IBM Unveils New Mainframe Computers

International Business Machines Corp. unleashed a deluge of new products Wednesday, filling gaps in its latest line of powerful mainframe computers and enabling them for the first time to link with machines made by rival manufacturers.

“The days of the all-IBM shop are fading,” said Frank Gens, senior vice president at Technology Investment Strategies, a research arm of International Data Corp.

For years, IBM’s strategy--particularly with its profitable mainframe products--had been to produce “closed” systems, meaning that customers who bought products from the company were locked into IBM when they wanted to expand.

But as companies such as Digital Equipment Corp. and Compaq Computer Corp. have made inroads into the market, customers have demanded the flexibility that would allow them to mix and match products from various manufacturers.

“IBM hasn’t been an open systems company,” acknowledged Mike Saranga, IBM assistant general manager. “As much as we would like this world to be dark blue, it is varying shades.”

The new strategy was evident Wednesday when IBM introduced more than 100 new products and services at news conference in a mid-town Manhattan hotel.

The flotilla of products is aimed in part at keeping buyers interested in IBM’s flagship line of big mainframe computers at a time when the struggling economy is cutting into big-ticket spending and powerful desktops are emerging as a cheaper option.

Among the new mainframes unveiled Wednesday were four high-priced water-cooled machines ranging from $4.7 million to $11.6 million and available in March.

IBM also introduced three models at the top of its lower-priced air-cooled line, ranging from $3 million to $5.7 million, also to be available in March.

Previously, the company’s lack of higher-performance air-cooled models had cost it. Rival Hitachi Data Systems and others have rushed to fill the gap in IBM’s line.

The world’s largest computer maker also said it would make its most expensive mainframe models generally available to customers beginning Sept. 20. Those machines, known by model numbers 900 and 820, were unveiled in September, 1990.

Wall Street analysts have anxiously been awaiting any details on the shipment of the top-of-the-line systems. The machines, which sell for tens of millions of dollars each, may go a long way to resurrecting the firm’s sluggish 1991 revenue performance.

IBM stock was up $1.50 at $101.125.

The firm also unveiled a new 3390 disk drive, which will be available Sept. 27 and will be priced from $150,000 to $338,000.