Providing a cloud thru a service is not a requirement. NIST is not the governing body for cloud computing even though many people use it's definition http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-145/SP800-145.pdf. There have been 14 major drafts. I was amazed at the difference between the last time I looked at it and now. They don't look the same. SaaS and PaaS was not in the earlier drafts.
There are a few traits for the cloud which everyone can agree upon. IBM has not targeted z/OS as a cloud platform. Instead, their early adoption centered around being a service provider in the cloud instead of being a cloud environment. z/OS was actually a cloud environment long before the cloud was conceived. ELASTICITY: z/OS has sysplex which is a tightly coupled environment. Customers may add/remove systems as needed. In addition, our processors are able to dynamically add/remove CPU's as needed. z/OS dasd can be dynically added/removed. HSM, DSM and similar products allow disk migration to alleviate disk space problems. SMS allows disks allocations to occur according to the customers needs. PROVISIONING: SMS allows customers to control disk space usage by user if needed. HSM allows the customer and user to control what remains on disk. User's can control the size of each file (as oppose to unix directory control). z/OS has SRM to prioritize workload which gives customers great control over their system resource usage. SECURITY: RACF, ACF2 and TopSecret give customers great control over security. Built in cryptography is available. These easily meet the requirements for cloud computing NETWORKING: Internet is not a requirement per se but is now so prevalent that you no longer can have a cloud without it. TCP was implemented very late in z/OS as compared to other operating systems (TCP 3.1 - BSD conversion). z/OS has SNA which is a very robust architecture. It provided the qualities that meet the requirements for cloud. It's shortcoming was that other operating systems did adopt this architecture. The cloud was conceived to resolve a problem otherwise there wouldn't be a need for the cloud. Unix, Linux, Windows and other platforms don't expand/contract with a customers needs and customers want to work on their business without computing controlling their business. z/OS has performed this very well and for a very long time. It is the best of breed for a cloud but that doesn't mean customers accept it as a cost effective solution. Coining the term CLOUD has allowed the other platforms to mask maintaining loosely coupled server farms to appear like they work in a similar fashion as z/OS. So far, it seems to be doing well. Jon Perryman. >________________________________ > From: David Crayford <[email protected]> >To: [email protected] >Sent: Saturday, September 14, 2013 6:22 AM >Subject: Re: Mainframe On Cloud > > >Are there any real world SaaS offerings on z/OS? The only tangible cloud >solution I've seen is the CICS PaaS applications/bundles and they don't >appear to have much appeal. >As far as cloud (private) is concerned it seems z/VM and z/Linux are the >only in town. OpenStack has been ported to z and that's for provisioning >z/VM instances. z/Manager didn't last >that long in that space. It seems to me that z/VM and z/Linux are the >cloud solutions on the mainframe. I would be happy to be proved wrong. > > >On 14/09/2013 9:12 PM, Lizette Koehler wrote: >> I would say that there is no expectation for the Data Center or Mainframe to >> slide into the sunset. The processes on the Mainframe are more robust than >> the open systems. Yes, open systems will catch up, but they are now where >> we were 15 years ago. >> And there are many processes that just perform better on the mainframe. >> >> >> From an article in 2010 on Saas and the mainframe >> >> http://dancingdinosaur.wordpress.com/2010/05/10/saas-and-the-ibm-system-z/ >> >> IBM's mainframe SaaS strategy envisions the mainframe as the center of SaaS >> offerings based on mainframe functionality delivered as sets of services. >> The goal is to enable IT to provide selected mainframe capabilities as >> online services and generate new revenue for the company. In effect, IT >> becomes what IBM refers to as rainmakers, using mainframe assets delivered >> as SaaS. >> >> Are mainframe managers ready to think this way? Some certainly are. What >> mainframe data or functionality will your organization's customers or new >> customers be willing to pay for? >> >> In truth, the System z is well positioned to capitalize on the as-a-service >> phenomenon. The System z is multi-tenant to the max, which is critical to >> play the as-a-service game. Not only can it deliver SaaS data and >> functionality but also PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service) and IaaS >> (Infrastructure-as-a-Service). And it doesn't take much to do this if you >> already have a z in place. Linux on z, WebSphere on z, and z/VM get you >> started. >> >> >> And from Share in March 2009 >> >> Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is garnering a lot of attention these days, and >> for good reason - increased operational efficiency, reduced operating >> expenses, and extensive market reach is always a good thing. SaaS is most >> often associated with commodity servers and open source software >> environments, but this session will show how the mainframe is actually the >> best platform for your SaaS solutions. The mainframes' 40+ year heritage is >> built on the motto LESS IS MORE and it shows. The mainframe is Green. A new >> z10 EC can consume 1/24th the energy and 1/5th the floor space of equivalent >> x86 Blade environments. Mainframes, as consolidation systems, are uniquely >> designed to virtualize and share everything - hardware, network, I/O, you >> name it- it's shared, consuming the equivalent of 100s or even 1000s of >> servers' workload. By default multi-tenancy, a core SaaS requirement, is >> baked into the DNA of the platform, which is valuable for the many customers >> who are rearchitecting existing applications to provide as a service. >> >> >> Lizette >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On >> Behalf Of Jake anderson >> Sent: Friday, September 13, 2013 11:30 PM >> To: [email protected] >> Subject: Mainframe On Cloud >> >> Hello All, >> >> I am really new to the mainframe on Cloud concept. Just going through some >> white papers on mainframe on cloud. I was just curious to know about the >> future of current Mainframe sites, Like is it expected to see Mainframe DC >> getting shutdown slowly ? >> >> Any thoughts are much appreciated. If my query does not makes any >> sense,please do feel free to comment, so that I can put in more precise way. >> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> 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 > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
