Some analysts attributed part of the downturn in IBM's mainframe hardware business this year to IT departments that were waiting for T-Rex's (a/k/a z990) release.
There's no question that mainframe capabilities are not going to go away, nor are mainframes themselves, for a good long while. Just step into most large corporate data centers for proof. The legacy is there and re-writing all those applications isn't going to happen overnight. And the humorously named T-Rex (IBM=Dinosaur) has a lot going for it that existing mainframe users will appreciate, 32 processors and 15 paritions for a start.
However, there's question of whether the new T-Rex will be where companies put their upgrade and forward looking, web-services oriented money. Or will they move towards solutions like high-end Unix and the MS Windows 2003 Server running on the UniSys ES7000/500 series? z/OS is by no means extinct, but it remains to be seen if T-Rex will save it from becoming so over the next few years.
Posted by Diana at May 13, 2003 08:06 AM