z/Bottom Line: Hardly Over the Hill

by Eric L. Vaughan
April 1, 2005

The outcry of the faithful and the demand for innovation finally won over IBM. Big Blue took direct action in response to what customers were telling them in many forums. In 1990, they publicly declared they had made a mistake, and there would be no further overt efforts to force customers where they didn’t want to go. These statements were delivered concurrent with their announcement of dramatic innovation embodied in VSE/ESA.  

So when the zSeries processors, z/OS and z/VM were announced in 2000, the lack of a z/VSE announcement was unsettling to the thousands of VSE users around the world. Seems IBM was stuck on a technical detail that “z” had to mean support for 64-bit hardware architecture. Once they realized (and the legion of attorneys consented) that VSE users at the moment have no need for such support (in fact, few z/OS users have even implemented this support), IBM was able to reposition VSE into the strategic fold of the “z” line of products.

The importance of the name couldn’t be more meaningful to the thousands of VSE/ESA users worldwide. It represents a statement by IBM that it’s still listening and has finally adopted VSE as a member of the family.  

And while many believe VSE users represent only the smaller end of the mainframe spectrum, there are a large number that don’t fit this mold. Check out the article in the VSE supplement, “Blending Advanced VSE Technology With Today’s Challenges: Case Studies” to see how 310 and 660 MIPS may not be enough for two VSE customers.

While others see black on their 40th birthday, the future has never looked brighter for the “operating system with nine lives,” and the tiger continues to roar. To quote Erich Clementi, general manager, IBM eServer zSeries, “The first 40 years are just the beginning.”