Editing IBM Series/1 (section)

==Applications of the Series/1==

The Series/1 was also widely used in manufacturing environments, including [[General Motors]] assembly plants.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bright|first=David|title=IBM adds three processors to 10-year-old Series/1 line|date=June 9, 1986|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qPotVUL72rQC&q=ibm+series+1+used+at+GM&pg=PA13|publisher=ComputerWorld|access-date=3 April 2014}}</ref>  
Example systems and applications included Manufacturing Information Database (MIDB), Vehicle Component Verification System (VCVS) and [[ALDL|Assembly Line Diagnostic Link]] (ALDL). These systems were connected to plant floor devices and used in the realtime manufacture of vehicles. There was also a Time and Attendance (T&A) system connected to badge readers and employee turnstiles. Series/1 computers were also utilized in the early development of GM's [[Manufacturing Automation Protocol]] (MAP)<ref>{{cite news|title=IBM supplies US bureau with Series 1|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19860826&id=U8wzAAAAIBAJ&pg=3776,3711766|newspaper=The Age|access-date=3 April 2014}}</ref>

Commercial applications of customized Series/1 computers included an application by [[State Farm Insurance|State Farm]] as an intelligent remote terminal in agents' offices. The processing unit was built into a desk.

The [[Kmart (United States)|Kmart Corporation]] also used the Series/1 computer initially for its Kmart Information Network (KIN) which handled the store's ordering, invoicing, payroll, inventory, cash, and headquarters to store communications. A separate Series/1 computer was later added in the early phases of its [[Point of sale|POS]] roll-out networked with IBM 3683 registers. The Series/1 used for POS systems was short lived as it was quickly replaced by two IBM PC AT computers running either IBM 3683 or IBM 4683 registers.

The [[Deluxe Corporation]] also used a bank of Series/1 IBM 4956 computers for each check printing facility which handled the plant's business and personal check sales orders and printing operations.   Various serial peripherals were attached: [[Printronix]] bar-coding printers, [[MICR]] Readers, IBM [[ASCII]] Terminals.  Parallel devices were also used for phototypesetting machines, plate makers and Teletype BRPE punch creating [[Punched tape]]; all connecting to the IBM integrated DI/DO digital in/out card. The Series/1 was a good work horse for its day and was operational around the clock in an industrial environment.

[[Severn Trent|Severn Trent Water Authority]] used a number of Series/1 computers running the RPS operating system to collect and process river telemetry outstation data. It polled each outstation every 6 hours and fed data to applications running on their [[ICL 2900]] mainframe.<ref>{{cite report |author1=Guido Premazzi |author2=Erika Hargesheimer |date=2002 |title=Online Monitoring for Drinking Water Utilities |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yTyOq1pyK64C&q=%22outstation%22+monitors+on+the+river+severn&pg=PA339 |publisher=AWWA Research Foundation |page=335 |access-date=25 October 2019 }}
</ref><ref>{{cite report |date=1990 |title=Regional Review |url=http://www.environmentdata.org/archive/ealit:3037/OBJ/preview.pdf |publisher=National Rivers Authority |page=9 |access-date=25 October 2019 }}</ref> Unusually, the communications link between the IBM Series/1 machines and the ICL 2900 machine used the [[Communication protocol|ICL CO3]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Howlett |first1=J |date=November 1981 |title=Architecture of the ICL System 25 |url=https://www.fujitsu.com/uk/Images/ICL-Technical-Journal-v02i04.pdf |journal=ICL Technical Journal |volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=345 |access-date=25 October 2019}}</ref> protocol rather than one of the (de facto standard) IBM communication protocols.

Shared Medical Systems (SMS Corp.)  in the 1980s used the Series/1 (running EDX) as a channel-attached front-end communications processor for its IBM mainframe-based MVS/CICS hospital information system. In this environment the Series/1 provided customized interfaces to diverse (and generally non-IBM) minicomputer-based hospital systems using asynchronous or binary synchronous communications then commonly found in the laboratory, pharmacy, and other departments. Where necessary, the Series/1 also provided batch connectivity to a centralized TCAM host at SMS headquarters in Malvern, PA. Finally, the Series/1 provided a cost-effective method for remote support of the distributed mainframes using inexpensive ASCII terminals and modems, or IBM PCs equipped with light pens (emulating the 3278/9 terminals). The Series/1 was selected for this application due to challenges with MVS/VTAM and the 37x5 supporting straightforward non-SNA/SDLC communications. These Series/1 systems were connected to the mainframe using the Series/1 to System/370 channel attach module, and connected to non-IBM systems using the Feature-Programmable Multi-line Controller and Adapter.

Internally, IBM used banks of Series/1 computers as communications front end systems on their IBM Information Systems commercial network although back end processing was done with [[IBM System/370|System/370]] architecture computers. Also, in some IBM locations, the Series/1 was employed for building access security using ID card readers.