What is an AS/400 - "the answer" :-) -- MIDRANGE-L

Thought this was interesting. Got an email from ZDNET today to try a new
internet search product called GuruNet.

So I downloaded and installed it. You hold down Alt and with the mouse,
click on ANY text on ANY PC screen and GuruNet goes out and gets what it
can find. So I hit AS/400 and here is what I got (little out of date but
overall not too bad. I'll email them on on getting it updated !):

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AS/400
The AS/400 (recently renamed the "AS/400e") is a middle-size server
designed for small businesses and departments in large enterprises and
now redesigned so that it will work well in distributed networks with
Web applications. The AS/400e uses the PowerPC microprocessor with its
64-bit RISC technology. Its operating system is called the OS/400. It
comes with an important application included: Domino (Notes with a Web
browser). With up to 1.5 terabytes of disk storage and a Java virtual
machine closely tied into the operating system, IBM hopes to make the
AS/400e a kind of versatile all-purpose server that can replace PC
servers and Web servers in the world's businesses, competing with both
Wintel and UNIX servers, while giving its present enormous customer base
an immediate leap into the Internet.

The AS/400, one of IBM's greatest success stories, is widely installed
in large enterprises at the department level, in small corporations, in
government agencies, and in almost every industry segment. It succeeded
another highly popular product, the System/36 and was itself based on a
later, more sophisticated product, the System/38. AS/400 customers can
choose from thousands of applications that have already been written.
IBM says that 3,000 of these applications have been "Web-enabled." and
5,000 applications will be available by the end of 1998.

Here are some important uses that IBM sees for the AS/400e:

Data warehousing: With up to 20 gigabytes of RAM and up to a terabyte of
hard disk space, the AS/400e could be a repository for large amounts of
company data to which data mining could be applied.
Java application development: With its closely integrated Java virtual
machine and new tools designed by IBM for building commercial
applications with Java, the AS/400e could be used as a development
system.
Web and e-commerce serving: Equipped with a Web server and applications
designed to support e-commerce (taking orders, tracking orders,
providing service to customers, working with partners and suppliers) and
with firewall capabilities, the AS/400e could handle Internet serving
for a moderate-size company.
Corporate groupware services: With Domino and Notes "built-in" to the
AS/400e, it's designed to quickly provide a corporation with
sophisticated e-mail, project file sharing, whiteboards, and electronic
collaboration.
Zona Research sees the AS/400e as a potential "super-NT", already scaled
to a level of capability, security, and performance that the Windows NT
only aspires to. With a solid base of existing customers, Zona and
others see the AS/400e as a contender with NT for the predominant role
as ubiquitous enterprise server.
Selected Links
 IBM provides more at the AS/400 home page.
 At the AS/400 Web site, consultant reports are provided by the D. H.
Andrews Group Zona Research, and others. Click on "Consultant Reports."


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Last update: October 13, 1999
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