Talking System Architecture With The Frank Soltis
June 21, 2023 Timothy Prickett Morgan
In a very funny way, the System/38 and its AS/400 and following progeny are the product of coincidence and brilliance. In 1962, had Frank Soltis taken that summer job at an aerospace company that he wanted to work for in Southern California, first of all, he might have ended up with a tan, and second of all, whatever followed the System/34 almost certainly would not have had single level storage, much less the architecture that we still know today, in modified form, as the IBM i platform.
Lucky for us that Frank’s father, who ran a parts distribution operation for General Motors and who was an IBM customer, talked him into taking a job at the new lab Big Blue had recently set up in Rochester, Minnesota, instead.
Like many of us, Soltis, who was one of the architects for the System/38 and chief architect for the AS/400 and the iSeries lines in their turns, is grateful that IBM, his employer for over 40 years from 1968 through 2008, is celebrating the 35th anniversary of the AS/400 being launched. It is an amazing achievement in both architecture and longevity.
I was fortunate enough to get on Dr. Frank’s schedule and shoot the breeze about how it was back then and ask for his thoughts about what is going on in systems right now. So, live on tape from Studio 1A – that is the first bay of the two-car garage where I used to try to park the 2014 Dodge Challenger but which is now a recording studio and a workshop – we hope that you enjoy the conversation.
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Great interview with Frank but you interrupted him way too many times
I was just excited and working against the clock.
Thanks to Timothy Prickett Morgan for this incredibly valuable documentary with Dr, Frank Soltis.
I was very fortunate to have met both of these visionaries, and TPM has a signed copy of Dr. Soltis’ book “‘Fortress Rochester”.
Where are the desperately needed visionaries at IBM today?
Excellent interview with Frank Soltis!
It looks like he has not aged since I last saw him over 15 years ago.
The chat was too short, but that was most enjoyable! I could quite easily listen to you and Dr Soltis talking for a couple of hours. Thank you for sharing.
I agree with Kevin. Too much interruption. Let Frank finish his thought(s).
Is there a transcript available?