What (who) is IBM 360 - definition
![console]] at NASA, sometime in the late 1960s.](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/360-91-panel.jpg?width=200 "console]] at NASA, sometime in the late 1960s.")
![SLT card]]. Each square metal can contains a [[hybrid circuit]] with several transistors.](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/IBM SLT card 03773.agr.jpg?width=200 "SLT card]]. Each square metal can contains a [[hybrid circuit]] with several transistors.")
![IBM System/360 Model 30 CPU (red, middle of picture), tape drives to its left, and disk drives to its right, at the [[Computer History Museum]]](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/IBM System360 Model 30.jpg?width=200 "IBM System/360 Model 30 CPU (red, middle of picture), tape drives to its left, and disk drives to its right, at the [[Computer History Museum]]")
Wikipedia
The IBM System/360 (S/360) is a family of mainframe computer systems that was announced by IBM on April 7, 1964, and delivered between 1965 and 1978. It was the first family of computers designed to cover both commercial and scientific applications and to cover a complete range of applications from small to large. The design distinguished between architecture and implementation, allowing IBM to release a suite of compatible designs at different prices. All but the only partially compatible Model 44 and the most expensive systems use microcode to implement the instruction set, which features 8-bit byte addressing and binary, decimal, and hexadecimal floating-point calculations.
The System/360 family introduced IBM's Solid Logic Technology (SLT), which packed more transistors onto a circuit card, allowing more powerful but smaller computers to be built.
The slowest System/360 model announced in 1964, the Model 30, could perform up to 34,500 instructions per second, with memory from 8 to 64 KB. High-performance models came later. The 1967 IBM System/360 Model 91 could execute up to 16.6 million instructions per second. The larger 360 models could have up to 8 MB of main memory, though that much main memory was unusual—a large installation might have as little as 256 KB of main storage, but 512 KB, 768 KB or 1024 KB was more common. Up to 8 megabytes of slower (8 microsecond) Large Capacity Storage (LCS) was also available for some models.
The IBM 360 was extremely successful in the market, allowing customers to purchase a smaller system with the knowledge they would be able to move to larger ones if their needs grew, without reprogramming application software or replacing peripheral devices. Its design influenced computer design for years to come; many consider it one of the most successful computers in history.
The chief architect of System/360 was Gene Amdahl, and the project was managed by Fred Brooks, responsible to Chairman Thomas J. Watson Jr. The commercial release was piloted by another of Watson's lieutenants, John R. Opel, who managed the launch of IBM’s System 360 mainframe family in 1964.
Application-level compatibility (with some restrictions) for System/360 software is maintained to the present day with the System z mainframe servers.
