Background of the AS/400

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IBM Midrange Background
 Began June 1969
 System 3/x
 Rochester, MN
 Punch card design
 Target low-end commercial & small-size
batch

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System 3/x Line
 System 3/x Midrange line
 Small, efficient computer
 Single computer model - standard

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System/34
 System/34
 April 1977
 First multi-user minicomputer
 Low-cost computer

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System/38
 System/38
 1975 research project
 1978 announced
 Machine independence
 New processor
 User needed to upgrade
 First time contained a relational database
 Object-based architecture
 Ahead of times

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System/36 Upgraded Models
 System/36 upgraded
 Many customers preferred to stay with
system/36 rather-than System/38

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AS/400 History
 Project SilverLake
 1985 started research
 New machine
 Successor to System/38
 New future machine

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 AS/400 History - Continue
 Application System/400 (AS/400)
 June 1988 announced
 Improving at about 10% per year
 Hardware independent untested until 1995
 CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computer)
 Instruction length variable

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AS/400 History - Continue
 Upgrading
 RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer)
 Equal instruction length
 From 48-byte to 64-byte word size
 True hardware independence

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AS/400 History - Continue
 Enhanced Series or e-series
 1994 development began
 Foresaw potential of Internet
 Announced August1997
 New n-way processors up to 12-way
 First package machine
 A server configured and preloaded with SAP
software

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Layered Design Concept
 Layered Architecture
 Distinguished from traditional
computers
 Key to machine independence

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 Application Software Application Software

OS/400 OS/400

Machine Interface (MI) Machine Interface (MI)

Vertical Licensed
Internal Code (VLIC)
System Licensed
Internal Microprocessor Internal Code
Interface (SLIC)
(IMPI)

Horizontal Licensed Object Based Kernel

Internal Code (HLIC)

Hardware Hardware
CISC Processor RISC Processor
48-bit Addressing 64-bit Addressing

AS/400 Architecture AS/400 Architecture

Used in Used in
48-bit CISC-based 64-bit PowerPC RISC-
Systems based Systems

T 1.1 - AS/400 layered software architecture.

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 Data Storage and Objects
 Object-based computers
 Everything stored on an AS/400 is an
stored as an object
 Objects stored in Libraries
 Data stored as
 EDCDIC - Extended Binary Coded Decimal
Interchange Code
 ASCII - American Standard Code for
Information Interchange

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Single-level Storage
 No distinction between disk storage and
main memory
 One large storage area (single address
space)
 Memory
 DASD
 Object must be in memory to use or
operate on

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Single-level Storage
 Automatic divides object into blocks -
pages
 Virtual storage

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Software
 Operating System
 Application Programs
 Job/Program types
 Interactive
 Batch

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