A system platform is the basic technology of a computer system's hardware and software that defines how a computer is operated and determines what other kinds of software can be used.

Examples

• Wintel, that is, Intel x86 or compatible hardware and Windows operating system.
• Lintel, that is, Intel x86 or compatible hardware and the Linux operating system.
• x86 with other UNIX variants such as BSD variants.
• RISC processor based machines running UNIX variants (for example, Sun computers running the Solaris operating system)
• Macintosh, custom Apple Computer hardware and MacOS operating system.
• Old home computer microcomputers.
• A mainframe with its custom operating system, say an IBM System/360.
• Supercomputer architectures
• Cluster computing