Re: Intel releases 64bit Xeon

From: JF Mezei (jfmezei.spamnot_at_istop.com)
Date: 03/04/04 

Date: Thu, 04 Mar 2004 03:03:22 -0500

Dan Foster wrote:
> The zSeries systems are based on a 64 bit architecture that is a superset
> of ESA/390. Perhaps this is the port you were thinking of? If so, it was
> completed a while ago.

Nop. i distinctly remember reading an announcement (and this was even
discussed here a few years ago) that IBM intended to move MVS over to POWER
based systems in order to focus on a single architecture.

> VMS is nearly as good...

Nowhere near. The move from VAX to Alpha, which coincided with the move from
VAX C to DECC required a lot or work, and Digital failed with its VEST which
should have been included with every system instead of being sold separately.
Apple had the best platform migration with the automatically invoked
translator that could mix modules compiled for 68k as well as powerpc.

But I agree that in terms of system services, VMS has been excellent through
the years.
And what is most impressive is that today's VMS versions still run on my all
mighty Microvax II. with only 16 meg of memory (but one heck of a page file :-)

> So getting back to this thread... I honestly don't think that IBM's going
> to suddenly drop older architectures because it would be a major selling
> point for their competitors,

With Power being much younger than the 360, it isn't stuck with very old
baggage. Power will be IBM's fastest chip. It will become increasingly harder
for IBM to sell 390 architecture systems when Power system will increasinmgly
become more and more powerful.

I couldn't immediatly find an IBM statement about migration of MVS to Power,
but I did find this post in comp.arch:

"Nick Maclaren" <nmm1@cus.cam.ac.uk> wrote in message
<...>
>
> I was at a presentation when an IBM veep stated explicitly that IBM
> intended to move all of its systems, including OS/400, CMS and MVS,
> to POWER within a few years. Interestingly, he convinced more of
> the technical people than I was expecting.
>
> Given a relatively clean ABI, such as is typical for Unix, it could
> certainly be done. Given the MVS ABI?
>
>
> Regards,
> Nick Maclaren

> Also: http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/eserver/zseries/

You'll find that IBM is touting its "mainframe charter" where it promises
continued innovation for mainframes. No commitment to continue to develop the
360 architecture forever.

I have no idea what sort of timescale would be involved, but I suspect this
would be a 10 year project at least. Note that much of the MVS middleware such
as DB2, CICS etc has already been ported to other platforms and operating
systems, so creating a version for MVS on Power shouldn't be difficult.

And just like Alpha has a Macro compiler, it should be very easy to provide an
IBM Assembler compiler on Power.

Relevant Pages

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  • Re: Hewlett hits profit target
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  • Re: Hewlett hits profit target
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