[inforoots] Origin of the IBM 1130 Name

[Bill Worthington]

Hi, Bill.

My five cents...

I'm not sure what the logic was in selecting machine numbers back in the 
1960s.  There did see to be some order to it however.  I believe that 
they were all assigned by the product marketing folks in White Plains.  
Development had their own names for unannounced machines like NS, FS, 
Shark, etc.  (This was good because some of them never saw the light of 
day.)

I seem to remember hearing that the 70xy machines were the 
"high-powered" machines.  Those numbered with the odd numbers (701, 
7030, 7070, 7090) representing the more scientific (academic) 
marketplace and the even numbers were perhaps more business related 
(7040, 7080).  The last digit changed when there were improvements with 
the same processor -- 7044, 7072, 7094, etc.  (This falls apart slightly 
when I remember the bank I worked for planned to install a 7070 to do 
commercial banking applications.)

Machine numbers beginning with a 1 were priced lower and had much 
smaller processing power.  Included here were the 1401/1440/1460/1240 
and 1620/1710.  In the mid 1060s, the 1800 and 1130 were introduced 
using some of System/360 technology.  The 1130 was to address the 1620 
marketplace and the 1800 the 1710.  (There were a lot of communications 
devices in the 10xx number range too -- 1050, 1060 families come to mind.) 

System/360 came along and most of its machine numbers were in the 2000 
range.  Processors began with 20xx, disk with 23xx, tape with 24xx, card 
I/O with 25xx, remote I/O with 27xx, control units with 28xx.  (29xx was 
reserved for RPQ devices which became a bit more main line.)  System/370 
used the 3000 range of numbers.

Things went a bit wild in the late 1970s when the 8100 and 4300 were 
announced.  There are a lot in the 9000 range today -- which had been 
reserved for RPQ devices.

I believe that there is a problem today with some machine numbers being 
recycled -- as some of the "printer company" devices show.

But to answer your question /why "1130" was chosen/, I have _no_ idea 
why that set of numbers was selected.  Hopefully, someone else may have 
better insight.

Regards, Bill



Bill Selmeier wrote:
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> With the upcoming IBM1130.org annual party coming up, I'm curious as 
> to how this machine got its name?
>
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