Introduction to Storage Networking Evolution or Revolution?
Evolution or Revolution? Limited CPU scalability
Proprietary closed system
Limited storage scalability Open system
LAN Mainframe Mainframe model Departmental computing model
Comparing the proprietary mainframe model to an open systems model shows that:
Mainframe systems consist of monolithic components that can be difficult to scale and limit flexibility. The system uses proprietary technologies that were designed by the same vendor.
These proprietary technologies can be relatively easy to manage because the management tools do not have to contend with distributed, open systems, but ease of management comes at the cost of scalability and flexibility.