IBM 4341 processors
Introduction: February 1986
The IBM 4341 Processor announced today features advanced large-scale integration technology to provide new and intermediate system users with significantly improved price/performance.
The compact processor is compatible with System/370 and offers large processor storage, fast internal operating speeds and reduced power and cooling requirements.
An IBM 4341 with two million characters of main storage offers a lower purchase price and an instruction execution speed up to 3.2 times that of a System/370 Model 138 with one million characters.
The processor is available in two models: in two-million- and four-million-character versions.
Both models use the IBM 3278 Model 2A display console, with a 1,920-character display and keyboard, for operation and maintenance. Up to three additional consoles and/or 3287 printers (for a total of four devices) can be attached to the 4341.
The new processor uses high-density logic chips with up to 704 circuits, allowing electrical signals to be switched at three billionths of a second, and memory chips that can store 64,000 bits of information.
As a result of these advanced technology and dense packaging techniques, the processor features compact design and significantly reduced power and cooling requirements - up to 50 percent less for the 4341.
Dense modular circuit packaging also results in more reliable operation and makes the system easier to service.
Three new releases of system control programming also were announced for use with the IBM 4300 Processors and System/370, along with new program products supporting a broad range of communication, interactive, remote job entry and system management functions.
The 4341 Processor is particularly suitable for experienced intermediate systems users who need to increase processing power, and those who could benefit from distributed applications that require more capacity. The 4341 can be used with existing IBM input/output and communications devices to increase an organization's capabilities in data communications, interactive computing and application development.
IBM 3370 direct access storage for both the 4331 and 4341 offers more than twice the recording density of previous IBM disk storage devices. It can store up to 571 million characters of information, operating at a data transfer rate of 1.859 million characters per second. It features a head manufactured by a semiconductor process. Up to 32 3370s can be attached to a storage control facility, which, in turn, can be channel-attached to the 4341 Processor.
IBM 3880 Storage Control for the 4341. It provides two separate data paths into the processor for direct access storage devices, including the 3370, for improved workload balancing.
IBM 3203 Model 5 printer for both the 4331 and 4341, operates at 1,200 lines per minute with a 48-character set. Purchase prices for Models 1 through 4 of this printer have been reduced 20 percent.
The 4341, under a 24-month contract, can be leased for $5,975 a month with two million characters of main memory and for $6,725 a month with four million characters. Monthly rental prices are $7,021 and $7,902; purchase prices are $245,000 and $275,000, respectively.
The 3278 Model 2A display console, with keyboard, can be purchased for $3,760, leased for $94 per month or rented for $111 per month.
Corresponding prices for the 3370 direct access storage and control are $35,100, $900 and $1,058; for the 3880 storage control, $62,350, $1,450 and $1,704.
The 3203 Model 5 printer can be purchased for $38,320, leased for $1,255 per month or rented for $1,475 per month.
First customer shipments of the 4341 are scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 1979.
The 4300 Processors were developed by IBM's System Products Division, Endicott, New York and Boeblingen, Germany and will be manufactured in Endicott and Mainz, Germany.
Source: IBM Data Processing Division technical press release distributed on January 30, 1979.