Unisys: Crunch for the Last of the BUNCH
by Hesh Wiener

Thirty-something years ago,IBM's big rivals in the computer business were five companies that built glass house systems. Burroughs, Univac, NCR, Control Data, and Honeywell were collectively known as the BUNCH. Unisys, which is Burroughs plus Univac, is still in computing and NCR, while it has spun off Teradata, still has ATM and related systems businesses. But these days Unisys and NCR are mainly services outfits, not hardware makers. Moreover, Unisys could be dismantled by a hedge fund that wants some cash. Ironically, Unisys may have just found a measure of salvation: a path to the forefront of virtualized X64 technology via some Sun iron. READ MORE >

Top Mainframe Stories from Around the Web

(Information Week) The state of Oregon's data center consolidation project began in 2004. It includes the consolidation of the three mainframes onto a single z10 mainframe, and 220 Unix systems consolidated onto two IBM p595 servers. It's been reported in somewhat rosy fashion and now we get a look at some of the thorns. READ MORE >

(Poughkeepsie Journal) The mainframe business is vitally important to Poughkeepsie, New York, home of IBM's big iron manufacturing facility. The local paper's report--after IBM announced second-quarter mainframe sales rose 32 percent compared with a year earlier credited the success to better performance, energy efficiencies, and new applications that are available for the System z. READ MORE >

(SearchDataCenter) New z/VM functionality will allow workloads to be run on different types of processors within a single LPAR, which according to IBM, will conserve memory. This applies to general-purpose processors, the Internal Coupling Facility (ICF) for sysplexes, the Integrated Facility for Linux (IFL), the z application assist processor (zAAP), and the z integration information processor (zIIP). You'll find this functionality only on the z10 enterprise class mainframe. READ MORE >

(ColoradoBiz) IBM has partnered with the University of Denver to teach mainframe and large-system skills. The university, IBM, and the Metro Denver WIRED initiative have created a 20-week course called the Mainframe Administration Training Program. The dean of the school of professional and continuing studies says the curriculum is being redesigned to better respond to the business community's needs. READ MORE >

(ACI) Online payments processing software needs to be serious about security and compliance regulations. It has to manage electronic payment devices, acquire transactions, and perform high-volume switching, routing and authorization services. This is worth a look if you are interested in online payment processing, online banking, fraud prevention and detection, and back office services such as settlement, account management, card management and dispute processing. READ MORE >

(Luminix) Because mainframe tape storage products often have an operational life of a decade or more, it has a tendency to lock in whatever technology is implemented. If you aren't anywhere near 8 GB FICON speeds, you may be short changing your future network capabilities. READ MORE >

Chats, Webinars, Seminars, Shows, and Other Happenings

See our full calendar of events at
http://www.itjungle.com/big/big-calendar.html

August 10-15 -- San Jose, California - Service oriented architectures and the "SOA journey" as well as server virtualization and the benefits that big iron provides in terms of efficiency and reducing energy consumption are the key topics that will be discussed at the next SHARE user group meeting and expo, held in the heart of Silicon Valley. LEARN MORE >

August 25-28 -- Chicago, Illinois - The IBM Energy Efficiency Initiative takes center stage at the "See Blue, Think Green Technical Conference that brings together technical experts and business leaders. Sessions will concentrate on best practices in energy efficiency, innovative power and cooling technologies, and eco-friendly asset disposal services. There will also be technical sessions and hands on labs featuring IBM's most recent System announcements (including Power Systems, Mainframe Systems, Storage System, and Modular Systems) to present platform-specific topics. LEARN MORE >

October 13-17 -- Las Vegas, Nevada - The IBM System z Expo will include more than 300 sessions featuring z/OS, z/VM, z/VSE, and Linux on System z. There will be an emphasis on the z10 Enterprise Class server, WebSphere application server, DB2, CICS and IMS support, GDPS and Parallel Sysplex support, service oriented architecture, virtualization, and data center energy efficiency. LEARN MORE >