RETAIN

RETAIN is a mainframe based database system, accessed via IBM 3270 terminals (or more likely, emulators), used internally within IBM providing service support to IBM field personnel and customers.

The acronym RETAIN stands for REmote Technical Assistance Information Network.

Predecessor System

Historically, two different, but similar, systems were called RETAIN. The first, dating to the mid-1960s was a system that provided technical information to people in the IBM Field Engineering Division in the form of short bulletins or "Tips", organized according to machine type number or, for software, according to software component ID number. This information was accessible using simple query commands from IBM service branch office terminals. The terminals supported by this early RETAIN system were typewriter-type terminals, such as the IBM 2740. These same terminals were also used to access the IBM Field Instruction System (FIS), which provided education in the form of programmed instruction courseware. The RETAIN system was built on the same software framework as that of FIS. In fact, most of the early support for RETAIN was actually written in the language of a "course".