IBM's Legacy Timeline History From AS/400 to Power11

IBM has long stood as a symbol of enterprise computing power, scalability, and innovation. Central to that story is the AS/400—a system that quietly transformed midrange computing.

Here's a historical timeline exploring IBM's enterprise journey, highlighting the critical role of AS/400 and how it paved the way for today's cutting-edge Power11 platform.

📜 Timeline of IBM & AS/400 Legacy

• 1960s–1970s – The Mainframe Era: IBM dominated with System/360 and System/370, powering governments, banks, and large corporations.
• 1979 – IBM System/38: Introduced advanced features like a single-level store and object-based architecture—years ahead of its time.
• 1983 – IBM System/36: Targeted at small-to-medium businesses, it became a workhorse for accounting, manufacturing, and retail systems.
• 1988 – AS/400 is Born: IBM launches the Application System/400 (AS/400), merging the best of System/36 and System/38 with a new OS: OS/400. It revolutionized business computing with integrated DB2, unmatched reliability, and seamless backward compatibility.
• 1990s – AS/400 Proliferates: Thousands of businesses standardized on AS/400. It became known for its uptime, security, and legendary stability. IBM began enhancing it with newer chipsets and language support.
• 2000 – Rebranding to iSeries: AS/400 was rebranded to IBM eServer iSeries to reflect its evolving internet-readiness and modern capabilities.
• 2008 – IBM Power Systems Unified: IBM merged its iSeries (AS/400) and pSeries (AIX/Unix) under a single architecture—IBM Power Systems—built on Power processors and capable of running AIX, IBM i (descendant of OS/400), and Linux.
• 2010s – Rise of IBM i: The IBM i OS kept the legacy of AS/400 alive with modern enhancements—supporting APIs, cloud, web apps, and tight security, all without abandoning its rock-solid base.
• 2020 – Power10 Release: IBM Power10 launched with hybrid cloud architecture, AI acceleration, and multi-OS compatibility, powering modern enterprise workloads.
• 2025 – IBM Power11: The latest generation, IBM Power11, builds on decades of innovation—combining AS/400’s legendary resilience with AI-native performance, real-time analytics, and secure multicloud processing. IBM i continues to run natively on Power11, maintaining a direct lineage from the AS/400.

💡 Why AS/400 Mattered

The AS/400 wasn’t just a product—it was a philosophy. It emphasized integration, longevity, and stability. It gave businesses one box for applications, database, and security—with minimal maintenance and near-legendary uptime.

Many companies still run mission-critical apps on IBM i today, a testament to the AS/400 architecture’s brilliance. It enabled IBM to build long-term loyalty among midsize businesses and enterprise verticals (finance, manufacturing, logistics).

⚙️ How It Shaped Power11

IBM Power11 isn’t a break from the past—it’s the evolution. With AI-optimized silicon, container orchestration, and secure partitioning, Power11 is ready for the modern world while honoring its roots. The AS/400 DNA is still alive in its core design principles: dependable performance, unmatched security, and integrated architecture.

🔚 Final Thoughts

From the humble green screens of the late ‘80s to today’s hybrid cloud AI platforms, IBM’s midrange systems have evolved without breaking their promise to users. AS/400 lives on—not as a relic, but as the backbone of a computing lineage that continues to define enterprise reliability through Power11.