Mainframe is original cloud!
Get this all the time when teaching university kids on Cyber
Security, Audit, Project Management. Especially when I tell them that we were
in Cloud Computing in 1990s. Everyone gets surprised and when I start
telling them old and new it starts making sense.
Essentially, then, mainframes were the original cloud. Going back decades, mainframes allowed companies to build cloud infrastructure “avant la letter” (which is a fancy way of saying “before the term cloud infrastructure existed”).
|
Old Name |
New Name |
|
Mainframe |
Cloud
Computing |
|
Dumb Terminal |
Thin Client,
Hyper-V, Citrix Workspace, Zero Client |
|
LPAR (Logical
Partition) |
Virtual Machine (VM), Docker, Container, Kubernetes - Apr 2023: IBM Z16 goes rack mount. |
|
Virtual Machines
VM/370 |
VMWare,
VirtualBox and KVM March 2024: announce IBM z/OS Container Platform (zOSCP) 1.1, a new product offering that utilizes industry-standard open source technologies to build and run containerized z/OS UNIX applications natively on z/OS. The product delivers a container runtime and the utilities to build, run and manage containers on z/OS. For more information on leveraging zOSCP as part of your digital transformation journey, see https://lnkd.in/e2X2cS9R |
|
IBM's
Resource Access Control Facility (RACF), Computer Associates’ Access Control
Facility 2 (ACF2), Computer Associates’ Top Secret |
Role Based
Access Control, Zero Trust, Identity and Access Management. |
|
Direct Access
Storage Device (DASD), Millions of Instructions Per Second (MIPS) |
Segregated
Storage and Compute |
|
Air-Gapped Networks |
Zero Trust |
|
Message Queue
(MQ) |
API, KAKFA, .. |
Baby Boomer, Generation X and Y are already in love with mainframe. Majority of Generation Z still don't know much about Mainframe and its capabilities like availability, LPAR, RACF and ability to segregate storage and compute. IBM is working hard and I think Z15 will bring Generation Z closer to Mainframe.
The mainframe is a workhorse. Yet, its power and potential are hidden from most people who work in the modern cloud. This is surprising because there’s a good argument to be made that, given its power and scalability, coupled with its support for a large number of concurrent users, the mainframe was the cloud before there ever was a cloud.
However, the technology is practically unknown among younger developers, mostly due to cultural reasons and a lack of historical awareness. That more people are not taking advantage of the tremendous opportunities at hand is a misfortune. When it comes to mainframe computing, there’s a lot of interesting technology to be learned and a good amount of money to be made. It’s just a matter of increasing awareness to do this. A good place to start is to redefine the narrative.
Mainframes have always been awesome machines. There is a story of one of IBM’s smaller mainframe-like AS400s that had been left running in a room that had been sealed up during an office remodel that continued to function for at least a decade with no one even knowing about it, let alone able to service it. When it comes to I/O, reliability, security, and stability, there is no platform that can compete with a mainframe. Apparently, there are enough IT buyers that get this, making the IBM mainframe a growth platform.
Mainframe computers are often seen as ancient machines—practically dinosaurs. But mainframes, which are purpose-built to process enormous amounts of data, are still extremely relevant today. If they’re dinosaurs, they’re T-Rexes, and desktops and server computers are puny mammals to be trodden underfoot.
It’s estimated that there are 10,000 mainframes in use today. They’re used almost exclusively by the largest companies in the world, including two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, 45 of the world’s top 50 banks, eight of the top 10 insurers, seven of the top 10 global retailers, and eight of the top 10 telecommunications companies. And most of those mainframes come from IBM.
Reference List:
· https://www.ibm.com/products/zos-container-platform
IBM goes rack mount- April 04, 2023: https://newsroom.ibm.com/2023-04-04-IBM-Furthers-Flexibility,-Sustainability-and-Security-within-the-Data-Center-with-New-IBM-z16-and-LinuxONE-4-Single-Frame-and-Rack-Mount-Options
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ibm-z16-my-interview-rebecca-lavesque-tina-tarquinio/
https://www.precisely.com/blog/mainframe/mainframes-matter-cloud-computing
https://devops.com/mainframes-the-cloud-before-the-cloud/
https://www.wired.com/insights/2014/04/back-future-cloud-wont-replace-mainframe
https://www.ibm.com/blogs/systems/unbearable-lightness-mainframe-cloud/
https://zos-hot-topics.com/2022/openshift/
https://techspective-net.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/techspective.net/2023/01/27/the-amazing-success-of-ibms-mainframe/amp/
How mainframe runs and how it survived: https://arstechnica-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/07/the-ibm-mainframe-how-it-runs-and-why-it-survives/amp/
