Mainframes - Infoworld

5 hot specialties for software developers

Neil McAllister — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

American businesses say they can't find enough programmers to fill their software development positions. Yet coders say they live in constant fear of their jobs being shipped overseas to outsourcing contractors. Can both be right?

IT's most wanted: Mainframe programmers

Galen Gruman — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 11:00:00 +0000

Before tablets, smartphones, and PCs became prominent, "big iron" mainframes led down the path to computing, becoming a staple of enterprise business worldwide several decades ago. Rather than going the way of the dinosaur as PCs and the client/server model emerged, mainframes remain stalwarts in heavy-duty transactional applications. "The mainframe is alive and well and still powers the global economy," says Dayton Semerjian, general manager for mainframes at CA Technologies, which focuses on mainframe technologies. He notes that 80 percent of the Fortune 500 still use them.

Mainframes can find new life hosting private clouds

admin — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 18:51:47 +0000

Mention cloud computing to a mainframe professional, and he'll likely roll his eyes. Cloud is just a much-hyped new name for what mainframes have done for years, he'll say.

"A mainframe is a cloud," contends Jon Toigo, CEO of Toigo Partners International, a data management consultancy in Dunedin, Fla.

Meet IBM's new $75,000 mainframe

admin — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 13:22:33 +0000

IBM never talks about the cost of its high-end mainframes, but when it comes to its low-end mainframe, price is a major focal point.

IBM is today announcing the latest successor to what it has called its "business-class" system, the zEnterprise 114, with a starting price of $75,000 -- 25 percent lower than the previous system in this category.

CA modernizes the mainframe with updated stack

admin — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 12:15:42 +0000

Addressing some of the chief problems faced by mainframe operators today, CA Technologies has updated its stack of mainframe management software to help cut costs and simplify management.

"I talk to hundreds of customers a year. I ask them what are the challenges they face," said Dayton Semerjian, general manager for mainframes for CA Technologies.

BMC buys software from vendor that lost IBM legal battle

admin — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:40:05 +0000

BMC Software said Friday it has acquired a range of IMS (information management system) database software and related customers from Neon Enterprise Software, which recently lost a legal battle with IBM over a mainframe-related product called zPrime. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The greatest IT stories never told

Matt Prigge — Mon, 02 May 2011 10:00:00 +0000

IT can be hilarious.

Every once in a while, a bizarre set of circumstances will produce a situation that you might not believe unless you were there to see it. The stories of these events are the stuff of IT folklore and get retold over beer and peanuts year after year. But just because they're funny -- in hindsight -- doesn't mean they lack good object lessons. In a recent meeting with a client, I was reminded of two stories I'll never forget.

BMC supercharges IBM DB2 for mainframes

admin — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 21:57:37 +0000

Exploiting recent hardware enhancements that IBM added into its System z mainframe servers, enterprise software provider BMC has updated its line of performance tuning products to help customers get more from the latest version of the DB2 database.

BMC has upgraded 23 of its mainframe service management applications so that they will support version 10 DB2 databases running on System z9 and z10 mainframe servers, noted Robin Reddick, BMC director of marketing for mainframe service management.

Unisys boosts performance on ClearPath mainframes

admin — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 11:34:51 +0000

Unisys has introduced a homegrown virtualization technology to boost performance for certain workloads on its ClearPath mainframe systems, including "modern" applications such as Java servers and PHP programs.

IBM slapped with another mainframe antitrust complaint

admin — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 16:22:29 +0000

The third antitrust complaint against IBM's mainframe business was filed with the European Commission Tuesday, compounding the firm's regulatory problems in Europe.

IBM mainframes get capability to predict failures, avoid downtime

admin — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:52:48 +0000

IBM is upgrading its mainframe operating system with features that help customers predict failures and reduce the time it takes to recover from performance slowdowns.

Intel ships next-generation Itanium chip

admin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:55:46 +0000

Intel on Tuesday said it has started shipping its new Itanium processor codenamed Tukwila, after multiple delays and development problems stalled its release for years.

Itanium chips are 64-bit processors designed to run fault-tolerant servers that require high uptime. The chip's official launch is set for the first quarter of this year, Intel said in a blog entry.

IBM slapped with suit alleging unfair mainframe competition

admin — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:12:32 +0000

IBM has been disparaging products made by a smaller rival in order to protect its lucrative mainframe business, according to a lawsuit filed on Monday.

The suit was filed by Neon Enterprise Software and concerns a software tool called zPrime that the company released in July. Neon says zPrime can reduce operating costs for mainframe users by allowing them to shift more of their computing jobs onto IBM's zAAP and zIIP specialty mainframe processors.

IBM offers cheaper Linux mainframe bundles

admin — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:47:10 +0000

IBM is introducing new Linux-focused mainframe bundles that it says will provide discounts of up to 80 percent over previous offerings.

Mainframe's future in datacenters in question

admin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:18:46 +0000

A new survey of datacenter users predicts a sharp drop in mainframe usage, though some industry analysts say the results seem unlikely.

The survey was carried out by Afcom, one of the best-known groups representing datacenter workers. Afcom asked about a range of topics and got responses from 436 datacenters, mostly commercial facilities in the U.S. but including some government and university sites, as well as several dozen datacenters overseas.

IBM aims System z at specific workloads

admin — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:31:15 +0000

IBM is trying to shore up flagging sales of its System z mainframe with a set of hardware, software, and services combinations aimed at specific application workloads.

The seven bundles announced Friday target data warehousing, application development, disaster recovery, SOA, security, electronic payments, and SAP applications. The last one is an update of a package IBM first announced 18 months ago.

Update: BMC buys MQSoftware, bolstering middleware management

admin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:21:48 +0000

BMC on Monday said it has bought MQSoftware, maker of middleware that helps companies monitor the performance of IBM's WebSphere MQ software, as well as other platforms. Terms were not disclosed.

BMC competes with Novell, CA, IBM, and a range of smaller vendors in the market for BSM (business service management) software, which is meant to help companies manage their IT infrastructure effectively and align it in support of business processes.

IBM Power servers most reliable in new survey

admin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:04:49 +0000

IBM's Power servers topped a list of most reliable x86 and Unix machines in a new survey, clocking in at only 15 minutes of unplanned downtime per year.

CA tries to groom next generation of mainframers

admin — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:24:57 +0000

Big iron: The ultimate cloud platform?

whurley — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Get out your notepads and get ready for the mainframe resurgence. Tell your friends you heard it here. I'm not talking about a UNIVAC comeback, or Burroughs Large 2.0. I'm telling you, dear readers, that now's a good time to invest in the few remaining big iron dealers: IBM, Unisys, Hitachi, and Fujitsu, baby. Why, you ask? Because mainframes solve the cloud's impending challenges.