Mainframe

Mainframe news, trends, analysis and practical advice

Shark TankBy

This is why divinity students don't take CompSci

It's the early 1980s, and students at this university computer center are having fun with mainframe Job Control Language commands -- including an ongoing attempt to LOCATE GOD.

Shark TankBy

You can see this coming. Why couldn't they?

Flashback to 1972, when this pilot fish and his cohorts are working many late nights in the computer room as they prepare a new version of their 16K operating system for a government project. "The main means of storing the...

Intelligent Storage NetworkingBy
IDG Contributor Network

Hyper-convergence or just hype

It sure is hard to keep up in this fast changing technology world. Hyper-convergence is the latest new buzz word in data center circles. Third platform, Internet of things, object based storage, erasure coded disk, software-defined...

Shark TankBy

At least the data center stayed high and dry

Flashback to the 1980s, when this pilot fish is working for a local bank with an old-fashioned two-story lobby -- and its own mainframe upstairs. "In the data center on the third floor, above the branch, we had a leased IBM 3081...

Shark TankBy

Today, of course, we'd do this with a cloud outage

Flashback to the late 1960s, when this pilot fish has just gotten his second IT job -- as a junior assembly-language programmer in a bank's data processing department. "My employer was a small savings bank in a major city," says...

Slideshow

Open-source proxy servers challenge commercial wares

Open-source products prove themselves capable, but a bit rough around the edges.

News

Supercomputer passes Turing Test by posing as a teenager

A supercomputer has achieved an artificial intelligence milestone by passing the Turing Test, according to the University of Reading in the U.K.

Shark TankBy

This is what comes of having an open door policy

It's the late 1980s, and this computer room has a large UPS unit in one corner -- the size of a really big chest freezer, says a pilot fish working there. "The batteries in it were scheduled for annual preventive maintenance,"...

News

BMC automates the mainframe change ticket

Mainframe operators using BMC software may now be able to enjoy the speedy, devops-style development pace that is quickly becoming the norm for customer-facing mobile applications and Internet services.

Shark TankBy

Not quite as virtual as he thought

It's the 1980s, and this IT contractor pilot fish is working on a big project to install a utility's new accounting system in the days before ERP. "The project wasn't going well, as the utility's accountants hated the consultants...

Opinion

The Mainframe Isn't Dead, and Neither Is the PC

The mainframe was supposed to go extinct decades ago, but it's abundant in many habitats. Same goes for the PC, which seems to have adapted for survival better than once thought. Both the mainframe and the PC offer evolutionary...

News

50 years later, a mainframer recalls 'a fantastic time to be an engineer'

The make-or-break project kept engineers just out of college working around the clock hunting down bugs. The product had so much buzz that speculators bought up units to resell later for a profit. The company invested so much in...

News

Mainframe turns 50: IBM System/360 launch was dawn of enterprise IT

In many ways, the modern computer era began in the New Englander Motor Hotel in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Shark TankBy

Because six times a day is really enough, right?

Flashback to the 1980s, when this state transportation department uses computer science students from a local university as programming interns, according to one intern pilot fish. "The transportation department got cheap labor...

IT BlogwatchBy

IBM's big letter about Big Brother and Big Blue

IBM: No worries. Feeling left out, IBM (NYSE:IBM) has finally decided to chime in on its stance regarding alleged, massive, blanket, Orwellian surveillance by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). Due to fears that continued...

News

IBM looks past Watson, taps graphics chips to speed Power servers

IBM achieved a computing breakthrough when the Watson supercomputer outperformed humans in game show "Jeopardy," but the company now wants to supercharge its high-end Power servers by tapping into graphics processors for the first...

Shark TankBy

Luckily, nothing like that would EVER happen today

It's the 1970s, and this young pilot fish works the afternoon shift a few days a week as a "student assistant" in a university data center. "It was Friday night and the regular computer operators wanted to leave early, leaving me...

Shark TankBy

Why IT support gets gray

This county government has a jury application that interfaces with its mainframe, says a pilot fish who supports the system. "The application handles all of the jury processes except for printing payroll," fish says. "In order to...

Shark TankBy

Pretty sure there WAS an L in there somewhere

User at this state agency has a problem with her mainframe account, so her supervisor requests a new ID on the mainframe. That requires some approvals to gain access to certain screens, says a pilot fish in the know. "At the...

IT in 3DBy

Infrastructure performance management: The final piece of the puzzle

IT infrastructures are more crucial to running a business than ever before. End users expect access to their applications and data anytime, anywhere. IT is expected to keep the infrastructure up and running and performing...

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