Datacenter consolidations have been in vogue ever since IBM provided the machines capable of it making sense (dollar-wise and business-wise). Whenever this happens, one or more datacenters take a hit. I have participated in numerous consolidations and can tell you that the resulting installed MIPS/MSUs are not usually less than the individual datacenter totals.
There usually is, however, a reduction in CECs. Synergies and economies of scale. Hence, while numbers of CECs may be going down, processing power is increasing. I guess that means I concur with your second paragraph. There used to be an axiom that stated if you were a "one CPU (CEC)" shop now...wait a little while and you will be a "two CPU (CEC)" shop soon. IBM has been staying ahead of that curve for the last ten years for all but the biggest customers. If the economy becomes more business-friendly, maybe we will yet see an expansion in datacenters. Time will tell if that, and innovation lead the charge. Bob -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:ibm-m...@bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Eric Bielefeld Sent: Monday, April 26, 2010 12:45 PM To: IBM-MAIN@bama.ua.edu Subject: Re: 25 reasons why hardware is still hot at IBM So Toronto hasn't lost many of its mainframes? That's good to hear. I suspect that my experiences in Milwaukee are similar to a lot more people's on this list than yours are. Anyone care to comment? You are correct in your statement that your (or my) personal experience doesn't allow us to make general comments. I do get the feeling that, mostly from this list, that the number of mainframes is shrinking, at least across the US, even though the processing power of the remaining processors in total is going up. -- Eric Bielefeld ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
