Architecture is a set of specified concepts and guidelines that serve as building blocks for products. The architecture of mainframe computers has improved with each generation. Yet, they have remained the most reliable, secure, and interoperable of all computing systems
Architecture in computer science specifies how a system is organized. An architecture can be broken down recursively into constituent pieces, interactions between constituent parts, and constraints for assembling constituent parts. Classes, components, and subsystems are examples of parts that communicate with one another using interfaces.
Each new generation of mainframe computers has seen advancements in at least one of the following architectural components, beginning with the first massive machines, which appeared on the scene in the 1960s and gained the moniker “Big Iron” (in contrast to smaller departmental systems):
- larger and quicker processors
- Added physical memory and improved memory addressing
- the ability to upgrade both hardware and software dynamically
- increased hardware problem detection and repair automation
- Improved input/output (I/O) devices as well as additional and quicker channels connecting I/O devices to processors
- I/O attachments with higher levels of sophistication, like LAN adapters with intensive inboard processing
- higher capacity to divide the resources of a single machine into numerous, conceptually separate, and isolated systems, each running a separate operating system
- advanced technologies for clustering, like Parallel Sysplex®, and data sharing between different systems.
- Mainframe computers continue to be the most reliable, secure, and interoperable of all computing systems despite the ongoing change. The most recent models can still run applications created in the 1970s or older while handling the most complex and demanding client workloads.
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