86 IBM eServer zSeries 900 Technical Guide
Parallel channel modes
The IBM S/360, S/370 I/O interface is the communication link between a physical channel on
a System/370, System/390 or z900 server and an I/O control unit. It is designed to work in
S/370 mode, in ESA/390 mode, or in z/Architecture mode. The z900 server supports the
S/370 I/O interface in ESA/390 and z/Architecture modes only.
The parallel channel interface includes:
Byte multiplexer channels
Block multiplexer channels
The S/370 I/O interface uses two cables called bus and tag cables. A bus cable carries data
(one byte each way), and a tag cable carries control information. The channel physical
connection ends with bus and tag terminator plugs.
Due to the electrical character ...