Abstract
Just like the housing market, we hear a great deal from the IT experts about how we should modernize to maintain the value of our investments. When it comes to giving a makeover to the mainframe, it is far from clear what this means. IBM is investing heavily in the platform, but that does not mean that you can sit back and assume your job is done. In this short article, we take a look at your options, and how on-going investment in your property can not only maintain, but increase its value.
Introduction
Let's be clear about what we mean by a mainframe. These are the traditional (but proprietary) engines of business computing manufactured by Amdahl, Bull, Fujitsu, Hitachi, IBM, Siemens, Unisys and others.
However, according to a 2005 survey by Gartner, IBM's share of mainframe shipments had almost doubled from 2000 to 2004 to reach 70% of the worldwide total. While other mainframe manufacturers are shifting their investments to platforms based on industry-standard hardware and software, IBM's recently introduced z9 mainframe is the result of a $1B investment in their flagship System zT architecture. The issues for non-IBM platforms are somewhat unique, so this article will focus on users of IBM System z and its predecessors.
Let's also be clear about the scale of industry investment in mainframe applications.
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In 2001 Gartner stated: “More than 180 billion lines of code in hundreds of languages populate the operational inventory of commercial IT systems; government agencies worldwide probably operate another 50 billion lines. Much of the inventory is in one of more than 80 variations in COBOL, with PL/1 and RPG being the next most common”.
The Aberdeen group estimate that there are “…$2 trillion worth of mainframe applications in corporations that house approximately 70% of all critical business logic and data”. |
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As businesses struggle to compete in a global economy, the cost of maintaining and running mainframe systems is coming under close scrutiny. Further, the lack of flexibility afforded by legacy applications which were built years ago to service certain lines of business is hampering growth. Most IT organisations are now considering some form of mainframe modernization project to reduce costs and provide a foundation to support more innovative and agile business models. The IT services industry is waking to this need by gearing up to offer practices around legacy modernization, but will they work?
| Request to read the complete article by Dr. Mike Gilbert of Legacy Directions |
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