A mainframe computer can be introduced as a powerful and large-scale
computing system designed to handle massive amounts of data
processing and perform complex tasks. It is mostly used in enterprises,
organizations and industries that requires a significant computing
power, reliability and scalability such as banks, finance companies,
government, healthcare and insurance companies.
Key characteristics of mainframe computers are;-
Processing power
memory
scalability
high availability
security
batch processing
legacy support
Despite the increasing use of cloud computing and such, mainframe
computers pursue to play a crucial role in certain industries due to
their reliability and performance.
The first mainframe computer was invented by Howard Aiken in the
1930s. His objective was to build a massive calculator for the
solution of a set of nonlinear equations. Mainframe computer was
ready for operation only by 1943. This machine used to took space
up to a whole room, now roughly being the size of a 6 feet high
closet.