Do You Know i?

IBM… what’s with all the name changes?

I am relatively new to the IBM AS/400. Yes, I’ve been working with it for the last 7 years or so, but IBM first introduced them in 1988 …20 years ago!

Anyway, it seems that in the last few years IBM has been trying to shed the original "AS/400" name. They’ve tried things like "iSeries", "System i" and now IBM has combined two of their offerings into a single server line called "Power Systems".

Ok, so the name has changed again. It really doesn’t matter. Every user of the system that I know still calls it the "AS/400" or simply the "400".

Andrews Consulting Group has a great rundown on what this all means for Oracle EnterpiseOne ERP customers on their blog.

BTW, here is a neat little quiz about the history of the AS/400 on Search400.com (caution it is dated 2003).