"Lean IT" - makes me think of that song "Lean on Me" - though, of course, it's a different meaning of the word "Lean". Still, we do lean heavily on IT, and we need it to be responsive but still responsible with such things as resource consumption and manageable complexity.

And, particularly during these lean times, we need IT to be cost-effective.

That's why CA is making a number of announcements today about how we're supporting Lean IT across the enterprise, including the mainframe.

Which works perfectly for me - remember, my motto is, "The Business is the Computer." So, if the computer isn't enabling the business with all of its features, including its affordability, then it's not meeting that requirement.

And, I have to admit, I'm rather proud of the many ways that CA software helps non-mainframe computers behave in a more lean, business-like fashion. After all, we did it first on the mainframe, then built on that great example.

So let's not forget the original lean, green machine when looking around at all these other examples of taking responsibility.

I suppose I'm preaching to the choir if I spend more than a moment talking about the small physical and energy footprint of the mainframe, or how it can run consistently around 100% utilization rather than the 5 - 15% that is often typical of other platforms. Not to mention, of course, that mainframe staffing has amazing economies of scale - there is over four times as much mainframe computing power installed world wide compared to the beginning of this decade, yet apparently fewer people managing it all.

Still, let's not forget, for all its strengths, that it's you and I, the customer and the ISV, that take it to the next level.

After all, it's how you build and maintain your mainframe environment, taking advantage of solutions such as we offer, that enable it to continue to be more and more cost-effective.

For example, think of the word "Legacy." By now, we've all figured out that it's code for "it works." But there's more to it than that. There's decades of optimization, but there's also the opportunity to take advantage of new, even more effective features that new versions of our software offer (see my blog from this past December about Hidden Treasures).

Then there's getting the most out of your very valuable people's time - whether that be through tightly-focused business-result offerings such as CA's Out Tasking or our Mainframe Software Manager that handles so many of the otherwise obscure and time-consuming aspects of mainframe software maintenance for you. (See http://ca.com/mainframe2 for more about both of these.)

And there's the value of automation and integration of multiple solutions, working together behind the scenes to get results that bring maximum value to you with minimal manual involvement, such as CA OPS/MVS for automation and our performance solutions such as CA SYSVIEW and CA INSIGHT for DB2. Of course, low CPU usage is a significant advantage here too.

Finally, there's the fact that doing something right the first time saves vast amounts of time and money, so the quality of the mainframe, the management software and the dedicated people all come together to make a lean, highly-functional environment like none other.

I'd say you can't get any leaner than that - except that it looks like the mainframe will just keep getting leaner and more effective, setting a great example for the rest of IT and the business world to look up to. Who knows - they might all be leaning in our direction soon!