Editing Mainframe computer (section)

==History==
{{See also|History of computing hardware}}
[[File:IBM 701console.jpg|right|thumb|280px|Operator's console for an [[IBM 701]]]]

Several manufacturers and their successors produced mainframe computers from the 1950s until the early 21st century, with gradually decreasing numbers and a gradual transition to simulation on Intel chips rather than proprietary hardware. The US group of manufacturers was first known as "[[BUNCH|IBM and the Seven Dwarfs]]":<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Bergin|editor-first=Thomas J |title=50 Years of Army Computing: From ENIAC to MSRC|year=2000|publisher=DIANE Publishing|isbn=978-0-9702316-1-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iAr_Z1B494MC}}</ref>{{rp|p.83}} usually [[Burroughs Corporation|Burroughs]], [[UNIVAC]], [[NCR Voyix|NCR]], [[Control Data Corporation|Control Data]], [[Honeywell]], [[General Electric]] and [[RCA]], although some lists varied. Later, with the departure of General Electric and RCA, it was referred to as IBM and the [[BUNCH]]. IBM's dominance grew out of their [[IBM 700/7000 series|700/7000 series]] and, later, the development of the [[IBM System/360|360]] series mainframes. The latter architecture has continued to evolve into their current zSeries mainframes which, along with the then Burroughs and Sperry (now [[Unisys]]) [[Burroughs large systems|MCP]]-based and [[OS 2200|OS1100]] mainframes, are among the few mainframe architectures still extant that can trace their roots to this early period. While IBM's zSeries can still run 24-bit System/360 code, the 64-bit [[IBM Z]] CMOS servers have nothing physically in common with the older systems. Notable manufacturers outside the US were [[Siemens]] and [[Telefunken]] in [[Germany]], [[International Computers Limited|ICL]] in the [[United Kingdom]], [[Olivetti]] in Italy, and [[Fujitsu]], [[Hitachi]], [[Oki Electric Industry|Oki]], and [[NEC]] in [[Japan]]. The [[Soviet Union]] and [[Warsaw Pact]] countries manufactured close copies of IBM mainframes during the [[Cold War]];{{citation needed|date=September 2023}} the [[BESM]] series and [[Strela computer|Strela]] are examples of independently designed Soviet computers. [[Elwro]] in Poland was another Eastern Bloc manufacturer, producing the [[Odra (computer)|ODRA]], R-32 and R-34 mainframes.

Shrinking demand and tough competition started a [[shakeout]] in the market in the early 1970s—RCA sold out to UNIVAC and GE sold its business to Honeywell; between 1986 and 1990 Honeywell was bought out by [[Groupe Bull|Bull]]; UNIVAC became a division of [[Sperry Corporation|Sperry]], which later merged with Burroughs to form [[Unisys]] Corporation in 1986.

In 1984 estimated sales of desktop computers ($11.6 billion) exceeded mainframe computers ($11.4 billion) for the first time. IBM received the vast majority of mainframe revenue.<ref name="sanger19840205">{{Cite news |last=Sanger |first=David E. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/02/05/business/bailing-out-of-the-mainframe-industry.html |title=Bailing Out of the Mainframe Industry |date=February 5, 1984 |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 2, 2020 |page=Section 3, Page 1 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> During the 1980s, [[minicomputer]]-based systems grew more sophisticated and were able to displace the lower end of the mainframes. These computers, sometimes called ''departmental computers'', were typified by the [[Digital Equipment Corporation]] [[VAX]] series.

In 1991, [[AT&T Corporation]] briefly owned NCR. During the same period, companies found that servers based on microcomputer designs could be deployed at a fraction of the acquisition price and offer local users much greater control over their own systems given the IT policies and practices at that time. Terminals used for interacting with mainframe systems were gradually replaced by [[personal computer]]s. Consequently, demand plummeted and new mainframe installations were restricted mainly to financial services and government. In the early 1990s, there was a rough consensus among industry analysts that the mainframe was a dying market as mainframe platforms were increasingly replaced by personal computer networks. ''[[InfoWorld]]''{{'}}s Stewart Alsop infamously predicted that the last mainframe would be unplugged in 1996; in 1993, he cited Cheryl Currid, a computer industry analyst as saying that the last mainframe "will stop working on December 31, 1999",<ref>{{cite news|last=Also|first=Stewart|title=IBM still has brains to be player in client/server platforms|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XTwEAAAAMBAJ&q=death+mainframe&pg=PA4|access-date=December 26, 2013|newspaper=InfoWorld|date=March 8, 1993}}</ref> a reference to the anticipated [[Year 2000 problem]] (Y2K).

That trend started to turn around in the late 1990s as corporations found new uses for their existing mainframes and as the price of data networking collapsed in most parts of the world, encouraging trends toward more centralized computing. The growth of [[e-business]] also dramatically increased the number of back-end transactions processed by mainframe software as well as the size and throughput of databases. Batch processing, such as billing, became even more important (and larger) with the growth of e-business, and mainframes are particularly adept at large-scale batch computing. Another factor currently increasing mainframe use is the development of the [[Linux]] operating system, which [[Linux on IBM Z|arrived on IBM mainframe systems]] in 1999. Linux allows users to take advantage of [[open source software]] combined with mainframe hardware [[Reliability, availability and serviceability|RAS]]. Rapid expansion and development in [[emerging market]]s, particularly [[People's Republic of China]], is also spurring major mainframe investments to solve exceptionally difficult computing problems, e.g. providing unified, extremely high volume online transaction processing databases for 1 billion consumers across multiple industries (banking, insurance, credit reporting, government services, etc.) In late 2000, IBM introduced 64-bit [[z/Architecture]], acquired numerous software companies such as [[Cognos]] and introduced those software products to the mainframe. IBM's quarterly and annual reports in the 2000s usually reported increasing mainframe revenues and capacity shipments. However, IBM's mainframe hardware business has not been immune to the recent overall downturn in the server hardware market or to model cycle effects. For example, in the 4th quarter of 2009, IBM's [[IBM System z|System z]] hardware revenues decreased by 27% year over year. But MIPS (millions of instructions per second) shipments increased 4% per year over the past two years.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibm.com/investor/4q09/presentation/4q09prepared.pdf|title=IBM 4Q2009 Financial Report: CFO's Prepared Remarks|publisher=[[IBM]]|date=January 19, 2010}}</ref> Alsop had himself photographed in 2000, symbolically eating his own words ("death to the mainframe").<ref>{{cite web|title=Stewart Alsop eating his words|url=http://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/mainframe-computers/7/182/734|work=Computer History Museum|access-date=December 26, 2013}}</ref>

In 2012, [[NASA]] powered down its last mainframe, an IBM System z9.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cureton|first=Linda|url=http://blogs.nasa.gov/NASA-CIO-Blog/2012/02/12/post_1329017818806/|title=The End of the Mainframe Era at NASA|publisher=[[NASA]]|date=February 11, 2012|access-date=January 31, 2014}}</ref> However, IBM's successor to the z9, the [[IBM System z10|z10]], led a New York Times reporter to state four years earlier that "mainframe technology—hardware, software and services—remains a large and lucrative business for I.B.M., and mainframes are still the back-office engines behind the world's financial markets and much of global commerce".<ref>{{cite news |last=Lohr |first=Steve |title=Why Old Technologies Are Still Kicking |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/23/technology/23digi.html |access-date=December 25, 2013 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 23, 2008}}</ref> {{As of|2010}}, while mainframe technology represented less than 3% of IBM's revenues, it "continue[d] to play an outsized role in Big Blue's results".<ref>{{cite news|last=Ante|first=Spencer E.|title=IBM Calculates New Mainframes Into Its Future Sales Growth|url=https://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748703954804575381482738207168|access-date=December 25, 2013|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|date=July 22, 2010}}</ref>

IBM has continued to launch new generations of mainframes: the [[IBM z13 (microprocessor)|IBM z13]] in 2015,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/gilpress/2016/08/21/from-ibm-mainframe-users-group-to-apple-welcome-ibm-seriously-this-week-in-tech-history/#5a66bba2781f|title=From IBM Mainframe Users Group To Apple 'Welcome IBM. Seriously': This Week In Tech History|last=Press|first=Gil|newspaper=Forbes|access-date=October 7, 2016}}</ref> the [[IBM z14 (microprocessor)|z14]] in 2017,<ref>{{Cite press release|url=https://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/52805.wss|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170719140917/http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/52805.wss|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 19, 2017|title=IBM Mainframe Ushers in New Era of Data Protection}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/17/ibm-unveils-new-mainframe-capable-of-running-more-than-12-billion-encrypted-transactions-a-day.html|title=IBM unveils new mainframe capable of running more than 12 billion encrypted transactions a day|newspaper=CNBC|first1=Ryan|last1=Browne|date=July 17, 2017}}</ref> the [[IBM z15 (microprocessor)|z15]] in 2019,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://newsroom.ibm.com/2019-09-12-IBM-Unveils-z15-With-Industry-First-Data-Privacy-Capabilities|title=IBM Unveils z15 With Industry-First Data Privacy Capabilities}}</ref> and the [[IBM Z#IBM z16|z16]] in 2022, the latter featuring among other things an "integrated on-chip AI accelerator" and the new [[IBM Telum|Telum microprocessor]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Announcing IBM z16: Real-time AI for Transaction Processing at Scale and Industry's First Quantum-Safe System |url=https://newsroom.ibm.com/2022-04-05-Announcing-IBM-z16-Real-time-AI-for-Transaction-Processing-at-Scale-and-Industrys-First-Quantum-Safe-System |access-date=April 13, 2022 |website=IBM Newsroom |language=en-us}}</ref>