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A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, [1] is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning, and large-scale transaction processing.
Since the rise of the personal computer in the 1980s, IBM and other vendors have created PC-based IBM mainframe-compatible systems which are compatible with the larger IBM mainframe computers. For a period of time PC-based mainframe-compatible systems had a lower price and did not require as much electricity or floor space.
However, models were upward compatible and most were also downward compatible. The System/360 was also the first computer in wide use to include dedicated hardware provisions for the use of operating systems. Among these were supervisor and application mode programs and instructions, as well as built-in memory protection facilities.
The IBM System/360 (S/360) is a family of mainframe computer systems announced by IBM on April 7, 1964, [1] and delivered between 1965 and 1978. [2] System/360 was the first family of computers designed to cover both commercial and scientific applications and a complete range of applications from small to large.
The typical ordering process of modern IBM Z mainframe looks like a buying of service [50] or looks like a leasing; [51] the mainframe is a program/hardware complex with rent for a system workload, and (in the most cases) additional system capabilities can be unlocked after additional payment.
Other IBM computers or other applications function without operating systems. But one of IBM's smaller computers, the IBM 650 , introduced a feature which later became part of OS/360 , where if processing is interrupted by a "random processing error" (hardware glitch), the machine automatically resumes from the last checkpoint instead of ...
A Sysplex Timer is a physically separate piece of hardware from the mainframe, [12] whereas STP is an integral facility within the mainframe's microcode. [13] With STP and ICFs it is possible to construct a complete Parallel Sysplex installation with two connected mainframes.
It circumvents even the Hardware Management Console and the operating system running on the mainframe. The HMC is a PC connected to the mainframe and emulates the Support Element. All preceding zSeries mainframes used a modified version of OS/2 with custom software to provide the interface.