IBM 8100

Not to be confused with IBM 8000 or IBM DS8100.
IBM 8100 Information System
IBM 8100 distributed system; IBM 8775 terminals on the right, 81#0 processor in the center
Release date1978; 46 years ago (1978)
PredecessorIBM 3790

The IBM 8100 Information System, announced Oct. 3, 1978, [1][2] was at one time IBM’s principal distributed processing engine, providing local processing capability under two incompatible operating systems (DPPX and DPCX) and was a follow-on to the IBM 3790.

The 8100, when used with the Distributed Processing Programming Executive (DPPX), was intended to provide turnkey distributed processing capabilities in a centrally controlled and managed network.

It never saw much success—one anonymous source, according to PC Magazine, called it a "boat anchor"[3]—and became moribund when host-based networks went out of fashion. This, coupled with IBM's recognition that they had too many hardware and software systems with similar processing power and function, led to announcement in March 1986 that the 8100 line would not be expanded and a new System/370 compatible processor line, ES/9370, would be provided to replace it. In March 1987, IBM announced that it intended to provide in 1989 a version of DPPX/SP that would run on the new ES/9370. A formal announcement followed in March 1988 of DPPX/370, a version of DPPX that executed on the ES/9370 family of processors. DPPX/370 was made available to customers in December 1988.

DPCX (Distributed Processing Control eXecutive) was mainly to support a word processing system, Distributed Office Support Facility (DOSF).

  1. ^ Woods, Larry (March 1979). "IBM's 8100: First Impressions". Datamation.
  2. ^ "DPD chronologyl".[dead link]
  3. ^ "PCommuniques". PC Magazine. June–July 1982. p. 27. Retrieved 21 October 2013.