In 1972 an upgrade option was announced "to provide the hardware necessary to operate in a virtual memory mode."<ref>{{cite newspaper|newspaper=Computerworld|date=August 15, 1973|page=17|title=First IBM DAT Box Installed|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T3qky0Z-gc0C&pg=PA17#v=onepage&q&f=false}}</ref>
Unlike the [[IBM System/370 Model 145]], which as early as June 1971 could have virtual memory capability added to it with a simple [[microcode]] update from a floppy disk, the Model 155 and Model 165 needed expensive hardware additions - additions—$200,000 for the 155 and $400,000 for the 165 - to165—to add virtual memory capability, and even this had to wait until 1972, at which time their upgraded 155 was known as an IBM System/370 Model 155-II.<ref>{{cite journal | author = A. Padegs | title = System/360 and Beyond | journal = IBM Journal of Research & Development | volume = 25 | issue = 5 | pages = 377–390 |date=September 1981 | publisher = IBM | doi = 10.1147/rd.255.0377}} – tables include model characteristics (Table 1) and announcement/shipment dates (Table 2). The S/370-155-II and -165-II are listed under the former but not the latter, because the upgraded systems were not formally announced as separate models. The "System/370 Advanced Function" announcement, including the -158 and -168, was the main public event.</ref>
wait until 1972, at which time their upgraded 155 was known as an IBM System/370 Model 155-II.<ref>{{cite journal | author = A. Padegs | title = System/360 and Beyond | journal = IBM Journal of Research & Development | volume = 25 | issue = 5 | pages = 377–390 |date=September 1981 | publisher = IBM | doi = 10.1147/rd.255.0377}} – tables include model characteristics (Table 1) and announcement/shipment dates (Table 2). The S/370-155-II and -165-II are listed under the former but not the latter, because the upgraded systems were not formally announced as separate models. The "System/370 Advanced Function" announcement, including the -158 and -168, was the main public event.</ref>
