> The most common box used for "authorizations" is what used to be called > Tandem. Mainframes do much else. They stand at short arm's length to > each other.
[<CLC>] Tandems were used in many online banking applications as front-end switches. They didn't really process the transactions beyond queueing and sending them on to the right place. Their "non-stop" reliability was important to avoid lost transactions back in the day when CICS couldn't keep up. Probably not so much of an issue today, but they're probably still doing yeoman work in the same places they were in 1983 when I first bumped into them. CC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
