K-State’s 11-year-old mainframe now sits in the basement hallway of Hale Library, with thoughts of better days as it awaits removal to the melting pot. It was dismantled and removed from the K-State Data Center over a two-day period, July 1-2, by Computing and Telecommunications Services staff. So ends 42 years of IBM mainframes at K-State.
The arrival of the first IBM mainframe for academic computing at K-State was in 1967. (The first administrative IBM mainframe arrived in 1969 and was supported by the Data Processing Center.) Since those times, the majority of the maintenance and upkeep has been handled by a central computing unit that has undergone several name changes (originally Computing Center, Data Processing Center, then University Computing Activities, followed by Computing and Telecommunications Activities, then Computing and Network Services, and finally Computing and Telecommunications Services).
In the mid-1990s, the IBM mainframe environment was supporting both administrative and academic central computing for the campus, central e-mail, about 250 LISTSERV mailing lists, and an abundance of research and grant projects. The move away from mainframe computing began in 1996, when e-mail moved from the IBM platform to Unix-based systems, following by academic computing transitions. In June 1997, the LISTSERV mailing-list system was moved to Unix. By 2003, the mainframe was phasing to administrative computing only.
Over the next six years, more than 100 administrative systems — including human resources, payroll, facilities management, student records, student loans, financial records, billing and receivables, purchasing and inventory, classroom scheduling, housing room assignments, etc. — were moved off the mainframe. The removal of the mainframe from the Data Center is the final step.
This multi-year transition began at a time when the Internet, global communication, and global data stores were in their infancy. Since then, the university has been moving to a more modern computing environment that facilitates the increase in processing capability in incremental steps. This newer approach emphasizes K-State’s use of contemporary software solutions and the advantages afforded by the concepts of cloud computing.
For more details about the mainframe and central computing history at K-State:
- Mainframe planned shutdown and termination June 30, InfoTech Tuesday, June 16, 2009
- K-State completes LASER Project, InfoTech Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2009
- IBM mainframe phasing to administrative use only, InfoTech Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2003
- CNS newsletter archives, 1998-2000
- IBM mainframe upgraded in August, Computing and Network News, Fall 1994
- CNS newsletter archives, February 1986-May 1994
