Introduction to Mainframes
Mainframe is a high performance multi user computer system which is the most scalable, available, reliable and
secure machine in the world capable of handling numerous terminals and peripherals simultaneously.
Terminal definition- A device, usually equipped with a keyboard and display device(Without a CPU), capable of sending and receiving information over a network. IBM 3270 terminals are used to connect to a mainframe computer.
A computer peripheral is any external device that provides input and output for the computer.
For example, a keyboard and mouse are input peripherals, while a monitor and printer are output peripherals.
Some peripherals, such as external hard drives, provide both input and output for the computer.
These are a type of computer that generally are known for their large size, amount of storage, processing power and high level of reliability. They are primarily used by large organizations for mission-critical applications requiring high volumes of data processing.
➤ It is the powerful central computer(CPU) in a data processing center,
linked to thousands of users through less powerful devices such as PC workstations or dumb terminals.
Usually you won't find a mainframe in any household or small companies.
➤ It is also referred to as "big iron"and it is used primarily by large organizations for critical applications;
bulk data processing, such as census, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning; and transaction processing.
➤ They are larger and have more processing power than some other classes of computers: minicomputers, servers, workstations,
and personal computers.
➤ The term originally referred to the large cabinets called "main frames" that housed the central processing unit and
main memory of early computers.
➤ Later, the term was used to distinguish high-end commercial machines from less powerful units.Most large-scale computer system architectures were established in the 1960s, but continue to evolve. Mainframe computers are often used as servers.
➤ In the mid-1950's, all computers are mainframes, since the term mainframe referred to the main CPU frame.
In those days, mainframe computers were not just the largest computers; they were the only computers. Several manufactures like IBM,
Honeywell, Burroughs produced main frame computers from the late 1950's. From 1970's the term mainframe computer
was almost synonymous with IBM products due to their market share.
➤ In the hierarchy of computers, mainframes are right below supercomputers, the most powerful computers in the world.
(which is why they are aptly named "supercomputers".)
➤ Yet a mainframe can usually execute many programs simultaneously at a high speed,whereas supercomputers are designed to
execute a single process at the highest speed.
➤ The ability of mainframes are often measured in Millions of instructions per second(MIPS) but supercomputers
are measured in floating point operations per second(FLOPS).
➤ Commonly supercomputers are used for scientific problems, while mainframes are used for business processing.
ZERO DOWNTIME Operating System-Z/OS-It is the latest version OS in Mainframes
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