In an New York Times article of March 28th, the words of Steward Alsop, who predicted that the last mainframe would be unplugged in 1996 were put in context.
The mainframe was use as one example how “old” technology proved to be a strong survivor together with Radio, railways and the most modern one, print media. All these “old” technologies were supposed to be replaced by new ones like television, cars & trucks and the Web respectively.
One of the conclusions is that, to survive, these “old” technologies all have some sort of enduring advantage that is not replaced by its “successor”. And for the mainframe, this typically was the rock-solid stability and security to run vital transactions, while at the same time it allowed companies to integrate “new technology” like the Web & SOA transactions.
The most important conclusion was that the business decisions matter most. People tend to overestimate the importance of technological innovation and underestimate the role of business judgment. “The rise and fall of technologies is mainly about business and not technological determinism”.
Too often, we allow ourselves to get overexcited about new technology, and so do our clients. As a software vendor, it is our responsibility to talk about that. With more than 30 years of experience, we need to demonstrate that we understand that it IS about the business. That is what sets CA apart as a company. We lived through the “near death experience” of the mainframe and we have seen the revival. We all understand why this happened, but we need to talk about it with our clients. Share our experience, talk business and become the advisor our clients expect us to be.
Like many, you are probably convinced that dinosaurs were wiped out long ago. The "new" climate better suited mammals, right? But smaller dino's adapted and survived and today, more than 8,000 species of reptiles still exist, compared to about 5,400 species of mammals...
Like many, some of you are still convinced that the IBM mainframe is in it's final days. But today, 90% of the Fortune 500 still runs their most important transactions on an IBM mainframe, using CA software to Manage & Secure it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/23/technology/23digi.html?_r=2&scp=2&sq=mainframe&st=nyt&oref=slogin&oref=slogin