HP has Developed an Advanced Case of Mainframe Envy

The following HP webpage surfaced recently. This is so assertive, I would have to say HP is scared to death of the mainframe and envious of its dominance. Allow me to address their concerns ;)

1. Yes mainframe skills are on the decline .. as are IT skills in general. Many companies and organizations such as BMC, CA, SHARE and IBM are addressing the specific shortage in MF skills through educational programs at all levels. It is working.

2. Mainframe as always hosted more internally developed applications than ISV applications, and the adage that "if something works ... don't mess with it". The requirement for ISV apps seems to have always been less of a concern on the mainframe. Thus, nothing has changed.

3. Yes, hardware is more expensive ... but that is only one of the 5 components supporting a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) methodology. However, you need less people to manage, the platform supports higher levels of service and provides greater business value then alternatives .... HP is mixing in Linux here ... so imagine the power and A/C required to support 40,000 rack mount Linux servers .... I'll bet a mainframe needs less juice and A/C ... certainly takes up less space.

4. Looks like a little teaming with Microsoft on this one ... titled "Linux on the Mainframe ..." but the text talks about the performance of Windows 2003. This is a real stretch ... mixing facts to get the desired results I guess. Enough said.

5. It seems they ran out of meat after bullet 1 ... I don't see any problem re-compiling applciations for a specific hardware platform ... especially given the reliability inherent with the mainframe. There is no reason for every hardware platform to mimic Intel. As the demand for Linux on mainframe apps increases the market will deploy mainframe specific compiles. Oh ... btw way don't you need to recompile for the variety of UNIX implementations including HP's UNIX?????

6. The analyst data supporting the low HP TCO appears to be a self-serving paper .. too short in length to understand the methodology and frankly my perception is that is would have been more meaningfult to compare the HP system to a comparable system. I got the impression they were comparing the TCO of palm applications on a hadheld and then the mainframe ... and the mainframe lost. DUH!

7. Yes, sales of mainframes are down but no one has ever said this was a growth market .... it is a stable high business value market.

It seems that everyone not actice in the mainframe market is standing at the edge casting stones .. interestingly enough you couldn't get all of them in a room long enough to combine forces ... could you imagine; Microsoft, Intel, Sun, HP, Dell and Oracle ... 

I wonder when Oracle will announce their new and improved mainframe migration effort now that they've assimilated Peoplesoft into their company ... it should be coming rather soon ...