OSIV/XSP was the successor operating system (hereinafter “OS”) to Fujitsu’s two OSs: medium-scale general-purpose OS OSIV/ESPIII, and large-scale general-purpose OS OSIV/X8 FSP. It was announced in November 1990.
Since completing the lineup from medium to super-large computers at the announcement of the FACOM M-100 series medium-scale computers in 1977, Fujitsu had been providing three types of OSs ? medium, large and super-large ? for the M series. With the announcement of OSIV/XSP, the OSs of the M series were integrated into two types, super-large OSIV/MSP and large OSIV/XSP.
The following describes the background to OSIV/XSP development and the features of OSIV/XSP:
1.Background to OSIV/XSP development
With the announcement of the medium-scale general-purpose OS OSIV/ESPIII in June 1984, the general-purpose OSs for the M series consisted of three types: OSIV/F4 MSP, OSIV/X8 FSP and OSIV/ESPIII. Since OSIV/ESPIII was developed based on OSIV/X8, the extent to which the software of the M series was shared across the three OSs was increasing. In addition, due to promotion of developing common function among OSs, the differences between OSIV/ESPIII and OSIV/X8 FSP in terms of functions and performance were being reduced.
However, looking ahead to the 1990s, it was predicted that the linkage between open networks and between servers connected to networks would be viewed as more important. Further it was predicted that for OSIV/ESPIII to cope with the spread of networks would become difficult, because OSIV/ESPIII had a different type of network control from those of the upper OSs.
To resolve this issue, the company decided to integrate the successor OSs to OSIV/ESPIII and OSIV/X8 FSP into one OS, which led to the development of OSIV/XSP based on OSIV/X8 FSP.
With the announcement of the medium-scale general-purpose OS OSIV/ESPIII in June 1984, the general-purpose OSs for the M series consisted of three types: OSIV/F4 MSP, OSIV/X8 FSP and OSIV/ESPIII. Since OSIV/ESPIII was developed based on OSIV/X8, the extent to which the software of the M series was shared across the three OSs was increasing. In addition, due to promotion of developing common function among OSs, the differences between OSIV/ESPIII and OSIV/X8 FSP in terms of functions and performance were being reduced.
However, looking ahead to the 1990s, it was predicted that the linkage between open networks and between servers connected to networks would be viewed as more important. Further it was predicted that for OSIV/ESPIII to cope with the spread of networks would become difficult, because OSIV/ESPIII had a different type of network control from those of the upper OSs.
To resolve this issue, the company decided to integrate the successor OSs to OSIV/ESPIII and OSIV/X8 FSP into one OS, which led to the development of OSIV/XSP based on OSIV/X8 FSP.
2. Features of OSIV/XSP
OSIV/XSP was developed to perform the following two roles:
The following describes the features of OSIV/XSP:
OSIV/XSP was developed to perform the following two roles:
1) “Frontline business support,” which would assist in the use of information by individuals and departments by supporting the spread of personal computers (PCs)/workstations (WSs)
2) “Mission critical system support,” which would foster the enhancing and spreading of business systems that could serve as the bases of corporate activities
The following describes the features of OSIV/XSP:
(1) Support for end user computing
OSIV/XSP provided the following functions that enabled the end users to build business applications and to inherit and augment their assets, in order to support for end users to spread their activities and to achieve their free utilization of information.
OSIV/XSP provided the following functions that enabled the end users to build business applications and to inherit and augment their assets, in order to support for end users to spread their activities and to achieve their free utilization of information.
- Function for linking PC/WS and mission critical DB (AP/JOIN, SPOOL/JOIN)
- Managerial operation support (functions for data extraction and utilization support) (DB-EXPRESS, DB-AGENCY)
- Decision support functions (STRACT, μSTRACT)
(2) Support for high-performance relational database RDBII
Fujitsu had provided the relational database AIM/RDB for OSIV/X8 FSP. The company put the relational type database DB/E III to practical use for OSIV/ESPIII, and it was the first mission-critical database of an OS to be achieved with the OSIV series.
For OSIV/XSP, Fujitsu significantly increased the performance, adopted an international standard, and provided RDBII, which had already been provided for OSIV/MSP.
For RDBII, the company adopted the database language SQL, which complied with the international standard ISO SQL9075, in response to standardization of relational databases. In addition, the company shortened the database access time by adopting a dedicated access method, and achieved high transaction processing performance by introducing advanced optimization processing for SQL.
RDBII, provided for OSIV/XSP, was equipped with a READ/WRITE interface for COBOL applications that had been provided for DB/E III of OSIV/ESPIII, while conforming to an international standard. The READ/WRITE interface made it easier to transition from OSIV/ESPIII to OSIV/XSP.
Fujitsu had provided the relational database AIM/RDB for OSIV/X8 FSP. The company put the relational type database DB/E III to practical use for OSIV/ESPIII, and it was the first mission-critical database of an OS to be achieved with the OSIV series.
For OSIV/XSP, Fujitsu significantly increased the performance, adopted an international standard, and provided RDBII, which had already been provided for OSIV/MSP.
For RDBII, the company adopted the database language SQL, which complied with the international standard ISO SQL9075, in response to standardization of relational databases. In addition, the company shortened the database access time by adopting a dedicated access method, and achieved high transaction processing performance by introducing advanced optimization processing for SQL.
RDBII, provided for OSIV/XSP, was equipped with a READ/WRITE interface for COBOL applications that had been provided for DB/E III of OSIV/ESPIII, while conforming to an international standard. The READ/WRITE interface made it easier to transition from OSIV/ESPIII to OSIV/XSP.
(3) Advanced online database AIM V20 AIM V20
Fujitsu developed the online database AIM V20 for four purpOSs: developmental/operability improvement, enhancement of distributed processing, standardization (i.e., making user’s DB/DC program assets more interoperable with the M series mainframes, the K series office computers and the FM series personal computers), and performance improvement (i.e., improving transaction performance in conjunction with the latest hardware features).
Fujitsu developed the online database AIM V20 for four purpOSs: developmental/operability improvement, enhancement of distributed processing, standardization (i.e., making user’s DB/DC program assets more interoperable with the M series mainframes, the K series office computers and the FM series personal computers), and performance improvement (i.e., improving transaction performance in conjunction with the latest hardware features).
(4) Support of scalable networks
The OS provided functions to meet open networks much better and new network technologies:
The OS provided functions to meet open networks much better and new network technologies:
- Supported international standard OSI as the basic function of VTAM-G/NCP-G/AIM, and provided MHS (Message Handling Systems) and FTAM (File Transfer, Access and Management).
- Supported UNIX standard commands, X-WINDOW and NFS server as support for industry standard TCP/IP.
- Enabled mutual use of Japanese-language terminals through FLCF (FNA Loose Coupling Facility) and FLCF/SC (FLCF/Stream Converter) which were functions for connection with the industry-standard SNA system
- Supported new communication networks/transmission lines such as ISDN (INS Net 64 and 1500) and high-speed LAN (FDDI at 100 Mbps) in order to transmit large volumes of information at high speed and low cost.
(5) Improvement of system operation environment
The OS provided functions that were designed to improve operability, to promote automation/labor-saving and to perform integrated management of resources in order to allow system operation with fewer personnel.
The OS provided functions that were designed to improve operability, to promote automation/labor-saving and to perform integrated management of resources in order to allow system operation with fewer personnel.
- Operational functions for system operation using icons, and support for building menu-based business applications
- Automation of system operation from start to stop (AOF: Advanced Operation Facility), and automation of start, stop and monitoring of batch jobs
- Functions for automation/labor-saving in storage management
- Function for centralized management of networks (COMS-I: COMS(*) of Information processing subsystem), and HSO (Hierarchical System Operation facility), which enabled status monitoring and operation of sub-hosts and clusters
* COMS: Corporate Network Management System
* COMS: Corporate Network Management System
- Multi-OS operation function (EMOS: Extended Maintenance Operating System), which enabled the operation of multiple systems
(6) Functions for creating a highly reliable system
The OS provided functions for building a highly reliable system in order to prevent system stoppage even in the event of failure.
The OS provided functions for building a highly reliable system in order to prevent system stoppage even in the event of failure.
- ADCF (Automatic Duplex Control Facility), which enabled taking over operation of the failed system in the event of trouble and enabled early recovery the operation by duplexing the hardware and software
- DVCF (Dual Volume Control Facility), which prevented any data loss in the event of an device anomaly and enabled continuous business operation to continue by duplexing direct-access device such as a magnetic disk unit
(7) Increased productivity for developing information processing system
At that time, with information systems becoming increasingly sophisticated and complex, it was desired to provide the ability for building high-quality systems while taking into account realization of short-period development and maintainability. OSIV/XSP provided a comprehensive development system called SDAS (System Development Architecture and Support Facilities), which realized acceleration of developing information systems. SDAS provided the following three concepts and “specific tools” to cover the whole lifecycle, from the design stage through maintenance.
At that time, with information systems becoming increasingly sophisticated and complex, it was desired to provide the ability for building high-quality systems while taking into account realization of short-period development and maintainability. OSIV/XSP provided a comprehensive development system called SDAS (System Development Architecture and Support Facilities), which realized acceleration of developing information systems. SDAS provided the following three concepts and “specific tools” to cover the whole lifecycle, from the design stage through maintenance.
- Focus on the design stage
- Minimal software development
- Proper project management
