Yes, the IBM i is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Many of us remember those days and can’t believe it’s been that long. Others of us were too young to remember these earlier days of the technology industry. However, we can all agree that the IBM i has come a long way since its inception.
If you are interested in the history of the IBM i, how it got started as an application system for midsize businesses in 1988 and was originally called Silver Lake, check out this video spotlighting IBM experts, Frank Soltis, AS/400 Chief Architect and Steve Will, Chief Architect of IBM i Operating Systems, among others.
These industry experts talk about how IBM took a big risk to bring together the System 36 and System 38 into a single new system that offered an integrated platform to make sure clients had everything they needed to run their businesses. Soltis explains how “the system was designed from the beginning to be independent of the underlining technology” because they knew that technology would continue to evolve and change.
IBM wasn’t just launching a new technology, but creating a new market for applications to run on this system. At the launch, there were already 2,500 business applications available for the AS/400. This was unprecedented. Furthermore, leveraging the feedback from the user communities has been an integral part of the success of the system.
IBM was talking about (and delivering) integration, virtualization and ease of use – topics that other vendors are just now focusing on.
For additional information on the history, click on this link: “Brief History of the IBM AS/400 and iSeries”.
Also, IBM is sharing stories about the evolution of the IBM i on 25 Anniversary Facebook page. Click here to follow these stories. Don’t be surprised if we are talking about one of IBM’s newest creation Pureflex in 24 years since they recently just enjoyed their first IBM Pureflex anniversary.