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.
No industry specifications for midrange computers were ever established.
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.
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