THE mainframe is dead! Long live the mainframe! So many people have been writing obituaries for the mainframe computer for so long, it is hard to believe that even a single machine remains in service.
But, in the real world, mainframes are everywhere and are still the computing backbone of the corporate world.
The mainframe certainly isn't dead. It has just been buried under a mound of hype about ''downsizing'' and ''client-server architecture''.
The market might be past its hey-day of a decade ago - when IBM could claim profit margins on its large systems in excess of 80 per cent. Heavy competition among IBM-compatible vendors may, indeed, have slowed the gravy train.
But it remains an immensely profitable sector of the industry.
''Anyone who says the mainframe market is dead is way off mark,'' said analyst ResearchAsia managing director Mr Glen Rasmussen.