Whose are the mainframes at risk in Mead Data Central Inc’s phased move to Unix systems (see page five, inside)? The giant database operator is extremely unforthcoming, but it’s hard to keep these things quiet and our spies tell us that at the last count – which was about a year ago, it was a three-way split between IBM Corp, down to one 3090-300S and one 3090-200, Amdahl Corp with a 5990-1400 and two 5990-1400As, and Hitachi Data Systems Inc with three EX/100s; at the time, there were also 350 of IBM’s disgraced RT Unix boxes, and 21 IBM System/88 fault-tolerant machines.
