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[[Image:Honeywell-Bull DPS 7 Mainframe BWW March 1990.jpg|thumb|right|300px|A 1990 ''Honeywell-Bull DPS 7'' mainframe]]
'''Mainframes''' (often colloquially referred to as '''[[big iron|Big Iron]]''') are [[computer]]s used mainly by government institutions and large companies for mission critical applications, typically bulk data processing such as [[census]], industry/consumer statistics, [[Enterprise Resource Planning|ERP]], and financial [[transaction processing]].
The term originated during the early years of computing and referred to the large mechanical assembly that held the central processor and input/output complex. Later the term was used to distinguish high-end commercial machines from less powerful units which were often contained in smaller packages. Today, this term almost exclusively refers to [[zSeries|IBM zSeries mainframes]] - descendants of the [[System/360]].
'''Mainframes''' (often colloquially referred to as '''[[big iron|Big Iron]]''') are [[computer]]s used mainly by government institutions and large companies for mission critical applications, typically bulk data processing such as [[census]], industry/consumer statistics, [[Enterprise Resource Planning|ERP]], and financial [[transaction processing]].
The term originated during the early years of computing and referred to the large mechanical assembly that held the central processor and input/output complex. Later the term was used to distinguish high-end commercial machines from less powerful units which were often contained in smaller packages. Today, this term almost exclusively refers to [[zSeries|IBM zSeries mainframes]] - descendants of the [[System/360]].