The system runs, but no one working with it truly understands its innards. Rather than dissect the old system and patch it further in updating all its date codes, it may make sense to start over with a clean slate. Federal agencies have a further incentive to move from mainframes to client-server. Client-server systems generally consist of more standard hardware and software components than mainframe systems. This standardization complies with federal mandates intended to keep agencies from becoming locked into a single systems supplier.
Standardization tends to increase vendor competition by leveling the playing field.
Federal agencies also are under orders to consolidate and streamline their mainframe computing operations. The Office of Management and Budget is pressing agencies to reduce the overhead costs they incur by maintaining many data centers. Now that client-server architecture is established, however, a new challenger has come along. Called network computing, it almost amounts to resurrection of the dumb terminal. That's the theory, anyway.