A Clarion Call for the Mainframe Community

Energy, insight, innovation

After the success of the 2025 event in Gothenburg, the 2026 GSE Nordic conference continued a similar vein and delivered a packed and varied programme – spanning modern mainframe technology, AI innovation, middleware, systems management, observability, skills development and modern infrastructure. Across three days, delegates at Helsinki’s Clarion Hotel were spoilt for choice with specialist tracks covering Db2, CICS, IMS, middleware, application development and general interest topics. 

The conference opened with an absorbing keynote from IBM’s David Hutton on the journey taken by the IBM mainframe culminating in the Z17 platform (up to 20% capacity and 60% memory growth over Z16, while consuming up to 27% less power compared with its predecessor). And with the closing keynote (this time from Broadcom) looking ahead to quantum computing, the conference was bookended by technology that captured both the operational realities of today and the landscape of the future.  

From the first moment onwards, across sessions, brilliant networking events, chats over coffee and in the vendor space, the conversation was as seemingly endless as the daylight hours in a Helsinki summer.

Key Themes

With track sessions covering skills, Db2, CICS, App Development, and more, there was a lot of traditional mainframe focus. But thematically, it was clear to me from both the session titles, and the delegate conversations, that a few big ticket topics were driving the conversation.

AI

Artificial intelligence was a dominant theme throughout the agenda. Sessions explored AI inferencing on IBM Z, agentic AI, AI-powered development tools, code assistants, automated testing and AI-driven operations. Presentations examined both opportunity and risk, including trusted AI, coding agents, AI for z/OS development and the practical impact of generative AI on mainframe roles. Contributors included IBM, Broadcom, Microsoft and Macro-4.

Observability and Modernity

Modernization and observability were equally prominent. OpenTelemetry appeared across multiple streams, alongside sessions on enterprise observability, ServiceNow integration, tracing, telemetry and monitoring for Db2, IMS and IBM MQ environments. Speakers from Rocket Software, Broadcom, KEYES, and IBM addressed how organizations could modernise while improving visibility and operational resilience.

Core Technologies

Much of the innovation possible on the mainframe is in part thanks to the foundational resilience of proven, underlying mainframe tech. And unsurprisingly, these core platform technologies remained a central focus area in the conference. Dedicated streams and sessions focused on Db2, CICS and IMS updates, MQ, security, performance and administration, with practical guidance on configuration, modernization and high availability. Organizations including IBM, Rocket Software, Kyndryl, BMC, KELA, KBC, CROZ, MQGem Software contributed a wide range of perspectives. So too did Phoenix Software International, whose CTO Ed Jaffe offered an illuminating introduction to the z/OS diagnostic tool, IPCS (Interactive Problem Control System), a critical tool for diagnosing z/OS dumps and traces.

I managed to attend a couple of CICS sessions, variously exploring upcoming releases, new configurations, AI support, open telemetry and testing support. The context was set by the excellently entitled “CICS, the MVP of Mainframes,” delivered by Rocket Software’s Alex Charcikov. He joked that MVP should stand for most valuable platform, as CICS acts as the traffic cop to ensure critical mainframe interactions happen, without fail, at enormous scale (100 billion daily transactions, across 8% of the Fortune 500, he mentioned). With integrations across web, mobile, cloud and APIs, and inclusion within enterprise observability solutions, as well as a new release now under Beta review, CICS’ is set for an equally busy, and business-critical future. Broadcom’s later session focused on a range of mainframe and CICS application testing requirements – focusing on the concept of testing pyramids, with the hierarchy of unit, integration, and end-to-end testing. Astonishingly, 82% of testing is still manual, while 55% of QA staff report there is insufficient time for testing. Advanced technology, including AI facilities, help automate, and accelerate, the quality assurance task list.

One of CICS’s oldest collaborators, and a frequently misunderstood core technology is the COBOL programming language. I hosted a session on the topic, in which I debated with the audience whether COBOL is better described as a fairy tale or a legend, as we looked at the reality behind the public perception. Like so much mainframe technology, it is a lack of understanding that creates challenges downstream. I’m grateful to Erik Weyler at SEB for his input to the presentation, which set the record straight about COBOL’s enduring importance.

Skills and Personal Development

It was fantastic to once again this year see the topics of skills and community development receiving such strong attention. Hands-on labs, beginner sessions, curriculum discussions and career-focused presentations addressed learning pathways, skills shortages and professional confidence.

I was delighted to lead a session on IT skills in the mainframe world, where we asked ourselves whether the outlook for the industry was the proverbial dark clouds or blue skies. With on-demand training environments, excellent training providers, and new apprenticeships, there are plenty of tactical options available to help build tomorrow’s mainframe generation. Building on discussions at GS UK and elsewhere for the past couple of years, it was great to revisit such an important topic with such a fully engaged audience.

Elsewhere, it was a pleasure to attend the Interskill Learning session, presented by Clementine Gribble, which delved into the motivations and mechanics of learning new mainframe skills, and the importance of a proactive, and repeated approach to learning. Also, credit is due to Niall Ashley of Vertali for his session tackling the much-overlooked challenge of Imposter Syndrome, with practical hints on how to mitigate against it, which was as engaging as it was important.

The Journey Continues

Every mainframe community gathering highlights the industry’s drive to innovate, evolve and broaden awareness of IBM Z. And at GSE Nordic, emerging innovations such as AI and quantum computing sat alongside trusted core technologies, as explored and discussed by users, vendors, and specialists from across Northern Europe. It was clear proof of the mainframe’s continuing relevance and momentum, congratulations to GSE Nordic and the Clarion Hotel.