What is AS/400
This is a server from the IBM iseries and it was previously renowned as IBM iseries only but there are some tech people that still know this product with the name of AS/400 operating system. This is a mid-range server that was designed for small businesses. Large organizations use this server for their individual departments if they are localizing each of the department. It also works very well with distributed networks that have web applications in it. This is an innovative and a strong server created by the technology leader IBM.
This strong server makes use of the PowerPC microprocessor which has a reduced instruction set computer technology. The operating system of this is known as OS/400 on the name of the server. It was widely used by several enterprises as it has multi-terabytes of disk storage and Java virtual memory which is tied closely to the operating system. In simple words, this server is a versatile and all-purpose server launched by IBM which has the capacity to replace web and PC servers globally. This is a big competition to servers such as Wintel and UNIX and it has given an enormous platform to the customers of IBM to leap into the internet business.
Although many people consider this as an obsolete and outdated server with no market in the current technological scenario, this server is actually one of the IBM’s biggest success stories. This server is used widely in large enterprises also at the department level, and in government agencies, small corporations and several industry segments. It gained high popularity in the market because of the high-end security and configuration that the server provided. AS/400 was launched as a successor to System/36 and is based on System/38 which is more sophisticated and advanced. AS/400 customers have the advantage to choose amongst a variety of applications that are previously written for IBM servers and many of them have been web-enabled. The best part of this server is that IBM guarantees an uptime of 99.9% for this server. Also, it has an inbuilt database and Domino application which is a note with a web browser.
These are some of the most important characteristics and usage of the AS/400 —
- Data warehousing – this server has multi-gigabytes of RAM and multi-terabytes of hard disk space and this makes it a repository for a huge amount of data for data mining.
- Java apps development – AS/400 has an integrated Java virtual machine in it and new tools that are designed by IBM which enables it to be used for commercial apps developed using Java.
- Web and e-commerce serving – this server is equipped with a web server and several apps that are designed to support e-commerce and also has firewall capabilities. With all these features the AS/400 can handle internet serving for a moderate-size company.
- Corporate groupware services – As Domino and Notes are included in this system it provides the businesses and corporations with several features such as project file sharing, sophisticated e-mail, whiteboards and electronic collaboration.
