IBM Corp’s AS/400 division in Rochester, Minnesota has duly announced the portable version of the AS/400 – the Luggable Huggable, officially baptising it the AS/400 Portable One. The machine is described as a portable full-function single-user AS/400 designed to enable business partners to develop and test new applications and then take them round to customers and demonstrate them. The small, lightweight – approximately the size and weight of an attache case – package includes an F04 processor – that is the biggest of the baby ones, and is capable of running anything written for OS/400. It comes with 8Mb memory, 1Gb disk, one communication line and one twinaxial workstation interface with three addresses. It is not entirely self-contained, because you need to use the IBM ThinkPad or similar notebook computer as the console, using the new 5250 Emulation PCMCIA adaptor for connecting to the system’s twinax port. Standard twinax workstations and printers also can be attached to the Portable One, and PC Support/400 provides the notebook emulation software. OS/400 and PC Support/400 come pre-loaded. The machine is not being made generally available, but will be offered to business partners worldwide in December; no price has been set. The main reason you need the notebook computer is for the graphics – IBM has a wonderful Portable Sales Automation System that enables resellers to generate a proposal or presentation in colour or black and white while in the customer’s office. They can retrieve and present AS/400 information, configure and price a complete system for the customer, order the system and formulate financing terms – all from the customer’s office. The program needs a laptop or notebook computer with an 80386 processor, and will be available first quarter 1994. IBM will also give resellers free electronic and telephone access to developers throughout IBM.
