Mainframe is used in business where the data to be processed is too huge and has to be processed too many times

and may require too much CPU cycles where the else of the computers may flunk. Mainframes are very similar too supercomputers ahich can process huge number of transactions in small amout of time . but the only diff between supercomputer and mainframes is supercomputers are used to calculate and process complex algorithms say which has so many integration and diffretiation and lotssa calculus steps where as mainframes are used to handle simple business related calculations like addition and subtraction kinda things .

Who uses mainframes and why do they do it?

Mainframe concepts

So, who uses mainframes? Just about everyone has used a mainframe computer at one point or another. If you ever used an automated teller machine (ATM) to interact with your bank account, you used a mainframe. Today, mainframe computers play a central role in the daily operations of most of the world's largest corporations. While other forms of computing are used extensively in business in various capacities, the mainframe occupies a coveted place in today's e-business environment. In banking, finance, health care, insurance, utilities, government, and a multitude of other public and private enterprises, the mainframe computer continues to be the foundation of modern business. Until the mid-1990s, mainframes provided the only acceptable means of handling the data processing requirements of a large business. These requirements were then (and are often now) based on running large and complex programs, such as payroll and general ledger processing. The mainframe owes much of its popularity and longevity to its inherent reliability and stability, a result of careful and steady technological advances that have been made since the introduction of the System/360 in 1964. No other computer architecture can claim as much continuous, evolutionary improvement, while maintaining compatibility with previous releases. Because of these design strengths, the mainframe is often used by IT organizations to host the most important, mission-critical applications. These applications typically include customer order processing, financial transactions, production and inventory control, payroll, as well as many other types of work. One common impression of a mainframe's user interface is the 80x24-character "green screen" terminal, named for the old cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors from years ago that glowed green. In reality, mainframe interfaces today look much the same as those for personal computers or UNIX systems. When a business application is accessed through a Web browser, there is often a mainframe computer performing crucial functions behind the scenes. Many of today's busiest Web sites store their production databases on a mainframe host. New mainframe hardware and software products are ideal for Web transactions because they are designed to allow huge numbers of users and applications to rapidly and simultaneously access the same data without interfering with each other. This security, scalability, and reliability is critical to the efficient and secure operation of contemporary information processing. Corporations use mainframes for applications that depend on scalability and reliability. For example, a

banking institution could use a mainframe to host the database of its customer accounts, for which transactions can be submitted from any of thousands of ATM locations worldwide. Businesses today rely on the mainframe to:

Perform large-scale transaction processing (thousands of transactions per second) Support thousands of users and application programs concurrently accessing numerous resources Manage terabytes of information in databases Handle large-bandwidth communication

The roads of the information superhighway often lead to a mainframe.

Mainframe strengths: Reliability, availability, and serviceability The reliability, availability, and serviceability (or "RAS") of a computer system have always been important factors in data processing. When we say that a particular computer system "exhibits RAS characteristics," we mean that its design places a high priority on the system remaining in service at all times. Ideally, RAS is a central design feature of all aspects of a computer system, including the applications. Mainframe strengths: Security One of a firm's most valuable resources is its data: Customer lists, accounting data, employee information, and so on. This critical data needs to be securely managed and controlled, and, simultaneously, made available to those users authorized to see it. The mainframe computer has extensive capabilities to simultaneously share, but still protect, the firm's data among multiple users. Mainframe strengths: Scalability It has been said that the only constant is change. Nowhere is that statement more true than in the IT industry. In business, positive results can often trigger a growth in IT infrastructure to cope with increased demand. The degree to which the IT organization can add capacity without disruption to normal business processes or without incurring excessive overhead (nonproductive processing) is largely determined by the scalability of the particular computing platform. Mainframe strength: Continuing compatibility Mainframe customers tend to have a very large financial investment in their applications and data. Some applications have been developed and refined over decades. Some applications were written many years ago, while others may have been written "yesterday." The ability of an application to work in the system or its ability to work with other devices or programs is called compatibility.

The value of the mainframe today

Mainframe concepts

Today, mainframe computers play a central role in the daily operations of most of the world's largest corporations, including many Fortune 1000 companies. While other forms of computing are used extensively in business in various capacities, the mainframe occupies a coveted place in today's ebusiness environment. In banking, finance, health care, insurance, utilities, government, and a multitude of other public and private enterprises, the mainframe computer continues to form the foundation of modern business. The long-term success of mainframe computers is without precedent in the information technology (IT) field. Periodic upheavals shake world economies and continuous often wrenching change in the Information Age has claimed many once-compelling innovations as victims in the relentless march of progress. As emerging technologies leap into the public eye, many are just as suddenly rendered obsolete by some even newer advancement. Yet today, as in every decade since the 1960s, mainframe computers and the mainframe style of computing dominate the landscape of large-scale business

computing. Why has this one form of computing taken hold so strongly among so many of the world's corporations? In this section, we look at the reasons why mainframe computers continue to be the popular choice for large-scale business computing. The mainframe owes much of its popularity and longevity to its inherent reliability and stability, a result of continuous technological advances since the introduction of the IBM System/360 in 1964. No other computer architecture in existence can claim as much continuous, evolutionary improvement, while maintaining compatibility with existing applications. The term mainframe has gradually moved from a physical description of IBM's larger computers to the categorization of a style of computing. One defining characteristic of the mainframe has been a continuing compatibility that spans decades.

The S/360: A turning point in mainframe history When did mainframe computers come into being? Mainframe development occurred in a series of generations starting in the 1950s. In those days, mainframe computers were not just the largest computers; they were the only computers and few businesses could afford them. Mainframe architecture: Secure, compatible, and still evolving An architecture is a set of defined terms and rules that are used as instructions to build products. Each generation of mainframe computers has included improvements in architecture, while remaining the most stable, secure, and compatible of all computing platforms. Mainframes in our midst: You use one every day Despite the predominance of mainframes in the business world, these machines are largely invisible to the general public, the academic community, and indeed many experienced IT professionals. Instead, other forms of computing attract more attention, at least in terms of visibility and public awareness. That this is so is perhaps not surprising. After all, who among us needs direct access to a mainframe? And, if we did, where would we find one to access? The truth, however, is that we are all mainframe users, whether we realize it or not. What is a mainframe? It's a style of computing Although the term mainframe first described the physical characteristics of early systems, today it can best be used to describe a style of operation, applications, and operating system facilities. Who uses mainframes and why do they do it? So, who uses mainframes? Just about everyone has used a mainframe computer at one point or another. If you ever used an automated teller machine (ATM) to interact with your bank account, you used a mainframe. Mainframe workloads: Batch and online transaction processing Most mainframe workloads fall into one of two categories: Batch processing or online transaction processing, which includes Web-based applications. Roles in the mainframe world Mainframe systems are designed to be used by large numbers of people. Most of those who interact with mainframes are end users people who use the applications that are hosted on the system. However, because of the large number of end users, applications running on the system, and the sophistication and complexity of the system software that supports the users and applications, a variety of roles are needed to operate and support the system. What are mainframe operating systems? In simplest terms, an operating system is a collection of programs that manage a computer system's internal workings its memory, processors, devices, and file system. Mainframe operating systems are sophisticated products with substantially different characteristics and purposes.

What Microsoft and mainframes have in common and why small business should care.

Written on October 14, 2011 by Bryan Beaty in Managing Business, Managing IT

You dont see many mainframe computers anymore. When I started in IT, mainframes were being replaced with Windows, Unix, or Netware servers. Twenty years later, you still see a few companies such as the DoD and IBM using mainframes but there is simply no way the average business would want or need one. This was a major transition in technology and we are in the middle of a another similar transition.

A quick primer on Mainframe and client/server technology

In short, mainframe computing used one large computer, the mainframe, to do all the computing. Users accessed the mainframe from terminals which were nothing more than a screen and keyboard. Computing was centralized. Client/Server computing uses small servers, such as the ones you use today, to store data. The workstations, or clients, do the computing. Another way of thinking about it is that the server store data and the clients run the applications. If you use an application like Great Plains, the data is stored on a SQL server but the GP application runs on your workstation.

Why the client/server model is dying

Running a server today is more complicated than running a server ten years ago. The simple fact is, no one person can know everything they need to know to successfully manage a Windows are Linux server environment. Just consider the myriad of topics you have to know to successfully manage a Windows network:

Hardware: How and why to use features such as RAID or other redundant hardware. Windows: Installation, management, maintenance, troubleshooting, etc. Server Applications: Exchange, SQL, etc. Client Applications: Office, CRM, ERP, etc. Networking: Switching, routing, firewalls, and all the related protocols. Security: A field in itself and extremely complicated. Disaster Recovery: Backups, recovery options, planning, etc.

Each of these topics is too broad for any one person to be an expert in. How is a small business, with the budget for one or two IT employees, supposed to properly manage these complex systems? Even worse, these products get more complex every year. We have reached a point where it is no longer effective or safe to manage the traditional client/server network.

The transition to whats next

The buzz right now is cloud applications. This is a developing technology and between the marketing hype and new offerings it can be confusing to define. Put simply, cloud applications are usually accessed via your web browser but run on someone elses servers. GMail is a cloud

application. You can get your email from any Internet connected device but dont have t deal with the technology running GMail. Cloud applications eliminate the complexity of running your own servers. As the client/server technology continues to grow more complex, and the price, stability, and security of cloud applications continues to improve, businesses will migrate to cloud applications because it is the only prudent thing to do. Microsoft, the Defense Department, and many fortune 500 companies will continue to use client/server technology but the rest of us will look at it like we do the mainframe. We are in a transition phase. Most businesses I work with are using a hybrid model. Some applications such as email are being migrated to the cloud while custom applications are kept inhouse.

Change is inevitable.
Technology change is inevitable. Simply compare the technology companies that were industry leaders 20 years ago to those that are on top today. (If you are under 40 you may not even recognize many of the top companies of 1990.) I can hear the mainframe technicians and consultants argue (20 years ago) that client/server is a dangerous technology and shouldnt be used. I hear network administrators today saying the same thing about cloud applications. It is a fun academic argument but the simple fact is that cloud applications either are or will be safer and more cost effective than client/server applications. What is the cost of managing your own email server? (Hardware + software + client licenses + support + electricity + disaster recover + security = TCO) Now, multiple this times the number of small businesses in the world and you see why Microsoft makes the kind of revenue it does. The cost per user is very high. Conversely, cloud applications allow small businesses to share resources. What is the cost for one company, such as Google, to run a very large email system such as GMail? Their cost per user is very low. This is true of any cloud application with a large user base. Cloud applications are not the perfect solution for every company or application yet. The best way to evaluate cloud applications for your company is to select mature cloud applications such as email. Both Microsoft Office 365 and Google Apps for Business provide stable and cost effective solutions for any size company. When you are satisfied with the stability, cost, and security of email in the cloud, you can start evaluating other cloud applications. The cloud is not a fluke or gimmick, it is the logical progression of technology. If you dont like cloud applications, dont worry, in twenty years or so, cloud computing will be disrupted with some newer better technology.

Do mainframes have a future in India? >> This is one debate that has raged on for years is the mainframe dead, and is client/server king? Events like 9/11, which demonstrated the need for fault-tolerant computing, have re-ignited the relevance of this debate. Stanley Glancy finds out more on the current market trends for these technologies

The advent of minicomputers in the seventies and desktop PCs in the eighties was expected to ring the death knell for mainframes, which were considered to be large, inflexible, expensive and difficult to use. Desktops were not only inexpensive, but could also be connected through a network to a central server, enabling organisations to store huge amounts of data. But doomsayers were proved wrong when despite stiff competition, the mainframe continued to maintain a steady growth rate. And in the current scenario, where organisations (after 9/11) have increased spend on storage solutions, there is a trend which indicates that mainframes may gain a bigger share in the IT budgets of CIOs. Kishore Modak feels that Linux has been the main engine for the growth of the mainframe market in India For instance, other than traditional mainframe users like the banking-financial services sector and manufacturing behemoths, even unlikely candidates like universities and the travel industry have been choosing mainframes over newer technologies. Says V L Mehta, director of IT at Mukand Engineers, More than 70 percent of the worlds data still resides on mainframes. The market is growing in terms of revamping the older mainframes and adding new features and software to the oldies. Also, the new mainframes are smaller, cheaper, more powerful and e-business ready, so the market is growing steadily. Though these are small encouraging trends, the picture is not completely clear. For instance, a Meta Group report states that mainframes wont be able to match the price and performance improvements (close to 35 percent a year) of Intel-based servers, which are emerging with mainframe-like capabilities. In India too, very few mainframes have been purchased and installed in the past 3-4 years. But this has been due to policy issues rather than technology choices. India missed an era of mainframe and legacy systems due to the absence of global IT majors in the country from the late seventies till the early nineties. Barring large government organisations and public sector companies, mainframes were not seen anywhere else. The mainframe market grew in the late nineties during the Y2K scare, and many companies seized the opportunity. Agrees Kishore Modak, country manager for the zSeries Enterprise Systems Group at IBM India, the only global mainframe vendor to have a presence here, IBM exited India in the seventies and returned only in the nineties. This gap of close to 20 years put a dampener on the adoption of mainframes here. Awareness about mainframes is only now picking up. The industry is realising the

importance of converting mission-critical and large volume applications from distributed processing back to centralised processing for better control and management, disaster recovery, security and business continuity. According to market sources, IBMs mainframe business has been growing at a steady 12-15 percent per quarter. The impact of client/server One reason for the slow adoption of mainframes has been the advent of client/server architecture. Client/server technology with its myriad attractions was expected to dry up the market for mainframes. Not only was this technology capable of storing macroscopic amounts of data, it was also flexible, extremely easy to handle, and comparatively inexpensive. But while many organisations did adopt client/server systems, very few actually gave up the mainframe. Most companies have managed to achieve a perfect blend of the two technologies to meet their computing needs. However, smaller organisations, due to the huge cost associated with maintaining mainframes, have migrated to client/server systems. The high cost of owning a mainframe was also expected to influence corporate decisions to opt for client/server technology. Though this has certainly made client/server an attractive proposal to many, companies desirous of using IT for strategic purposes do not mind the added cost of a mainframe. Mainframe loyalists say that there is also a myth about the cost advantage of client/server over mainframes. Explains Modak, A single mainframe can reduce the cost of maintaining hundreds of servers. The cost difference seems high when you compare the price of a single server with that of a mainframe. But people have to look at it from the point of view of a total data centre. Only then will they realise that the actual cost difference is not much. The IBM zSeries, for example, enables server consolidation by handling the workload of hundreds of servers. It not only provides organisations with a lower total cost of ownershipthrough consolidation of Unix, Windows NT, and Linux applications to Linux on zSeriesbut is also an application development platform for large customers. Further, fault tolerance is built into all mainframes, reducing downtime to the bare minimum. Another problem which customers face with client/server systems is that unlike mainframes these systems often come from different suppliers, and the various components may not be integrated or adapted to the user companys needs. This issue is minimised by a mainframe. Sectors Verticals currently using mainframes include stock exchanges and depositories, utilities, airlines, railways, armed forces, e-business portals with heavy traffic, oil-sector PSUs, manufacturing giants, the travel industry, banks and financial institutions. These industries cannot do without mainframes since they run mission-critical applications that require high security and reliability. They also have huge databases, which can be managed only by a mainframe. The banking segment has traditionally been a heavy mainframe user. But with many banks migrating to client/server, this sector has seen a sharp decline in mainframe usage. Says

Modak, It is true that many of the smaller banks with fewer branches have opted for client/server, but most of the larger banks remain loyal customers. There has actually been increasing demand from banks for mainframe technologyespecially after 9/11for managing their disaster recovery needs; this is because the quality of service offered by mainframes is very mission-critical oriented. The Reserve Bank of India, one of IBMs largest customers in the banking segment, is also one of the most intensive mainframe users in India. Usage of mainframes has also increased in the airline industry with Indian Airlines running mission-critical applications on IBMs zSeries. Even universities have shown a keen interest in training students on mainframes. Another vertical that is a heavy user of mainframes is what is popularly known as the computer-related services industry. Elaborates Modak, The software development industry has been a key focus area for us as we expect to see strong growth in this sector. IT giants like Wipro and Infosys do their development work here in India due to the cost/benefit factor. Since they deal with terabytes of data and also run mission-critical applications, a mainframe is the safest bet. Not only does it offer a favourable cost/benefit ratio, it also provides high reliability and security required in large-scale processing work, which no other currently-available technology can provide. More than 70 percent of the worlds data still resides on mainframes, says V l mehta Benefits Return on investment (RoI) and total cost of ownership (TCO) are the key factors organisations look at before installing something as expensive as a mainframe. But according to Mehta, RoI is a very relative issue and such comparisons cannot give a real picture unless it is case-specific. Says he, RoI and expensive are relative terms and depend on what one is looking for in terms of mission criticality of a business application. Of course, if one can get the same solution at a cheaper price one should go for it. Compared to client/server, mainframes do work out cheaper in the long run. A study conducted by LinuxWorld on the subject states that running one IBM mainframe uses less power than running 750 Sun or PC servers. This would be a real benefit, however trivial, next to the cost of the Linux and VM (virtual machine) licenses, if the mainframe could handle the same load. Another benefit is that the mainframe allows partitioning of resources to run different applications simultaneously. Using partitioning software, a mainframe can be split into several independent computers that share the same hardware. IBM has demonstrated the running of tens of thousands of Linux computers on a single mainframe. Mainframes also offer easy access to open source and Internet-related applications. Linux But which catalyst will provide the necessary boost for the growth of the mainframe market in India? Replies Modak, The main engine for growth has been the adoption of Linux. Customers have discovered that Linux provides a favourable TCO and gives them

flexibility in management of costs. But there are various conflicting reports on whether Linux will actually help IBM grow its mainframe business. A report published by the Meta Group says that though mainframes running Linux have some advantages in the short run, in another 4-5 years these advantages will be irrelevant as Unix and Windows 2000-based systems flesh out increasingly robust, mainframe-like management capabilities partitioning, workload management, reconfiguration and prioritisation. This will make users think twice about the premium they would have to pay for mainframes. However, a Giga Group report thinks otherwise. According to Giga, mainframe technology is beyond the first phase of adoption, and has already made deep inroads into the financial services sector. While its true that other technologies have been trying to bridge the gap, IBM has not been sitting idle. The company has been making substantial investments in research and development. IBMs introduction of the z800 makes it possible to run Linux as a single operating system, ensuring ease-of-use. This, plus its ability to run hundreds of applications together makes it attractive to many organisations. Says Modak, Earlier there were a lot of applications in the open space but you couldnt run them on mainframes. We had specific applications available only on the mainframe. But Linux has changed that by offering higher uptime. A whole host of applications are now being made available through Linux. Companies are under pressure to optimise their existing IT investments. This, plus other factors like availability of lower-cost systems, increasing support for Linux applications, and newer workloads from IBM, are expected to drive the growth of mainframe technology. Giga also predicts that more companies will use zSeries Linux environments for application serving combined with back-end database serving residing in a zSeries z/OS environment. Conclusion While it is difficult to predict the general future of mainframes, in India it may be a different scenario altogether. IBM may be able to gain a stronger foothold in the Indian market with its cost-effective Linux-based mainframes. Also, unlike earlier mainframes, the current set of machines are easier to handle and occupy less real estatewhich may swing the tide in IBMs favour. Most analysts whom Express Computer spoke to believe that while small organisations will continue to prefer client/server based architectures, sectors like telecom and the government will continue to favour mainframes.