What is a NonStop Server? – Building Bridges

I had a proud moment the other day. Kind of like when you get to brag about your  children (or grandchildren):
I was enjoying a beverage with a group of Mainframe support team members. We had just completed a long day of meetings on HPE NonStop topics.  Only one of the Mainframe team had attended. At some point, the question was asked “What is a NonStop server and why do we have them?” The company has had their servers for decades. Everyone knows about the machines, but like so many other places, no one ever asks. To my utter amazement, the answer straight from the Mainframe guy was: “It is a mainframe system. HPE makes them. They run application x”.
Unprompted, without influence, an old school IBM Mainframe systems person tossed this out.  The look on my face must have been an odd mixture of happiness and confusion as I have NEVER heard anyone who wasn’t raised on NonStop calling my systems a main­ frame. We spent the next few hours educating each other on the benefits (and difficulties) of managing our chosen systems.
What I wish I could reproduce at any gathering of plat­ form advocates, whether it be Windows, Mainframe, Linux or NonStop is that spark of understanding. We all enjoy what we do (at least I hope we do) and there is a certain devotion/dedication  and pride that goes along with  it.  At  the end of this discussion,  we all laughed an really appreciated what the others go through every day.
The next time you run into someone who isn’t as savvy as you are on the subject of our favorite platform, take the time to bring  them up to speed.  While you are at it, try and build a bridge by trying to see why they love what they do as much as you. You never know where  the next convert may be.
 
Rob Lesan
XYPRO Technology
 
Originally published in The Connection Magazine