Dave Dempsey, Tandem Computers Ltd strategy director for database marketing, says that skills availabilty and an economic imperative will ensure the long-term survival of the mainframe. There has been an ongoing controversy over the role of the mainframe for some time now, but it is only six months since Tandem introduced Cyclone, its first mainframe-class offering. Dempsey says there are compelling economic reasons for the rise of desktop computers, and ease of use is important in terms of time and money. However, he believes the reality is that workstations don’t own data, and that mainframe manufacturers have been holding it hostage for over 20 years. So will client-server computing be a form of liberation by blending the old and new technologies? Those same hostage-takers are now backing the notion of sharing data, despite the fact that big computers don’t do that sort of thing very well. The reason they’re changing their stripes, says Dempsey, is that client-server applications actually burn more mainframe power than the original applications. He says that as large worldwide organisations share data across different boundaries and insist on non-stop real-time usage, basic mechanics at the database level are changing to relational databases. Dempsey believes that the UK is in the vanguard of relational databases and it is being spearheaded by the four major clearing banks – National Westminster, Lloyds, Midland, and Barclays – along with British Telecom. They are models of organisations that need constant on-line access to their data, and they have spent enormous amounts of money to make the mainframe dance. Consequently, although the on-line sharing of data on a large scale is difficult, it is a key issue that the mainframe world is exploring. Dempsey says that mainframes are pioneers in the world of automated operations. The combination of economies of scale and skills shortages will see large organisations continue the trend towards three or four data centres assuming the work of the many, and that means the roles of the mainframe and relational database are crucial. Scale, according to Dempsey, begets mainframes. – Janice McGinn