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Putting a man on the moon is a tough act to follow. But 40 years on, the Information Management System (IMS) star hasn't dimmed. In fact, IBM's hierarchical database management system, developed to track bills of material for lunar-bound Apollo spacecraft, continues to expand its customer universe with significant growth in India, China, and Brazil.
More than 95 percent of the top Fortune 1000 companies use IMS to process more than 50 billion transactions a day and to manage 15 million gigabytes of critical business data. How does a 40-year-old technology developed decades before the arrival of Java, XML, service-oriented architecture (SOA), and even the World Wide Web stay relevant to companies in which these new technologies are firmly entrenched?
Vern Watts, Distinguished Engineer Emeritus at IBM who has worked on IMS from the beginning, attributes the product's successful evolution to a sharp focus on how to get where the businesses want to go. "We don't want to jump on new fads and be kept busy chasing rainbows," Watts explains.
Over the years, IMS opened up to TCP/IP, Java, XML, and more. But, given the importance of the systems IMS supports (ATM networks, aerospace and automotive parts management and bills of materials, insurance policy and claims administration, package delivery logistics, and more), each step forward is considered and executed with great care. "These are mission-critical systems," says Beverly Tyrrell, director of IMS development at IBM. "You don't want to be revolutionary. You want to be evolutionary."
Semi-retired after nearly 50 years at IBM, Watts stays involved with development efforts, including those for IMS 10, which brought XML, Web services, and SOA capabilities to the platform. As they have from the beginning, customers drive the approach to adding new functions, Watts explains. "We always try to stay on top of the new technologies. We started it off with IMS being pretty much a closed system, and that was based on the experience of our customers, whose corporate systems needed to be closed and protected. We've tried to stay in the forefront."
The next steps in the evolution are a series of enhancements to IMS 10 and the start of the initial beta phase (and, in January 2009, the Quality Partnership Program) for IMS 11. Version 10 enhancements include the ability to do synchronous calls to applications on other systems (WebSphere Application Server, for example), new APIs to connect into IMS that make it more accessible, and support for mashups.
IMS 11 enhancements include integration and open access improvements to provide greater flexibility, manageability enhancements to optimize staff productivity, and 64-bit storage that delivers increased performance and availability. Note that IMS consists of both Transaction Manager and Database Manager components. Key IMS 11 features of both components include:
- Open database support for direct distributed TCP/IP access to IMS data
- Broadened Java and XML tooling for efficient application development and access to IMS data
- Support for 64-bit storage in Fast Path Buffer Manager, Application Control Block library, and Local System Queue Area storage reduction
- Enhanced commands and user exits to simplify operations and improve IMS availability.
The early days of IMS required database pioneers to do what few (if any) had done before. As IMS founding father Vern Watts recalled in an article available at vcwatts.org/ibm_story.html, "One of the problems with being early in the programming business is that there was nobody around with more experience than you, and a fairly simple program was still complex, because you didn't have any systems support." To get a sense of just how far IMS has come in 40 years, you have to remember where it all started. This timeline recounts the early days:
1965: North American Rockwell wins bid to launch the first spacecraft to the moon and partners with IBM to create an automated system to manage large bills of material for Apollo spacecraft construction.
1965: North American Rockwell wins bid to launch the first spacecraft to the moon and partners with IBM to create an automated system to manage large bills of material for Apollo spacecraft construction.
1966: Design and development of the Information Control System (ICS) and Data Language/I (DL/I) begins. The founding development team includes 12 members from IBM, 10 from North American Rockwell, and three from Caterpillar Tractor.
1968: ICS is installed, and on August 14, the first "IMS READY" message is displayed on an IBM 2740 terminal at the Rockwell Space Division in Downey, Calif.
1969-1970: ICS is renamed Information Management System/360.
1972: IMS/VS Version 1 ships. Highlights include Multiple Systems Coupling (MSC) for distributed computing, Intersystem Communication (ISC), logging, two-phase commit, DB Recovery Control (DBRC), data sharing, and other innovations.
1985: IBM ships IMS/VS Version 2 with Extended Recovery Facility for backup across systems and non-disruptive introduction of new operating systems, and Data Communications Virtual Storage Constraint Relief to accommodate rapid growth.
As one of its first customers, Caterpillar was involved in IMS' original design and implementation and remains a customer today. The construction and mining equipment manufacturer's current IMS production system includes 8,300 databases, 89,000 transaction codes, and 312,000 terminal definitions, according to Senior Technology Specialist Steve Clanton. Clanton's reflections on IMS' past, present, and future are featured in this recent edition of IMS Newsletter.
Barbara Klein, IMS product manager, attributes the new features to specific needs at customer sites. The connectivity improvements result from customer needs for smooth, efficient interaction between systems, for example. With major applications running on IMS, customers require ultra-high performance and scalability. As Klein points out, "Everyone's trying to grow." That pressure results in a need for the relief from certain capacity constraints that IMS 11 will deliver.
And, of course, the human element of the equation can't be overlooked. In most IT shops, Klein says, resources are strained. As a result, the new release simplifies administration through new commands and exit processes and other administration improvements. Java and XML tools make the platform more accessible to a broader range of IT professionals — including many who are younger than IMS itself.
Through the IBM Academic Initiative, IMS applications (and, soon, courses) are making their way into institutes of higher learning. Online education is already available, and a virtual IMS user group provides support, information, and connections to other users.
Careful consideration of customer needs, followed by meticulous planning and execution, has ensured IMS' success and led it through a remarkable five decades of growth and change. But, to Vern Watts, one of IMS' longest-working contributors, its longevity was almost expected. "It doesn't surprise me that it's gone on for 40 years," Watts says. "In one sense, I always thought it would be here."
In Memoriam
Vern Watts passed away on April 4, 2009. Vern will be greatly missed by the IMS Community.
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