Thursday, February 22, 2007

IBM Journals

The IBM Research Department has has been publishing two interesting journals for some 50 years now. The first one is IBM Systems Journal, the second is the Journal of Research and Development. Both are describing "many important advances in information technology and related topics ranging from atoms to business solutions". My attention was drawn by the latest issue of the Journal of Research and Development :IBM System z9. It's a 230-page issue entirely devoted to the System z9, its architecture, its functional enhancements etc. Sometimes it gets a bit too technical for me, but for those who read the "z/Architecture Principles of Operation" with great pleasure, this is highly recommended reading material.

While browsing through the site, I also found there had been a Special Report : Celebrating 50 years of the IBM Journals. "To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the IBM Journals, this report highlights a selection of significant papers published in the Journals, along with brief commentaries. The Journal editors chose papers which were very highly cited in the technical literature, described technologies of historic significance, or provided an important overview of a field". Just a couple of examples : there's an IBM Database 2 Overview from 1984. There's an article from 1964 on the Architecture of the IBM System/360. There's really lots of interesting material over here divided over several categories : Applications of Information Technology, Storage Systems and Databases, Computing System Architectures, Computing Methodologies, Software, Hardware Design and Implementation, Device Materials and Processes, Fundamental Science and Mathematic.

As I always say : just check it out !

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