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Mainframe systems are still the backbone of much of today's IT infrastructure. Yet, finding IT talent to maintain these systems, and the COBOL and Fortran languages that support them, is becoming increasingly difficult. The trouble is that all of the people who know how to maintain these systems -- while preparing to bolt on next-gen apps -- are aging out of the workforce, and there are no Millennials eagerly lining up to take their spots. Mainframes require knowledge of COBOL and Fortran, languages that are not considered particularly sexy these days. It's not hard to see why no one wants...

A U.S. supercomputer has won back the crown in the never-ending battle for the world's most powerful supercomputer. Its victory is the latest milestone marking the steady climb of computing power all across the globe. The Top500 industry list gave its No. 1 ranking to the Sequoia supercomputer housed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California — a spot earned by Sequoia's ability to crunch 16.32 quadrillion calculations per second (16.32 petaflops/s). Such supercomputing power is used by the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration to simulate nuclear weapons tests for older weapons that have been sitting in the U.S. arsenal....

What does two and two make? The answer: a myth. It’s a joke, but not a very funny one, for IBM’s System z team: when they talk to customers who refuse to consider a move to a mainframe environment, two and two is their objection: "it will take me two years to do it, and I’m going to spend two million dollars in the struggle," they say. If this were true, you’d have to be crazy, a masochist or have a really bad data centre to embark on a plan like this. Your staff would despise you, your CEO would...

The mainframe is finding its way into emerging markets and is still holding strong globally, according to an IBM executive. Richard Pape, mainframe systems executive at IBM Asia-Pacific, told ZDNet Asia in an email interview that the company is witnessing a resurgence in the mainframe. "We saw a range of all-new mainframe clients this year across the world, particularly in emerging markets [such as China and India]," he said. During the release of its second-quarter results last month, IBM reported a 32 percent year-on-year increase in revenue from the System z mainframe server products. There are several drivers for customers...

The Air Force completed a four-phase transition of the Global Positioning System ground segment to the new Architecture Evolution Plan on Sept. 14. AEP was delivered by the Space and Missile Systems Center's GPS Wing to the 50th Space Wing to replace the legacy 1970s-era mainframe computer at Schriever AFB, Colo. SMC managed the development, integration and test with the Boeing Company, who led a joint Boeing-Lockheed Martin contractor team, to design and build the new system. The transition was executed by the 2nd Space Operations Squadron from the 50th Space Wing and the 19th Space Operations Squadron from the...

Yes I know - not really an appropriate topic for FR, but at least it's in "General/Chat" Internet information on this type of thing is sparse at best. What I need is information on old equipment that has the TN3270 WITH the "Enhanced" (RFC2355) support. Old software suitable for an AS/400 would be even better. At least, if someone could point me in the right direction - somewhere that isn't Microsoft or Webby-oriented - it would be greatly appreciated...

Former CA Chief To Plead Guilty By William M. Bulkeley & Paul Davies April 24, 2006 12:59 p.m. Sanjay Kumar, former chief executive officer of Computer Associates International Inc., is expected to plead guilty to financial fraud charges later today. People familiar with the situation said Mr. Kumar and his co-defendant Stephen Richards, a former top sales executive, will appear in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn today at 2 p.m. Details of the expected guilty pleas weren't immediately available. Lawyers for Messrs. Kumar and Richards couldn't be reached for comment. Once the protégé of CA founder Charles Wang, Mr. Kumar...

I.B.M. introduced a new line of mainframe computer today that is not only twice as powerful as its predecessor but also intended to make it easier for corporations to encrypt vast amounts of customer information and to bundle the workloads of many smaller computers onto an I.B.M. mainframe. The new line, called the z9, is the result of a three-year, $1.2 billion development effort involving 5,000 I.B.M. engineers. Maintaining the health of the mainframe business, which accounts for a small percentage of the company's revenues these days, is still important to I.B.M. Sales of the big machines, which typically cost...

Bob Evans, Who Helped I.B.M. Transform Data Processing, Dies at 77 By LAURIE J. FLYNN Published: September 8, 2004 Bob O. Evans in the early 1970's. ARTICLE TOOLS E-Mail This Article Printer-Friendly Format Most E-Mailed Articles Reprints & Permissions TIMES NEWS TRACKER   Topics Alerts Deaths (Obituaries) Computers and the Internet International Business Machines Corporation ob O. Evans, a computer scientist who in the 1960's led the development of a new class of mainframe computers - the famous 360's - helping turn I.B.M. into a data-processing power, died on Thursday in Hillsborough, Calif. He was 77.The cause was sudden heart failure,...

IBM released on Tuesday two new higher-end versions of its z990 mainframe, along with a promotion to coax customers to try blade servers and other Big Blue products. When IBM began selling in May the first z990, code-named T-Rex, there were two configurations: Model A with eight processors and Model B with 16. Now the company will sell Model C with 24 processors and Model D with 32, IBM said. IBM is trying to make the new systems more appealing in other ways as well. For one thing, customers that buy the z990 will get a discount of as much...

<p>IBM is expected to unveil today its next-generation mainframe computer, a more powerful version of the system that once generated at least 80 percent of its profits.</p> <p>Even though IBM has become more of a services company in recent years, the mainframe is still a key product for the world's largest computer maker. Despite IBM's code-name for the product -- T-Rex, a tongue-in-cheek reference to the constant dismissal by competitors that the mainframe is a dinosaur -- the mainframe is far from death's door.</p>

update IBM will announce its next-generation mainframe Tuesday, sources said. The system, called the z990 and code-named T-Rex, will spearhead Big Blue's effort to ensure the lineage isn't doomed to extinction. The machine will come with 32 processors initially, with a 48-processor version by the end of 2003 and a 64-processor version in 2004, said Illuminata analyst Gordon Haff. By comparison, IBM's current top-end z900 mainframe, introduced in 2000, has 16 processors. In addition, the company is expected to announce that the mainframe can be subdivided into several independent partitions. Initially, the system will support as many as 15 partitions...

update IBM will announce its next-generation mainframe Tuesday, sources said. The system, called the z990 and code-named T-Rex, will spearhead Big Blue's effort to ensure the lineage isn't doomed to extinction. The machine will come with 32 processors initially, with a 48-processor version by the end of 2003 and a 64-processor version in 2004, said Illuminata analyst Gordon Haff. By comparison, IBM's current top-end z900 mainframe, introduced in 2000, has 16 processors. In addition, the company is expected to announce that the mainframe can be subdivided into several independent partitions. Initially, the system will support as many as 15 partitions...