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> Moving off core systems (z/i/p) isn't simple mostly because of the amount of data combined with all the custom applications. I wonder if someone could get aw

> Moving off core systems (z/i/p) isn't simple mostly because of the amount of data combined with all the custom applications. I wonder if someone could get away with selling a z/i/p emulator, akin to Wine. (Or perhaps more appropos, Mame, since the machine architecture would differ as well.)

eru 10y ago
Aren't the modern mainframes something like emulators / hypervisors of the old ones already? (IBM still sells you new mainframes.)
msh 10y ago
IBM would never license you the OS.
forgottenpass 10y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercules_(emulator) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercules_(emulator) The problem isn't the availability of an emulator, it's licensing the OS you want to use on the emulator.
nickpsecurity 10y ago
IBM legally destroyed a business for trying to do that on top of Hercules emulator. You can use the emulator, though, with a licensed copy of their mainframe OS. Common case is you already have license for an actual mainframe then use Hercules for development/debugging/whatever.
cat199 10y ago
The other part of the equation, software aside, is risk - Anyone using mainframes heavily in the way we are talking about here is probably running something mission critical with lots of $$$ tied into it - and the financial/legal risk of having anything go wrong at all is a huge driver - they want a big company with deep pockets and pages long support agreements backing them, so they can indemnify the other company if there is any problem and shift the blame (and from a personal perspective, cover their own butt). The mainframe using companies also usually have deep pockets, and so even if the mainframe is expensive, it still allows them enough profit margin to support it.. "There is a problem with our IBM mainframe, we have requisitioned a team of 12 people from IBM to investigate and legal is looking into what sort of contractual obligations IBM has if issues aren't resolved" is a much more palatable statement for the fortune-100 CIO to pass along to the CEO than "our IBM emulator seems to be having problems, but the 3 people developing it are on vacation, IT isn't sure if it's an emulator issue or something to do with the new hardware we migrated to run it on 2 years ago, and IBM says they don't support the software when it's run on the emulator. We're calling them again to see if there's some way we can convince them otherwise"

eru 10y ago

Aren't the modern mainframes something like emulators / hypervisors of the old ones already? (IBM still sells you new mainframes.)

msh 10y ago

IBM would never license you the OS.

forgottenpass 10y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercules_(emulator) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercules_(emulator) The problem isn't the availability of an emulator, it's licensing the OS you want to use on the emulator.

nickpsecurity 10y ago

IBM legally destroyed a business for trying to do that on top of Hercules emulator. You can use the emulator, though, with a licensed copy of their mainframe OS. Common case is you already have license for an actual mainframe then use Hercules for development/debugging/whatever.

cat199 10y ago

The other part of the equation, software aside, is risk - Anyone using mainframes heavily in the way we are talking about here is probably running something mission critical with lots of $$$ tied into it - and the financial/legal risk of having anything go wrong at all is a huge driver - they want a big company with deep pockets and pages long support agreements backing them, so they can indemnify the other company if there is any problem and shift the blame (and from a personal perspective, cover their own butt). The mainframe using companies also usually have deep pockets, and so even if the mainframe is expensive, it still allows them enough profit margin to support it.. "There is a problem with our IBM mainframe, we have requisitioned a team of 12 people from IBM to investigate and legal is looking into what sort of contractual obligations IBM has if issues aren't resolved" is a much more palatable statement for the fortune-100 CIO to pass along to the CEO than "our IBM emulator seems to be having problems, but the 3 people developing it are on vacation, IT isn't sure if it's an emulator issue or something to do with the new hardware we migrated to run it on 2 years ago, and IBM says they don't support the software when it's run on the emulator. We're calling them again to see if there's some way we can convince them otherwise"