Since you’ve found your way to Planet Mainframe, you probably know that mainframes are the IT workhorses of big business. It’s not an exaggeration to say that it’s hard to even imagine the past several decades of commerce without the mainframe doing its thing, mostly in the background, processing billions of transactions each day.
The fact that all those transactions take place invisibly to most of us is an essential part of the mainframe’s function. Catastrophic mainframe failures happen infrequently enough that most people don’t have a clear idea of what a mainframe is. But even for people who make their livelihoods working in the world of Big Iron, the scope of mainframe workloads can be pretty mind-bending.
So whether you’re a mainframe newbie or an old-timer who remembers vacuum tubes being replaced by magnetic core memory, we’ve put together some recent mainframe statistics that will renew your respect for this foundational piece of technology.
Sonja Soderlund is an Oregon-based B2B freelance writer. Whether writing about mainframe computers, educational technology, or sustainable retail, she strives to bring clarity to complex issues. Connect with her at sonjasoderlund.com or LinkedIn.