3 ms·

Are there other non-IBM companies that have a lot of active mainframes? I was under the impression that the vast majority of mainframes in use were System Z or

by easton 6y ago

Are there other non-IBM companies that have a lot of active mainframes? I was under the impression that the vast majority of mainframes in use were System Z or its kin, but maybe I'm just falling for marketing.

p_l 6y ago
There's significant amount of COBOL running outside of mainframes, mostly with MicroFocus offerings and combined with various other presently less-known technologies. Then there's a bunch of mainframe stuff still running around on IBM clones (especially in Japan, afaik). Unisys is still up, and there are still active Burroughs Large Systems deployments (now under ClearPath name, I think?) and few other niche systems.
yellowapple 6y ago
COBOL exists beyond mainframes; usually in that case the alternative would be a Unix server (or something approximating one; I've seen COBOL-on-CentOS in the wild). But yeah, as far as mainframes go, at least here in the US, IBM - and specifically AS/400 - is pretty much the only game left in town.
- jsymolon 6y ago
  I have a couple of Vendor supplied programs that run on MicroFocus COBOL in a Linux environment. The product line supports IBM mainframes and a few other platforms, so I assume it's easier to target the mainframe first and then the other platforms.
tablespoon 6y ago
> Are there other non-IBM companies that have a lot of active mainframes? I was under the impression that the vast majority of mainframes in use were System Z or its kin, but maybe I'm just falling for marketing. I think Unisys is still around... https://www.unisys.com/offerings/clearpath-forward/clearpath-forward-products https://www.unisys.com/offerings/clearpath-forward/clearpath... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS_2200 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS_2200 https://www.unisys.com/news/News%20Release/New-Unisys-High-End-ClearPath-Systems-Deliver-Mainframe-Performance-on-an-Intel-Based-Platform https://www.unisys.com/news/News%20Release/New-Unisys-High-E...

by easton 6y ago

p_l 6y ago

There's significant amount of COBOL running outside of mainframes, mostly with MicroFocus offerings and combined with various other presently less-known technologies. Then there's a bunch of mainframe stuff still running around on IBM clones (especially in Japan, afaik). Unisys is still up, and there are still active Burroughs Large Systems deployments (now under ClearPath name, I think?) and few other niche systems.

yellowapple 6y ago

COBOL exists beyond mainframes; usually in that case the alternative would be a Unix server (or something approximating one; I've seen COBOL-on-CentOS in the wild). But yeah, as far as mainframes go, at least here in the US, IBM - and specifically AS/400 - is pretty much the only game left in town.

jsymolon 6y ago
I have a couple of Vendor supplied programs that run on MicroFocus COBOL in a Linux environment. The product line supports IBM mainframes and a few other platforms, so I assume it's easier to target the mainframe first and then the other platforms.

tablespoon 6y ago

> Are there other non-IBM companies that have a lot of active mainframes? I was under the impression that the vast majority of mainframes in use were System Z or its kin, but maybe I'm just falling for marketing. I think Unisys is still around... https://www.unisys.com/offerings/clearpath-forward/clearpath-forward-products https://www.unisys.com/offerings/clearpath-forward/clearpath... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS_2200 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS_2200 https://www.unisys.com/news/News%20Release/New-Unisys-High-End-ClearPath-Systems-Deliver-Mainframe-Performance-on-an-Intel-Based-Platform https://www.unisys.com/news/News%20Release/New-Unisys-High-E...