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IBM's 360 and Early 370 Systems (History of Computing) Paperback – January 1, 2003

by Emerson W. Pugh (Author), Lyle R. Johnson (Author), John H. Palmer (Author),
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IBM's 360 and Early 370 Systems describes the creation of this remarkable system and the developments it spawned, including its successor, System/370.

No new product offering has had greater impact on the computer industry than the IBM System/360. IBM's 360 and Early 370 Systems describes the creation of this remarkable system and the developments it spawned, including its successor, System/370. The authors tell how System/360's widely-copied architecture came into being and how IBM failed in an effort to replace it ten years later with a bold development effort called FS, the Future System. Along the way they detail the development of many computer innovations still in use, among them semiconductor memories, the cache, floppy disks, and Winchester disk files. They conclude by looking at issues involved in managing research and development and striving for product leadership. While numerous anecdotal and fragmentary accounts of System/360 and System/370 development exist, this is the first comprehensive account, a result of research into IBM records, published reports, and interviews with over a hundred participants. Covering the period from about 1960 to 1975, it highlights such important topics as the gamble on hybrid circuits, conception and achievement of a unified product line, memory and storage developments, software support, unique problems at the high end of the line, monolithic integrated circuit developments, and the trend toward terminal-oriented systems. System/360 was developed during the transition from discrete transistors to integrated circuits at the crucial time when the major source of IBM's revenue was changed from punched-card equipment to electronic computer systems. As the authors point out, the key to the system's success was compatibility among its many models. So important was this to customers that System/370 and its successors have remained compatible with System/360. Many companies in fact chose to develop and market their own 360-370 compatible systems. System/360 also spawned an entire industry dedicated to making plug-compatible products for attachment to it.

The authors, all affiliated with IBM Research, are coauthors of IBM's Early Computers, a critically acclaimed technical history covering the period before 1960.

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  1. Print length
    844 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    The MIT Press
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 2003
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 1.63 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0262517205
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0262517201
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

An internationally recognized leader in magnetics and computer memory technologies, Emerson W. Pugh is a member of the research staff at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights and author of the widely used text, Principles of Electricity and Magnetism.

Lyle R. Johnson is a senior member of the staff at IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center.

John H. Palmer is a senior member of the staff at IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center.

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
24 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

  • pparadigm
    5.0 out of 5 stars A terrific read.
    Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2014
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    What a terrific book. I was surprised to find this book so readable given the technical nature of some of the material covered.

    The book is a great mix of technical detail and information about the IBM'ers involved in the creation of these systems.

    A must for those interested in the history of computing.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • wiredweird
    4.0 out of 5 stars Of interest to the specialist
    Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2019
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    This book presents a detailed look at the origins and development of one of the most widely-known processor families. It details (among many other things) progression of magnetic core memory, including a series of technological developments that kept it moving forward with the market's ever-increasing demand for speed and capacity.

    I got this book for a few specific facts regarding these early mainframes, which I'm happy to say it provided. But, having spent a fair few decades in computing the historical details drew me in as well. I've read only a few chapters so far, but I'm enjoying its engaging and thoroughly-researched style. I'm interested, too, by the comparisons between technical decisions of half-a-century back vs the ones being made today. It's surprising (but probably shouldn't be) how many of those issues still matter today.

    I'm generally not one to love history for its own sake, and I can't say this perspective will really change my life. The few facts I wanted will help a personal project and I find some of the progressions interesting. Still, I can't think of any decisions I make these days that I'll make differently after reading this. And, if you're not already well-versed in computing, you might not find enough familiar context to offer an entry point.

    -- wiredweird
    3 people found this helpful
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  • R. Lemarchand
    4.0 out of 5 stars Great Insight into modern computing
    Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2012
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    The authors do a great job at explaining how modern computing was born (through IBM mostly) and how System 360 was really the first complete computer line. It's fairly easy to read for the most part (i.e. it's not boring!).

    I found the coverage of the software side of things to be a bit light, when you consider how much of a problem it was (the hardware was on time/budget, the software wasn't!).

    Still a great book, very interesting, extremely well documented and well written.
    6 people found this helpful
    Helpful
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  • Dale L. Stoner
    4.0 out of 5 stars The major way of the 60's, 70's and even just touched the 80's.
    Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2025
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    It is my fading memory of main frame code that keeps this from s 5 star. The computer was eventually my best effort. Now so many decades later the PC revolution was unable to connect to Classified forms. Video made the limits on copying diminish the value of innovation.
    Helpful
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  • Luca
    4.0 out of 5 stars Detailed account of a milestone product family in the history of commercial computing
    Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2014
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    A must read and reference book for historians of commercial computing, full of facts and detailed information not available anywhere else.
    4 people found this helpful
    Helpful
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  • Stephen H. Lafferty
    4.0 out of 5 stars Great coverage of a massive struggle
    Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2013
    Format: Paperback
    As the 1960's began, IBM found themselves with eight incompatible computer product lines, which they were each trying to support with software development. They came up with the idea of replacing all of those systems with a new line of five upward compatible computers, which would span the market. This was to stretch from the very cheapest, low power machines, all the way to the top.

    It was a gargantuan undertaking and it was also a "bet the company" risk. Fortune magazine called the decision "the most crucial and portentous--as well as perhaps the riskiest--business judgment of recent times."

    The effort to simultaneously design and manufacture five new computer systems and support them with software turned into the biggest struggle the company had ever faced. Before it was over, CEO Tom Watson would lament, "We somehow have an organization that destroys more men than it produces..."

    But that only indicates the candor, honesty and introspection that this book represents, for in the end, they all came through with flying colors, delivering amazing close to predictions. This was in spite of having pioneered numerous advances like microcoded CPUs, cache memory, time sharing technologies and automated hybrid integrated circuit manufacturing, along the way.

    This book works well as a follow-on to another by some of the same authors, the spellbinding book, "IBM's Early Computers". While "IBM's 360..." doesn't cover quite as exciting a period as the earlier work, it certainly delivers its share of amazing stories. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
    13 people found this helpful
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  • Hans Yang
    4.0 out of 5 stars IBM's 360 and Early 370 Systems (History of Computing)
    Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2000
    Format: Hardcover
    Classic book about a revolutionary technology
    3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • John Holland
    5.0 out of 5 stars Not a pure corporate history. Lots of technical details as well.
    Reviewed in Canada on November 28, 2021
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Overall it met my expectations. I wanted a technical as well as a corporate view of the development of the S/360 and S/370, and this delivers. Anyone who is a mainframe programmer past or present may find this story as interesting as I did.

    But System 360 was a huge project by a huge corporation, and involved a lot of personnel. Kudos to the authors for keeping it all straight, but sometimes I wish there was a "Dramatis Personae" section I could have quickly referred to as a reminder of who was who.

    The index is good. You will need at least two bookmarks; one for your current page, and another for the end notes. Perhaps a third one for the index.

    Despite the daunting list of people to remember, I learned an awful lot about the transition from vacuum tubes and drum memory to transistors; the birth and growth of solid-state digital computing; and how the 360's CPU architecture had a huge impact that affects system design to this very day.

    The computer market of the 1950s was wildly different from today, and far more widely varied. This was an experimental era, and all kinds of different technical approaches were tried by different companies. IBM's senior technical management was trying to navigate its business, its customers, and its very continuance as a market leader through a very volatile period.

    Not everything went well. IBM's product line was somewhat scattershot and incoherent. Mistakes were made; some product lines failed; some big successes turned out to be technical dead ends. (World's fastest punch card accounting system, anyone?) One IBM division would inadvertently obsolete the product of another division, obliterating years of work and sending talented people out the door.

    In 1960 IBM management realized they needed a unified approach to the computer marketplace to remain a leader in business computing and manufacturing (or even stay in business long-term), and the S/360 was conceived as the answer. They just had to convince their customers and their own employees that they were right.

    The latter group turned out to be harder to persuade than the former. A lot of other dreams had to die for S/360 to be born. Some of those dreamers (Gene Amdahl, Seymour Cray) ended up quitting IBM and founding their own computer companies. But IBM realized it couldn't be all things to all people if it wanted to prosper and grow. It's all in this fascinating book.
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  • CARLO CECCHETTI
    5.0 out of 5 stars Item in excellent conditions and packing. To recommend.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 18, 2014
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    I received the book this morning. The book was in excellent condition and the packing was also very vell made. The delay in the delivery was due to the fact that the Italian Customs inspected the parcel (don't know why, and for that I had to pay an additional € 6,82 fee). Anyway, except for the cover, as advised, the book is as good as new and I satisfied.
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 19, 2015
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Very good
    Report
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