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OpenVMS - Wikipedia

OpenVMS

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OpenVMS, often referred to as just VMS,1 is a multi-user, multiprocessing and virtual memory -based operating system. It is designed to support time-sharing, batch processing, transaction processing and workstation applications.2 Customers using OpenVMS include banks and financial service providers, hospitals and healthcare providers, telecommunications operators, network information services, and industrial manufacturers.34 During the 1990s and 2000s, there were approximately half a million VMS systems in operation worldwide.567

It was first announced by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) as VAX/VMS (Virtual Address eXtension/Virtual Memory System8) alongside the VAX-11/780 minicomputer in 1977.91011 OpenVMS has subsequently been ported to run on DEC Alpha systems, the Itanium -based HPE Integrity Servers,12 and select x86-64 hardware and hypervisors.13 Since 2014, OpenVMS is developed and supported by VMS Software Inc. (VSI).1415 OpenVMS offers high availability through clustering —the ability to distribute the system over multiple physical machines.16 This allows clustered applications and data to remain continuously available while operating system software and hardware maintenance and upgrades are performed,17 or if part of the cluster is destroyed.18 VMS cluster uptimes of 17 years have been reported.19

Printed 2026-10-13.

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Footnotes

  1. “OpenVMS at 20 Nothing stops it” (PDF). Digital Equipment Corporation. October 1997. Retrieved February 12, 2021. ↩

  2. “Software Product Description and QuickSpecs - VSI OpenVMS Version 8.4-2L1 for Integrity servers” (PDF). VMS Software Inc. July 2019. Retrieved January 2, 2021. ↩

  3. “VSI Business & New Products Update – April 9, 2019” (PDF). VSI. April 2019. Retrieved May 4, 2021. ↩

  4. Charles Babcock (November 1, 2007). “VMS Operating System Is 30 Years Old; Customers Believe It Can Last Forever”. InformationWeek. Retrieved February 19, 2021. ↩

  5. Drew Robb (November 1, 2004). “OpenVMS survives and thrives”. computerworld.com. Retrieved December 31, 2020. ↩

  6. Tao Ai Lei (May 30, 1998). “Digital tries to salvage OpenVMS”. computerworld.co.nz. Archived from the original on September 25, 2021. Retrieved December 31, 2020. ↩

  7. Jesse Lipcon (October 1997). “OpenVMS: 20 Years of Renewal”. Digital Equipment Corporation. Archived from the original on February 17, 2006. Retrieved February 12, 2021. ↩

  8. “VAX-11/780 Hardware Handbook” (PDF). Digital Equipment Corporation. 1979. Retrieved October 17, 2022. ↩

  9. Patrick Thibodeau (June 11, 2013). “OpenVMS, R.I.P. 1977-2020?”. Computerworld. Retrieved April 27, 2024. ↩

  10. Tom Merritt (2012). Chronology of Tech History. Lulu.com. p. 104. ISBN 978-1300253075. ↩

  11. “VAX 11/780 - OLD-COMPUTERS.COM: HISTORY/detailed info”. Archived from the original on September 26, 2023. Retrieved April 25, 2020. ↩

  12. “Supported Platforms”. VSI. ↩

  13. “Rollout of V9.0 and Beyond” (PDF). VSI. May 19, 2020. Retrieved May 4, 2021. ↩

  14. “HP hands off OpenVMS development to VSI”. Tech Times. August 1, 2014. Retrieved April 27, 2024. ↩

  15. “VMS Software, Inc. Named Exclusive Developer of Future Versions of OpenVMS Operating System” (Press release). Retrieved October 27, 2017. ↩

  16. “VSI Products - Clusters”. VSI. Archived from the original on May 16, 2021. Retrieved May 4, 2021. ↩

  17. “Cluster Uptime”. November 28, 2003. Archived from the original on February 29, 2012. Retrieved December 20, 2020. ↩

  18. “Commerzbank Survives 9/11 with OpenVMS Clusters” (PDF). July 2009. Retrieved April 27, 2024. ↩

  19. “February 2018 Business & Technical Update” (PDF). VSI. February 2018. Retrieved May 4, 2021. ↩