Can you believe it? The IBM mainframe turned 45 years old today! Reading the original announcement at http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/mainframe/mainframe_PR360.html, I'm impressed with how consistent the business-oriented approach, that made the mainframe strong, has remained through these past four-and-a-half decades.
I was exchanging email reminiscences about our mainframe careers with a CA colleague today, reflecting on this important anniversary, and he commented that this milestone made him sit back and realize how long he'd been doing this (he started in 1977). My reply was that, on the mainframe, he and I were still "young pups".
Of course, all that's about to change with the arrival of a new generation of mainframers, and the pending retirement of those who are a bit older than us "young pups" (as soon as their retirement savings recover, or, as is popular to observe in the U.S. these days, as soon as their 101K is a 401K again). I've even recently had the chance to get to know a number of new mainframers at CA, many of them in their early 20's, who are leading the charge to the future with everything from support to developing new Java-based interfaces.
It's going to feel odd, going from being the youngest mainframer for most of my career to suddenly being the oldest, with quite a few years left in my career. The good thing is, I may think of myself as being in the prime of life, but clearly the mainframe is even more so.
In fact, one of the cool things that those young mainframers have been developing is something we call "Mainframe 2.0". Chris O'Malley, the head of the Mainframe Business Unit at CA, did a webcast about it today (click here for a replay).
Mainframe 2.0 is CA's way of positioning the mainframe for a successful, business-oriented future, manageable by a new generation that won't have to inherit a rat's nest of obscure and obsolete configurations, maintenance practices and interfaces. That's important, as I pointed out in my z/Journal article called "Cleaning House for the Next Generation: Security Minus Obscurity" a while back, because what a new generation can't understand, they can't improve.
In any case, if there's one thing I've concluded during my career, it's that the mainframe will be around longer than I will. And I'm planning to be around for at least another 45 years.
So, happy 45th birthday, IBM Mainframe, and here's to many more years of showing the business and IT world how to do it right!