Originally posted by: TonyPearson

In the 2004 comedy ["A Day Without a Mexican"], the director envisions how disruptive life would be in California if all the Mexicans suddenly disappeared. The point is that sometimes you take things in the background for granted.

I was reminded of this when I saw Mark Underwood's blog post [Mainframe: Still Not Crazy After All These Years]. The article reminds us how critical IBM z Systems mainframes (and related storage like the IBM DS8880 disk systems) are in our lives. Here's an excerpt:

"Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway started buying up IBM stock in 2011 and bought still more of IBM later. Despite its disappointing short-term valuation, Berkshire Hathaway is standing by its IBM investment, which is one of Berkshire's top four plays. ... To make this case, some statistics may be needed:

• The z13 can withstand an 8.0 earthquake.
• z Systems enjoy the highest standardized security certification (FIPS 140-2, highest level 4 of 4).
• 23 of the world's top 25 retailers use a mainframe.
• 92 of the top 100 banks are mainframe users.
• All 10 of the top 10 insurers have commitments in mainframe technologies.
• Around 80 percent of all corporate data is managed by mainframes.
• The z13 can process 2.5 billion transactions daily (that's 100 [Cyber Mondays], as IBM's Mark Anzani, VP of z Systems Strategy, Resilience and Ecosystems, observed)."

... In fact, and notwithstanding perceptions to the contrary, the mainframe's center-stage position in large corporations around the world has not budged. That's the conclusion of an industry survey sponsored by Syncsort Inc. and conducted in 2015 by Enterprise Systems Media, a publisher of magazines for IT managers and technical professionals. Seven out of 10 respondents (IT planners, architects and managers at global enterprises with $1 billion or more in annual revenues) ranked the use of the mainframe for large-scale transaction processing as very important."

What would a comparable film depicting "A Day without a Mainframe" be like? I would imagine it somewhere between a disaster movie like [2012] and an end-of-the-world zombie horror movie like [28 Days Later].  I would gladly take a million dollars to write the screenplay!

(FCC Disclosure: I work for IBM and am a filmmaker as well.  Earlier in my career, I was chief architect of IBM's Data Facility Storage Management Subsystem (DFSMS) which manages around 80 percent of the world's corporate data. This blog post can be considered a "paid celebrity endorsement" for IBM's z13 System mainframes and DS8880 Disk Systems. I have personal experience with both and highly recommend them. I am neither a Mexican nor resident of California, but work regularly with both in my job responsibilities. Like Warren Buffett, I also own stock in both IBM and Berkshire Hathaway companies. I had no involvement in the making of any of the major motion pictures mentioned in this blog post, have no financial interest in their distribution, and have not been provided any compensation for mentioning them in this blog post. They are all great movies worth watching!)

What do you think the movie would be like? Enter your comments below!

technorati tags: Mexican, California, Mark Underwood, Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, earthquake, Cyber Monday, Mark Anzani, SyncSort, Enterprise Systems Media, John Cusack