Cronus and Zeus

It's interesting to watch the clash of Unix and Mainframers. Lots of press on IBM's new z10 mainframe with up to 64 central processors and 1.5TB of memory. However, the Unix camp responds with chants of Sun Sparc M9000 with 64 dual processors and 2TB of memory.

What I find interesting is that IBM claims their z10 is like 1500 x86 servers and Sun claims their M9000 is mainframe like in RAS (reliability, availability, and serviceability). Similar to the mythological battle with Cronus, the two different camps of administrators and managers who, like the Titans, divide on their familiar boundaries and claim that one is too expensive and its days are past and the other's claim that they are not as mature yet.

Personally, I'm glad I'm in the middle with this blog. I agree with both camps perspectives. Yes, mainframes have been traditionally expensive and reliable. The R&D that went into them and their years of maturity in processor evolution shows. And Yes, the other Vendors have not been idle either and they make just that point when they compare themselves to a mainframe as they develop their platforms on other chipsets.

Yet, the full story is not just the processor, but the technology and marriage of the OS to its platform.  I will not pit open source Solaris 10 against z/OS even though you could do that and make a good case of each to their respective platforms. What I like about open source OSes like Unix and Linux is the amount of effort and wide range of system products being offered to this growing platform. And what I like about z/OS beyond its reliability and security features is the new efforts to incorporate and expand its limitations with respect to storage and the applications areas where Unix and Linux have done well in.

As I mentioned before, I will not join the Titans to claim who is the best for I don't want to be banished to Tartarus. Instead, I'm glad to see that Cronus can accept open source and promote green, and I applaud Zeus for accepting some of his father's advice (In my humble opinion). Now if only the rest of the Titan-admins could get along.