House of Representatives unplugs its last mainframe

It was the end of an era for mainframe at the House of Representatives and the beginning of a greener one.

The last mainframe in the House was just unplugged after spending 12 years keeping the House's inventory control records and financial management data.

It was costing $730,000 a year to keep the mainframe in business and was an obstacle as the Capitol is becoming increasingly green.

"It's a symbolic transition into the latest and greatest in terms of green technology, virtualization, consolidation and all those things," Jack Nichols, director of enterprise operations at the House of Representatives, tells Networkworld.com. "The mainframe plug was pulled, but it was pulled in favor of something that was started in the mainframe world." 

The last mainframe was an IBM model in place since 1997, and it was taken offline last Friday. It's being turned over to the General Services Administration and could resurface in the used mainframe market.

The House decided not to buy another mainframe in part because its IT staff has more expertise running x86 and Unix boxes, Rich Zanatta, director of facilities for the House, told Networkworld.com

The end of the road for mainframes in the House means there will be dramatic savings, according to Zanatta. The mainframe was consuming 10,000 to 15,000 watts an hour, and maintenance and support costs were increasing because it was so out-of-date. The next computer system will be greener and more efficient, saving energy and costs to keep it running.

For more on the last mainframe in the House:

- check out this networkworld.com article

Related Article:
Bringing mainframes into the IT mainstream. Article