4M-bit chips, AS/400 9406 Disk Mirroring, ASCII Ports
The AS/400 9406 System Unit which supports the new 9336 Disk Unit, has disk mirroring support, pro-vides increased capacity with the 9335, and enables the attachment of additional 3490 Magnetic Tape Subsystem models. 4M-bit chips are used in the new 32Mb main storage feature for the 9406 Model B70 which doubles the maximum main storage capacity of the B70 from 96Mb to 192Mb, and these dynamic random access memory chips operate at 65nS, which enables cells to be read in 0.25s. Communication enhancements include the 16Mbps or 4Mbps Token-Ring Network Subsystem, an Ethernet subsystem, and a 9,600bps modem. The 9336 is attached to the 9406 System Unit via the new Magnetic Storage Device Controller. The increased capacity of the 9336 allows one 9309 rack to contain up to 20Gb. ASCII Port Sharing allows different display devices to use the same asynchronous port without requiring manual reconfiguration of the port. The 9406 B70 must have at least 96Mb of main storage capacity with the 32Mb main storage card, and the 16Mb main storage card is not compatible with the 32Mb card. Increased 9406 maximum disk capacity with the 9335 disk and 9336 Disk Unit is provided to support OS/400 Release 3 disk mirroring. Up to four local area network subsystems are supported on any model of the 9406 system, including the new 16Mbps or 4Mbps Token-Ring Network Subsystem, and the new Ethernet/IEEE 802.3 local net subsystem in any combination.
AS/400 9404 Communication Enhancements and Reel-to-Reel Tape Capability
AS/400 9404 System Unit communications are enhanced by the addition of a 16Mbps or 4Mbps Token-Ring adaptor, an Ethernet adaptor and an optional 9,600bps modem for electronic customer support access. Maximum disk capacity on the 9404 Model C25 is increased by 50% to 3.84Gb with the use of a new feature containing two 320Mb 3.5 disk drives. A new attachment feature for the 9348 Model 2 Magnetic Tape Unit provides half inch reel-to-reel tape capability for all 9404 systems. The increase in capacity is achieved through the installation of three 640Mb dual disk units in the System Unit and C25 Expansion Unit. Attachment of the 9348 Model 2 Magnetic Tape Unit to the 9404 provides additional data interchange compatibility between 9404 and other systems using half inch reel-to-reel tape in 1,600 or 6,250bpi tape format. The 9404 System Unit can now connect to 16Mbps Token-Ring networks, and the new Network Adaptor improves file transfers. Disk mirroring maintains a copy of pre-identified disks on the system, and mirroring can be implemented on a selective or a full basis. If the entire system is to be mirrored, the disk capacity must be twice that of a non-mirrored system – that sort of stands to reason, doesn’t it, but IBM never shies away from stating the obvious. ASCII Port Sharing enables different display devices to use the same asynchronous port without the need for manual reconfiguration of the port.
Ethernet Local Area Network Adaptor, Token-Ring Network Adaptor
The Ethernet/IEEE 802.3 CSMA/CD local area network adaptor provides a single attachment to one Ethernet Version 2 or one IEEE 802.3 Carrier Sense Multiple Access and Collision Detect Local Area Network. It consists of a card and internal code that supplies Ethernet Version 2 and IEEE 802.3 Media Access Control plus IEEE 802.2 Logical Link Control functions. The Token-Ring Network Adaptor provides a single attachment to a 16Mbps or a 4Mbps Token-Ring Network. It consists of an adaptor card, internal code that supplies IEEE 802.5 Media Access Control and IEEE 802.2 Logical Link Control functions. Only one local area network feature may be installed on the B10/C10 Models, and up to two features are available for on the B20, C20, and C25 models when using the optional Expansion Unit. OS/400 Release 3 configuration parameters are used to set either the 16Mbps or 4Mbps rate, and these controls enable the customer to migrate from a 4Mbps to a 16Mbps network. The adaptor card provides 64Kb of memory, enabling maximum frame s
izes to be increased from 2Kb to 8Kb. This is claimed to improve performance during large file transfer operations. The 7855 9600bps modem provides faster transmission for selected electronic support services, and has either leased or switched line connections at speeds up to 9,600bps. The magnetic storage device controller costs $2,500, the the Ethernet local area network adaptor is $4,000, and the Token-Ring Network adaptor costs $3,675. A 9348 model 2 magnetic tape attachment is $2,500, and the additional dual disk unit costs $11,000. To convert from the 320Mb single disk unit to the additional unit is $5,500, but it is available only on the 9404 model C25. All products are due on September 28, except for the dual disk unit and 7855 modem support. They are available December 28 and first quarter of next year respectively.
9348 magnetic tape unit model 2
The 9348 Magnetic Tape Unit Model 2 is a front loading 1600bpi/6250bpi streaming tape drive. The magnetic tape unit is in an enclosure which attaches to the AS/400 9402 Models C04 and C06 and all models of the AS/400 9404. It autoloads and autothreads reels of half inch magnetic tape, and has a maximum instantaneous data rate of 200K-bytes per second at 1,600bpi, or 781K-bytes per second at 6,250bpi. It costs $22,660 and is available from September 28; minimum monthly maintenance is $165.
5394 Remote Control Unit Release 2.2
With Microcode 5394 Release 2.2 is a microcode release offering functional enhancements to the 5394 Remote Control Unit. It provides the functions of Release 2.1 and several enhancements including communications with the AS/400 or System 36, 512 byte Request/Response Units, increased printer pacing, save/restore compression, and improved throughput for AS/400 support. The 3270 device emulation enhancements are cursor select, PA keys 1-3, and field mark. It will be available September 28, 1990 in the US.
