
2 Introduction to the New Mainframe: Large-Scale Commercial Computing
1.1 What is a mainframe?
Today, the term mainframe can be used to describe a style of operation,
applications, and operating system facilities. Here is a working definition: “A
mainframe is what businesses use to host their commercial databases,
transaction servers, and applications that require a greater degree of security
and availability than is commonly found on smaller-scale machines.”
A mainframe is the central data repository or
hub in a corporation’s data
processing center, linked to users through less powerful devices such as
workstations or terminals. The presence ...