IBM LAN Server is a discontinued
network operating system introduced by
International Business Machines (IBM) in 1988. LAN Server started as a close cousin of
Microsoft's
LAN Manager and first shipped in early 1988. It was originally designed to run on top of
Operating System/2 (OS/2) Extended Edition.[1] The network client was called IBM LAN Requester and was included with
OS/2 EE 1.1 by default.[2] (Eventually IBM shipped other clients and supported yet more. Examples include the IBM OS/2 File/Print Client, IBM OS/2 Peer, and client software for
Microsoft Windows.[3]) Here the short term LAN Server refers to the IBM OS/2 LAN Server product. There were also LAN Server products for other operating systems, notably
AIX[4]—now called Fast Connect[5]—and
OS/400.[6]
Predecessors included IBM PC LAN Program (PCLP).[16] Variants included LAN Server Ultimedia (optimized for network delivery of
multimedia files) and LAN On-Demand.[17][18] Add-ons included Directory and Security Server,[19] Print Services Facility/2 (later known as Advanced Printing),[20] Novell
NetWare for OS/2,[21] and LAN Server for
Macintosh.[22]
Innovations
LAN Server pioneered certain file and print sharing concepts such as domains (and
domain controllers), networked
COM ports, domain aliases, and automatic printer driver selection and installation.[citation needed]
^Petreley, Nicholas (August 22, 1994).
"IBM cleans up LAN Server's act". InfoWorld. 16 (34). IDG Publications: 1 – via Gale. IBM's LAN Server 4.0 network operating system, which will be out in Oct[ober] 1994, adds object-oriented administration tools and peer-to-peer services ...