Hi Steve, Thanks for great reply. More below...
Don > -----Original Message----- > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] > On Behalf Of Steve Comstock > Sent: Monday, January 28, 2013 11:36 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: mainframe "selling" points > > On 1/28/2013 7:22 PM, Don Williams wrote: <snip> >> >> I work for a large hospital that has recently selected a new Electronic >> Medical Records (EMR) vendor. While their decision process considered the >> infrastructure, the weight of all the other factors effectively ignored any >> platform advantages/disadvantages. They were far more concerned about >> whether the application best meets the needs of the doctors, nurses, >> clinics, etc. than whether the hardware be the best available. > > Are you saying it's wrong to meet the needs of the customers first? > If I ran a hospital of course I would choose applications that helped > my staff most, and I would not care about the platform - just as long > as the applications worked correctly and were available when needed. > I agree, the staff needs far out weight the choice of platform. What I omitted, was there was no viable EMR software based on z/OS. > >> A former colleague brought it to my attention that many hospitals have started >> switching to the same EMR vendor away from mainframe based applications, and >> that I should have my resume at the ready. After talking to other former >> colleagues, I discovered that the hospital industry is not the only industry >> trying to move to slicker, nicer applications even if they have to switch to >> another platform. This implies that the software vendor is indirectly >> selecting the platform. > > Yes, and that's the way it should be. > My real questions are -- Why no EMR vendor chose the z/OS platform? And are vendors in other industries starting to avoid z/OS? If so, why? >> >> While my analysis is based on antidotal evidence, I believe that the young > ITYM "anecdotal"; "antidotal" might keep > you from dying due to poisoning > Thanks for catching my wrong word. It did not look quite right, but I was too lazy to double check it. (or was I subconsciously looking for an antidote for the current state of affairs? :-) > >> new developers of these slicker, newer applications want to develop on a >> familiar platform (i.e., their school did not use a mainframe). > > IBM blew it 20-30 years ago when they stopped being generous > to colleges and universities. Looking at the short term. Boy do I agree. IIRC, the university I attended got a 60% to 70% (maybe more) discount for their s/360 Mod 50. I expect the various antitrust suits against IBM, esp. one in 1969 forced IBM to reduce/eliminate their generosity. > >> They want to choose a platform that minimizes their development cost (again not > a >> mainframe), yet is sufficient for a production environment. Historically, >> PC, blade servers, etc. simply were not robust enough to handle medium to >> large companies. PC/blades/etc. have become larger and clustered, etc., so >> that now days they can handle a large company (this does not apply to the >> Fortune 1000 variety, because they are beyond large). Therefore vendors >> seem far more willing to develop for a non-mainframe environment. IBM seems >> to have extended the mainframe with specialty processors like the IFL >> processors for zLinux support, and Ensembles for blade support as a hedge >> against the other platforms. >> >> I'm not saying that IBM's mainframe market is about to dry up and > disappear. >> The Fortune 1000 size companies alone will keep the mainframe market healthy >> for many years to come, but I do think the other platforms are beginning to >> make a serious dent in the lower side of the traditional mainframe market. > > Where have you been? Of course that's what's been happening for > 10 years or so. And IBM, generally speaking, is indifferent to > the trend as long as they get their share of the non-mainframe > market. Pay me for mainframes or pay for AIX, same results. > I'm not sure I agree with "Pay me for mainframes or pay for AIX, same results." Which platform provides IBM the best profit margin? Hardware-wise, I would guess the System z. Operating System-wise, I would guess z/OS. Therefore I would expect IBM to promote vendor and education activities that would enhance those lines of business. > >> >> Don >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] > On >> Behalf Of Ron Wells >> Sent: Monday, January 28, 2013 8:47 AM >> To: [email protected] >> Subject: Re: mainframe "selling" points >> >> someone--needs to tell BBC about false statements..... >> >> >> >> >> >> From: Mike Schwab <[email protected]> >> To: [email protected] >> Date: 01/25/2013 05:47 PM >> Subject: Re: mainframe "selling" points >> Sent by: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM- > [email protected]> >> >> >> >> Card reader / punch, lineprinter, reel tapes, unmounted 3330 disk > pack. >> >> Things have sure progressed since then. >> >> On Fri, Jan 25, 2013 at 12:39 PM, Don Williams <[email protected]> > wrote: >>> The article below does not paint a good future for the mainframe...I >> hope >>> the analysts are wrong. >>> >>> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19399368 >> <deleted> >> > > > -- > > Kind regards, > > -Steve Comstock > The Trainer's Friend, Inc. > > 303-355-2752 > http://www.trainersfriend.com > > * To get a good Return on your Investment, first make an investment! > + Training your people is an excellent investment > > * Try our tool for calculating your Return On Investment > for training dollars at > http://www.trainersfriend.com/ROI/roi.html > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
