Cameron Haight

I guess we will see.  Mantissa Corporation announced last week their intention to provide support for Windows desktops on IBM mainframes.  This is, of course, does not require a total stretch of the imagination as Linux has run on the mainframe for years.  But this is, I believe, a first for Windows, and especially, Windows-based desktops.  Little is known of how this will be done … and the potential impact this will have on mainframe resources. 

[Danger: I'm about to show my age] I remember years ago when I was at IBM trying to enable a port of the DEC VT-100 protocol to an IBM 3090 class mainframe for one of my clients (we were trying to dislodge those pesky, from our perspective, DEC/SNA gateways).  Can you say performance problem?  We did the right thing and ultimately canceled the project but I’m sure some of the sales folks looked wistfully upon the lost mainframe cycles that might have been sold.  I share this though as an example that there are certain environments that don’t blend well with mainframe architectures.  

But for the moment, let’s assume the overhead is manageable and that there are no issues with remote protocols, etc.  Is the mainframe the right place to do this?  While still expensive in nominal terms, the latest z10 IBM server and associated specialty engines (IFL, zAAP and zIIP) seem to be changing many traditional notions about mainframe costs (and capabilities).  I seem to recall studies suggesting that power consumption may also be increasingly a winning argument for mainframes.  And of course when it comes to security, the mainframe is often the bar that other systems alternatives aim for.

So, there may be a plausible case for this – at least among existing mainframe customers.  Still I am concerned about one thing that in my traditional virtualization coverage I heavily focus upon – support (and related to this, complexity).  It’s no secret that skills availability for mainframe support is starting to become an issue as many of these traditional administrators near retirement age.  And of course, even with skilled operators the mainframe can be complex to manage – although managing a distributed UNIX or Windows server farm isn’t necessarily for the faint of heart either.  All-in-all, it’s an interesting announcement and we’ll have to continue to monitor Mantissa’s progress.