Latest Articles
Mainframes on Autopilot!
Yes, mainframes are now on autopilot, not unlike Tesla automobiles! While everyone is chasing the next big, disruptive unicorn like Uber or Airbnb, bright mainframe engineers are quietly disrupting the industry with new customer-driven innovations. If you are into...
The Need for Speed: Four Reasons Why Data Virtualization is Replacing ETL
One of the challenges of working in the modern world is adjusting to a faster and faster speed of computing. Globalization and mobile technology mean instant communications and near-instantaneous reactions are the minimum benchmark a firm must meet to keep up....
Settling for less
I was reading the news on CNN recently about a power outage in California, which reminded me of some serious black outs in Costa Rica a while back. A friend was there on business, and it ruined an important business meeting that he had spent months setting up. It also...
Business Intelligence – you either have it or you don’t…
Definition of Business: …the practice of making one’s living by engaging in commerce… Definition of Intelligence: …the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills… Without both – you will have neither! I’m an avid reader of pretty much all things “Technical” –...
Mainframe optimization on the high seas
Being in the mainframe business for about 10 years now, I hear interesting anecdotes from time to time, often from the most unlikely sources. I may have taken some liberty with the title, but it’s a true story, and it relates well to what I see in the mainframe...
Banking Trends and IT Issues
Digital transformation is impacting businesses far and wide, but you could argue that none are being impacted more dramatically than banking. Over the course of the past few decades the manner in which banks interact with their customers has changed significantly, and...
Cost vs Performance: an endless battle?
Several techniques to move the needle For some reason, technology experts are regularly claiming the end of the mainframe. When IBM announced the opportunity to run Linux on hardware mostly dedicated to z/OS, some thought that it was the sign that the platform will...
Mainframes are used increasingly by major banks and financial institutions
Do you think the mainframe is dead? A dinosaur, an ancient piece of technology that has outlived its usefulness like cathode ray tubes, rotary dial telephones, and dial-up modems? I have some news for you. The mainframe has adapted: it is alive and well with major...
Data Centers, Mainframes and the rest!
When compared to an x86/distributed server environment, the operational costs of the power consumption versus IBM’s Mainframe z Systems are half, while the performance is 30 percent greater (using z Systems as an example.) So let’s think about that for a minute!...
Bringing DevOps to your mainframe
The days of waterfall software development on a mainframe are coming to an end. It’s no longer tolerable for end users to have to wait two years for a new application to be written and delivered to a spec that, by then, is two years out of date. The inflexibility of...
