- Support for 37-year old mainframe was ending
- Decades-old programs on the mainframe were obsolete and no longer supported
- 15.7 million lines of code, 172 MIPS
- Earlier attempts to upgrade were not successful
Entergy is an integrated energy company that owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including 9,000 megawatts of nuclear power.
Entergy’s purpose is to provide customers with lowemission, reliable energy at a reasonable cost while delivering superior service. The company maintains a strict focus on safety, strives for operational excellence and supports engaged employees.
The mainframe system that enabled some of Entergy’s most critical operations was implemented in 1981. Although it had performed efficiently throughout its life, the underlying hardware and operating system would no longer be supported. Additionally, the cost to support mainframe systems was a multimillion-dollar annual expense that increased each year, ultimately affecting customers.
The obsolescence and end-of-life of the mainframe and its programs needed to be addressed; it was not possible to maintain the status quo any longer. Entergy considered upgrading, but earlier attempts to upgrade had not been successful. Moving some applications over and a few other options, such as rewriting, were also on the table. However, these were too big of an undertaking with no guarantee of success. As a result, the company realized all mainframe programs, databases, storage, scheduling, and interfaces would have to be ported onto new virtual servers in its VMware environment. Rehosting the mainframe was the most viable option.
