This presentation covers the topic of Hardware(main frame and supercomputer) from IT-9626 syllabus. Anyone looking for material on Main frame computers or supercomputers can access this presentation.

2. HISTORY OF MAINFRAME COMPUTER
•IN THE EARLY DAYS OF COMPUTERS, THE CENTRAL
PROCESSING UNIT WAS VERY LARGE COMPARED TO
MODERN-DAY COMPUTERS AND USED TO BE HOUSED IN A
STEEL CABINET. THIS WAS OFTEN REFERRED TO AS THE
‘MAIN FRAME’ AND SOMETIMES AS THE ‘BIG IRON

3. WHAT IS A MAINFRAME COMPUTER?
•MAINFRAME COMPUTERS ARE OFTEN REFERRED TO SIMPLY AS
MAINFRAMES.
•THEY ARE USED MAINLY BY LARGE ORGANIZATIONS FOR BULK
DATA-PROCESSING APPLICATIONS SUCH AS CENSUSES,
INDUSTRY AND CONSUMER STATISTICS, AND TRANSACTION
PROCESSING.

4. DO YOU KNOW?
•IN 2020, THE CHEAPEST MAINFRAME
WOULD COST AT LEAST $75 000

5. MAINFRAME COMPUTER
•MOST PCS AND LAPTOPS USED TO HAVE A SINGLE
PROCESSOR,
•TODAY THEY TEND TO HAVE A CPU WITH MANY CORES
WHICH GIVES THE EFFECT OF HAVING MANY
PROCESSORS.

6. MAINFRAME COMPUTER
•THIS ALLOWS THESE COMPUTERS TO CARRY OUT
PARALLEL PROCESSING RATHER THAN THE SERIAL
PROCESSING OF THEIR PREDECESSORS.

7. MAINFRAME COMPUTER
•SERIAL PROCESSING IS WHEN THE PC PERFORMS
TASKS ONE AT A TIME
•PARALLEL PROCESSING ALLOWS SEVERAL TASKS TO
BE CARRIED OUT SIMULTANEOUSLY

8. DO YOU KNOW?
•THE BEST PERFORMING PCS HAVE A PROCESSOR WITH 18
CORES, WHICH ALLOWS THE COMPUTER TO CARRY OUT
18 TASKS AT THE SAME TIME, RESULTING IN MUCH FASTER
PERFORMANCE

9. MAINFRAME COMPUTER
•A MAINFRAME COMPUTER CAN HAVE HUNDREDS OF PROCESSOR CORES AND CAN
PROCESS A LARGE NUMBER OF SMALL TASKS AT THE SAME TIME VERY QUICKLY.
•A MAINFRAME IS A MULTITASKING, MULTI-USER COMPUTER, MEANING IT IS DESIGNED
SO THAT MANY DIFFERENT PEOPLE CAN WORK ON MANY DIFFERENT PROBLEMS, ALL AT
THE SAME TIME
•COMPUTERS ARE NOW THE SIZE OF A LARGE CUPBOARD, BUT BETWEEN 1950 AND 1990
A MAINFRAME WAS BIG ENOUGH TO FILL A LARGE ROOM,

10. MAINFRAME COMPUTER
THE IBM Z15 MAINFRAME
COMPUTER
MOST ADVANCED
MAINFRAME COMPUTER AT
THE TIME OF PUBLICATION

11. APPLICATIONS OF MAINFRAME COMPUTER
1. BANKING
2.FINANCE
3.HEALTH CARE
4.GOVERNMENT
5.PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ENTERPRISES

12. DO YOU KNOW?
THERE ARE EVEN MORE POWERFUL
MACHINES THAN MAINFRAME
COMPUTERS.

14. SUPERCOMPUTERS
THE CRAY XC40
SUPERCOMPUTER
IT CAN HAVE UP TO
172 000
PROCESSOR CORES

15. SUPERCOMPUTER
A SUPERCOMPUTER IS A COMPUTER
THAT PERFORMS AT OR NEAR THE
HIGHEST OPERATIONAL RATE FOR
COMPUTERS.

16. APPLICATIONS OF SUPERCOMPUTER
1. QUANTUM MECHANICS
2. WEATHER FORECASTING,
3. OIL AND GAS EXPLORATION
4. MOLECULAR MODELING
5. AERODYNAMICS
6. NUCLEAR FUSION RESEARCH
7. CRYPTO-ANALYSIS

17. CHARACTERISTICS
MAINFRAME AND SUPERCOMPUTERS

18. CHARACTERISTICS
1. LONGEVITY
2. RAS(RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY,
SERVICEABILITY)
3. SECURITY
4. PERFORMANCE METRICS
5. VOLUME OF INPUT, OUTPUT AND
THROUGHPUT
6. FAULT TOLERANCE
7. OPERATING SYSTEM
8. TYPE OF PROCESSOR
9. HEAT MAINTENANCE

19. CHARACTERISTICS
1. LONGEVITY
2. RAS(RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY,
SERVICEABILITY)
3. SECURITY
4. PERFORMANCE METRICS
5. VOLUME OF INPUT, OUTPUT AND
THROUGHPUT
6. FAULT TOLERANCE
7. OPERATING SYSTEM
8. TYPE OF PROCESSOR
9. HEAT MAINTENANCE

20. LONGEVITY;MAINFRAME COMPUTERS
MAINFRAME COMPUTERS HAVE GREAT LONGEVITY,
OR LIFESPANS. THIS IS BECAUSE THEY CAN RUN
CONTINUOUSLY FOR VERY LONG PERIODS OF TIME
AND PROVIDE BUSINESSES WITH SECURITY IN THE
SHAPE OF EXTENSIVE ENCRYPTION IN ALL ASPECTS
OF THEIR OPERATION

21. LONGEVITY; MAINFRAME COMPUTERS
MANY OF THESE COMPUTER SYSTEMS HAVE
EXISTED FOR DECADES AND ARE STILL WORKING
WELL.

22. LONGEVITY; MAINFRAME COMPUTERS
TO SHUT THEM DOWN THEN DISPOSE OF THE
HARDWARE IS VERY EXPENSIVE, AS IS THE
HIRING OF COMPANIES TO SECURELY REMOVE
THEIR DATA

23. LONGEVITY; MAINFRAME COMPUTERS
IT CONTINUES TO OPERATE WITH A MINIMUM OF
DOWNTIME, WHICH MEANS THAT COMPANIES
CAN OPERATE 24 HOURS A DAY, EVERY DAY

24. LONGEVITY;SUPERCOMPUTER
SUPERCOMPUTERS HAVE A LIFESPAN OF ABOUT
FIVE YEARS

25. LONGEVITY;SUPERCOMPUTER
RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS
AND METEOROLOGY
ORGANIZATIONS ARE
ALWAYS LOOKING FOR
FASTER WAYS TO
PROCESS THEIR DATA
and so, unlike companies using mainframes,
will tend to look at replacing their existing
systems whenever much faster
supercomputers come on to the market.

26. LONGEVITY;SUPERCOMPUTER
COMPANIES USING MAINFRAMES ARE MORE
INCLINED TO MODERNIZE THEM USING
DIFFERENT SOFTWARE TOOLS.

27. CHARACTERISTICS
1. LONGEVITY
2. RAS(RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY,
SERVICEABILITY)
3. SECURITY
4. PERFORMANCE METRICS
5. VOLUME OF INPUT, OUTPUT AND
THROUGHPUT
6. FAULT TOLERANCE
7. OPERATING SYSTEM
8. TYPE OF PROCESSOR
9. HEAT MAINTENANCE

28. RAS
THE TERM ‘RAS’ IS FREQUENTLY USED WHEN
REFERRING TO MAINFRAME COMPUTERS.
IT STANDS FOR RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY AND
SERVICEABILITY.

29. RAS
RAS IS NOT A TERM THAT IS USED, ON THE
WHOLE, WITH SUPERCOMPUTERS.

30. RELIABILITY
MAINFRAMES ARE THE MOST RELIABLE
COMPUTERS BECAUSE THEIR PROCESSORS ARE
ABLE TO CHECK THEMSELVES FOR ERRORS
ARE ABLE TO RECOVER WITHOUT ANY UNDUE
EFFECTS ON THE MAINFRAME’S OPERATION.

31. RELIABILITY
THE SYSTEM’S SOFTWARE IS ALSO VERY
RELIABLE, AS IT IS THOROUGHLY TESTED AND
UPDATES ARE MADE QUICKLY TO OVERCOME ANY
ERRORS.

32. AVAILABILITY
THIS REFERS TO THE FACT THAT A MAINFRAME IS
AVAILABLE AT ALL TIMES AND FOR EXTENDED
PERIODS.

33. AVAILABILITY
MEAN TIME BETWEEN FAILURES (MTBF ) IS A
COMMON MEASURE OF SYSTEMS, NOT JUST THOSE
INVOLVING COMPUTERS. IT IS THE AVERAGE PERIOD
OF TIME THAT EXISTS BETWEEN FAILURES (OR
DOWNTIMES) OF A SYSTEM DURING ITS NORMAL
OPERATION

34. AVAILABILITY
MAINFRAMES GIVE MONTHS OR EVEN YEARS OF
SYSTEM AVAILABILITY BETWEEN SYSTEM
DOWNTIMES

35. AVAILABILITY
EVEN IF THE MAINFRAME BECOMES
UNAVAILABLE DUE TO FAILURE, THE LENGTH OF
TIME IT IS UNAVAILABLE IS VERY SHORT.

36. AVAILABILITY
IT IS POSSIBLE FOR A MAINFRAME TO RECOVER
QUICKLY,

37. AVAILABILITY
IF ONE OF ITS COMPONENTS FAILS, BY
AUTOMATICALLY REPLACING FAILED
COMPONENTS WITH SPARES.

38. AVAILABILITY
SPARE CPUS ARE OFTEN INCLUDED IN
MAINFRAMES SO THAT WHEN ERRORS ARE
FOUND WITH ONE, THE MAINFRAME IS
PROGRAMMED TO SWITCH TO THE OTHER
AUTOMATICALLY.

39. AVAILABILITY
THE OPERATOR IS THEN ALERTED AND THE
FAULTY CPU IS REPLACED

40. SERVICEABILITY
THIS IS THE ABILITY OF A MAINFRAME TO DISCOVER
WHY A FAILURE OCCURRED AND MEANS THAT
HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE COMPONENTS CAN BE
REPLACED WITHOUT HAVING TOO GREAT AN EFFECT
ON THE MAINFRAME’S OPERATIONS.

41. CHARACTERISTICS
1. LONGEVITY
2. RAS(RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY,
SERVICEABILITY)
3. SECURITY
4. PERFORMANCE METRICS
5. VOLUME OF INPUT, OUTPUT AND
THROUGHPUT
6. FAULT TOLERANCE
7. OPERATING SYSTEM
8. TYPE OF PROCESSOR
9. HEAT MAINTENANCE

42. SECURITY; MAINFRAME COMPUTERS
MAINFRAMES HAVE GREATER SECURITY THAN
OTHER TYPES OF COMPUTER SYSTEMS

43. SECURITY; MAINFRAME COMPUTERS
A MAINFRAME HAS MANY LAYERS OF SECURITY
INCLUDING:

44. SECURITY; MAINFRAME COMPUTERS
A MAINFRAME
HAS MANY
LAYERS OF
SECURITY
INCLUDING:
USER IDENTIFICATION AND
AUTHENTICATION, ALTHOUGH
MORE AND MORE SYSTEMS ARE
USING MULTI-FACTOR
AUTHENTICATION, WHICH IS A
COMBINATION OF TWO OR MORE
OF THE FOLLOWING:
A PASSWORD, A
PHYSICAL TOKEN, A
BIOMETRIC IDENTIFIER
OR A TIME-RESTRICTED
RANDOMIZED PIN

45. SECURITY; MAINFRAME COMPUTERS
A MAINFRAME
HAS MANY
LAYERS OF
SECURITY
INCLUDING:
LEVELS OF ACCESS
ENCRYPTION OF
TRANSMITTED DATA
AND DATA WITHIN
THE SYSTEM

46. SECURITY; MAINFRAME COMPUTERS
A MAINFRAME
HAS MANY
LAYERS OF
SECURITY
INCLUDING:
CONTINUAL MONITORING
BY THE SYSTEM FOR
UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS
ATTEMPTS

47. SECURITY; SUPERCOMPUTER
SUPERCOMPUTERS PERFORM MASSIVE CALCULATIONS,
THEY MAY ALSO BE USED TO STORE SENSITIVE DATA SUCH
AS DNA PROFILES.
MOST SUPERCOMPUTERS USE END-TO-END ENCRYPTION,
WHICH MEANS THAT ONLY THE SENDER OR RECIPIENT IS
ABLE TO DECRYPT AND UNDERSTAND THE DATA.

48. CHARACTERISTICS
1. LONGEVITY
2. RAS(RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY,
SERVICEABILITY)
3. SECURITY
4. PERFORMANCE METRICS
5. VOLUME OF INPUT, OUTPUT AND
THROUGHPUT
6. FAULT TOLERANCE
7. OPERATING SYSTEM
8. TYPE OF PROCESSOR
9. HEAT MAINTENANCE

49. PERFORMANCE METRICS
THE PERFORMANCE METRICS OF A COMPUTER ARE
BASICALLY THE MEASURES USED TO DETERMINE HOW
WELL, OR HOW FAST, THE PROCESSOR DEALS WITH
DATA.

50. PERFORMANCE METRICS
THE SPEED OF A MAINFRAME’S CPU IS MEASURED IN
MILLIONS OF INSTRUCTIONS PER SECOND (MIPS).

51. PERFORMANCE METRICS
IT IS IMPORTANT THAT THE COMPARISON BETWEEN
THE PERFORMANCE OF ONE MAINFRAME AND
ANOTHER IS MADE BY MEASURING HOW FAST THE
CPUS ARE WHEN CARRYING OUT THE SAME TASK.
THIS IS REFERRED TO AS A BENCHMARK TEST

52. PERFORMANCE METRICS
MIPS ARE OFTEN LINKED TO COST BY CALCULATING
HOW MUCH A MAINFRAME COSTS PER ONE MILLION
INSTRUCTIONS PER SECOND

53. PERFORMANCE METRICS; SUPERCOMPUTERS
SUPERCOMPUTER’S PERFORMANCE IS MEASURED BY
HOW MANY FLOATING POINT OPERATIONS CAN BE
CARRIED OUT PER SECOND (FLOPS).

54. PERFORMANCE METRICS; SUPERCOMPUTERS
ONE PETAFLOP IS 1000000000000 (ONE TRILLION)
FLOATING POINT OPERATIONS PER SECOND.
EXPERTS ARE ALREADY USING THE TERM EXAFLOPS
(1,000,000,000,000,000,000;ONE QUINTILLION), WHICH ARE 1000
TIMES FASTER THAN PETAFLOPS

55. DO YOU KNOW?
THE SPEED OF THE CURRENT FASTEST SUPERCOMPUTER,
AT THE TIME OF PUBLICATION, IS 148 PETAFLOPS AND
EVEN THE TENTH FASTEST OPERATES AT 18 PETAFLOPS.

56. CHARACTERISTICS
1. LONGEVITY
2. RAS(RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY,
SERVICEABILITY)
3. SECURITY
4. PERFORMANCE METRICS
5. VOLUME OF INPUT, OUTPUT AND
THROUGHPUT
6. FAULT TOLERANCE
7. OPERATING SYSTEM
8. TYPE OF PROCESSOR
9. HEAT MAINTENANCE

57. VOLUME OF INPUT, OUTPUT AND THROUGHPUT
MAINFRAMES HAVE SPECIALIZED HARDWARE, CALLED
PERIPHERAL PROCESSORS, THAT DEAL SPECIFICALLY
WITH ALL INPUT AND OUTPUT OPERATIONS, LEAVING
THE CPU TO CONCENTRATE ON THE PROCESSING OF
DATA.

58. VOLUME OF INPUT, OUTPUT AND THROUGHPUT
THIS ENABLES MAINFRAMES TO DEAL WITH VERY
LARGE AMOUNTS OF DATA BEING INPUT (TERABYTES
OR MORE), RECORDS BEING ACCESSED, AND
SUBSEQUENTLY VERY LARGE VOLUMES OF OUTPUT
BEING PRODUCED.

59. VOLUME OF INPUT, OUTPUT AND THROUGHPUT
MODERN MAINFRAMES CAN CARRY OUT MANY
BILLIONS OF TRANSACTIONS EVERY DAY.

60. VOLUME OF INPUT, OUTPUT AND THROUGHPUT
THIS LARGE NUMBER OF SIMULTANEOUS
TRANSACTIONS AND EXTREMELY LARGE VOLUMES OF
INPUT AND OUTPUT IN A GIVEN PERIOD OF TIME IS
REFERRED TO AS ‘THROUGHPUT’.

61. VOLUME OF INPUT, OUTPUT AND THROUGHPUT
A SUPERCOMPUTER IS DESIGNED FOR MAXIMUM
PROCESSING POWER AND SPEED, WHEREAS
THROUGHPUT IS A DISTINCT MAINFRAME
CHARACTERISTIC

62. CHARACTERISTICS
1. LONGEVITY
2. RAS(RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY,
SERVICEABILITY)
3. SECURITY
4. PERFORMANCE METRICS
5. VOLUME OF INPUT, OUTPUT AND
THROUGHPUT
6. FAULT TOLERANCE
7. OPERATING SYSTEM
8. TYPE OF PROCESSOR
9. HEAT MAINTENANCE

63. FAULT TOLERANCE
A COMPUTER WITH FAULT TOLERANCE MEANS THAT IT
CAN CONTINUE TO OPERATE EVEN IF ONE OR MORE OF
ITS COMPONENTS HAS FAILED

64. FAULT TOLERANCE
IT MAY HAVE TO OPERATE AT A REDUCED LEVEL, BUT
DOES NOT FAIL COMPLETELY.

65. FAULT TOLERANCE
MAINFRAME COMPUTERS HAVE THE
CHARACTERISTIC OF BEING FAULT-TOLERANT IN
TERMS OF THEIR HARDWARE

66. FAULT TOLERANCE
SUPERCOMPUTERS HAVE FAR MORE COMPONENTS
THAN A MAINFRAME, WITH UP TO A THOUSAND TIMES
MORE PROCESSORS ALONE

67. FAULT TOLERANCE
THIS MEANS THAT STATISTICALLY, A FAILURE IS MORE
LIKELY TO OCCUR AND CONSEQUENTLY INTERRUPT
THE OPERATION OF THE SYSTEM.

68. FAULT TOLERANCE
THE APPROACHES TO FAULT TOLERANCE ARE MUCH
THE SAME AS THOSE FOR MAINFRAME COMPUTERS,
BUT WITH MILLIONS OF COMPONENTS, THE SYSTEM
CAN GO DOWN AT ANY TIME, EVEN THOUGH IT TENDS
TO BE UP AND RUNNING AGAIN QUITE QUICKLY.

69. CHARACTERISTICS
1. LONGEVITY
2. RAS(RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY,
SERVICEABILITY)
3. SECURITY
4. PERFORMANCE METRICS
5. VOLUME OF INPUT, OUTPUT AND
THROUGHPUT
6. FAULT TOLERANCE
7. OPERATING SYSTEM
8. TYPE OF PROCESSOR
9. HEAT MAINTENANCE

70. OPERATING SYSTEM
MOST MAINFRAMES RUN MORE THAN ONE
OPERATING SYSTEM (OS) AT ANY GIVEN TIME AND
THE USE

71. OPERATING SYSTEM
SUPERCOMPUTERS TEND TO HAVE JUST ONE OS,
LINUX, BUT MOST SUPERCOMPUTERS UTILIZE
MASSIVELY PARALLEL PROCESSING IN THAT THEY
HAVE MANY PROCESSOR CORES, EACH ONE WITH ITS
OWN OS

72. CHARACTERISTICS
1. LONGEVITY
2. RAS(RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY,
SERVICEABILITY)
3. SECURITY
4. PERFORMANCE METRICS
5. VOLUME OF INPUT, OUTPUT AND
THROUGHPUT
6. FAULT TOLERANCE
7. OPERATING SYSTEM
8. TYPE OF PROCESSOR
9. HEAT MAINTENANCE

73. TYPES OF PROCESSOR
MAINFRAMES HAD JUST ONE PROCESSOR (THE CPU),
BUT AS THEY EVOLVED MORE AND MORE
PROCESSORS WERE INCLUDED IN THE MAINFRAME
SYSTEM

74. TYPES OF PROCESSOR
THE NUMBER OF PROCESSOR CORES FOUND IN A
MAINFRAME IS NOW MEASURED IN THE HUNDREDS.

75. TYPES OF PROCESSOR
SUPERCOMPUTERS HAVE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS
OF PROCESSOR CORES.
UNLIKE MAINFRAMES, MODERN SUPERCOMPUTERS
USE MORE THAN ONE GPU OR GRAPHICS
PROCESSING UNIT

76. CHARACTERISTICS
1. LONGEVITY
2. RAS(RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY,
SERVICEABILITY)
3. SECURITY
4. PERFORMANCE METRICS
5. VOLUME OF INPUT, OUTPUT AND
THROUGHPUT
6. FAULT TOLERANCE
7. OPERATING SYSTEM
8. TYPE OF PROCESSOR
9. HEAT MAINTENANCE