Mainframes are data servers from IBM designed to process up to 1 trillion web transactions per day with the highest levels of security and reliability.
Essentially, mainframes are high-performance computers with large amounts of memory and data processors that process billions of simple calculations and transactions in real time. A mainframe computer is typically used for commercial databases, transaction servers, and applications that require high resilience, security, and agility.
Since the advent of the Internet and the rise of cloud computing, some might think of the mainframe as a technological dinosaur. On the contrary, the mainframe has evolved to keep pace with other technologies and continues to play a critical role in IT infrastructure.
In a recent IBM report, 45 of the top 50 banks in the world, 4 of the top 5 airlines, 7 of the top 10 global retailers leverage the mainframe as their primary platform. Furthermore, a study by the IBM Institute of Business Value (IBV) showed that mainframes handle nearly 70% of production IT workloads worldwide, and 70% of executives surveyed believe that mainframe-based applications are critical to their business strategy.
Mainframe evolution
The term mainframe initially referred to the large cabinet or “mainframe” that housed the central processing unit (CPU) of early computer systems. The mainframe served as a central data repository or “hub” that connected workstations or terminals in an organization’s data centre.
A centralized computing environment gave way to a more distributed computing environment as mainframes became smaller and acquired greater processing power to be more flexible and multipurpose. Today’s mainframes process and store massive amounts of data and are called enterprise servers.
Today’s organizations are adopting cloud and distributed architectures that support digital innovation to create a competitive advantage. Cloud-based environments do not replace mainframes.
Instead, the two systems have merged to form a holistic digital transformation strategy. To this end, the modernization of mainframe-based applications has become an essential part of today’s enterprise hybrid cloud approach, which combines and unifies on-premises, public cloud, private cloud, and edge settings to create a single, flexible IT infrastructure.
By integrating and extending the capabilities of the mainframe in a hybrid cloud environment, companies can choose the best environment for their workloads (whether in the cloud or on-premises) to maximize the innovations, technical advancements, security, and resilience of each platform.
