Pace 54 This is the first in a series of articles on IBM AS/400 midrange fam: ily of comput- ers. The AS/400 is an important Componeni of IBM strategy to provide great- ly enhanced, con- sistency and. connectivity across multiple Supported envi- ronments. When IBM announced its AS/400 fam- ily of computers in June 1988, one IBM executive called the announcement. IBM's most important in 20 Years. It is certainly important enough to warrant | evaluation by all major users of comput- er technology. The AS/400 is a highly fo- used product, but its market is very large: midrange commercial systems. IBM executives have estimated the » worldwide market for midrange systems at more than $40 billion annually. Last year, IBM shipped 32,000 AS/400 systems worldwide; this year it is ex- . pected to more than triple that number. — The AS/400 family consists of seven models and spans a broad range of pro- cessing capabilities. —— The technology of the AS/400 is based on an innovative architecture intro- duced by IBM in the System/38, or S/38, Computer. The AS/400, however, repre- sents a significant improvement in tech- nology and capability relative to the S/38. The key features of the AS/400 are a high-level machine interface, ob-, ject-oriented design, single-level 7 addressability, highly integrated systems functions, an integrated relational data. base and advanced engineering. i is greatest strength is its ability to < manage complex databases. Its architec: features are implemented on a new hardware platform that incorpo- ' v rates highly sophisticated engineering. More than an S/38 Replacement Although the AS/400 was introduced PG INEEKNAPPLIGATION DEVELOPMENT O IBM s AS/400 Holds Key to the Future of Computing more complex MVS operating system. They see a switch to the simple environ- ment of the AS/400 as an attractive and less costly alternative. Še A unigue characteristic of the AS/400 is the environment for program develop- ment. AS/400 users can create machine- efficient applications rapidly using the functions offered by IBM system soft: ware, languages and utility programs. In addition to software products provided by IBM, a number of third-party prod- ucts offer further enhancement to the AS/400 programming environment. As shown in the accompanying figure, the AS/400 may be used as part ofa i i t achieve open architectures, open ne works, standards for database access, standard forms of user interaction, stan- dards for languages that achieve ful portability, and standard application-de- velopment environments. Many organi- zations are turning to Unix to achieve connectivity and portability among dis- parate computing environments. IBM users have complained for years about the lack of compatibility and con- nectivity between IBM's multiple system architectures and operating environ- ments, Programming interfaces, lan- £uages, support: services, user interfaces, communications facilities and applica- MAY 15, 1989 monality; and support o£ distributed data and cooperative processing. The foundation for much of IBMs strategy is SAA. It represents a major commitment by IBM to resolve the con fusing array of incompatible oto data structures, operating environmen and interprocess Ji Pop across jor IBM product lines. j pčAa the SLUG of SAA evolves, it will provide the facilities reguired to build new distributed applications that operate across a broad spectrum of en- vironments. A major challenge for infor- mation-systems managers and analysts in the '90s will be to learn how to use multilayered, distributed architecture tions generally have not. been supported such comprehensive environments as SAA to specify applications that oper- ate on networked computers and dis- tribute both processing power and data. Access to Diverse Environments An important goal of SAA is to pro- vide consistent user, programming and communication access to environments The Integ Strategic Element: IBM's AS/400 Midrange System S/370 as diverse as the System/370, AS/400 : and PS/2. It will be used to simplify the l end-user interface on intelligent i workstations, provide common program- sa ming interfaces and tools, support com- mon communications interfaces that h comply with international standards, present an integrated, seamless interface between intelligent workstations and Co host computers, Support cooperative a Processing between elements o£ a net- tha work, and provide transparent access to Pper data anywhere in the network. 1 The significance of SAA is that it will ste: eventually provide a £reatly enhanced HO level of Consistency and uniformity fron across the three supported hardware en- had Vvironments, as well as Connectivity to Gro. File Serat '| other system environments. It .wilj pro- Me Ee ei GRO of user access to ADA Computers i MO šča and standard interfaces External LAN | External Intormat Sources A major challenge in the '90s will be to learn how to use are chan,; : : : their plans to Make effective use of SAA to specify applications that operate on networked, Pe ce pabllittes As IBMS overali k z product plan evolv d i Computers and distribute both processing power and data. strategy is implemented, the im poo pis se of the AS/400 will increase. Understand. a (O ing the a) s essential £« e La C lons pl to take advani E Composed of LAN-based PCs, midrange ACross system architectures, The lack of availabl techn Peče ; Computers and mainframes tied together | cross-system Connectivity makes it difri. Next TEKOČ OE the majo; - Fr« with communication networks. One of |" cult, to build Cooperating networks of strengths and limitations of the gb the most important trends of the '90s mainframes, minicomputers, PCs and Computer system. B malo mu pe EO ut pi us z pomen h terminals that can share resources, a across netwo; multitiered In March 1987, IBM introduced the The James Somputer systems. In these systems, the Systems Application Architecture (SAA). an rna, re pan Potič User ld not be aware of where the aspartofa long-term strategy to pro- terly, is available (hrough High Pre £ Processing is performed or Whether data. videa £ommon set of languages, ser- ductivity Software Inc, of Marble. — Oh olooael is lesi or Poet HI Vices, user access and connectivity head, Mass. (800) 242-120 poy. infor. cessing and ia data services System/370, AS/A0O 21 the United spe ITA vil reguire an open systems arehitec.. ture that permits ečelbutjon of pro- cessing power and across multij system configurations, a effort Under way by