It never saw much success—one anonymous source, according to PC Magazine, called it a "boat anchor"[3]—and became moribund when host-based networks went out of fashion.

It was called the "8100 Loop" or "R-Loop"[5] and it supported various attached terminals (such as the 3104), printers (such as the free-standing 3268-1) and other devices.

The 8100 also supported an "intelligent" terminal called the 8775 (which shared the same case as the 3279 colour display terminal for IBM's mainframes and, like the 3279 was designed at IBM's UK Development Lab at Hursley Park, England) which was the first to ship with the ability to download its functionality from the host computer to which it was attached.

What was notable about the machines was that they were designed to be "office-friendly", not requiring special power supplies or cooling systems, and running quietly.

In 1983, Computer Automation, Inc. offered a trade-in program for IBM 8100 users, in exchange for a CA-Syfa system.