IBM Announces New System/390 Solutions for General Business Customers
Fishkill, New York, April 23, 1996...IBM today announced new software and hardware offerings designed to help businesses with small to mid-size computing requirements upgrade to the next generation of System/390* enterprise computing technology.
With its total solution concept, affordable total cost of computing, and open, client/server and network-ready attributes, S/390 is an attractive platform for all types of businesses - not just Fortune 1000 companies.
"There are many companies who want to migrate to newer S/390 computing technologies to gain a competitive edge," said Hermann Lamberti, vice president, marketing, S/390 Division. "They also want to leverage their existing applications and data investments. The offerings we are announcing today meet these demands."
VSE/ESA Version 2 Release 2
Leading today's announcement is a new release of the Virtual Storage Extended/Enterprise System Architecture* (VSE/ESA) operating system. Used primarily for small to mid-sized S/390 customers, VSE/ESA offers cost-efficiencies in on-line transaction processing, client/server, batch processing, and networking capabilities.
VSE/ESA V2.2's key enhancement is that it is now Year 2000 ready. This new release provides the base that VSE users need to prepare their applications for the Year 2000 change. Many computing operating systems and applications must be modified to continue working properly after the date changes to January 1, 2000.
"Although the turn of the century is still a few years away, customers need to begin readying their applications now for operation in the 21st century," said Joe Kirschner, manager of S/390 software marketing. "Current versions of VSE - V2.1 and V1.4 - have the tools customers need to start this process. With V2.2, customers will have a complete set of tools to be fully Year 2000 compliant."
VSE/ESA's Year 2000 support is a demonstration of the commitment IBM made in 1995 to have the most current version of IBM software products, including OS/390*, MVS/ESA*, VSE/ESA, and VM/ESA*, Year 2000-ready by the end of 1996.
VSE/ESA V2.2 will also offer:
- An enhanced Turbo Dispatcher to help customers exploit their S/390 parallel processing capabilities for enhanced throughput and performance; - Enhanced LAN Resource Extension and Services (LANRES) to add support for OS/2* LAN Servers; - Enhancements to hardware support including the 3590 High Performance Tape Subsystem; - A Language Environment for VSE* (LE/VSE) strengthened by the inclusion of C runtime services. Debugging support for COBOL and PL/I is also provided to reduce application development time; - A statement of direction to provide a 31-bit, YEAR 2000-enabled C compiler.RS/6000 and S/390 Server-on-Board
IBM has also announced the RS/6000 and S/390 Server-on-Board*, which is designed to be:
Known as the R/390, this new server is composed of a RS/6000* computer with an integrated S/390 processor card. The R/390 provides full S/390 and UNIX capabilities with the competitive cost of the RISC server environment.
The R/390 supports OS/390, MVS/ESA, VM/ESA, VSE/ESA, and AIX* operating systems and applications. The UNIX capabilities of AIX and OS/390 give users the flexibility to exploit thousands of off-the-shelf UNIX-based applications. These programs can be deployed in the R/390's AIX environment or the S/390 environment - whichever best meets users' computing needs.
R/390 as S/370 Upgrade and Open/Distributed Server
The R/390 offers S/370 customers a cost-effective way to make the transition from their existing mainframe systems to newer, S/390 technology. The server can be used as an upgrade to 43xx and 937x systems. Existing S/370 applications and data can be ported to the R/390 with little or no modification.
The R/390's distributed processing capabilities provide an ideal, flexible platform for network computing. Its network attachment features, including native TCP/IP, allow it to support client/server functions, open/distributed LAN environments, and Internet activities.
The R/390 is also an ideal platform to distribute S/390 applications across the enterprise to provide up to 200 end users with consistent business applications, client/server operations, and data access. It can support remote unattended operations for greater system availability, lower communication costs, greater configuration flexibility, and simpler operation.
R/390 as Application/Development Workbench
The R/390 is a cost-effective workbench to develop, maintain, and test applications in UNIX and S/390 operating systems environments. Programmers and developers can utilize the system to decrease test and development time, reduce costs, and avoid impacting the production environment.
The R/390 can also be used as a workbench to test applications for susceptibility to Year 2000 problems. It provides an excellent stand-alone environment to inspect code and to test the applications themselves.
R/390 and PC Server 500 System/390 Positioning
Selection of the R/390 or the PC Server 500 System/390* (P/390), which was introduced in 1995, should be based on operating environment affinity and tool requirements.
Product Availability
Availability of the R/390 begins in June, and it will initially be available in the United States, Canada, and Germany. In the US and Canada, it will be marketed by certified Managing Industry Remarketers (MIR) with Industry Remarketer Affiliates (IRA). In Germany, it will be marketed by selected IBM Business Partners. The R/390 will become available in other countries as IBM Business Partner relationships are established in those regions.Software providers who are members of the S/390 Partners in Development association are eligible for special leasing and purchase options.
For more information about the R/390, call 1-800-IBM-4YOU, priority code WES68 in the United States; and in Canada, 1-800-IBM-CALL, Extension 237. In Germany, call (0049)-01803-313233.
For more information on VSE/ESA V2.2 in the United States, call IBM Direct at 1-800-IBM-CALL, priority code LE001. In Canada, call 1-800-IBM-CALL, Extension 276.
S/390 is one of IBM's four server platforms, and is the leader in providing large scale commercial computing solutions for customers today and in the evolving collaborative, network computing market of tomorrow. S/390 servers offer customers open, client/server capabilities, continuous computing reliability, scalability, and low total cost of operation.
* Indicates trademark or registered trademark of the International Business Machines Corporation.
Editor's Note: IBM news releases are available on the Internet via the IBM Home Page, located at http://www.ibm.com.