Platform comparison - Building a business case for the mainframe

At the beginning of the week there was a thread at the IBM-Main Discussion list about 'Platform Comparison'. It points to a Share presentation by Marlin Maddy of IBM : 'Building the business case for System z'. Apparently there's also a webcast of it via Share online. If you are looking for some solid arguments for making up a business case for the mainframe as compared to your distributed environment, you can really find quite some inspiration here. I know I don't have to convince you about this, but you and I have to convince other people, managers, CFOs etc. that the mainframe is a valid ànd cost effective alternative. No, alternative is not the right word, it's our first choice, of course.

The presentation also points to a series of videos on IBM TV, where Marlin Maddy more or less gives the same exposé. It's actually a six part series and I especially find that the fifth one gives you lots of comparison details, some of which can be easily overlooked, but that really add up to the value of the mainframe. Scroll down in the right column to find all 'episodes'.

A very good addition to this, is this article by John Schlosser (IBM): 'Six Easy Pieces: How to Do Cost of Ownership Analysis Better'. Do take a look at it, it's really worth your time.

The Mainframe surviving and thriving in a turbulent world

I mentioned a CA mainframe survey a couple of posts before. Now it's out with an accompanying video by Marcel den Hartog.
I also already told you that the survey revealed that while on average 50% of all corporate critical data are on the mainframe, the cost on average is only 19% of the total IT-budget.
But there's more : there's also information on how in companies with a 'connected' mainframe (connected "within a distributed, web-enabled enterprise"), the mainframe even plays a more important role than in those that are not connected. And here I have to make the link to some of IBMs strategies which were presented during the last months. The concept of a new mainframe (zFuture) is also including more connectivity to other platforms. I'm sure I will come back to that in future posts.
Next to that there's also information on security and on how to find a solution for skills shortages.

Here's the video :



I'll let you discover the rest of this EMEA survey yourselves with the press release, the introduction page and the survey itself.

By the way, there recently was also a CA Survey predicting a growing use of Linux on the mainframe. Here are the press release and the survey : 'Usage and Plans for Mainframe Linux'.

The mainframe ? Expensive ? Not at all ! ! !

I'm attending the Belgian GSE Regional Conference today and tomorrow. And if there's one number that got stuck into my head it was 19%. Let me explain : one of the speakers today was Marcel den Hartog of CA. A great speaker, if you ask me, entertaining, tongue in cheek but always very informational. He told about a survey CA held in EMEA among a whole bunch of large companies. One point of the outcome : on average 50% of mission critical applications is running on the mainframe. But . . . the average percent of IT budget spent on the mainframe is 19%. Can you believe it ? Apparently at CA they couldn't either, as Mr. den Hartog told, so they contacted the companies again to confirm their answers and they DID ! But now you have to turn it around. What does that also mean ? The other 50% is running on what, on distributed systems ? I guess so ? And at what cost ? You don't need a mainframe to do the math on this one.

If you want to read more : Marcel den Hartog put this result also on the CA EXEC I/O Mainframe blog. So, as I always say, just check it out ! It's a great read with more information on this topic.