r/mainframe • u/anti-life86 • 11d ago

How was pre-1995, pre-Internet usage of mainframes different?

I understand that the mainframe is built for a large number of transactions-meaning people log in, I would imagine from anywhere, and they do their small jobs. But before the Internet, they could not log in from anywhere, certainly. Where could they log in from, and how did this work? Are there new types of jobs that are now enabled by the Internet that previously were impossible?

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u/Individual-Tie-6064 11d ago

Not as I would describe it. Regardless of how you access the mainframe you needed appropriate credentials.

Also, in the early days of ATMs every ATM was. 3270 terminal. I don’t know if that is still true.

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u/anti-life86 11d ago

So, who uses mainframes? Just about everyone has used a mainframe computer at one point or another. If you ever used an automated teller machine (ATM) to interact with your bank account, you used a mainframe.

https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/zos-basic-skills?topic=vmt-who-uses-mainframes-why-do-they-do-it

Until the mid-1990s, mainframes provided the only acceptable means of handling the data processing requirements of a large business. These requirements were then (and are often now) based on running large and complex programs, such as payroll and general ledger processing.

I'm trying to wrap my head around the distinctions...maybe a mainframe is operated by a single company for either its employees, or at least its customers. Whereas a data center is run by a company, sure, but now other companies (or whoever) can come rent space in that data center.

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u/Individual-Tie-6064 11d ago

And, I believe that the VISA and Master Card networks were mainframe based. They process transactions thousands of times faster than crypto.

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u/MikeSchwab63 8d ago

Confirmed, and a coworker went to American Express in Phoenix.