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Podcast > Episode 7 – Why are Mainframes still around? -or- Mainframes vs. Cloud
Episode 7 – Why are Mainframes still around? -or- Mainframes vs. Cloud
In this episode we have a special guest,
Jason Whaley who along with Jeff Genender have a plethora of
SOA and
Cloud Computing knowledge and insight. If you were in Las Vegas last March at
TSSJS you've no doubt heard them speak.
The topic for the podcast is a question I'm sure you've asked several times yourself: "Why are mainframes still around?". What makes them attractive, even today? Who maintains these systems in 10 years when the 50-somethings have retired? Is Cloud Computing the chainsaw-shotgun we've been waiting for or is SOA the "brains" that keep zombie mainframe code alive and well?
Links used during this podcast can be found in del.icio.us:
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About the Author
Craig Tataryn started his career as a Visual Basic programmer, but don't hold that against him! The system he helped create was a cutting edge, n-tiered revenue collection system whose transactions per second metric was off the charts! Around the year 2000 he discovered Struts and never looked back. A professional
Java developer for close to a decade, Craig has worked on a wide variety of projects ranging from Recruiting, Purchase order, Revenue collection and Mortgage systems. More recently Craig has written web services for children's educational toys and has honed his skills on
Wicket,
SOA and
iOS application development. "
I love to learn and more importantly I love to teach. Hoarding knowledge is one of the most petty and selfish things you can do, especially as a contractor. This is why I always make it a point to document and share my knowledge with my client's employees"
craig General, Podcast mainframe
On 
An interesting podcast which made me think.
Unfortunately, I have written code that is older than some of the hosts.
Here are my thoughts on the topics covered:
Reasons for the mainframe still being used:
- Millions of lines, and decades of investment in company specific software cannot be replaced cheaply.
- It is the customized business specific logic which gives each company its competative advantage.
- It is much easier to “wrap and roll” existing logic to expose it to things such as web interfaces.
- Speed, speed and more speed.
- The mainframe hardly ever goes down. I remember a 30 minute downtime in the past 2 years.
- Stable, mature operating systems with stable system support.
- A much smaller group of technical support people are required for the single mainframe machine versus clusters of servers.
- No need to roll-out images of development platforms etc as all development is done on a common platform via dumb terminal access.
Disadvantages of server based technology:
- The need to “system support” many boxes each of which seems a little different.
- Regaardless of system image installation it awalys seems that fighting conflicts especially because of system updates is a concern. I have seen 2 weeks to try and track down a DLL conflict.
Lessons mainframe could learn:
- Use the proper tool for the proper job.
- Use mainframe based Java and XML packages to take care of the boiler plate activities.
- Just because a sollution worked in the past, doesn’t mean there isn’t a newer technology that could be leveraged more effectively.
- Mainframe programmers need to learn not to be so protective of their boundaries. This is partially due to unfamiliarity and frustration with the seeming unstable server development software.
Trends:
- There is a beginning trend to run virtual servers on mainframe platforms. This promises to have the best of both worlds: flexability of of development plus stableness of the system environment.
Interesting webcast. If we (mainframers) don’t start acting, we will end up being a Sony Betamax. The best and most advanced system, but not a winner.
During the last 2 years, more and more people have realized the virtues of the IBM mainframe, but only to immediately forget it when “Cloud” came around. The reasons for this sudden “love” of the mainframe were simple: cheaper to operate (less people), green, virtualized, powerful, reliable and a platform where Change management is actually part of the DNA. And a lot of these are reasons why people are now looking at Cloud.
IS the Mainframe a replacement for “Cloud”? No, but a mainframe can/should be part of any Cloud initiative, simply because it’s already there. Parts of an internal IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) initiative could very easily be implemented on Linux Servers running on a Mainframe. And since the Mainframe still holds anywhere between 50-70 of the Corporate data at many companies, the Mainframe MUST be part of any Cloud initiative that integrates with, or uses existing data.
For more info on Mainframe & Cloud: have a look here: http://bit.ly/9i4jRJ
Thanks for your comments Marcel. Now, does the Mainframe actually run Linux well? Or is CICS the only way you’ll be able to harness the real power of the mainframe?
Thanks for your comments, the mainframe may “never go down” but what is the deal with its applications having to go to bed by 6pm