COMP 3000 Essay 1 2010 Question 3

Question

To what extent do modern Windows systems provide mainframe-equivalent functionality? What about Windows coupled with add-on commercial products such as VMWare's virtualization and EMC's storage solutions? Explain.

Answer

added introduction points and sections for each paragraph so you guys can edit one paragraph at a time instead of the whole document. If you want to claim a certain paragram just put your name into the section first. ~ Andrew (abown2@connect.carleton.ca) 12:00 10th of October 2010

Introduction

Main Aspects of mainframes:

• redundancy which enables high reliability and security
• high input/output
• backwards-compatibility with legacy software
• support massive throughput
• Systems run constantly so they can be hot upgraded

http://www.exforsys.com/tutorials/mainframe/mainframe-features.html

Linking sentence about how windows can duplicate mainframe functionality.

here's the introduction ~ Abown (11:12 pm, October 12th 2010)

Mainframes have been always used for large corporations to process thousands of small transactions, but what strengths allow for mainframes to be useful in their purpose. Mainframes are extremely useful in business because they are designed to run without downtime. This is achieved by have tremendous redundancy which allows for mainframes to be extremely reliable which gives security when concerning data loss due to downtime. Also mainframes can be upgraded without taking the system down which allows for repairs, which further increase reliability. But after upgrading a mainframe the software does not change so they offer the features of backwards compatibility through virtualization so software never needs to be replaced, it just it processed quicker. But computers are only able to run as fast as the data they are receiving so mainframes support high input/output so that the mainframe is always being utilized. To make sure mainframes are utilized to their fullest they support powerful schedulers which ensure the fastest throughput for processing transactions as possible.[1] With so many features how is Windows based system supposed to compete with a mainframe? The fact of the matter is their are features in Windows and software solutions which can duplicate these features in a Windows environment. Be it redundancy, real-time upgrading, virtualization, high input/output or utilizing resources.

History

Before comparing Windows systems and mainframes, the history of what mainframes were used for and where they came from must be understood. The first official mainframe computer was the UNIVAC I. [2] It was designed for the U.S. Census Bureau by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly. [3]. By this point in history, there were no personal computers, and the only people who could afford a computer were massive businesses. The main functionality of these mainframes were to calculate company payrolls, sales records, analyze sales performance, and store all company information.
Achamney 01:30, 12 October 2010 (UTC)