Market
IBM mainframes dominate the mainframe market at well over 90% market share. Unisys manufactures ClearPath mainframes, based on earlier Burroughs products and ClearPath mainframes based on OS1100 product lines. In 2002, Hitachi co-developed the zSeries z800 with IBM to share expenses, but subsequently the two companies have not collaborated on new Hitachi models. Hewlett-Packard sells its unique NonStop systems, which it acquired with Tandem Computers and which some analysts classify as mainframes. Groupe Bull's DPS, Fujitsu (formerly Siemens) BS2000, and Fujitsu-ICL VME mainframes are still available in Europe. Fujitsu, Hitachi, and NEC (the "JCMs") still maintain mainframe hardware businesses in the Japanese market.
The amount of vendor investment in mainframe development varies with market share. Fujitsu and Hitachi both continue to use custom S/390-compatible processors, as well as other CPUs (including POWER, SPARC, MIPS, and Xeon) for lower-end systems. Bull uses a mixture of custom and Xeon processors. NEC and Bull both use a mixture of Xeon and Itanium processors for their mainframes. IBM continues to pursue a different business strategy of mainframe investment and growth. IBM has its own large research and development organization designing new, homegrown CPUs, including mainframe processors such as 2008's 4.4 GHz quad-core z10 mainframe microprocessor. Unisys produces code compatible mainframe systems that range from laptops to cabinet sized mainframes that utilize homegrown CPUs as well as Xeon processors. IBM is rapidly expanding its software business, including its mainframe software portfolio, to seek additional revenue and profits.
Furthermore, there exists a market for software applications to manage the performance of mainframe implementations. Significant players in this market include BMC, Compuware, and CA Technologies.
Read more about this topic: Mainframe Computer
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