IBM has been building and shipping mainframe computers for over 40 years. Every generation of the mainframe gets better, faster, more efficient, and carries more and more of the data load for business and industry all over the world. In the early 90’s there were no mainframes in India or China either for that matter. Now there are a growing number of mainframes in China running the major banks and financial institutions in that emerging country.
Mainframe installations and skills are growing in India, not only running financial markets but also in place to support millions of lines of programming code that are being developed for the rest of the mainframes circling the globe.1 And yet, year after year since the first “minicomputers” were developed and shipped by Digital Equipment, Data General, and others, we have continuously heard about the mainframe being replaced by smaller, cheaper, easier to deploy technology of every kind.
Admittedly the mainframe has not assumed the role of personal computer, mobile appliance, small departmental server, nor supercomputing grid, but in fact most of the world funds clearing and transfers are still routed through mainframe connections. It has been estimated that the mainframe manages some 70% of the world’s critical data. And today, with new departmental workloads in Java, C and C++, the mainframe is assuming many of these roles with Linux on System z.
So why is it then that year after year, someone writes a paper, article or book about the demise of this most capable machine? How can rational technologists believe that there is any technology in the market today that can do what the mainframe has done, and continues to do? What would make someone believe that a hundred Intel processors, ganged together in a loosely connected environment, could replace the capabilities that the mainframe has provided all these decades? The only answer that comes to mind is that those who espouse the demise of the mainframe don’t understand either the problem, or the solution.
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