Memory and Storage and mainframes.

[Sulabh Sinha]

We were discussing on the usage of these two terms in mainframes and in general in computers. Then suddenly a senior made a comment, "In the IBM mainframe world, the term memory is not used and is always referred as storage. There are two types of storage that are used on mainframes - the real storage and the auxillary storage. The real storage is available within in the processor complex while the aux storage is available on external devices like DASD." -- how correct the statement is? Does the word "memory" not really belong to mainframes?

[Robert Sample]

The term "memory" is used with mainframes as another term for real storage. Actual usage of the term varies by site, so at your site your senior may well be correct; for another site, the use of the term "memory" might be standard and "storage" rarely heard.

[Sulabh Sinha]

The term "memory" is used with mainframes as another term for real storage. Actual usage of the term varies by site, so at your site your senior may well be correct; for another site, the use of the term "memory" might be standard and "storage" rarely heard.

Right that's another term but saying that "In the IBM mainframe world, the term memory is not used" is too strong as a statement. This statement not a universal term which can be applied to all the shops but that's what the statement infer.

[DB2 Guy]

I think you can not consider the statement "In the IBM mainframe world, the term memory is not used and is always referred as storage" universally. It's too bold to say that, as Robert has also indicated it might depend on the terminology a shop opts to use but that does NOT dictate it as a rule for all the shops.

[RyanFox]

I agree with DB2 Guy -- memory is quite often used at our shop and I don't find the references from IBM which negates it's use in this context.