Improving mainframes at I.B.M.: chips being utilized as way to counter desktop competition

Article Abstract:

Nicholas M. Donofrio, president of IBM's mainframe computer division says that IBM is working to improve its products with technologies that have led to the popularity of workstations and microcomputers. IBM is redesigning its large systems to take advantage of inexpensive, powerful microprocessors. According to Donofrio, IBM's most significant competition is coming from desktop machines. Previously, mainframe computers have been based on expensive, custom-designed, high-speed chips, but now, both IBM and IBM's large-system competitors are exploring microprocessor-based alternatives. Donofrio believes that the semiconductor manufacturing process called C-MOS (complimentary metal-oxide semiconductor) will have an increasing impact on the design of mainframe computers, but he also sees a continued role for a competing technology called bipolar.

Interview, Strategic Planning, CMOS, Bipolar Integrated Circuits, Donofrio, Nicholas

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I.B.M. joins Siemens in developing chips

Article Abstract:

IBM announces an agreement with Siemens AG to design advanced, 64m-bit DRAM chips that that will be two generations ahead of the current 4M-bit chips. The companies will jointly develop the chips, which could be ready for market as early as 1995. Analysts say there are two main reasons for the agreement, the first being that the cost of developing new semiconductor technology is astronomical and companies benefit by sharing the risk. The second reason involves IBM's fear that Japanese companies will soon hold a virtual monopoly on Semiconductor technology unless serious steps are taken by US firms to re-enter the market. The venture reflects a new sense of cooperation between European and US companies motivated by the need to ensure independent supplies of semiconductor chips.

Semiconductors and related devices, Semiconductor industry, Siemens AG, DRAM (Dynamic random access memory), DRAM, Future Technologies, Cooperative Agreements, Foreign Competition

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New I.B.M. mainframes due; machines expected to be more versatile

Article Abstract:

IBM will introduce on Sep 5, 1990, its first new generation of mainframes in more than five years. The new family of computers is expected to more than double the speed of the company's existing mainframes, and the new machines will also be more able than their predecessors to work in tandem. The new IBM machines will have much faster response times. IBM has introduced powerful microprocessor-based computers, but that market is more competitive and less profitable than the mainframe market, in which IBM holds about 90 percent of the American market.

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