IBM Retail Store Systems

IBM began selling retail point of sale systems starting in 1973 with the IBM 3650 Retail Store System aimed at department and chain stores and the IBM 3660 Supermarket System designed for supermarkets. The IBM 3650 was announced alongside other IBM vertical industry systems such as the IBM 3600 Finance Communication System, and the IBM 3790 communications system, the combination of which IBM described as a "revolution in terminal based systems". All of these systems relied on a significant number of developments across IBM: • New chips: Large Scale Integration allowed advanced Field Effect Transistor logic chips that packed far more transistors onto a new metalized one-inch square ceramic substrate • Gas panels: Developed as an alternative to cathode ray tubes, the neon argon gas panel provided clear and flicker-free images. • Modem communications: Synchronous Data Link Control provided lower-cost communications over telephone lines • New disks: The "Gulliver" disk file that supplied a hard drive smaller than three cubic feet and also the "Igar" diskette drive • Smaller printers: A disk printer system called "spica" that used a rotating disk print element with engraved print elements that are struck by a single hammer as the disk rotates • Belt printers: A new system, known as "Lynx," using a removable belt that was significantly cheaper, quieter and simpler than earlier chain printers • Keyboards: New keyboard technology called "Calico" that could build a wide variety of keyboards using common manufacturing facilities • Power supplies: Transistorised Switching Regulators or TsRs: compact power supplies that are one third to one-fourth the size of previous generations Store Loop (SLOOP) architecture The 36xx retail terminals are connected to the store controller via a loop also called a Store Loop, similar to that used by the IBM 3600 Finance System. == IBM 3650 Retail Store System ==

The 3650 System is a family of products designed to computerise a retail store, both at the point of sale and for back office store management functions. It includes a method to generate encoded tickets for merchandise, rather than use the Universal Product Code (UPC). The key devices for the system were as follows: Shop Floor 3653 Point of Sale Terminal Designed for the store floor, it is a loop attached device with: • Model P1, which is customer programmable. Has 36 KB of storage expandable to 60 KB. Was announced 13 October 1978. Back office equipment 3651 Store Controller Controls data flow inside either a single store or multiple stores and sends retail transactions to a mainframe using a modem. • 7480 Model 1: Has a 18.6 MB internal disk • 7480 Model 2: Has a 27.9 MB internal disk 3872 Modem Used to attach to a 3659 for remote loops. Each 3872 can attach three 3659s. International uptake was also strong. By early 1976, Quelle, Germany's largest mail-order retailer, had begun installing the 3650 across all 23 of its stores, with 100 terminals already in operation and a further 500 on order. Galeries Lafayette in Paris signed for 400 terminals; Spanish chain Galerías Preciados and Australian department store Grace Brothers also placed orders. In July 1976, B. Altman & Company became the first department store in the United States to equip its entire chain with the IBM 3650 Retail Store System. This totalled close to 525 terminals across five branches, around 180 of them in the Fifth Avenue flagship store. These were connected to two System/370 Model 135 processors. ==IBM 3660 Supermarket System==

IBM announced the 3660 Supermarket System on 11 October 1973, with first deliveries aimed for the third quarter of 1974. The 3660 System is designed to computerise supermarket point of sale. It consists of checkout terminals as well as back office equipment for store management. Note that while IBM was heavily involved in the development of the UPC, the first retail purchase using the UPC (for a packet of Wrigley's chewing gum), was actually performed on an NCR register with a Spectra Physics model A price scanner. The key devices for the IBM 3660 System were as follows: • Communicated with a mainframe using a 3669 or 3976-3 or other modem. • Can have two store loops and each loop can have 12 x 3663s or 18 by adding an additional 8 KB of storage • Has a CE and an operator panel There were several models: The lack of price tags did result in legal action agains supermarket Purity Supreme in 1977. They were challenged in Massachusetts Middlesex Superior Court as to the legality of not printing prices on each individual stock item as part of their adoption of the 3660 system. ==IBM 3680 Programmable Store System==

IBM's Data Processing Division announced the 3680 Programmable Store System on 8 January 1979. Shop floor components There were a variety of shop floor components: IBM 3683 Point of Sale Terminal (Model 001) This terminal features the following: • a numeric keypad • a variety of keyboard offerings including 35 and 48 keys • a one or two sided display. Display one has an 8 digit display with 32 indicator lights. Display two if ordered is customer facing with an 8 digit display and 6 indicators • function keys for transaction types • eight-digit LED display • a choice of two wand readers, either magnetic or OCR • a bidirectional printer that can have up to three print stations The cashier would enter an item being sold by typing an eight-digit SKU code consisting of a three-digit class number, a four-digit item number, and a check digit. The 3683 with keyboard, display and cash drawer was priced at $3,225; with diskette, $3,950. First deliveries were scheduled for February 1980. Later models A01, A02, 003 and A03 were announced on 19 November 1980. All models were withdrawn 15 December 1987. IBM 3686 Display Station Model 1 was announced 15 May 1981. IBM 3687 Checkout Scanner This is a third-generation scanning unit for the 36xx family and the Model 1 was announced 19 November 1980. The Model 2 was announced 3 May 1985. Back office components For the back office a number of control units were released: IBM 3684 Point of Sale Control Unit (Models 1 and 2) The store controller that manages the terminal network, storing transaction data, and communicating with the retailer's System/370 mainframe. It includes a 985,088 byte double sided diskette drive for application programs, transaction logs and reports. • Model 1: Single unit for a single store with 56 KB of memory • Model 2: Master unit for multiple stores with 56 KB plus 32 KB of memory for each store • Built in printer • Options for an integrated modem or external modem • Option for a disk pack Announced 8 January 1979; both models were withdrawn 15 December 1987. IBM 3685 Display Control Unit (Models 1 and 2) Announced 15 May 1981 IBM 3689 Store Communications Unit The IBM 3689 Store Communications Unit Model 1 was announced on 15 April 1981, providing an updated controller for the 3680 system; it was withdrawn 15 December 1987. ==IBM 5260 Retail System==

IBM's General Systems Division announced the 5260 Retail System on 8 January 1979, at the same time as the 3680. The decision by two divisions of IBM to offer differing retail solutions was considered surprising. Three licensed application programs were available: the Retail Merchandise and Audit System (RMAS), covering data preparation, sales audit and merchandise control, at $65, $130 and $200 per month respectively. A System/370 Retail Data Preparation program followed in February 1980 at $85 per month. A standalone 5260 system with diskette terminal, keyboard and cash drawer was priced at $3,850, or $131 per month on a three-year lease. First deliveries were scheduled for September 1979. The 5265 Point of Sale Terminal and its companion 5266 unit were both withdrawn from marketing on 16 April 1986, shortly after the IBM 4680 Store System was announced in January of that year. == IBM 4680 Store System ==

On 8 January 1986 IBM announced the 4680 Store System. A major change is that rather than use a custom device, the store controller is a variant of IBM PC AT which can manage up to 128 of their new modular IBM 4683 terminals, consisting of 64 Model 1s and 64 Model 2s. Controllers The controllers came in at least two models: • IBM 5170 PC AT Model 899 with either one or two 20-megabyte hard drives with prices starting at $9,120 • IBM 5170 PC AT Model 839 with either one or two 30-megabyte hard drives with prices starting at $9,320 They ran the IBM 4680 operating system, a variant of PC-DOS. Point of sale terminals There were many models of the IBM 4683 point of sale terminal: • Model 2 :announced 8 January 1986. Example customers • The first customer was a Sam’s Club located on Getwell Road in Memphis, TN. • In 1988 McRaes Fashion department store located in four southern United States, stated in an job listing that they were installing over 1200 IBM 4683 POS terminals in 28 remote locations. • In 1993 American Hypermarket Fred Meyers reported that all stores were running the 4680 system. ==Technical significance==

The IBM 3650 and 3660 store systems are cited as among the earliest commercial deployments of several technologies that later became industry standards: • Client–server architecture: the store controller acting as a shared server to a network of client terminals distributed across the store floor. • Local area network (LAN): the in-store SLOOP constituted a shared-medium network with addressable nodes, fault bypass circuitry, and automatic error reporting. • Remote initialisation: terminals could be loaded with updated pricing and application programs from the mainframe over telephone lines, without requiring on-site intervention. • Simultaneous backup: the SLOOP design allowed continuous logging to backup storage and cross-store failover via the 3659 or 3669 communications units. == External links ==