The RS/6000 was a series of workstations and servers introduced by IBM in the late 1980s, designed to compete in the burgeoning UNIX marketplace. Here is a detailed overview:
History and Development
- Announcement and Launch: IBM announced the RS/6000 line on February 15, 1990. The initial models were aimed at providing high performance computing capabilities for scientific, engineering, and financial applications.
- Architecture: The RS/6000 was based on IBM's proprietary POWER Architecture, which was later evolved into PowerPC. The processors used in these systems were known for their RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computing) design, offering a balance between performance and power efficiency.
- Operating Systems: While the RS/6000 systems could run various UNIX flavors, the most commonly associated OS was AIX, IBM's own version of UNIX. Over time, support was also added for Linux and other UNIX-like operating systems.
Key Features
- Scalability: The RS/6000 line was designed to scale from desktop workstations to large enterprise servers, making it versatile for different computing needs.
- Performance: With the POWER processors, these systems were some of the fastest available at the time, especially in floating-point operations which were critical for scientific computing.
- Graphics and Visualization: Many models included advanced graphics capabilities, positioning them well for use in CAD/CAM, visualization, and multimedia applications.
Evolution and Legacy
- The RS/6000 line evolved significantly over the years:
- 1993: IBM introduced PowerPC processors into the RS/6000 line, which led to the creation of the PowerPC AS (Advanced Series) servers.
- 1998: The RS/6000 branding was phased out, transitioning to the pSeries branding, which continued to use the Power architecture.
- The legacy of the RS/6000 can be seen in IBM's current IBM Power Systems, which still leverage the POWER architecture for high-performance computing.
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