IBM Corp never seems to do very well with its sidecar machines – the Personal Computer AT/370, the 9371 with PS/2 and so forth, but undaunted, it is trying again with a server that combines its CMOS 390 mainframe microprocessor with a 90MHz Pentium and calling the thing the IBM PC Server 500 S/390. The idea is that application developers should be able to write and test mainframe applications right on their personal computer, either in a stand-alone or local network environment – something we thought most of them did already, typically using Micro Focus Plc’s Workbench. The PC Server S/390 combines the PC Server 500 running OS/2 Warp with a System/390 processor that will run VM/ESA, MVS/ESA and VSE/ESA. The PC Server S/390 offers traditional file, print-sharing and application server capabilities as well as support of mainframe applications, and it can also be used for remote, unattended system operation. The System/390 Microprocessor complex includes 32Mb memory and can go to 128Mb, and 32Mb for OS/2, expandable to 256Mb; it takes up to 38Gb of disk. Base configurations cost from $50,000 and $90,000 depending on operating systems and software taken. It is out in July.
