<s>
The	O
Future	B-Device
Systems	I-Device
project	I-Device
(	O
FS	O
)	O
was	O
a	O
research	O
and	O
development	O
project	O
undertaken	O
in	O
IBM	O
in	O
the	O
early	O
1970s	O
,	O
aiming	O
to	O
develop	O
a	O
revolutionary	O
line	O
of	O
computer	O
products	O
,	O
including	O
new	O
software	O
models	O
which	O
would	O
simplify	O
software	O
development	O
by	O
exploiting	O
modern	O
powerful	O
hardware	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
Until	O
the	O
end	O
of	O
the	O
1960s	O
,	O
IBM	O
had	O
been	O
making	O
most	O
of	O
its	O
profit	O
on	O
the	O
hardware	B-Architecture
,	O
bundling	O
support	O
software	O
and	O
services	O
along	O
with	O
its	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Only	O
hardware	B-Architecture
carried	O
a	O
price	O
tag	O
,	O
but	O
those	O
prices	O
included	O
an	O
allocation	O
for	O
software	O
and	O
services	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Other	O
manufacturers	O
had	O
started	O
to	O
market	O
compatible	O
hardware	B-Architecture
,	O
mainly	O
peripherals	O
such	O
as	O
tape	O
and	O
disk	B-Device
drives	I-Device
,	O
at	O
a	O
price	O
significantly	O
lower	O
than	O
IBM	O
,	O
thus	O
shrinking	O
the	O
possible	O
base	O
for	O
recovering	O
the	O
cost	O
of	O
software	O
and	O
services	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Early	O
in	O
1971	O
,	O
after	O
Gene	O
Amdahl	O
had	O
left	O
IBM	O
to	O
set	O
up	O
his	O
own	O
company	O
offering	O
IBM	O
compatible	O
mainframes	B-Architecture
,	O
an	O
internal	O
IBM	O
taskforce	O
(	O
project	O
Counterpoint	O
)	O
concluded	O
that	O
the	O
compatible	O
mainframe	B-Architecture
business	O
was	O
indeed	O
a	O
viable	O
business	O
,	O
and	O
that	O
the	O
basis	O
for	O
charging	O
for	O
software	O
and	O
services	O
as	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
hardware	B-Architecture
price	O
would	O
quickly	O
vanish	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Therefore	O
,	O
the	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
customer	O
's	O
IT	O
budget	O
available	O
for	O
hardware	B-Architecture
vendors	O
would	O
be	O
significantly	O
reduced	O
in	O
the	O
coming	O
years	O
,	O
and	O
with	O
it	O
the	O
base	O
for	O
IBM	O
revenue	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
the	O
same	O
time	O
,	O
IBM	O
was	O
under	O
legal	O
attack	O
for	O
its	O
dominant	O
position	O
and	O
its	O
policy	O
of	O
bundling	O
software	O
and	O
services	O
in	O
the	O
hardware	B-Architecture
price	O
,	O
so	O
that	O
any	O
attempt	O
at	O
"	O
re-bundling	O
"	O
part	O
of	O
its	O
offerings	O
had	O
to	O
be	O
firmly	O
justified	O
on	O
a	O
pure	O
technical	O
basis	O
,	O
so	O
as	O
to	O
withstand	O
any	O
legal	O
challenge	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
hoped	O
that	O
a	O
new	O
architecture	O
making	O
a	O
heavier	O
use	O
of	O
hardware	B-Architecture
resources	O
,	O
the	O
cost	O
of	O
which	O
was	O
going	O
down	O
,	O
could	O
significantly	O
simplify	O
software	O
development	O
and	O
reduce	O
costs	O
for	O
both	O
IBM	O
and	O
customers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
design	O
principle	O
of	O
FS	O
was	O
a	O
"	O
single-level	B-Device
store	I-Device
"	O
which	O
extended	O
the	O
idea	O
of	O
virtual	B-Architecture
memory	I-Architecture
to	O
cover	O
persistent	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Working	O
memory	O
,	O
files	O
,	O
and	O
databases	B-Application
were	O
all	O
accessed	O
in	O
a	O
uniform	O
way	O
by	O
an	O
abstraction	O
of	O
the	O
notion	O
of	O
address	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Therefore	O
,	O
programmers	O
would	O
not	O
have	O
to	O
be	O
concerned	O
whether	O
the	O
object	O
they	O
were	O
trying	O
to	O
access	O
was	O
in	O
memory	O
or	O
on	O
the	O
disk	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Implementation	O
of	O
that	O
principle	O
required	O
that	O
the	O
addressing	O
mechanism	O
at	O
the	O
heart	O
of	O
the	O
machine	O
would	O
incorporate	O
a	O
complete	O
storage	O
hierarchy	O
management	O
system	O
and	O
major	O
portions	O
of	O
a	O
data	B-Application
base	I-Application
management	I-Application
system	I-Application
,	O
that	O
until	O
then	O
were	O
implemented	O
as	O
add-on	O
software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Another	O
principle	O
was	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
very	O
high-level	O
complex	O
instructions	O
to	O
be	O
implemented	O
in	O
microcode	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
an	O
example	O
,	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
instructions	O
,	O
CreateEncapsulatedModule	O
,	O
was	O
a	O
complete	O
linkage	B-Application
editor	I-Application
.	I-Application
</s>
<s>
Other	O
instructions	O
were	O
designed	O
to	O
support	O
the	O
internal	O
data	O
structures	O
and	O
operations	O
of	O
programming	O
languages	O
such	O
as	O
FORTRAN	B-Application
,	O
COBOL	B-Application
,	O
and	O
PL/I	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
effect	O
,	O
FS	O
was	O
designed	O
to	O
be	O
the	O
ultimate	O
complex	B-Architecture
instruction	I-Architecture
set	I-Architecture
computer	I-Architecture
(	O
CISC	B-Architecture
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Another	O
way	O
of	O
presenting	O
the	O
same	O
concept	O
was	O
that	O
the	O
entire	O
collection	O
of	O
functions	O
previously	O
implemented	O
as	O
hardware	B-Architecture
,	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
software	O
,	O
data	B-Application
base	I-Application
software	O
and	O
more	O
would	O
now	O
be	O
considered	O
as	O
making	O
up	O
one	O
integrated	O
system	O
,	O
with	O
each	O
and	O
every	O
elementary	O
function	O
implemented	O
in	O
one	O
of	O
many	O
layers	O
including	O
circuitry	O
,	O
microcode	B-Device
,	O
and	O
conventional	O
software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
More	O
than	O
one	O
layer	O
of	O
microcode	B-Device
and	O
code	O
were	O
contemplated	O
,	O
sometimes	O
referred	O
to	O
as	O
picocode	B-Device
or	O
millicode	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Depending	O
on	O
the	O
people	O
one	O
was	O
talking	O
to	O
,	O
the	O
very	O
notion	O
of	O
a	O
"	O
machine	O
"	O
therefore	O
ranged	O
between	O
those	O
functions	O
which	O
were	O
implemented	O
as	O
circuitry	O
(	O
for	O
the	O
hardware	B-Architecture
specialists	O
)	O
to	O
the	O
complete	O
set	O
of	O
functions	O
offered	O
to	O
users	O
,	O
irrespective	O
of	O
their	O
implementation	O
(	O
for	O
the	O
systems	O
architects	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
That	O
universal	O
controller	O
would	O
have	O
a	O
very	O
limited	O
instruction	O
set	O
,	O
restricted	O
to	O
those	O
operations	O
required	O
for	O
I/O	O
,	O
pioneering	O
the	O
concept	O
of	O
a	O
reduced	B-Architecture
instruction	I-Architecture
set	I-Architecture
computer	I-Architecture
(	O
RISC	B-Architecture
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Meanwhile	O
,	O
John	O
Cocke	O
,	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
chief	O
designers	O
of	O
early	O
IBM	O
computers	O
,	O
began	O
a	O
research	O
project	O
to	O
design	O
the	O
first	O
reduced	B-Architecture
instruction	I-Architecture
set	I-Architecture
computer	I-Architecture
(	O
RISC	B-Architecture
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
long	O
run	O
,	O
the	O
RISC	B-Architecture
architecture	O
,	O
which	O
eventually	O
evolved	O
into	O
IBM	O
's	O
Power	O
and	O
PowerPC	B-Architecture
architecture	O
,	O
proved	O
to	O
be	O
vastly	O
cheaper	O
to	O
implement	O
and	O
capable	O
of	O
achieving	O
much	O
higher	O
clock	O
rate	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
IBM	B-Device
Future	I-Device
Systems	I-Device
project	I-Device
(	O
FS	O
)	O
was	O
officially	O
started	O
In	O
September	O
1971	O
,	O
following	O
the	O
recommendations	O
of	O
a	O
special	O
task	O
force	O
assembled	O
in	O
the	O
second	O
quarter	O
of	O
1971	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
symptom	O
was	O
the	O
poor	O
performance	O
of	O
its	O
largest	O
implementation	O
,	O
but	O
the	O
project	O
was	O
also	O
marred	O
by	O
protracted	O
internal	O
arguments	O
about	O
various	O
technical	O
aspects	O
,	O
including	O
internal	O
IBM	O
debates	O
about	O
the	O
merits	O
of	O
RISC	B-Architecture
vs.	O
CISC	B-Architecture
designs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
complexity	O
of	O
the	O
instruction	O
set	O
was	O
another	O
obstacle	O
;	O
it	O
was	O
considered	O
"	O
incomprehensible	O
"	O
by	O
IBM	O
's	O
own	O
engineers	O
and	O
there	O
were	O
strong	O
indications	O
that	O
the	O
system	O
wide	O
single-level	B-Device
store	I-Device
could	O
not	O
be	O
backed	O
up	O
in	O
part	O
,	O
foretelling	O
the	O
IBM	B-Device
AS/400	I-Device
'	O
s	O
partitioning	O
of	O
the	O
System/38	B-Device
'	O
s	O
single-level	B-Device
store	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Moreover	O
,	O
simulations	O
showed	O
that	O
the	O
execution	O
of	O
native	O
FS	O
instructions	O
on	O
the	O
high-end	O
machine	O
was	O
slower	O
than	O
the	O
System/370	B-Device
emulator	B-Application
on	O
the	O
same	O
machine	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
end	O
,	O
it	O
appeared	O
that	O
the	O
cost	O
of	O
migrating	O
the	O
mass	O
of	O
user	O
investments	O
in	O
COBOL	B-Application
and	O
assembly	B-Language
language	I-Language
based	O
applications	O
to	O
FS	O
was	O
in	O
many	O
cases	O
likely	O
to	O
be	O
greater	O
than	O
the	O
cost	O
of	O
acquiring	O
a	O
new	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
finally	O
released	O
as	O
the	O
IBM	B-Device
System/38	I-Device
,	O
which	O
proved	O
to	O
be	O
a	O
good	O
design	O
for	O
ease	O
of	O
programming	O
,	O
but	O
it	O
was	O
woefully	O
underpowered	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
AS/400	B-Device
inherited	O
the	O
same	O
architecture	O
,	O
but	O
with	O
performance	O
improvements	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
both	O
machines	O
,	O
the	O
high-level	O
instruction	O
set	O
generated	O
by	O
compilers	O
is	O
not	O
interpreted	O
,	O
but	O
translated	O
into	O
a	O
lower-level	O
machine	O
instruction	O
set	O
and	O
executed	O
;	O
the	O
original	O
lower-level	O
instruction	O
set	O
was	O
a	O
CISC	B-Architecture
instruction	O
set	O
with	O
some	O
similarities	O
to	O
the	O
System/360	B-Application
instruction	O
set	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
later	O
machines	O
the	O
lower-level	O
instruction	O
set	O
was	O
an	O
extended	O
version	O
of	O
the	O
PowerPC	B-Architecture
instruction	O
set	O
,	O
which	O
evolved	O
from	O
John	O
Cocke	O
's	O
RISC	B-Architecture
machine	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
dedicated	O
hardware	B-Architecture
platform	O
was	O
replaced	O
in	O
2008	O
by	O
the	O
IBM	B-Device
Power	I-Device
Systems	I-Device
platform	O
running	O
the	O
IBM	B-Application
i	I-Application
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Besides	O
System/38	B-Device
and	O
the	O
AS/400	B-Device
,	O
which	O
inherited	O
much	O
of	O
the	O
FS	O
architecture	O
,	O
bits	O
and	O
pieces	O
of	O
Future	O
Systems	O
technology	O
were	O
incorporated	O
in	O
the	O
following	O
parts	O
of	O
IBM	O
's	O
product	O
line	O
:	O
</s>
