On Fri, 6 Apr 2007 14:21:11 -0500, Tom Marchant <m42tom- [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >Thank you for your well reasoned response, Alan. On this point, though, >I disagree. Customers are not leaving the mainframe because theit IT >needs are shrinking, unless by "shrinking" you mean growing at a slower >rate than the growth of computing technology.
I think you're right, Tom, that it is sometimes/often an apparent decrease rather than an absolute decrease. An interesting point, indeed, as we look at "small" customers who are growing rapidly - they'll put in a mainframe to handle Linux server growth, yet still be considered part of SMB based on the absolute dollar value of their expenditures rather than on their pursuit of the Latest & Greatest gear. (I'd like to get rid of S, M, and L as it applies to IT.) Bottom line, yes, IBM wants you to keep up the pace. If your growth is slower than the technology, that's ok, as we recognize that ever year can't be a Big Winner, but over time growth does need to be present. >The shrinking of the mainframe customer base is a cause for real >concern. Every time a customer leaves the mainframe it hurts us >all. I don't have a clue how many installations license MVS today, >but the hurt when the user base loses one of 30,000 customers is >nowhere near as bad as it will be if we get to where there are only >ten left and we lose one. There's a life lesson in here somewhere about the never-ending story of "technoflation". Grow or die. Publish or perish. New and improved. All new. As never before. Operators are standing by. But there have also been a lot companies go bust, plus the acquisitions and consolidations. It seems an inevitible result of New and Improving the technology. If we don't do it, we are viewed by analysts as dinosaurs, you know? Rock. Hard place. Now, if system programmers ran the zoo.... :-) Alan Altmark IBM ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
