I.B.M. Introduces Powerful Computer

The New York Times

September 4, 1982

The International Business Machines Corporation yesterday introduced its most powerful computer, which is nearly twice as powerful as the existing top-of-the-line model.

I.B.M. said the new machine, the 3084, can operate at speeds up to 1.9 times greater than the 3081 Model K, the existing largest computer. That translates to a speed of about 26 million instructions per second, according to Robert T. Fertig, president of Enterprise Information Systems, a Greenwich, Conn., consulting firm.

The 3084 is essentially made of four smaller computers acting together as a single unit, while the Model K is made up of two smaller processors working together.

I.B.M.'s move was expected, since several computer makers are competing to produce larger and more powerful machines. The Sperry Corporation's Univac division recently beat I.B.M. to the draw by announcing a four-processor machine with nearly the same speed as the new I.B.M. machine.

The new machine will be available in the fourth quarter of 1983 and will have a purchase price of $8.7 million, including 48 channels for data transfer and a memory capable of storing 64 million characters.

I.B.M. also said another computer, the 3081 G, will be available this month. It has the same price but slightly better performance than the 3081 Model D, the earliest member of the family, and is therefore expected to replace the Model D.

The company also announced price reductions of about 10 percent for purchase of the 3081 Models D and K, 10 percent increases in rental and lease prices for those machines, and reductions of up to 25 percent in maintenance charges.

I.B.M. has said the 3081 computers, the first of which was introduced in November 1980, are selling extremely well and accounted in part for I.B.M.'s strong second-quarter performance, in which earnings increased 24.4 percent from a year earlier.

The International Business Machines Corporation yesterday introduced its most powerful computer, which is nearly twice as powerful as the existing top-of-the-line model.

The 3084 is essentially made of four smaller computers acting together as a single unit, while the Model K is made up of two smaller processors working together.