IBM Airline Control Program: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Operating system developed by IBM beginning about 1965}}

'''Airlines Control Program''', or '''ACP''', was the [[operating system]] developed by [[IBM]] from about [[1965]] onwards for processing [[airline]] reservations and related data. In contrast to previous airline transaction processing systems, the most notable aspect of ACP is that it was designed to run on most models of the [[IBM]] [[System/360]] mainframe computer family. This departed from the earlier model in which each airline would have a different, machine-specific transaction system.

{{Infobox OS

| name = Airline Control Program (ACP)

| logo = IBM logo.svg

| logo caption =

| logo size = 120px

| screenshot =

| caption =

| developer = [[IBM]]

| source_model =

| kernel_type =

| supported_platforms = most models of the [[IBM]] [[System/360]] mainframe computer family

| ui =

| family = [[Transaction Processing Facility]] (TPF)

| released = {{Start date and age|1968}} (as part of [[Programmed Airline Reservations System|PARS]]; separated in 1969)

| latest_release_version = 9.2.1

| latest_release_date = {{Start date and age|1979|2}}

| latest_test_version =

| latest_test_date =

| marketing_target = [[Programmed Airline Reservations System]]

| programmed_in =

| prog_language =

| language = [[English language|English]]

| updatemodel =

| package_manager =

| working_state = Discontinued

| license =

| website =

}}

{{History of IBM mainframe operating systems|tpf}}

'''AirlinesIBM Airline Control Program''', or '''ACP''', wasis thea discontinued [[operating system]] developed by [[IBM]] frombeginning about [[1965]] onwards for processing [[airline]] reservations and related data. In contrast to previous [[airline]] [[transaction processing systemssystem]]s, the most notable aspect of ACP is that it was designed to run on most models of the [[IBM]] [[System/360]] mainframe computer family. This departed from the earlier model in which each airline would havehad a different, machine-specific transaction system.

==Overview==

In February [[1979]], ACP became known as ACP/TPF and then just [[TPF]] (Transaction Processing Facility) as the transaction operating system became more widely implemented by businesses other than the major airlines.

Development began with ''[[Sabre (travel reservation system)|SABRE]] (Semi-Automatic Business Research Environment)'', ''Deltamatic'', and ''PANAMAC''. From these, the ''[[Programmed Airline Reservations System]] (PARS)'' was developed. In 1969 the control program, ''ACP'', was separated from PARS. PARS kept the functions for processing [[airline]] reservations and related data.

In December 1979, ACP became known as ACP/TPF and then just [[Transaction Processing Facility|TPF]] (Transaction Processing Facility).<ref>{{cite web

|title= A Short History TPF

|date= May 14, 2002

*[ |url= http://www.blackbeard.com/tpf/tpfhist.htm The Alternative TPF Homepage]

|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20041204030934/http://www.blackbeard.com/tpf/tpfhist.htm

|archive-date= December 4, 2004

|access-date= October 24, 2009

}}</ref> The transaction operating system became more widely implemented by businesses other than the major airlines, such as online credit card processing, hotel and rental car reservations, police emergency response systems, and package delivery systems.

The last "free" release of ACP, 9.2.1, was intended for use in bank card and similar applications. It was shipped on a "[[Magnetic_tape_data_storage#IBM_formats|mini-reel]]" which contained a complete ACP system and its libraries for restoration to [[IBM 3340]] disk drives. From that complete system one could easily create derivative works. A [[hypervisor]] was included, which allowed OS/370 [[OS/VS1|VS1]] or VS2 ([[IBM Single Virtual Storage (SVS)|SVS]] or [[MVS]]) to be run as a "guest" OS under ACP itself. The end-user documentation, which was shipped with the tape, took almost 60 linear inches of shelf space.

See also [[ALCS transaction monitor|''IBM Airline Control System (ALCS)'']], a variant of TPF specially designed to provide all the benefits of TPF (very high speed, high volume, high availability transaction processing) but with the advantages such as easier integration into the data center offered by running on a standard IBM operating system platform.

==See also==

* [[Timeline of operating systems]]

==References==

{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==

* {{cite journal

| last = Siwiec

| first = J.E.

| title = A high-performance DB/DC system

| journal = IBM Journal of Research and Development

| date = 1977

| volume = 1977

| issue = 2

| pages = 169–195

| url = http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/sj/162/ibmsj1602H.pdf

| doi=10.1147/sj.162.0169

}}

==External links==

* [httphttps://www-306.ibm.com/softwareit-infrastructure/htp/tpfz/transaction-processing-facility Official IBM TPF website]

* [http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pdf/ibm/370/ACP_TPF/GH20-2140-1_Airline_Control_Program_Transaction_Processing_Facility_General_Information_May79.pdf Airline Control Program/Transaction Processing Facility (ACP /TPF) General Information Manual (1979)]

*[http://www.tpfminds.org TPF Minds] (TPF Professionals Forum)

*[http://www.blackbeard.com/tpf/tpfhist.htm The Alternative TPF Homepage]

{{IBM operating systems}}

[[Category:Aviation history]]

[[Category:Operating20th-century systemsaviation]]

[[Category:IBM mainframe operating systems|Airline Control Program]]

[[Category:Aviation1968 historysoftware]]

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{{mainframe-compu-stub}}