Mainframes and minicomputers still used?

Question

I studied the history of computing. I'm just wondering are mainframes and minicomputers still used? I mean, the other day, PCs are many times faster than mainframes in the 90s. Even http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_platform doesn't say anything about mainframes. They also use PCs as their servers.

I do not know about Cloud Computing.

Answer 1

I was a mainframe programmer until 3 years ago, and my former colleagues in my former department still work with these machines. They play a vital role in ordering and check-in for some major airlines.

It is interesting to note that although languages ​​and other tools have appeared that allow developers to create very complex software, it also increased the complexity of the task and the expectations of customers. In addition, modern management seems to be associated with cost reductions.

Given overly complex tasks and unrealistic time and budget constraints, very often development teams these days cannot successfully complete projects. Thus, although successfully completed modern projects may have much greater functionality and a “coolness coefficient," project success rates have not improved since the 1970s.

As a result, many older mainframe systems still work because one or more projects designed to replace them failed. Reconstruction

Answer 2

Yes, banks, enterprises, and especially government agencies, still use mainframes. (Heck, they are still using COBOL).

Colds are now called Supercomputers . "

But companies like IBM still sell more mundane mainframes .

Answer 3

Until a few weeks ago, I was an architect at a bank; they have 2x IBM 390 mainframes and they will have them for a very long time.

The reason are the applications that they run - these are the main banking applications that have been written over 15-20 years using Natural (this is a programming language) and Adabas (a database that uses the organizational concept of files, not tables).

They have such a huge investment in these applications that it will take them a very long time to move on to something else. I'm not just saying code and data, but large groups of mainframes that "know the business."

Given that these are the main banking systems and they are very reliable, they have little appetite for switching to emulation or to another platform.

The mainframe flaws today are, first of all, exorbitant contributions for support and maintenance, as well as a limited skills base in the market.

They also still run VMS, which is why this type of minicomputer.

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

According to this article , mainframes were certainly alive in 2008, and I don’t think that the situation has changed much since then.

Answer 5

Another example: German Telekom uses a mainframe-based system called KONTES , developed in the 1970s to manage telephone line and client data. Some support systems have been replaced by more modern architectures, but the main systems are still mainframes, so huge and complex that no company has ever faced the challenge of replacing them.

Answer 6

Some banking systems still work in one or another configuration in which they were created decades ago. This is not broken, so they do not feel the need to upgrade.