The Hub Commentary_

I enjoyed this read as an old mainframe programmer and operator.  I believe we’ve been talking about death to the mainframe for many years now and as my father used to tell people, “my daughter is working the midnight shift in one of those lights out datacenters”.

As the Cloud providers are growing exponentially and >50% of IT will be outsourced by 2013 according to IDC and business is making up to 50% of technology buying decisions the mainframe enters the conversation again.  Each time I see one of these statistics I say the same thing that Bill speaks of in his post, just because there is sexier technology doesn’t always mean it is fit for purpose or cheaper.

No one outsources for cost, outsourcing occurs to create change.  Business is frustrated at the obstacle IT has become when technology should be driving the business.  Technology is the core of the business, however, has drifted into the commodity zone like electricity.  Technology must power the business and make competitive advantage in the market place or these organizations will be left behind and fully outsourced.

With that said, now isn’t the time to change for the sake of change, but rather evaluate and make the right technology deployment choices  based upon the service and the business outcomes expected.  In my previous post regarding knowing your services, I provide a simple 2×2 grid in identifying the value of your services and then the evaluation of cost and deployment options.

I once had a manager tell me sometimes it isn’t always easier to re-write an application that works.  Of course I later discovered he had written the application I had targeted for a re-write as it was a bear to support as it was assembler and not only had “go to’s”, but branching on instruction lengths and register addresses.    We re-wrote it in COBOL without go to’s and it became easier to manage moving forward, however, there were a few sleepless nights wondering if we could prove out the re-write.  We dodged a bullet that time.

Know your services, their value and costs and then determine the best deployment option.

Who makes the technology decisions in your organization?  How is your mainframe these days?

Michele

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Let me be perfectly vague by intentionally withholding the names of two companies I want to tell you about.

Many years ago, I was approached by a large technology vendor that wanted to lure customers away from the mainframe. For several years, this vendor had successfully sold its proprietary midrange computer, so they decided to test the waters in the high-end market.   (Read Full Article…)