The initial idea leading to cluster computing was developed in the 1960s by IBM as a

way of linking large mainframes to provide a cost-effective form of commercial

parallelism. During those days, IBM's HASP (Houston Automatic Spooling Priority)

system and its successor, JES (Job Entry System), provided a way of distributing work to

a user-constructed mainframe cluster. IBM still supports clustering of mainframes

through their Parallel Sysplex system, which allows the hardware, operating system,

middleware, and system management software to provide dramatic performance and

cost improvements while permitting large mainframe users to continue to run their

existing applications.

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