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If it aint broke, don't break it. In a business context, the outcomes that your software enable are the things that matter. If your legacy platform still work

by OldHand2018 6y ago

If it aint broke, don't break it. In a business context, the outcomes that your software enable are the things that matter. If your legacy platform still works and your business can still accomplish the things it wants to accomplish, why add a huge expensive distraction? IBM still makes mainframes. You can still buy OpenVMS systems. There is no reason to believe that you will wake up one day and your technology will no longer exist. Don't hire people from Stanford or MIT. Recruit at 2nd tier schools and get them a year or two before you need them. They can learn all they need on the job, and they cost less, too.

wmf 6y ago
Ah yes, outcomes like payments taking over a day to go through and people not being able to receive unemployment.
- sp332 6y ago
  Mainframes are not slow. IBM's POWER architecture has some downsides but it is no slouch in transactions/second. > payments taking over a day to go through That's due to the protocol. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACH_Network https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACH_Network "when a real-time transfer is required, a wire transfer using a system such as the Federal Reserve's Fedwire is employed instead". > people not being able to receive unemployment That's probably not due to the mainframes. https://slate.com/technology/2020/04/new-jersey-unemployment-cobol-coronavirus.html https://slate.com/technology/2020/04/new-jersey-unemployment... That's probably an administration issue. https://www.citylab.com/equity/2020/04/unemployment-benefits-reopen-georgia-business-coronavirus/610321/ https://www.citylab.com/equity/2020/04/unemployment-benefits...
  - Lutzb 6y ago
    Z and POWER are two distinct architectures.
    - sp332 6y ago
      I know you can get different architectures in a mainframe, including Power. What's Z like?
      - lboc 6y ago
        https://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg248851.html https://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg248851.html and http://publibfi.boulder.ibm.com/epubs/pdf/dz9zr011.pdf http://publibfi.boulder.ibm.com/epubs/pdf/dz9zr011.pdf Should pretty much cover it :) Edit: missed http
      - monocasa 6y ago
        Power is way closer to a Xeon than a mainframe.
- goatinaboat 6y ago
  payments taking over a day to go through Consider that when you swipe your credit card and get payment approved in a store, that’s a round trip to the mainframe back at Visa HQ. Or when you withdraw cash from an ATM. Mainframes are perfectly capable of near-real-time operations at massive scale. The problems you mention are not technological.

wmf 6y ago

Ah yes, outcomes like payments taking over a day to go through and people not being able to receive unemployment.

sp332 6y ago
Mainframes are not slow. IBM's POWER architecture has some downsides but it is no slouch in transactions/second. > payments taking over a day to go through That's due to the protocol. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACH_Network https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACH_Network "when a real-time transfer is required, a wire transfer using a system such as the Federal Reserve's Fedwire is employed instead". > people not being able to receive unemployment That's probably not due to the mainframes. https://slate.com/technology/2020/04/new-jersey-unemployment-cobol-coronavirus.html https://slate.com/technology/2020/04/new-jersey-unemployment... That's probably an administration issue. https://www.citylab.com/equity/2020/04/unemployment-benefits-reopen-georgia-business-coronavirus/610321/ https://www.citylab.com/equity/2020/04/unemployment-benefits...
- Lutzb 6y ago
  Z and POWER are two distinct architectures.
  - sp332 6y ago
    I know you can get different architectures in a mainframe, including Power. What's Z like?
    - lboc 6y ago
      https://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg248851.html https://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg248851.html and http://publibfi.boulder.ibm.com/epubs/pdf/dz9zr011.pdf http://publibfi.boulder.ibm.com/epubs/pdf/dz9zr011.pdf Should pretty much cover it :) Edit: missed http
    - monocasa 6y ago
      Power is way closer to a Xeon than a mainframe.
goatinaboat 6y ago
payments taking over a day to go through Consider that when you swipe your credit card and get payment approved in a store, that’s a round trip to the mainframe back at Visa HQ. Or when you withdraw cash from an ATM. Mainframes are perfectly capable of near-real-time operations at massive scale. The problems you mention are not technological.