ABSTRACT
It is now known, of course, that those visionaries were overly optimistic about client/server technologies. They seriously underestimated the costs and problems of downsizing mainframe applications to open system platforms. And they grossly overestimated the technical capabilities and scalability of client/server solutions. Finally, the visionaries overlooked one possibility in formulating their conclusions — that the mainframe would become dramatically less expensive and offer support for open technologies like UNIX and TCP/IP. Today’s mainframe offers a lower cost, smaller footprint, and support for even greater redundancy and fault tolerance than the mainframe of the past. Better yet, the mainframe leverages the vast investment already made in the processes for the comprehensive backup and disaster recovery capabilities that have, as yet, eluded the client/server environment.
