What 2025 Taught Us About Mainframes: A Trivia Quiz

Dec 31, 2025

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 or LinkedIn.

As the year closes, and the year-end reflections roll in, we’re taking a closer look at key findings from the latest BMC, Kyndryl, and Planet Mainframe Arcati surveys. The results point to a platform that is evolving in response to cost pressures, skills gaps, regulatory demands, and rising expectations around AI and analytics.

This final trivia quiz of 2025 draws directly from those surveys on the state of the mainframe and mainframe modernization efforts. Give it a try and see how closely you’ve been following the data behind today’s mainframe narrative—and how well your assumptions align with what enterprises are actually reporting.

1. What percentage of enterprises report a positive perception of the mainframe in the 2025 BMC survey (the highest in the survey’s history)?

 
 
 
 

2. Which group of professionals is the most optimistic about mainframe growth and new workloads according to the 2025 BMC survey?

 
 
 
 

3. Which modern programming language has seen a major surge in mainframe adoption, with 72% writing new applications in it according to the 2025 BMC survey?

 
 
 
 

4. Which AI-related capability has risen to third place among top mainframe priorities in the 2025 survey according to the 2025 BMC survey?

 
 
 
 

5. What percentage of organizations shifted their mainframe modernization strategy in the past year, according to Kyndryl’s 2025 survey?

 
 
 
 

6. What percentage of organizations are deploying or planning generative AI on the mainframe according to Kyndryl’s 2025 survey?

 
 
 
 

7. Which factor strongly influences modernization decisions for the majority of organizations according to Kyndryl’s 2025 survey?

 
 
 
 

8. Which mainframe environment size saw the biggest growth in the last two years according to the 2025 Arcati Survey?

 
 
 
 

9. What percentage of organizations cite a lack of modern mainframe skills as a top challenge according to the 2025 Arcati Survey?

 
 
 
 

10. Once workloads migrate off the mainframe, how often do they return according to survey results according to the 2025 Arcati Survey?

 
 
 
 

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