HPE
is pleased to have migrated to a very modern NonStop at the heart of its data
center – what about you?
I have no
ambitions whatsoever to become a collector of antique cars. Try as I might, I
can see nothing attractive about vehicles built 25 or 50 years ago even as I
know so many of my friends hold dear to them the vehicles that they once envied
in their youth but never could afford. We have a 2003 Corvette parked in the
garage and with each passing year I wonder whether or not we have kept it for
too long. It’s only fifteen plus years old but Margo and I are in no hurry to
sell it as it is our only choice for track day fun outings. On the other hand,
there is so much about this Corvette that even with the passage of just a few
years, looks “old fashioned.” There is barely an electronic aid to be found and
with the exception of traction control and ABS, it’s close to being considered
an “analogue car”.
Perhaps one reason for keeping
older cars with few electronic aids is that in the very near future they may
disappear from the landscape entirely. You drive your car? You actually push on
pedals and have a steering wheel? I can almost hear the shocked expressions
coming from our grandchildren in a decade’s time when cars such as these are
banned from public roads. Suddenly, not only is there a notion that motor
vehicles will be looked on strangely, but their owners will likely be viewed as
eccentric. Just as horses disappeared from our busy thoroughfares to become
expensive hobbies, so too will cars – a legacy, if you like, of technology long
forsaken in the name of progress!
When it comes to computing and what populates our data centers, I cannot recall ever reading as much as I have of late concerning legacy systems. I once worked alongside a colleague who owned a number of computer companies and one of them always brought a smile to my face – Archaic Computers. This was a forward thinking enterprise that bought up old mainframes, compressed them in order to fit as many as possible in a standard shipping container and then sent them to a company in Arizona. Gold and other precious metals were then extracted from the crushed remains such that it became very profitable for a short period of time until, that is and unfortunately for my colleague they ran out of old mainframes. At a time when we continue to discuss mining data for information “gold” it’s probably worth noting that data wasn’t the only gold locked inside mainframes. Gold just happened to be “the gold” back then!
In my discussions with industry and financial analysts the question always comes up about what constitutes a legacy system. And always the response is the same – it’s not that simple defining a legacy system. I know my colleagues working with IBM mainframes will be aghast at the news that general purpose computers, once dominated by mainframes, are today’s legacy systems. They have an old architecture, a convoluted operating stack, and a need for skillsets unnecessary elsewhere in IT. No matter how you slice and dice these systems and despite the virtualization provided, their costs outweigh any material value to an enterprise and, at best, they are marking-time until the applications they support find new homes.
A bit too tough on IBM? Perhaps; but when it comes to defining legacy there is much the business of computing has in common with the auto industry. In both industries, everyone will have an opinion but the opinion we all can relate to might very well be, “I may have difficulty describing legacy but I know a legacy system when I see one!” Sit inside a new car on any manufacturers’ showroom floor and almost immediately, the discussions center on the value proposition of the infotainment center – can you communicate with Apple CarPlay? So much for the old methods of choosing a car and yes, what lies under the hood? And yet, when it comes to modern cars it’s all about the graphics and interfaces and less about the basic engineering!
In computing terms, the word legacy is used to describe outdated or obsolete technology, equipment that is still being used by an individual or organization long after it should have been replaced. More noticeable still, “vendor or manufacturer support is not available for legacy systems and applications.” This explanation came from an online dictionary I referenced where I also came across the following explanation of legacy, “In computing, a legacy system is an old method, technology, computer system, or application program, ‘of, relating to, or being a previous or outdated computersystem,’ yet still in use.” Yet another source I referenced, Techopedia explains Legacy System as a system not necessarily “defined by age. Legacy may refer to lack of vendor support or a system's incapacity to meet organizational requirements.”
In the case of an analogue car as described earlier in this post, there is value – there is both an emotional connection as well as the challenge that comes with physically managing the driving experience. However, when it comes to computing, apart from the emotional connection we may have developed for the very first computer we used – some colleagues have mementos, saved bits and pieces following dismantling, sitting on shelves in their offices - there is little that can be said about any potential enjoyment that comes with operating an old computer. Legacy computers are just that – reminders of once glory days that are best left for discussions at user events long after the effects of adult beverages have taken hold!
Techopedia, in its explanation of Legacy Systems, noted that, “Legacy systems are high maintenance and may involve intricate patching and modifications. Porting techniques are often used for software adjustments or adaptation. Older hardware may require added compatibility layers to facilitate device functionality in incompatible environments.” On the other hand, Techopedia recognized that, “An organization might continue to use legacy systems for a wide range of reasons, such as the following:
When it comes to computing and what populates our data centers, I cannot recall ever reading as much as I have of late concerning legacy systems. I once worked alongside a colleague who owned a number of computer companies and one of them always brought a smile to my face – Archaic Computers. This was a forward thinking enterprise that bought up old mainframes, compressed them in order to fit as many as possible in a standard shipping container and then sent them to a company in Arizona. Gold and other precious metals were then extracted from the crushed remains such that it became very profitable for a short period of time until, that is and unfortunately for my colleague they ran out of old mainframes. At a time when we continue to discuss mining data for information “gold” it’s probably worth noting that data wasn’t the only gold locked inside mainframes. Gold just happened to be “the gold” back then!
In my discussions with industry and financial analysts the question always comes up about what constitutes a legacy system. And always the response is the same – it’s not that simple defining a legacy system. I know my colleagues working with IBM mainframes will be aghast at the news that general purpose computers, once dominated by mainframes, are today’s legacy systems. They have an old architecture, a convoluted operating stack, and a need for skillsets unnecessary elsewhere in IT. No matter how you slice and dice these systems and despite the virtualization provided, their costs outweigh any material value to an enterprise and, at best, they are marking-time until the applications they support find new homes.
A bit too tough on IBM? Perhaps; but when it comes to defining legacy there is much the business of computing has in common with the auto industry. In both industries, everyone will have an opinion but the opinion we all can relate to might very well be, “I may have difficulty describing legacy but I know a legacy system when I see one!” Sit inside a new car on any manufacturers’ showroom floor and almost immediately, the discussions center on the value proposition of the infotainment center – can you communicate with Apple CarPlay? So much for the old methods of choosing a car and yes, what lies under the hood? And yet, when it comes to modern cars it’s all about the graphics and interfaces and less about the basic engineering!
In computing terms, the word legacy is used to describe outdated or obsolete technology, equipment that is still being used by an individual or organization long after it should have been replaced. More noticeable still, “vendor or manufacturer support is not available for legacy systems and applications.” This explanation came from an online dictionary I referenced where I also came across the following explanation of legacy, “In computing, a legacy system is an old method, technology, computer system, or application program, ‘of, relating to, or being a previous or outdated computersystem,’ yet still in use.” Yet another source I referenced, Techopedia explains Legacy System as a system not necessarily “defined by age. Legacy may refer to lack of vendor support or a system's incapacity to meet organizational requirements.”
In the case of an analogue car as described earlier in this post, there is value – there is both an emotional connection as well as the challenge that comes with physically managing the driving experience. However, when it comes to computing, apart from the emotional connection we may have developed for the very first computer we used – some colleagues have mementos, saved bits and pieces following dismantling, sitting on shelves in their offices - there is little that can be said about any potential enjoyment that comes with operating an old computer. Legacy computers are just that – reminders of once glory days that are best left for discussions at user events long after the effects of adult beverages have taken hold!
Techopedia, in its explanation of Legacy Systems, noted that, “Legacy systems are high maintenance and may involve intricate patching and modifications. Porting techniques are often used for software adjustments or adaptation. Older hardware may require added compatibility layers to facilitate device functionality in incompatible environments.” On the other hand, Techopedia recognized that, “An organization might continue to use legacy systems for a wide range of reasons, such as the following:
- "If
it ain't broke, don't fix it!" The system might work adequately.
- The
system is complex, and documentation is poor. Simply defining scope can be
difficult.
- A
redesign is costly, due to complexity or monolithic architecture
HPE NonStop systems never fitted in with the mainframe crowd. Indeed, those vendors championing mainframes back in the late ‘70s and on into the early ‘90s went to great lengths to push to one side NonStop systems whenever discussions about mainframes arose. Transaction processing “front end” computers were a specialty item and as such, lacked the wherewithal to do the full mix of work generally associated with mainframes. In describing Fault Tolerance in the NonStop Cyclone System, writers Scott Chan and Bob Jardine began with, “The NonStop Cyclone system is a fault-tolerant multiprocessor mainframe designed for simultaneous transaction, query, and batch processing.”
Ouch – it would take a decade or more to move on from this even if it was all part of a positioning message to convince the global IT community that Tandem Computers was a viable systems’ vendor. Sure, NonStop could do batch, after a fashion, but that wasn’t really part of what NonStop systems were designed to do – small message in, small response out, and a little bit of database access in between. “Do you have the $50 in your account that you plan to spend?”
What we have today with NonStop is far removed from legacy systems we know a lot about (when we see them). NonStop is not a mainframe and perhaps more importantly these days, NonStop is an active participant in HPE’s transformation to Hybrid IT strategy. From a company that now has a strong penchant for talking about software and software-defined-everything, NonStop can be licensed as software today to be run on hardware from server vendors apart from HPE. This is simply not possible with legacy systems of any kind that I am aware of. Indeed, the mark of a legacy system is that the system “is unable to scale to handle anticipated business volumes; has a limitation such as an inability to handle large numbers; technologies used by the system including business software, programming languages, operating system and hardware are no longer supported.”
At a time when the HPE NonStop organization is selecting partners to help enterprises with their migration and modernization projects as they embrace the new NonStop, it’s good to see that there is no references being made to the former family of NonStop – the NonStop i Systems – as being old or in any way, legacy. These NonStop i Systems could scale, handle large numbers and yes, supported modern languages, utilities and tools including a plethora of products and features created by the open source community. It’s always been my belief that the role NonStop has filled in the past has set up perfectly its role for the future. Availability will always be the gold standard of modern systems and with today's’ new NonStop there is gold aplenty to be had when it comes to meeting the business needs for true 24 x 7 sustained operation.
For many of us, there is a reticence to talk about legacy systems. There is almost a fear that even mentioning the word legacy might encourage those around us thinking of NonStop as part of a legacy world. Unfortunately, in our reticence to talk about NonStop and legacy is the very clear perception that we are being evasive – we don’t talk about it so it must be true: NonStop is part of the legacy world! However, NonStop was never part of that legacy world and today, remaining modern, we see NonStop – a vital cog in the transformation to Hybrid IT machine – offering even more options to better capitalize on the growing world of transactions, be they originated in traditional or virtualized environments.
Whereas HPE understands it is very fortunate to be the home of NonStop – is your enterprise, on the other hand, pleased to be moving NonStop into their home? After all, there really isn’t another viable alternative to NonStop when you get right down to it; yes, it is still very much a case that, in today’s world of computing, a very strong argument can be made that #NonStopRocks !!!
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