The System 6 (Office System/6) was a word processor made by IBM Office Products Division (OPD), introduced in January, 1977[1].
At the time of announcement it featured a built-in printer and storage on magnetic cards.
The already-available IBM 6640 ink-jet printer was retroactively assigned part of the System 6.
Development was done in the "Rio" project. The project lead to the decision to reject the proposed video display upgrade for the Selectric Mag Card II; instead, it was announced in 1977 that Mag Card II users will be able to add a communications option to link up with System 6[2].
In a 1977 presentation the System 6 was shown with the models 6/430, 6/440, and 6/450. One year later the models 6/442 and 6/452 were shown additionally. System 6 building blocks were monitor, keyboard, magnetic card unit, ink-jet- and daisy-wheel-printers, and a floppy disk station.[3]
In 1978, a stand-alone CPU (without magnetic card and printing capabilities) was added to the product line, the IBM 6/420 Information Processor[4]
In 1979, a communication-enabled laser printer and photocopier combination was introduced, the IBM 6670 Information Distributor.
Also in 1979, IBM General Systems Division (GSD) introduced IBM 5520 systems, not related to System 6, with some overlapping functionality and performance.
Data from Office System/6 could be migrated to IBM 5110 and 5120 with third-party applications[5].