About the Author:

Frank G. Soltis

Chief Architect, AS/400

As the original architect of the IBM System/38, Dr. Soltis created a revolutionary new computer architecture based on his Ph.D. dissertation research. The single-level addressability of that architecture, along with the technology-independent machine interface he proposed, led to a totally new breed of computers. Today’s AS/400 family of computers uses his architecture.

Besides his system architecture work, Dr. Soltis has held several technical and management positions at the IBM Development Laboratory in Rochester, Minnesota, involving computer hardware and software development, strategic planning, and advanced technology programs. He is a frequent speaker at computer conferences throughout the world and is an award-winning author with several publications to his credit. He also holds more than 25 patents and published invention disclosures related to computer systems.

During the past few years, he has participated in the definition of the PowerPC architecture and led the effort in Rochester to move the AS/400 to the 64-bit PowerPC RISC processors. He continues to define the direction for the AS/400 architecture in the future.

In addition to his IBM responsibilities, Dr. Soltis is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Minnesota, where he teaches classes on advanced computer architectures.

To the love of my life
for more than 33 years,
my wife, Sandra.

Acknowledgements

Rochester is the most creative site in all of IBM. Not everyone in IBM will agree with this statement, but then many of those people don’t know too much about this remote location. Living in a small town on the edge of the prairie in southeastern Minnesota, isolated from the rest of IBM, does have disadvantages when it comes to being recognized by the corporation. We rarely have much of a say when it comes to setting corporate directions. But isolation does have its advantages — the biggest is that we can concentrate our efforts on our customers’ needs. Year after year, the dedicated men and women in Rochester continue to turn out creative, successful products that delight our customers and bring financial rewards to IBM. We in Rochester may not be very good at winning the “battle of the foil projectors” at IBM headquarters, but we have always been very good at winning the battle for customers.

The secret of Rochester’s success is its people. We live and work here because we want to. For many of us, this is not a stopping-off place on our way to another job; Rochester is the final destination. Hard as it is for some people to believe, most of us do enjoy living in a small town, “Where,” as our billboards say, “the winters are cold and the computers are hot.” This more than anything explains why we are so passionate about our products.

Throughout this book, I have tried to name some of the creative, dedicated people who are responsible for the success of the AS/400 and its predecessors. This is an impossible task, and I have only been able to name a few. Many of the leaders behind OS/400, for example, are not identified because there was not enough room for a thorough discussion of this marvelous operating system. The details of OS/400 and the people behind it could easily fill another book. For all of you who are not named, please accept my apologies. Even though I’ve worked for IBM in Rochester for 34 years, hardly a day goes by that I don’t feel inspired by the people around me.

Of course, we are not finished with our work. In many ways the AS/400e series is just beginning to fulfill the vision some of us have for this system. The first edition of Inside the AS/400 laid out that vision and described the progress that had been made through Version 3 of the system. In this second edition, it is time to look at Version 4 and beyond.

As long ago as 1985, I considered writing this book. People such as Paul Conte, who wrote the Foreword for both editions, were encouraging me to write a book about the System/38 and the people who created it. With the rebirth of the System/38 as the AS/400 in 1988, I began to write a book about the history, the people, and the development of these two systems. Since then I have continued to plug away at that manuscript. Paul and others have encouraged me to finish that history book and share the Rochester story with the rest of the world. I included some of that history in the first edition of Inside the AS/400. The response to those historical excerpts was so positive, I have expanded the history into an appendix for this second edition.

Over the past several years, I have enjoyed working with the people at Duke Communications International (the parent company for Duke Press and NEWS/400 magazine). Dave Duke and his staff have done a marvelous job with the magazines, books, and conferences. When it came time to select a publisher for this book, Duke Press was a natural choice. Dave Bernard, the publisher/editorial director at Duke Press, worked with me from the beginning to ensure that we produced high-quality books for both the first and second editions.

Sharon Hamm was the book’s editor for both editions. The job of an editor is a difficult one. She had to handle the seemingly endless number of changes I kept making to the manuscript and still keep both me and the production staff on schedule. She did a great job of balancing all these responsibilities. Thank you, Sharon; it has been a pleasure to work with you.

Trish Faubion, the Managing Editor at Duke Press, co-edited this second edition. I first worked with Trish on articles I wrote for NEWS/400 when she was the managing editor for that magazine. Trish handled the production end for the second edition and set our production schedules. Thank you, Trish, for your contributions to this book and for your ability to juggle the schedules whenever I fell behind.

As the technical editor, Richard Rubin shaped the final form of both editions more than anyone else. Many of you know Richard from his excellent technical articles, especially in the area of database design. I tend to look at the AS/400 from the inside out. Richard provided the customer view of the system. Whenever I began to get carried away with the glorification of some technical aspect of the AS/400, Richard would bring me back to reality by asking, “What does it mean to the customer?” Richard’s insistence on examples for just about everything and his attention to detail make this book far more understandable to a wide audience of readers. Thank you, Richard.

Finally, this book would not have been written at all without the most important person in my life, my wife Sandra. When she noticed I was having all kinds of trouble getting started, she stepped in, organized my material, and transcribed the videotapes of an AS/400 architecture class I had taught. Those transcriptions formed the first draft of this book. For this second edition, she continued in her role of cheerleader, counselor, reviewer, and part-time editor. Thank you for always being there for me.

Sandra and I have been blessed with three wonderful sons, Mike, Brian, and Steve. As many readers know, together with our sons, I enjoy driving a Porsche race car at one of the various racetracks around the Midwest. I am sorry to say that the most neglected member of the family this year is that race car. Every time I pass my car, still under its cover in the garage, I hear it crying out to me to take it to a racetrack for some exercise. In the past, when I was too busy, our sons would unselfishly volunteer to perform this chore. This year, even our sons are too busy with their own careers and families. So my poor car will just have to wait until I finish this book. What’s that? I hear the rumble of a racing exhaust system coming from my garage. Someone is calling to me.

— F.S.