IBM’s new low-end AS/400s designed to win over reluctant System 36 users (CI No 1,478) will be announced on Tuesday week, August 21, the Wall Street Journal believes. The paper suggests that the entry-level model that will run the SSP operating system in native mode will be the AS/Entry version of the System 36 repackaged like an AS/400 and able to be upgraded by replacing the processor boards. The AS/400 business grew 19% to bring $13,000m turnover and $1,000m profit to IBM last year, and continued to grow at more than 10% in the first half of this year – but would become much more valuable if substantial numbers of the 250,000 System 36 machines out there could be converted. AS/400 versions of the fast disks used on the RS/6000 are expected.
