title: Java on mainframes
body: <p>I work for a large corporation that runs a <strong>lot</strong> of x86 based servers on which we run JVMs. </p>
  
  <p>We have experimented successfully with VMWare ESX to get better usage out of our data center. But these still consume a lot of power per processing unit.</p>
  
  <p>I had a mad idea that we should resurrect mainframes, we could host either lots of JVMs or virtual machines. </p>
  
  <p>Has anyone tried this? Are there any good cost-benefits?</p>
  
  <p>Do you lose flexibility? E.g. we have mainframes in other parts of the company but they seem to have much more rigid usage of the machines.. lots of change control, long lead times etc </p>