Blog comemorativo dos 50 anos do IBM Mainframe System/360

IBM Mainframe System z - 50 anos 

Anúncio Oficial de Lançamento 

Em 7 de Abril próximo,  será comemorado o 50' aniversário de lançamento da família de computadores IBM Mainframe System/360.  Essa família de computadores é a mais longeva de todas as tecnologias já lançadas no mundo, sendo atualizada constantemente pela IBM e atendendo milhares de empresas mundo afora até os dias de hoje.  Atualmente essa família denomina-se IBM Mainframe System z e mantém total compatibilidade funcional com o sistema original, lançado em 1964.

 Veja abaixo , documento do anúncio oficial em 7 de Abril de 1964, em New York, USA.

System/360 Announcement

The following is the text of an IBM Data Processing Division press release

distributed on April 7, 1964.

A new generation of electronic computing equipment was introduced today

by International Business Machines Corporation.

IBM Board Chairman Thomas J. Watson Jr. called the event the most

important product announcement in the company's history.

The new equipment is known as the IBM System/360.

It combines microelectronic technology, which makes possible operating

speeds measured in billionths of a second, with significant advances in the

concepts of computer organization.

At a press conference at the company's Poughkeepsie facilities, Mr.

Watson said:

"System/360 represents a sharp departure from concepts of the past in

designing and building computers. It is the product of an international

effort in IBM's laboratories and plants and is the first time IBM has

redesigned the basic internal architecture of its computers in a decade. The

result will be more computer productivity at lower cost than ever before.

This is the beginning of a new generation - - not only of computers - - but

of their application in business, science and government."

More than 100,000 businessmen in 165 American cities today attended

meetings at which System/360 was announced.

Single system

System/360 is a single system spanning the performance range of virtually

all current IBM computers - - from the widely used 1401 to nearly twice

that of the most powerful computer previously built by the company. It

was developed to perform information handling jobs encompassing all

types of applications.

System/360 includes in its central processors 19 combinations of graduated

speed and memory capacity. Incorporated with these are more than 40

types of peripheral equipment which store information and enter it into and

retrieve it from the computer. Built-in communications capability makes

System/360 available to remote terminals, regardless of distance.

The equipment is supported by programs which enable System/360 to

schedule its own activities for non-stop computing that makes most

efficient use of system capabilities.

Internal processing power of the largest System/360 configuration is

approximately 50 times greater than that of the smallest. The system's

machine cycle time - - basic pulse beat of a computer - - ranges from one

millionth-of-a-second to only 200 billionths-of-a-second.

System/360 core storage memory capacity ranges from 8,000 characters of

information to more than 8,000,000. Information storage devices linked to

the system can store additional billions of characters of data and make

them available for processing at varying speeds, depending on need.

It is the balancing of these factors - - all available within a single system

using one set of programming instructions - - that will make it possible for

a user to select a configuration suited to his own requirements for both

commercial and scientific computing. With the same type of input/output

devices, a user can expand his System/360 to any point in its performance

range, without reprogramming.

Computer advances

Some of the most significant advances represented by the new IBM:

.  Solid Logic Technology. Microelectronic circuits -- product of

IBM's Solid Logic Technology -- make up the system's basic

componentry. System/360 is the first commercially available data

processing system whose design is based on the use of

microminiaturized computer circuits.

Called logic circuits because they carry and control the electrical

impulses which represent information within a computer, these tiny

devices operate at speeds ranging from 300 down to six billionths-of

-a-second. Transistors and diodes mounted on the circuits are only

28 thousandths-of-an-inch square and are protected by a film of

glass 60 millionths-of-an-inch thick.

• Memory power. A hierarchy of memories within System/360

makes information in core storage available at varying speeds.

Small local store memories operate in as little as 200 billionths-of-asecond.

Control memories operate in as little as 250 billionths-of-asecond.

Powerful main memories - - containing up to 524,000

characters of information - - range from 2.5 millionths-of-a-second

down to one millionth-of-a-second.

A key development provides 8,000,000 characters in bulk core

storage - - each character available in eight millionths-of-a-second

and each at the direct command of a computer programmer. This is

over sixty times more directly addressable characters than were

previously available in IBM computers. The computer's historic

limitations on memory size are overcome by this development.

• Application versatility. The traditional distinction between

computers for commercial and scientific use is eliminated in

System/360. Users will be able to process both business and

scientific problems, or a combination of the two, with equal

effectiveness. This versatility is reinforced by the variety of

peripheral equipment which is part of the system.

• Communications capability. Built into System/360 is the ability to

respond to inquiries and messages from remote locations at any

time. Hundreds of terminal devices can communicate

simultaneously with a system while the computer continues to

process the basic job on which it is working.

System/360 monthly rentals will range from $2,700 for a basic

configuration to $115,000 for a typical large multisystem

configuration. Comparable purchase prices range from $133,000 to

$5,500,000.

Deliveries of the small configurations of System/360 are scheduled

to begin in the third quarter of 1965. Deliveries of the largest

configurations are scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 1966.