IBM 360

Introduction

The IBM System 360 mainframe computer, Model 50

 

Before IBM began work on the 360 in the early 1960s, every new model required new hardware and software. But the 360 was designed as a family of compatible machines. "The 360 provided broad-based computing with standards," says Max Hopper, consultant and president of Max D. Hopper Associates. And Kroger Co.'s Michael Heschel, says the 360 "opened mainframe computing to the world."