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Have Pacific Businesses been neglectful of the Mainframe in Preference to "Toy Computers"?!
Alex asked for a discussion topic on this theme. His opening gambit is "I believe a topic that would raise interesting discussion is the change we have all seen over the past year or two of the non-stop reduction of "costs", seemingly regardless of the inevitable and disastrous impact this will ultimately have on services. With all the focus being on distributed systems ("toy computers"), management appear to have forgotten that it really is mainframes that provide the basis for the modern world we live in. Take away or reduce the stable and reliable mainframe services and much of what we rely on will cease to function.Why don't they understand this and what do we need to do to make them realise the danger they are playing with?Alex" .
Nice opening delivery Alex. I actually think perceptions are turning around for the better. It may be happening slower in some shops than others, but I reckon we are in for a fun ride over the next few years. Oh - and if your own management are losing touch, suggest they visit this blog as it gets more active and we could revise their thinking eh?
About Bruce
Bruce is the personification of the Pacific Mainframe Community. He has been around since the first system/360’s were commissioned and has seen it all through to the current zSeries. Bruce has worked with DOS and VSE, MVS and z/OS, JES2 and JES3, CICS and IMS/DC, IMS/DB and DB2, IDMS and Datacom, COBOL and PL/I, JCL and ISPF, CLIST and REXX, and so the list goes on. Bruce has an opinion on any mainframe-related subject. More often than not he has multiple opinions and they can be contradictory! Bruce is passionate about the mainframe platform and he wants you to share your thoughts with him. Welcome to Bruce’s Blog.
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Jonathan said:
There has been a sudden interest in all things environmental that has made the mainframe more attractive recently. Our site is interested in exploring z/Linux as a way of reducing our environmental footprint. They are also looking at virtualisation (eg vmware) which to my way of thinking just complicates life but it does reduce the number of physical servers you require. But, let's face it, it is just a more complicated and resource hungry way of doing what the mainframe already does quite elegantly.
Bruce said:
You're singing my song Jonathan. Virtualisation is "old hat" on the mainframe but its adaptation to the distributed platform should be lauded in that it can greatly improve server utilisation AND reduce both capital and operational costs. However, if a 'green' strategy is what larger IT shops are seriously seeking to adopt well there's really only one smart way to go to my mind - yep, the Big Iron. IBM's continued development of this platform makes it very attractive for organisations such as yours to really look at moving load TO the mainframe rather than FROM it. And with specialty engines such as z/9 Integrated Information Processor (zIIP) processing costs can be reduced by moving workload to these engines.
Thanks for your comments. Send me an email if you want a 'Bruce' mug - pacific.mainframe@ca.com