Midrange

What Does Midrange Mean?

Midrange is a computer class that stands in the middle of mainframes and microcomputers (or desktops/PCs). During the 1960s, this term was frequently used when midrange computers were also known as minicomputers.

Techopedia Explains Midrange

Midrange computers were generally sold to small and medium-sized organizations and as divisional and departmental machines in large organizations.

Midrange computers have been classed as servers in the client-server model since the 1990s. Today, the term midrange implies that the computer or server supports a standard interface used in local area networks (LAN), rather than a proprietary programming interface.

Midrange computer manufacturers included IBM with System 3 and later models, Sun Microsystems with Spark Enterprise, and Hewlett-Packard (HP) with the HP 3000 line.

Related Reading

Margaret Rouse

Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.

All Articles by Margaret Rouse