By 1981, the dual-processor 360/195 front-ended by the 3032 was an effective system for both batch processing and providing interactive editing and job submission through the IBM 3032 front-end.
However, the 360/195s were quite old and the 2Mbyte main store with no virtual memory meant they were showing their age. A case was made for replacing both the IBM 3032 and the two 360/195s. The IBM 3032 was quite low powered considering the load that was now being placed on it.
The simple replacement would have been a dual processor IBM 3081 but funds were not available. However, ICL came up with an attractive offer for their first Fujitsu IBM-compatible mainframe rebadged as an Atlas 10. The attractive price and DTI backing for this venture by ICL into the IBM-compatible market, meant that a proposal to purchase an IBM 3081 front-ending an ICL Atlas 10 was accepted.
Replacing the 360/195s by the new system was done in a number of stages to avoid disruption of service. First, the 3081 replaced one of the 360/195s and later, when the Atlas 10 arrived and replaced the second 360/195, the 3081 took over the front-end role.
The IBM 3032 remained as a development system that moved the SERC's Grants and Awards Administration from an ICL 2904 to the IBM 3032 and the 3032 was used by SERC in this role until July 1985.
