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Tag: mainframe

  • Google Cloud Buys Cloud Migration Firm Cornerstone Technology

    Google Cloud Buys Cloud Migration Firm Cornerstone Technology

    Google Cloud has acquired Cornerstone Technology, a firm that helps companies migrate from mainframes to the cloud.

    The move comes as Google Cloud is working to move up from the number three cloud provider in the U.S. CEO Thomas Kurian has made it a goal to move into at least the number two spot within five years. Just days ago, news broke that Google Cloud was reorganizing and eliminating a number of roles in an effort to better streamline operations.

    Purchasing Cornerstone Technology makes sense for the company, as Cornerstone specializes in helping companies modernize their infrastructure and applications, moving from legacy hardware to cloud services.

    “Their capabilities will form the ‘cornerstone’ of our mainframe-to-GCP solutions, and customers are able to take advantage of these new capabilities now through our Professional Services Organization and our partner network,” writes Howard Weale Director, Transformation Practice.

    News of the purchase was welcomed by both customers and analysts alike.

    “Easy mainframe migration will go a long way as Google attracts large enterprises to its cloud,” said Matt Eastwood, Senior Vice President, Enterprise Infrastructure, Cloud, Developers and Alliances, IDC. “Google Cloud is listening to its customers and meeting them where they are, steadily improving its services and attracting businesses across industries.”

    Cornerstone should help Google make significant strides toward its cloud goals.

  • NASA: Goodbye To Mainframe Computer

    NASA: Goodbye To Mainframe Computer

    NASA is saying goodbye to their last mainframe computer. Marshall Space Flight Center powered down their IBM Z9 last week and ushered in a new era where advanced calculation would no longer rely on the supercomputer. NASA CIO Linda Cureton explains that the high-cost, high-maintanence machine is no longer needed and that calculations can be done with an array of other devices.

    She released the following statement regarding the event at NASA:

    This month marks the end of an era in NASA computing. Marshall Space Flight Center powered down NASA’s last mainframe, the IBM Z9 Mainframe. For my millennial readers, I suppose that I should define what a mainframe is. Well, that’s easier said than done, but here goes — It’s a big computer that is known for being reliable, highly available, secure, and powerful. They are best suited for applications that are more transaction oriented and require a lot of input/output – that is, writing or reading from data storage devices.

    In my first stint at NASA, I was at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center as a mainframe systems programmer when it was still cool. That IBM 360-95 was used to solve complex computational problems for space flight. Back then, I comfortably navigated the world of IBM 360 Assembler language and still remember the much-coveted “green card” that had all the pearls of information about machine code. Back then, real systems programmers did hexadecimal arithmetic – today, “there’s an app for it!”

    But all things must change. Today, they are the size of a refrigerator but in the old days, they were the size of a Cape Cod. Even though NASA has shut down its last one, there is still a requirement for mainframe capability in many other organizations.