Nedbank mainframe tech

[Drifter]

Who know what Nedbank runs on their mainframe as far as programming language and database is concerened. I pretty sure they use Natural and Cobol. Can anyone confirm?

 

[ToxicBunny]

They will use a combination of all sorts of technologies.. and its no longer a "mainframe".. it will be on servers.

 

[Drifter]

They will use a combination of all sorts of technologies.. and its no longer a "mainframe".. it will be on servers.

No, they actually still run a mainframe for the back end processing.

 

[MrR]

No, they actually still run a mainframe for the back end processing.

Standard Bank and Old Mutual still makes use of mainframes and I'm pretty sure most other "established" businesses (businesses that have matured pre-80's already) do have as well, but I think it's due to the costly exercise of replacing those business critical, legacy systems.

The code must be a disaster to work through.

I know of one bank that has a predominant COBOL-based banking platform (core system), but also makes use of other "peripheral" systems to do some processing as well.

 

[Drifter]

I am currently at Liberty. We use mailny Cobol and Natural on the mainframe with ADABAS as the database. We have numerous different techs as a front end, but end of the day, the master system still lives on mainframe. Tried using Compass to replace the masters, with Oracle as DB, but it could just not cope with the volumes.

We currently rent the mainframe from Std Bank. FNB and ABSA also run mainframe, as well as M&F. Transunion is busy migrating off.

 

[air]

TCO for mainframes has reduced with the introduction of zIIP, IFL's etc. Depending on workload, Central Processor MIPS can be reduced and thus reduce TCO <non techie, but have been in the odd session around this>

 

[rrh]

Some banks also use Stratus 6-9's boxes for ATMs etc. where the high-uptime is a must.

These are (predominantly) programmed in COBOL.

 

[rrh]

The code must be a disaster to work through.

In fact it's a lot easier to read & understand.

 

[rrh]

it will be on servers.

Rarely for their back-end systems

 

[ToxicBunny]

Rarely for their back-end systems

I suppose you do have a point....

Though I have heard of a few companies (mostly international) that have virtualised their mainframe systems somehow onto regular commodity servers.

 

[Nerfherder]

In fact its a lot easier to read & understand.

Crazy how old stuff just works.

 

[The_Unbeliever]

I suppose you do have a point....

Though I have heard of a few companies (mostly international) that have virtualised their mainframe systems somehow onto regular commodity servers.

Must be quite beefy servers to handle the workload - or they have some good load-balancing in there.

 

[The_Unbeliever]

Crazy how old stuff just works.

They did not have the luxury of virtualization as we do, so they have to get it right the first time.

Plus the stress and workload at that time was not high, so they had plenty of time to think and plan properly.

 

[Drifter]

Crazy how old stuff just works.

LOL, the concept might seem old, but the application languages and databases get upgraded constantly to improve performance.

 

[rrh]

They did not have the luxury of virtualization as we do, so they have to get it right the first time.

Plus the stress and workload at that time was not high, so they had plenty of time to think and plan properly.

Not quite: IBM introduced VMs in 1972. I used a 3090 running VM with several operating systems virtualised in 1984.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VM_(operating_system)

The current version - z/VM - "... supports large numbers (thousands) of Linux virtual machines"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z/VM

 

[Arthur]

Not quite: IBM introduced VMs in 1972. I used a 3090 running VM with several operating systems virtualised in 1984.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VM_(operating_system)

The current version - z/VM - "... supports large numbers (thousands) of Linux virtual machines"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z/VM

Hehe. Indeed. Memories.

VM. MVS. CICS. DB2. 3090s with 3370/80 DASD. CPU complex with TCM (Thermal Conduction Module), water-cooled, with pressurized helium. Fibre Channel. All good stuff from the 80s and 90s that just works and works and works. MIPS is only one small element in throughput. Kids today have no idea.

 

[Hendrix]

Hehe. Indeed. Memories.

VM. MVS. CICS. DB2. 3090s with 3370/80 DASD. CPU complex with TCM (Thermal Conduction Module), water-cooled, with pressurized helium. Fibre Channel. All good stuff from the 80s and 90s that just works and works and works. MIPS is only one small element in throughput. Kids today have no idea.

Don't forget EMC Symmetrix...Rock solid!!!

I think the hardware today is very good, software on the other hand... I think the attitude is "let's get it out there and iron out the problems later"