Correcting perception

Mark Twain's quote came from when he is reputed to have read his obituary, and that quote is equally applicable to the mainframe.

Most, if not all, credit card transactions pass through a mainframe at some point. There is a clearing house in York, UK, which only processes such transactions to be passed to the relevant card issuer.

All UK banks, and at least one Spanish one with a Data Centre near Leicester UK, use mainframes. One UK bank has its Data Centre in Sheffield, and there are two others within 70 miles.

Two retail organisations have Data Centre's within 70 miles of Sheffield, UK, plus the UK's largest telecommiunications company has it's Command Centre in Sheffield.

The Mainframe is Dead - Well Hardly.

On reading his own obituary Mark Twain is reported to have said
"The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."

"Here's something to think about:
Despite the fact that IBM stopped manufacturing personal computers in 2005,
deciding instead to focus on higher margin business services,
the company continues to produce mainframes
and by all estimates will continue manufacturing them well into the future.

The question is, why?

The answer: because there is still significant demand for this type of hardware."
- Bob Reselman