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International Business Machines Corp.

IBM Unveils AS/400 Advanced 36: High-Performance Replacement for System/36

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

IBM has introduced AS/400 Advanced 36, a new high-performance business computing system designed to replace the widely installed System/36. This new system boasts a powerful 64-bit RISC processor, based on PowerPC architecture, and offers up to an eight-fold performance improvement over its predecessor. AS/400 Advanced 36 is fully compatible with System/36 and is aggressively priced at $12,000, software included. The new system is also designed to enable easy transition to OS/400, the AS/400's operating system, whenever customers are ready to take advantage of its added capabilities.

Key Takeaways:

  • AS/400 Advanced 36 uses a 64-bit RISC processor based on PowerPC architecture, the first 64-bit RISC chip installed in an IBM system.
  • The new system provides up to an eight-fold performance improvement over its predecessor, System/36.
  • AS/400 Advanced 36 is totally compatible with System/36, allowing users to preserve their investments in software, applications, training, as well as twinaxial printers, terminals, and other hardware.
  • The Transition Aid Program is available for free, enabling users to save System/36 information on a diskette or tape and restore it on AS/400 Advanced 36.
  • Customers can also purchase a Transition Data Link with a twinaxial cable connection to move data directly from System/36 to AS/400 Advanced 36.
  • AS/400 Advanced 36 can run interactive transactions up to four times faster and batch applications up to eight times faster than System/36.
  • The base system unit includes 32 MB of main storage, a Multi-Function Input/Output Processor, and a compact, billion-byte 3.5-inch disk unit for integrated storage.
  • System capacity has been vastly expanded, supporting up to 96 MB of memory and 4 GB of DASD.

Statistics:

  • AS/400 Advanced 36 offers up to an eight-fold performance improvement over System/36.
  • The new system supports up to 96 MB of memory, more than 13 times as much as System/36.
  • The internal 1/4-inch tape drive has a 2.5 GB capacity, almost 17 times as much as System/36.
  • The system supports up to 80 local devices.
  • AS/400 Advanced 36 runs at a cost of only about 20% that of System/36.

Sources:

  • IBM press release, announcement of AS/400 Advanced 36.

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