Resources on IBM iSeries

IBM iSeries or IBM System i

AS/400

The Application System/400 (also known as AS/400), now System i (also known as iSeries), is a type of minicomputer produced by IBM. It was first produced in 1988. It was then renamed to the eServer iSeries in 2000 as part of IBM's e-Server branding initiative. Now with the global move of the server and storage brands to the System brand with the Systems Agenda, the family has been renamed to System i in 2006, with the POWER5-based members of the series being called the System i5.

History
The AS/400 was the result of the combination of the System/38 database machine (announced by IBM in October 1978 and delivered in August 1979) and the System/36. The first AS/400 systems (known by the development code names Silverlake and Olympic) were delivered in 1988, and the product line has been refreshed continually since then. The programmers who worked on OS/400, the operating system of the AS/400, did not have a UNIX background. Dr Frank Soltis, the chief architect, says that this is the main difference between this and any other operating system.

The AS/400 was the first general-purpose computer system to attain a C2 security rating from the NSA, and in 1995 was extended to employ a 64-bit processor and operating system.

In 2000 IBM renamed the AS/400 to iSeries, as part of its e-Server branding initiative. The product line was further extended in 2004 with the introduction of the i5 servers, the first to use the IBM POWER5 processor. The architecture of the system allows for future implementation of 128-bit processors when they become available. Existing programs will use the new hardware without modification.

Although announced in 1988, the AS/400 remains IBM's most recent major architectural shift that was developed wholly internally. Since the arrival of Lou Gerstner in 1993, IBM has viewed such colossal internal developments as too risky. Instead, IBM now prefers to make key product strides through acquisition -- e.g. the takeovers of Lotus Software and Rational Software -- and to support the development of open standards, particularly Linux. It is noteworthy that after the departure of CEO John Akers in 1993, when IBM looked likely to be split up, Bill Gates commented that the only part of IBM that Microsoft would be interested in was the AS/400 division. (At the time, many of Microsoft's internal systems ran on the AS/400 platform.)

Excerpt from "IBM System i." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 27 Oct 2006, 13:34 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 27 Oct 2006 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=IBM_System_i&oldid=84043862

Image from Ian Jarman, The Future Simplified. IBM eServer iSeries. 14. Apr 2005, 16:21 UTC.

IBM

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM, or colloquially, Big Blue; NYSE: IBM) is a computer technology firm headquartered in Armonk, NY, USA. The company, which was founded in 1888 and incorporated June 15, 1911, manufactures and sells computer hardware, software, infrastructure services, hosting services, and consulting services. IBM is the biggest information technology company in the world and holds more patents than any other tech company.

With almost 332,000 employees worldwide and revenues of $91 billion annually (figures from 2005), IBM is also one of the few information technology companies with a continuous history dating back to the 19th century. It has engineers and consultants in over 170 countries and development laboratories located all over the world, in all segments of computer science and information technology; some of them are pioneers in areas ranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology.

Excerpt from 'IBM' Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 23 May 2006, 07:37 UTC. 15 May 2006, 12:35 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM