[RVRC] They still have their place

[Bryan D. Boyle]

NASA SHUTS DOWN LAST MAINFRAME

There was a time when IBM's mainframe computers were the cutting-edge 
machines for scientific and engineering calculations. Now, for NASA, 
that’s all come to an end. Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK, has the details:

--

The day of the giant mainframe computer began in the 1960s, when IBM's 
System 360 rewrote the rules of computing and before humans walked on 
the moon. When NASA acquired two of the then super-speed System 360 
Model 95 mainframes in 1968, IBM touted the machines' mathematical 
abilities.

But February 29th marked the end of the era in NASA computing. This as 
the space agency powered down its last IBM Z9 mainframe that was located 
at Marshall Space Flight Center.

Linda Cureton is a Chief Information Officer who once programmed a 
System 360 mainframe in assembly language at the Goddard Space Flight 
Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. She is quoted as saying that mainframes 
are really not so bad and they have their place. She notes that things 
like virtual machines, hypervisors, thin clients, and swapping are all 
old hat to the mainframe generation, though they are new to the current 
generation of what she termed "cyber youth".

But for many in the industry, mainframes had become so burdened with a 
reputation for a bygone era of computing that they became synonymous 
with dinosaurs. To counter this IBM fought back, boosting performance, 
adding new technology. The company succeeded in that these newer 
mainframe systems remain a fixture in some corners of the computing 
industry.

In the old days, mainframes were the size of several large rooms. Today 
these units are only the size of a refrigerator. And even though NASA 
has shut down its last one, there is still a requirement for mainframe 
capability in many other organizations.

For the amateur Radio Newsline, I’m Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK, in Zion, Illinois.
-- 
Bryan
In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.
Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant.
You may quote me.

Sent from my MacBook Pro.