprise Systems Architecture-370, the new operating system, can be used in IBM’s 3090 and 4381 mainframe computers.
The ESA-370, which controls the division of room in a computer data storage device, allows computers to reach 16 trillion characters of data that are held in “virtual storage.” That is 8,000 times greater than the virtual storage accessible with IBM’s current operating system.
Information held in virtual storage can be retrieved almost as quickly as information held in the computer’s main memory.
IBM also announced a program for helping computers get at stored information more rapidly. IBM said the program, called data facility storage management, is the most “significant storage advancement in 20 years.”
‘New Foundation’
It also announced a piece of hardware that allows the 3090 to run as if it were four different computers in one.
“These new products have important benefits to our customers now, and help them plan for the future by setting a path for IBM large system growth into the next decade,” said Edward Lucente, IBM vice president and group executive in the U.S. marketing and services group.
“They establish a new foundation for future enhancements that will continue to help our customers take advantage of these new capabilities,” Lucente said in a statement.
IBM said the 3090 models 280E and 500E would cost $4.9 million and $9.65 million, respectively. The 280E will be available in the second quarter of the year, while the 500E will be available in the third quarter.
The 4381 model 91E is priced at $550,000 and the 92E is priced at $920,000. Both will be available in November.
