Unplugging a decades-old mainframe

Vickie Gephart
Systems development manager, Virginia State Police, Richmond

We'd had a Unisys mainframe here since the late '70s or early '80s, and we were at the end of our current five-year licensing contract. We either had to purchase a new mainframe or go to a new platform. We decided to migrate to an open systems architecture in order to make use of off-the-shelf packages and get away from a completely proprietary database.

We decided to purchase a Sun Fire 6800 with an Oracle database and a Micro Focus [International] front end. At first, there was the challenge of keeping our data processing team motivated. Ninety-five percent of them had 20 years of extensive experience on the Unisys mainframe, so there was some resistance to moving forward into unfamiliar territory.

To boost morale and acceptance of the new database, we continually provided the transition team with motivational pep talks and progress reports. By the time we were about one-third of the way into the project, the staff started getting really excited about the operation.

What also helped was that the team ran into opposition from some external agencies and was told there was no way it could go from the mainframe to the Unix platform so quickly. The challenge became an issue of pride for the team - "Let's prove everybody wrong."

It took us 13 months, but we had everything operational on Aug. 8, 2004, and we left the mainframe running until Aug. 12. At the ceremonial unplugging, the state police superintendent officially switched off the mainframe, and the entire team broke into applause and then celebrated with cake and refreshments. Even a local television station was on hand to cover the ceremony.

At that point, it still felt a little bit unreal. I guess we expected something to go wrong at the last minute. But after the switchover, it was quiet. We wondered, "Is anyone using this system? Why haven't we heard something going on?"

Over the next few weeks, we traded in the mainframe for new disks for the Sun platform. Even then, there was this thought of being attached to it, particularly for the operators who used it day in and day out.

- As told to Mary Brandel

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