IBM 8750 Business Communication System
The IBM 8750 Business Communications System was a voice and data switching system PABX, suitable for medium to large numbers of extensions, used on customer premises."[1] The 8750 was the European version of the IBM 9751,[2] also a ROLM design.
In 1984, IBM bought the American company ROLM. In 1987 IBM started to market the ROLM-derived IBM 8750 in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxemburg, and the UK. Principally for homologation, a few had been installed in IBM locations, such as IBM Havant in England – however none were installed in customer locations.
The 8750 had from 91 to 3000 telephone extensions; up to 1000 simultaneous conversations; a computer based on a Motorola 68020; up to 16 IBM 8755 Operator Consoles; a 30MB fixed disk; main/satellite working with IBM 3750 and 1750 Switching Systems; digital trunks in Belgium, Italy and the UK; and ISDN and Systems Network Architecture (SNA) networks.[3]
IBM later sold ROLM to Siemens[4][5] who then continued to market the 8750.
References
- Freshwater, R. "IBM 8750". THE TELEPHONE FILE. Retrieved April 29, 2018.
- Brown, Bob (Dec 19, 1988). "IBM, Siemans carve up ROLM operations". Vol. 5, no. 51. Network World. Retrieved April 29, 2018.
- IBM brochure G511-1025-0 dated 10/87; System description GA19-5480 and 20 other manuals
- "History of ROLM, IBM, and Siemens Enterprise Communications".
- Markoff, John (14 December 1988). "IBM to sell Rolm to Siemens". The New York Times. No. Dec 14, 1088. The New York Times. Retrieved April 29, 2018.