Some of this article defintely does not make sense. The issue of personnel for example. Sys admin's no longer need to be bothered with a lot of software maintenance on the server. With LINUX/390 software can be maintained for hundreds of servers by the small VM staff. Also, the peaks and valleys of Web demand is a reason companies who depend on e-commerce are using the mainframe. Handling the peaks and valleys is a mainframe strength.
"Tormey, Paul P" wrote: > We are in the eternal struggle - trying to get Management to try LINUX on > the zSeries. > However, we are continually faced with the costs of Mainframe against Unix > and Windows Servers. > > Does the note below make sense or is there a counter argument. > > Look forward to help form the team. > > Paul Tormey > LAN Services > Standard Bank of South Africa. > > 011 636 4103 > 083 252 5292 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: 05 February, 2002 08:47 > To: Lea Van Der Want > Subject: Mainframes are More Expensive Than Racked Servers > > IT INSIGHTS FROM META GROUP --- February 05, 2002 > Published in association with ITworld.com > http://www.itworld.com/newsletters > ____________________________________________________________________________ > ____ > > RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS > > * Mainframes Are More Expensive Than Racked Servers for Presentation > and Application Levels > * Building the "Right" IT Organization > * Managing the Middleware Portfolio > > IT RESOURCES > > * Operations Excellence Infusion Program > * IT Portfolio Management Briefings > ____________________________________________________________________________ > ____ > > SPONSORED LINK > > WEBCAST: 4 WINNING E-COMMERCE STRATEGIES FOR A TURBULENT ECONOMY > > Learn how you can use e-commerce as a competitive advantage for your > company by not following in their shaky footsteps, but by learning from > their mistakes and improving upon them. Tune in now! > > http://www.itworld.com/jwc/ITWNL09B/GE_ecommerce > ____________________________________________________________________________ > __ > > Visit http://itw.itworld.com/GoNow/a14724a51924a75999756a7 for daily IT news > analysis, analyst > insights, and research reports. > ________________________________________________________________________ > > FEATURED ARTICLE > MAINFRAMES ARE MORE EXPENSIVE THAN RACKED SERVERS FOR PRESENTATION AND > APPLICATION LEVELS > > IBM and Computer Associates have been arguing that partitioned > mainframes running Linux are competitive with rack-mounted servers as > platforms for Apache Web servers and other presentation-level and > application-level uses. Some users, particularly in the financial > industry, are listening, and argue that more mature operations > processes and advanced staffing skills as well as the extra management > features of the mainframe make it the logical server for all aspects of > important Web sites. > > Although staff and process maturity are a valid issue for some > mainframe-focused organizations, we believe Linux-based mainframe > partitions will not be competitive with "scale out" strategies based on > rack-mounted, low-end Intel server farms for "edge functions" long > term. Therefore, we believe the mainframe is the wrong platform for > edge functions such as Web presentation. Not only is the mainframe > hardware much more expensive per MIPS -- even with IBM selling Linux > partitions at half price -- but VM software adds additional expense and > support considerations. Personnel costs, which are the largest portion > of the cost of a data center, are fairly equal. However, new software > and skill development in the Web presentation arena is clearly focused > on scale-out approaches based on many blades of commodity servers and > network load balancers. > > The mainframe's strengths are vital in large-scale DBMS server > environments, but are of far less value for relatively stateless edge > services. This is particularly true in the Web publish pattern, where > information is being published outbound from a Web site. In a Web > server farm, load balancing and redundancy is typically provided via > the network. If a server develops problems, network load balancers > simply fail-route traffic to another server in the rack that is running > the same load, and the bad unit can be pulled out and replaced with, at > most, minor interruption to processing. > > The peaks and valleys of Web demand also make load management difficult > on a mainframe, where the goal is often to keep the entire system > operating at high capacities, such as 80% or higher. While robust > mainframe workload management enables management of fluctuating demand, > reallocating peak MIPS capacity is more expensive than with commodity > Wintel or Lintel server farms. On a server farm, on the other hand, > hardware costs are so low that the only important concern is that > adequate service be maintained to customers during peak times. The low > hardware -- and particularly software -- cost makes idle time on the > processors during low demand periods a minor concern. > > One potential advantage of running the application and presentation > layers on the mainframe, with the database layer, is faster response > times. Each step in each transaction is milliseconds faster. However, > in most cases, this speed differential is unlikely to make enough > difference to justify the order-of-magnitude extra cost of the > mainframe solution. > > The largest potential benefit from running edge services on the > mainframe is leveraging the most mature set of operations skill sets > and processes, as well as any excess cycles that may be available. > However, long term, we believe the momentum and focus of deploying edge > services on commodity scale-out solutions outweigh these benefits. > > USER ACTION: Although the mainframe can generally be a more dependable > platform, we do not believe the long-term challenges of maintaining > management skills to run Web presentation services on the mainframe or > the cost premium (vs. commodity servers) are justified for presentation- > layer infrastructure. Furthermore, the lack of ISV enthusiasm and the > decline in mainframe skills during the next five to seven years makes > this a doubtful option long term for most shops. > > We recommend that organizations match the type of work being done and > the service-level goals, such as availability and scalability, to the > appropriate computing platform. A key consideration should also be > existing operations process maturity and staff skill levels. However, > workloads that easily scale out across multiple commodity servers > should not be centralized onto more expensive platforms simply because > of skill and process issues. In this case, the right answer is to > improve the skills and processes associated with running scale-out > environments. > > META Group analysts Rakesh Kumar, Val Sribar, Brian Richardson, Rob > Schafer, Rich Evans, William Zachmann, and Philip Dawson contributed to > this article. > > Read trend forecasts, cost-cutting ideas, and other information from > META Group's Enterprise Data Center Strategies advisory service. > http://itw.itworld.com/GoNow/a14724a51924a75999756a1 > ________________________________________________________________________ > > BALANCE YOUR IT BUDGET! > LISTEN TO PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT RESEARCH BRIEFINGS > > >From this series of free Portfolio Managment Research Briefings, > presented by senior META Group analysts, you will learn how to ensure > that IT cost-cutting -- and continued strategic spending -- are done > with business precision. Choose from seven titles: > > Briefing 1. The Business of IT Portfolio Management > Briefing 2. Architecture, Program Management, and Human Capital: > Balancing People and Processes > Briefing 3. Infrastructure and Operations: Delivering on the Promise > Briefing 4. ROIghtsizing the Application Portfolio: From Commerce to > Customers > Briefing 5. Business Portfolios and the Sustainable Innovation Community > Briefing 6. The Future of Portfolio Sourcing > Briefing 7. Security, Trust, and Privacy: Balancing Internal and > External Demand > > Click here to access these Portfolio Management Research Briefings. > http://itw.itworld.com/GoNow/a14724a51924a75999756a6 > ________________________________________________________________________ > > BUILDING THE "RIGHT" IT ORGANIZATION > > When modifying the IT organization, enterprises must consider existing > performance and work activities -- including how they relate to one > another -- as well as issues that the future organization intends to > improve/solve. Cross-process integration and governance models should > establish the baseline from which future directions may be mapped. > Learn more by listening to "Building the 'Right' IT Organization," a > series of three audio briefings presented by META Group analysts David > Cearley and Dan Vogel. > > PART ONE: THE BASICS > http://itw.itworld.com/GoNow/a14724a51924a75999756a3 > > PART TWO: EVOLVING PLAN/BUILD/RUN MODELS > http://itw.itworld.com/GoNow/a14724a51924a75999756a4 > > PART THREE: GEOGRAPHIC IT ORGANIZATIONAL MODELS > http://itw.itworld.com/GoNow/a14724a51924a75999756a5 > ________________________________________________________________________ > > FEATURED RESEARCH > MANAGING THE MIDDLEWARE PORTFOLIO > > Middleware supporting critical component models, application > integration, data management, and other core application functions > constitutes an increasing part of software expenditures. By 2003, most > IT organizations will have amassed a diverse collection of platform > components, including application servers, integration servers, data > integration mechanisms, legacy connectivity adapters, content managers, > commerce servers, and security apparatus. The convergence of e-business > platform components, growing overlap of middleware products, and > extensive availability of new e-business systems will create increasing > redundancy in most organizations' middleware portfolio. During 2003/04, > most Global 2000 IT organizations will struggle to reduce their > middleware portfolio to manageable size and to implement controls on > middleware investments. > > Read the full-text of this article (free member login required). > http://itw.itworld.com/GoNow/a14724a51924a75999756a2 > ________________________________________________________________________ > > INFUSION PROGRAM: OPERATIONS EXCELLENCE > > Highly effective IT operations are critical to the rapid deployment and > successful management of all enterprise computing resources (hardware, > software, network, and personnel) needed to run business application > workloads. META Group's Operations Excellence Infusion program imparts > a strategic and practical knowledgebase that companies can leverage to > transform their operations groups into powerful partners with business > units. The program provides best practices, workshops and working > sessions, and ongoing analyst support focused on the following areas: > > * Data center and distributed operations > * Technical support/engineering > * Distributed and desktop computing > * Help desk and customer service > * Sourcing of operational components > * Service-level agreement management > * Asset management (hardware, software negotiations, tracking, > inventory) > * Rapid assimilation of new technologies > * Operational processes (change management, capacity management, > asset management, etc.) > > For more information, please call 800-945-META (US) or 203-973-6700 > (outside US), or click on the following link. > > http://itw.itworld.com/GoNow/a14724a51924a75999756a0 > > ____________________________________________________________________________ > ____ > > CUSTOMER SERVICE > > SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE: > - Go to: http://www.itworld.com/newsletters > - Click on "View my newsletters" to log in and manage your account > - To subscribe, check the box next to the newsletter > - To unsubscribe, uncheck the box next to the newsletter > - When finished, click submit > > Questions? 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