The Rise and Fall of Plug-Compatible Mainframes
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The rise and fall of plug-compatible mainframes spanned more than 20 years. RCA, whose 1964 Spectra 70 System was compatible with the IBM System/360, chose another path altogether, so Amdahl in 1970 became the first true PCM manufacturer. Other companies--notably Fujitsu and Hitachi--soon followed, seeking to complete with IBM in the mainframe arena. This article traces the history of PCMs, which includes an intriguing incident of industrial espionage.
[1] 4 As of 6 January 2001, MITI was reorganized as the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).
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[12] "Hitachi and Mitsubishi Employees Were Arrested by FBI with Sting Operations," Nihon-Keizai Press, 23 June (Evening Edition), 1982 (in Japanese).
[13] "The Case for the Three Workbook-related Accused Was Dismissed," Nihon-Keizai Press, 29 Sept. (Evening Edition), 1982 (in Japanese).
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[19] "Nail Marks of the IBM Secret Agreement," Asahi Press,12 Dec. 1983 (in Japanese).
[20] T. Yanagida, "PCM Spotlighted Again as an Alternative to IBM Mainframe," Nikkei Computer,21 Nov. 1988, pp. 92-104 (in Japanese).
[21] "Disclosed Differences between PCM and IBM in Operating Systems," Nikkei Computer,20 Aug. 1984, pp. 100-112 (in Japanese).
[22] T. Kikyo-bara, "Next-Generation Mainframe Attains Both Low Cost and High Performance by Clustering CMOS Processors," Nikkei Computer,21 Feb. 1994, pp. 66-82 (in Japanese).
[23] J. Vijayan, "Hitachi Shrinks Mainframe Line," Computerworld,13 Mar. 2000, pp. 1-3.
[24] In September 1990, IBM announced the ESA/390 architecture as a further enhancement of the 370-XA. At the same time, IBM introduced the ES/9000 series of processors, which was later renamed as the series S/390.
[25] J. Vijiyan, "Amdahl Planning to Exit Mainframe Business," Computerworld,23 Oct. 2000, pp. 1-3.
Index Terms:
PCM, architecture, compatibility, Industrial Espionage, Hitachi, Fujitsu, Amdahl, Itel
Citation:
Shigeru Takahashi, "The Rise and Fall of Plug-Compatible Mainframes," IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 4-16, Jan.-Mar. 2005, doi:10.1109/MAHC.2005.15
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