Kirk Talman writes: >The most common box used for "authorizations" is what used to be >called Tandem.
Now called HP NonStop. >Mainframes do much else. They stand at short arm's length to >each other. Chris Craddock replies: >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. I agree with Chris. In my (more limited) experience, if HP NonStops are used they're mainly as front-end switches at card network member banks. And their use in this niche role is fading, as Chris alludes to. A big reason is application and middleware availability trends in that industry favoring the IBM mainframe and disfavoring HP NonStop. Another is cost: typically it's more affordable to consolidate. Yet another is HP and its platform technology disruptions. (HP just announced another one this month and is trying to move understandably reluctant customers to Itanium to cut its R&D costs.) Still yet another is the adoption of Parallel Sysplex and GDPS, mooting a front-end queue.? - - - - - Timothy Sipples IBM Consulting Enterprise Software Architect Specializing in Software Architectures Related to System z Based in Tokyo, Serving IBM Japan and IBM Asia-Pacific E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
