Millennials and Mainframes: How to Bridge the Gap

Post by dsr_ » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 10:32 PM UTC

tambourine_man wrote: post #98

jazzyjackson wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You want a mainframe if you want your system designed by engineers and not web developers. The IBM mainframe system is called "Z" for zero downtime. Banks and Airlines use systems that haven't needed to be rebooted in decades. (This is a little oversold, but that's the selling point.)

Banks and Airline systems go offline all the freaking time. Just the other day I told the post office attendant their system was back online, as the cursor started blinking again. Telltale sign of mainframe style computing.

Post by toomuchtodo » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 10:33 PM UTC

WoahNow wrote: post #69

johnklos wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try this: Ok, maybe this is a silly question, but I am {...}.... Question: what is a house and why would I want one? In my mind I think of it as a big, but inelastic, tent. If that's true, why wouldn't I want to just get multiple tents instead? A mainframe is the kind of computer you can buy and set up, turn on, and run for two decades (or more, if you like) non-stop. It doesn't need reboots, it most often doesn't ev…

Except when they do go down it can be a catastrophic business interrupting event. Which is why the cloud model of assume everything is going to break and all your hardware is disposable works much better (IMO).

Post by mmt » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 10:47 PM UTC

dfox wrote: post #99

petra wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given that Intel leads cpu performance, How can mainframes be that much better at single node performance than x86 servers ?

Intel leads in x86 performance and comparing performance of System z CPU to x86 is not exactly trivial task as zArchitecture is "uber-CISC" with instructions like "give me SHA256 of this part of memory" that also typically runs on 4+GHz clocks (and the "CPU book" has TDP of several kW). But main part of the performance advantage (be it perceived or real) is incredible memory and IO bandwith combined with large caches…

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 10:53 PM UTC

nickpsecurity wrote: post #106

toomuchtodo wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure break more often than our mainframes. In this case, the cloud model is a con, essentially the self checkout lane at Walmart. You're paying more for the same ability you had before. "Well, you want redundancy right? Well you're supposed to be redundant across AZs, and then regions, and then you're going to have to have disparate vendors to mitigate sole vendor risks." And then we're right…

Clouds reinvent mainframes. They're still cheaper, run more FOSS, and have more talent available. They're a better form of lockin than mainframes.

Post by tivert » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 11:01 PM UTC

smolder wrote: post #49

The way the article is describing millennials is from someone who has an outsiders view and a poor understanding. The things millennials do are not because millennials have wildly different values, they're because the world changed. Everyone in business learned giving pensions, training people and retaining people doesn't pay off. The post-ww2 bubble of prosperity has let out its air. That environment no longer exist…