The next steps for the mainframe
August 25, 2010 (CIO.uk) By Graham Jarvis
The demise of the mainframe has been predicted since around 1981, but IBM is hoping to put an end to this discussion once and for all with the launch of its zEnterprise mainframe server.
The company’s latest mainframe is described by Mark Anzani, IBM’s Vice President and CTO of System Z, as being a “new workload optimised system.” Reflecting upon the new offering he says: “It is going to shift the conversation towards who can offer the best deep management of the infrastructure, and also towards the company that can drive the broadest economic benefit.”
...Mainframe pricing nevertheless remains a hot issue, and one that puts people off it as a viable platform. “We have our own mainframe and distributed servers,” says Lacy Edwards, CEO of mission-critical mainframe experts NEON Enterprise Software. He argues that it’s not just the cost of the mainframe hardware that remains prohibitive to many people, but the high expense that is attributed to software licensing. “If you look at it from the customers’ perspective, that’s why they are comparing the different systems, and software is the key reason why they say the cost of running a mainframe is too high.”
"...I am not aware of anything else that is like what zPrime is doing, and I have not personally seen any impact at this point on the way customers are making their purchases,” comments Anzani. “The only product where there are objections regarding its installation comes back to the difference of opinion between NEON and IBM regarding zPrime.” Although IBM usually welcomes the exploitation of the specialty processors, the company views any installation of zPrime as being unauthorised. NEON has therefore raised the question about whether customers need the authorisation of IBM to install ‘exploitative technologies’ like this.