KNOXVILLE — The University of Tennessee Office of Information Technology (OIT) will shut down the university’s IBM mainframe computer next year as its last major application, the Student Information System (SIS), is replaced with the new Banner Online Services system.
The IBM mainframe, online since the late 1960s, will be powered down and removed from use once Banner Online Services is up and running. The target date for the mainframe’s removal is June 2011.
The move primarily will affect faculty and staff who still have older datasets and programs on the mainframe, which has seen its use decline in recent years as more departments switched to alternate databases. Some datasets on tape and disk have been unused for as long as 25 years.
In preparation for its removal, OIT staff are working with academic and administrative departments at UT Knoxville and other campuses in the UT System to migrate their historical data. Faculty and staff who have ever used TSO or VM/CMS for any departmental or research computing must begin now to migrate these functions to a new platform and delete all of their mainframe accounts.
OIT suggests the following steps to prepare for the change:
- Review all the mainframe accounts assigned to you or your departments and identify any data that needs to be saved after June 2011;
- Determine the most viable alternate platform for your data processing needs (PC, SQL server, Oracle, etc.) and begin the move to the new system now;
- Delete all unneeded or already migrated mainframe resources as soon as possible;
- Send OIT confirmation that your accounts and project codes may be closed; and
- Contact OIT with any questions or requests for assistance as soon as possible.
Banner Online Services will replace Circle Park Online, starting with registration for Spring 2011. It will provide continuous service and will be integrated with the UT portal to allow users to access Banner, Online@UT (Blackboard) and DARS.
Retiring the in-house IBM mainframe and moving to the Banner commercial product is expected to save the university approximately $650,000 each year in maintenance and utilities.
For more information, call the OIT Helpdesk at (865) 974-9900 or e-mail mainframeretirement@tennessee.edu.
—
C O N T A C T :
Charles Primm (865-974-5180, charles.primm@tennessee.edu)