
Chapter 1. The new mainframe 7
1.5.1 Capacity
As computing power has increased, with a corresponding decrease in cost, the
services provided by large commercial organizations have changed dramatically.
The banking industry was an early user of computers, but the functions they
performed—such as check clearing—were not visible to the client. The industry
now has ATMs that replace tellers and allow 24-hour banking, and Internet
banking, which enables clients to directly manage their accounts from the
comfort of their homes. By establishing profiles of their clients, banks are able to
target products to specific individuals, which is very cost ...