As technology continually evolves, so should training, specifically for mainframe developers. Traditional physical mainframes have been enterprise technology’s backbone, but virtual mainframes offer a cost-effective and flexible alternative for education and training.
Why Use a Virtual Mainframe for Education?
Although prices vary, a mainframe easily costs $75,000 and continues upwards of $1 million per machine. In addition to the expense, traditional mainframes require significant infrastructure, space, and software. Plus, they’re often shared, limiting access.
A virtual mainframe, however, like those offered by PopUp Mainframe, removes these barriers by providing cloud-based environments. These systems spin up quickly, emulating physical mainframe functions while offering:
- Accessibility: Users can access virtual environments anytime, anywhere.
- Cost Savings: Virtual environments reduce the expenses of maintaining physical mainframes.
- Scalability: They can grow with the needs of educational institutions and enterprises.
- Flexibility: Users can test, develop, and train in isolated environments without affecting live systems.
Empowering Students and Educators
Colleges and universities can introduce students to mainframe development without expensive hardware, almost instantly expanding teaching capacity. Educators can use virtual mainframes to teach core mainframe concepts, from COBOL programming to DevOps pipelines. Virtual mainframes also support code testing efficiency, which helps student developers see how long a program takes to execute.
Students can gain hands-on experience in a simulated environment that mirrors real-world systems without disrupting production systems. Key advantages include:
- On-Demand Environments: Students can create environments tailored to their coursework or projects.
- Isolation: Each student has a private workspace, reducing conflicts and errors.
- Modern Tools Integration: PopUp Mainframe works with tools like GitHub, helping students learn contemporary software development practices.
Case Study: Legal & General’s Mainframe Modernization
One real-world example comes from Legal & General (L&G), a leader in pension administration. Facing 20x growth in pension books over a decade while facing increasing regulatory demands, L&G modernized its mainframe environment without abandoning it.
The Challenge: L&G needed more mainframe environments for development, testing, and research. Their existing infrastructure couldn’t keep up with their growing needs.
The Solution: Using PopUp Mainframe and Delphix, L&G created on-demand virtual mainframe instances. These environments allowed teams to innovate and develop more efficiently. Specifically, L&G experienced:
- Increased Productivity: Developers could instantly create virtual environments, removing bottlenecks.
- Streamlined SDLC: PopUp Mainframe helped modernize their software development lifecycle (SDLC) for faster deployment cycles.
- Empathy-Driven Design: Focusing on user feedback and pain points, L&G improved workflows and integrated tools like GitHub and CI/CD pipelines for better collaboration.
The result was a modernized mainframe environment with virtual mainframes at the core. Developers transitioned from legacy systems to modern tools, narrowing the gap between COBOL-based mainframes and newer technologies like Python and GUIs. Watch a video about the effort.
A Limitation: No MIPS Testing
Bronwyn Davies, Head of Development at PopUp Mainframe, pointed out one limitation. Virtual mainframes cannot estimate MIPS (Million Instructions Per Second) or perform MIPS testing since they run on standard x86 servers, cloud infrastructure, or a combination.
Looking to the Future
In addition to expanding education, virtual mainframes can help address other challenges in the mainframe industry, specifically:
- Skills Gap: With veteran developers retiring, training new talent is needed. In particular, experienced employees. Anyone with access to virtual mainframes can build new skills or expand existing skills – all in the same space.
- Modernization: Virtual mainframes allow students and developers to adopt DevOps and CI/CD pipelines while working within a mainframe context.
- Diversity: Accessible mainframe environments can attract a broader range of learners, and facilities willing to teach mainframe skills.
Between Tradition and Modernity
Virtual mainframes are primed to transform mainframe education and training. They offer students, educators, and enterprises tools to innovate in the space between traditional systems and modern development practices. While virtual mainframes don’t replace physical mainframes entirely, their flexibility makes them valuable for testing, teaching, and developing mainframe skills — at a fraction of the cost.
Penney Berryman, MPH (she/her), is the Content Editor for Planet Mainframe. She also writes health technology and online education marketing materials. Penney is based in Austin, Texas.
Connect with her on LinkedIn.