Back again in 2025, we celebrate a mainframe leader turning GenAI and DevOps into real-world progress.
Venkatauday (Venkat) Balabhadrapatruni
Distinguished Engineer, Broadcom Inc.
Frisco, Texas USA
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View the entire 2025 Influential Mainframers group here.
Recognized in 2024 for his leadership in tooling and DevOps integration, Venkat Balabhadrapatruni returns in 2025 with an expanded portfolio of impact. A Distinguished Engineer and Solution Architect at Broadcom Software, he leads the company’s Mainframe DevOps value stream, helping global enterprises integrate cloud-native practices into their Z environments—without sacrificing resilience or performance.
With more than 18 years of experience, Venkat previously served as lead architect for IBM’s Enterprise DevOps product line—including IDz, ADDI, and RTC EE—before joining Broadcom in 2017. Today, his work continues to bridge tooling modernization and real-world adoption, empowering teams to evolve in-place.
In the past year, Venkat proposed MainframeGPT, a generative AI-powered knowledge engine now under review with the Open Mainframe Project. He also contributed to open-source COBOL and HLASM editors using the Language Server Protocol (LSP), improving IDE compatibility across developer environments.
A 2025 IBM Champion and Level 3 IBM Z and LinuxONE Community Influencer, Venkat remains a leading voice in modernization strategy. He presented at SHARE, GSE UK, IBM TechXchange, Broadcom MTE, and Google Next on topics including AI integration, automated testing, and platform engineering. His writing—including What I Wish Everyone Understood About COBOL and Tackling Today’s Mainframe Challenges with GenAI—continues to influence the broader conversation on mainframe relevance.
Outside of product and publishing, Venkat actively mentors new talent through events and academic outreach. As a University Ambassador for the University of North Texas, he helps students understand the role of Z systems in real-time AI and data science workloads.
In 2025, Planet Mainframe is proud to once again recognize Venkat Balabhadrapatruni as one of our Influential Mainframers.
Influential Mainframer
Mainframe technology continues to evolve because of the dedicated professionals, educators, mentors, and innovators who drive it forward. We’re shining a spotlight on the individuals who are making waves—whether they’re advancing technology, mentoring new talent, sharing knowledge, championing modernization, or quietly keeping mission-critical systems running every day. These are the people shaping the future of mainframe. They come from all backgrounds and experience levels, but they all have one thing in common: they’re making a difference.
Check back daily as we reveal a new honoree. Read their stories, celebrate their impact, and be inspired.
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