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AS400
Introduction
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In AS400, AS stands for "Application System”.
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It is multiuser, multitasking and very secure system and hence is used
for the industry which requires sensitive data to be stored and processed simultaneously.
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It has integrated the DB2 database
management system, menu-driven
interfaces, multi-user support, security, communications, client–server and web-based
applications.
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It is best suited for mid-level industry and hence is used in
pharmaceutical industry, banking, malls, hospital administration,
manufacturing, distribution industry, financial organization, e-commerce etc.
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The AS/400 (Application System/400) was first introduced by IBM on
June 21st, 1988 and later renamed to as eServer iSeries in 2000, then in 2006, it was renamed as System
i . In 2008 System i got unified with System p to become Power
system.
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The operating system for AS400 also got renamed with the rebranding.
Initially, it was OS/400 then i5/OS and then iBM i (Power
system).
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OS/400 Version 4,
introduced a feature LPAR (Logical PARtitioning) which facilitates running multiple operating
systems simultaneously on one IBM System i unit ensuring that one OS doesn’t interfere other’s system
resources/memory.
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Programming languages available for the AS/400 include RPG, assembly
language, C, C++, Pascal, Java, Perl, Smalltalk, COBOL, SQL, BASIC, PHP, Python.
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AS400 is based on Layered machine architecture. It enables user to move
to new hardware technology at any time, without disrupting their application
programs.
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It has Object orientation i.e. everything that can be stored or retrieved
on the system is known as an “objects”. AS400 can recognize only the
object types that have been defined for it. It cannot identify any unknown
objects that don’t seem to be known. It adds extra security to the system.
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It provides contiguous memory between main storage and disk storage. It
provides authority to add any disk space so that use.
·
Another feature of AS400 is that it is very secure system making it to
store sensitive data. It incorporates security at various levels. Any user can
be limited to access/process only particular information on the system.