Tapping the Mainframe

摘要

Back in 1991, infoworld's then Editor in Chief Stewart Alsop predicted the plug would be pulled on the last mainframe in five years. Oops. Eight years after their forecasted demise, mainframes today host, by most estimates, the majority of business transactions and enterprise data. IBM, which now enjoys a virtual monopoly on big iron, sold $6.8 billion's worth in 2003, a vear that saw sales of IBM zSeries mainframes (whose top-end models go by the nickname "T- Rex") jump 33 percent.