IBM Boosts Performance of AS/400e Series

More Than 90 Percent Performance Growth at the Top of the Product Line

SOMERS, N.Y. (August 31, 1998) – IBM today announced faster, more powerful AS/400e series servers capable of delivering all the power customers need to run on-line transaction-driven e-business applications.
IBM strengthened the top and bottom of its AS/400e server line by adding new 8- and 12-way models and entry-level small business servers that offer significantly more memory and up to 94 percent greater performance than previous AS/400e models. All these servers are powered by new IBM 64-bit PowerPC microprocessors.
”We’ve taken another major step in the transformation of AS/400,” said Tom Jarosh, general manager, IBM AS/400 brand. ”We offer customers the best of both worlds — increased scalability, reliability and security, plus the ability to integrate the industry’s most advanced new technologies into their businesses.”
The new high-performance model S40 and 650 servers offer 40 gigabytes of main memory, which is twice the system memory capacity of previous e-servers, and 2.1 terabytes of storage, enabling customers to maintain huge amounts of historical data on-line. Two terabytes is enough storage space to hold every U.S. tax return filed since the turn of the century.
IBM beefed up the low-end of the product line with a new, more powerful version of the AS/400e series model 170. This latest version of the popular server for small to medium-sized businesses also uses the new PowerPC AS A50 microprocessor and delivers up to 300 percent more memory and a nearly 45 percent performance improvement over previous models.
IBM further strengthened the AS/400 line by adding new custom servers and significant OS/400 operating system enhancements, enabling new technologies such as Java, native Lotus Domino and business intelligence. With the increased power and performance of current AS/400e servers, customers can take advantage of client/server, interactive computing, or both, all on the same machine.
Additional highlights of today’s announcement are:
Custom Servers — Two new models have been added to the custom server line. An 8- and 12-way model S40 and an 8- and 12-way model SB1. Independent solution provider Infinium Software will offer a pre-loaded software solution.
e-Business — AS/400e continues to deliver the function businesses need to stay competitive while bringing operating system ease-of-use to the forefront. New capability and enhancements added include NetQuestion, a Web search engine that provides easy access to Web information via IBM HTTP Server for AS/400; Firewall for AS/400, which enhances security while offering improved usability with features like Virtual Private Network and Network Address Translation; and HTTP Server for AS/400 (formally Internet Connection Server), which provides a complete Web server product with advanced security and application development features.
OS/400 Version 4 Release 3 — Enhancements to the latest release of the operating system, Version 4 Release 3, have made it easier than ever to operate an AS/400. A new graphical user interface, EZ-Setup, offers improved ease of installation and simplifies initial setup tasks for systems administrators or users. Browser-based information, available at the Welcome Center for AS/400, guides administrators through the installation and configuration on new AS/400 models 600, S10, and 170. And, with this release, customers now have integrated hardware disk compression support. This enables customers to extend the capacity of their disk, allowing them to choose between performance or greater disk capacity.
General Availability
General availability for hardware processors and operating system software is September 11, 1998.
Customers can finance their AS/400e series through IBM’s Preferred Rate Financing with rates that start as low as 6.5 percent APR(a). IBM’s flexible, Preferred Rate financing offerings make IBM products and services more affordable for customers, with fixed monthly payments that enable them to acquire more technology and conserve capital for other investments. Preferred Rate Financing applies to a wide range of IBM hardware, software, services and maintenance if they are financed with the server. In addition, IBM can finance third-party software and services, offering customers a total financing package for their total solution.

Source: IBM

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