I was in Technologies for more than 25 years. I mainframe systems and platforms supported midtier. Often it questioned me as to which platform is better. To be open and honest, I am a person at heart mainframe. I grew up on the mainframe and feel more comfortable to work on mainframe systems. But as I progressed in the management, I had to give a more open look at the mid-tier systems and become more cynical of the mainframe.
midrange systems have grown significantly over the years. The hardware platform has become much more reliable and cost effective solution.
Let's review a few of technology trends:
- Linux has taken the world by storm. This operating system has claimed its place in many traditional IT shops. The company that I work at has openly embraced Linux. It 'almost completely replaced Spaces / AIX / UNIX sun that are in force. One great thing to note about Linux is that it really is hardware independent. Linux can also run on the mainframe.
- The virtualization has been the rage in technology. Virtualization has enabled mid-tier solutions to become much more effective, increasing the overall use of hardware. But virtualization is not new. Virtualization has been a mainframe stronghold for many years. Work Load Management (WLM) has been around the mainframe for what seems like forever. The mainframe has excelled in balance a variety of workloads. Adding virtualization to the mid-tier environment has enabled mid-tier systems to function more like a mainframe.
So if Linux can run anywhere and virtualization makes it look like a mid-tier mainframe, why use a mainframe ?
There are still many functions that the mainframe excels again. WLM mainframe still far exceeds the mid-tier server capacity. virtualization midrange is much better at horizontal scale. The mainframe is significantly better vertical scale. The large volume of transactions that use the high input performance processor are more suitable for the mainframe. calculation processes at high are best suited for the mid-tier.
software solutions there are probably a lot more package available for the distributed world. But the reliability, availability and scalability of the mainframe are still incredible.
In the mainframe world, parallel sysplex will allow a group of mainframes to operate as if they were a single machine. This provides an organization with a lot of options on how they want to implement their technology. These mainframes do not even have to be located near each other. Geographically Dispersed Parallel Sysplex (GDPS) would allow an organization to run multiple data centers and have them all look like one for the customer.
So which is better? It depends very much on your workload and the amount of existing work that you may have on the mainframe today. If you were starting from scratch, I'd probably start with the server. But if I had a big investment in the mainframe, I'd try to keep the mainframe and reap the server where it makes more sense. I would use the server for the presentation and application layers. The mainframe is the best and safest platform for data management.
Decide for yourself which best suits your needs and your budget.
Linux is probably one of the biggest improvements that have come down the road. The Linux operating system takes many of the advantages of UNIX and improves. Linux is able to run on virtually any platform - including the mainframe.
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