Hey, What Are You Calling a “Legacy System”?

I received a mail about a couple of weeks ago with the question if I could add a link to the IBM Data Management Magazine page on my blog. Well, I must say I'm rather hesitant to add links as most of the requests I get are pure publicity and adds. And I'm not interested in those ones.

So I had a look at it and of course, this is the former DB2 Magazine of which I somehow lost track. Shame on me. In my 'former' life as a DBA I really learned a lot from that magazine. Have a look at it, you'll (still) like it. It now has a broader scope as the scope of the IBM Information Management product family has also broadened since. So, of course, as you can see on the right hand side I added the link.

But what about the title of your post, you might say. Well, let me call it another teaser to go and have a look. As I saw some familiar contributors like e.g. Bonnie Baker, I also noticed this contribution by Robert Catterall on legacy systems. How do you go about when an IT executive dismisses the system z servers as just "legacy systems" ? How do you convince someone that system z servers are more than just that stereotyped image a lot of people have of them. You might say :

“Legacy system, you say? Would that be the system that runs the applications that keep your factories humming, your trucks rolling, and your customer invoices flowing? You know, the applications that make you money and keep your business alive? You mean that legacy system?”

or

“Speaking of that System z server of yours, you must be aware that DB2 on that platform is a great data provider for those modern, multitiered, service-oriented applications on which you’re focused, right? If you’re not convinced of that, see what your own development teams are up to these days.”

Go find out yourself how Robert Catterall tackles the issue. You might get some additional ideas on how to defend that old-fashioned, legacy system next time.