Silverlake

Silverlake was the codename for the AS/400 project, named after Silver Lake, Minnesota. It was a skunkworks project created as failsafe in case the Fort Knox project failed, which it ultimately did.

Prototype machines were known to have existed and possibly seeded to third-parties; these machines bore the 9384 machine type but were otherwise visually identical to the released AS/400 machines. These machines are known thanks to a series of press photos IBM released prior to the launch of the AS/400, which depict a range of machines from the low-end to the high-end of the AS/400 lineup:

• Model B20, with an 8" 9331 Diskette Drive and a QIC tape drive (likely 150MB)
• Model B30, with an 8" 9331 Diskette Drive, 9348 Tape Drive, and an array of 9332 DASD
• Model B35, with an 8" 9331 Diskette Drive, 9348 Tape Drive, and an array of 9332 DASD
• Model B50, with an 8" 9331 Diskette Drive, 2440 Tape Drive, and an array of 9335 DASD
• Model B60, with an 8" 9331 Diskette Drive, 2440 Tape Drive, and an array of 9335 DASD

Press Photos

• 
  9384 Model B20
• 
  9384 Model B20, Side View
• 
  9384 Model B20, Color
• 
  Model B30
• 
  Model B35, Side View, Color
• 
  Model B35, Front
• 
  Model B50, Front
• 
  Model B50, Color
• 
  Model B50, Side
• 
  Model B60