There’s nothing like kicking a product – and a company – when it’s down, and a report, The Mainframe’s Fate, from Forrester Research Inc, Cambridge, Massachusetts, written up by Newsbytes, concludes that despite what some diehard mainframe manufacturers say, and in line with what we have been suggesting here, the big machines have little place in client-server computing. Forrester asked 50 companies from the Fortune 1000 list of the biggest US businesses whether they are using mainframes as servers or would consider doing so. Only 20% said they are using a mainframe as a server now, and 34% insisted they would never consider it. Forrester is not predicting the mainframe’s extinction any time soon, reckoning that it will continue to see some use as a central data warehouse. Of those surveyed, 45% said they would use a host system as a central data repository and only 20% said the mainframe has no future at all; at the other extreme, only 20% said it will remain their primary applications system, while 52% said its future is in supporting large databases. Five of the 50 companies surveyed, 10%, had already powered down their mainframes and another 18% said they are aiming to reduce their dependence on mainframes. Forrester predicts the emergence of a new class of corporate server, which will fill the role some mainframe vendors have tried to claim for their machines. These will be larger and more powerful than today’s departmental servers such as Compaq Computer Corp’s SystemPro, will use the most powerful microprocessors, such as Intel Corp’s Pentium or one or other of the contending RISCs, with multiple processors; Digital Equipment Corp’s Alpha and the PowerPC from IBM Corp, Apple Computer Inc and Motorola Inc are seen as leading contenders.
