Secret Service Flounders With 1980s Mainframe

[megamanx00]

I could probably cobble together a better system with parts from the goodwill and Linux. I'm just saying.

 

[nforce4max]

HAL 9000...."I can't let you do that Dave"

 

[blackened144]

[citation][nom]marsax73[/nom]I would rather have the messiah than an ex-cokehead.[/citation]
So, is Obama the 'messiah' AND the 'ex-cokehead'? You do know that he admitted to smoking weed and snorting coke, right?

 

[jgiron]

We aim for 99.99999% uptime at my company. Lazy government employees.....

and you're paying for them to be lazy....what a job!

 

[JohnnyLucky]

There's got to be more to this story.

 

[WarraWarra]

Wow so they have the same or less computing power than a Iphone.

Maybe a nettop with moblin, atom based pc for $180 can replace their mainframe.
Might still be stuck with the lack of internet infrastructure that the Iphone has "3G" or USA national over avg. internet equivalent of 3MB/s .

And I complain about my slow quad 4850 Ati stream MPI 8 vpc clusters with the intel I7c-920 memory controller.

I take my hat of for those brave souls.

 

[das_stig]

where do you even find parts for a 1980s mainframe.

Give HP/EDS a ring, bound to have a few boxes of spares lying around for a few million $$$.

 

[Guest]

Kicking it old school!

 

[blarneypete]

[citation][nom]marsax73[/nom]I would rather have the messiah than an ex-cokehead.[/citation]
Wow. Obama IS an ex-cokehead, and admitted it openly. But to the point: Obama wasn't running against Bush, no matter what you may have heard.

 

[belardo]

Yeah... instead there would be a dead from the neck up run-away from work ex-gov. of Alaska that is a heartbeat away from the red button.




Geeze 1980 computers? Security through obscurity does WORK somewhat. I *FORGOT* how to my 1980s computers. 🙁

 

[rooket]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the Gibson yet.

 

[james_lankford]

[citation][nom]omnimodis78[/nom]"...Costing taxpayers millions, no doubt - instead of hiring a handful of college students in their last last year of schooling who would do a comprehensive assessment [/citation]
what an idiot
you actually think a bunch of seniors from MIT or Yale could as comprehensive an assessment as people from the NSA with years of experience ?
hell, why not just get a senior in med school to preform that open heart surgery you need ? I'm sure they'd be happy for the experience. Why pay all that money for a board certified surgeon ?
moron.

 

[james_lankford]

[citation][nom]Rhynn[/nom]I call BS. The Secret Service is a branch of the Treasury. They are -not- underfunded. This is a smoke and mirrors excuse for more money to be funneled into another "department" of the government that we wouldn't approve of.[/citation]

who the hell said they were under funded you moron ?
they can have all the money in the world but it doesn't mean they're spending it on IT, or even that specific area of IT.

 

[danimal_the_animal]

If they want parts...I can sell them a shoddy case filled with pinball machine parts!

 

[Guest]

Believe it or not, a z9 or z10 can easily outperform a room full of servers in a footprint the size of a small refrigerator. Now what is cheaper to run/cool, a small fridge or an entire room of rack mount servers (not to mention cable management...) And those that will eventually argue you can't do this you can't do that on a mainframe might want to go check out IBM's service offerings for their Z systems. Unix/Linux/Websphere/Rational Developer/Java etc are all available and help bridge the gap from what is typically considered to run on a mainframe (batch cobol/PL1/REXX/CLIST/JCL). Before bashing the Old Iron itself, I'd say its the guys who just want to sit their and get a paycheck everyday and not take the time to migrate their OS/hardware to at least N-1.

 

[omnimodis78]

[citation][nom]james_lankford[/nom]what an idiotyou actually think a bunch of seniors from MIT or Yale could as comprehensive an assessment as people from the NSA with years of experience ?hell, why not just get a senior in med school to preform that open heart surgery you need ? I'm sure they'd be happy for the experience. Why pay all that money for a board certified surgeon ?moron.[/citation]
Ya, the NSA has been doing an amazing job keeping your country safe with all their experienced staff! Before you drop the 'idiot' assessment though (very immature if I may add) perhaps you should get your head out of your rectum and look into something called "US Cyber Challenge" ( http/csis.org/uscc ) and maybe it will become clear that my comment wasn't as idiotic as you gave it credit. Cheers!!!

 

[ride365]

[citation][nom]omnimodis78[/nom]"...the Secret Service is so plagued by computer-related issues, it invited the National Security Agency to formally review its IT systems." - - Costing taxpayers millions, no doubt - instead of hiring a handful of college students in their last last year of schooling who would do a comprehensive assessment probably for free just for the chance to be able to put the experience on their resumes. You absolutely got to love bureaucracy and the way governments operate.[/citation]

Do you realize how much money and time it would take to get the "college students" a proper clearence to access the computer system. You are talking a ts/sci with a life style poly.

 

[mlopinto2k1]

Yes, lets rant and rave that the Secret Service should upgrade their mainframe, like they don't get enough money as it is.

 

[alextheblue]

[citation][nom]omnimodis78[/nom]"...the Secret Service is so plagued by computer-related issues, it invited the National Security Agency to formally review its IT systems." - - Costing taxpayers millions, no doubt - instead of hiring a handful of college students in their last last year of schooling who would do a comprehensive assessment probably for free just for the chance to be able to put the experience on their resumes. You absolutely got to love bureaucracy and the way governments operate.[/citation]Yes, exactly! Why pay for a professional roofer, when you can just give some neighborhood kids some asphalt tiles and nails and let them go to town?

That doesn't even include the gross breach of security. Terrible.

 

[Max Collodi]

The Secret Service is a law enforcement agency commissioned to protect American and foreign dignitaries and secure the US money supply. Their computing needs are pretty minimal and are well serviced with modern desktops and laptops for their everyday duties. If for some reason they need supercomputing power they can access one of several computing laboratories like the Lawrence Livermore National Security Laboratory in California. The U.S. Government owns 9 of the 10 most powerful computers in the world. The "Sequoia" being built by IBM is scheduled to go on line in 2012 and will be 20x more powerful than the current champ. This 1980s computer is just some piece of junk they had sitting around the office that they have no use for other than a few laughs at Joe Lieberman's expense.