Recently Published
Agentic AI on the Mainframe, Greater Delivery Flexibility, and more
Agentic AI for Smarter Mainframe Modernization with IBM watsonx Code Assistant for Z The Open Mainframe Project's Zowe 3.4 PopUp Mainframe Announces Even Greater Delivery Flexibility For Mainframe Developers Precisely Achieves FedRAMP AuthorizationAgentic AI for...
Career Resilience Is the New Job Security in the Mainframe World, featuring Darren Surch
Career resilience in the mainframe world sounds like jargon—until change hits. Reorgs, new technologies, leadership shifts, or surprise opportunities don’t reward the fastest scramblers. They reward the people who were already ready. That’s the core idea Darren Surch,...
The Spectrum of Trust: How Mainframers Are Embracing Agentic AI
A few years ago, the idea of letting artificial intelligence (AI) tweak a production mainframe system on its own would’ve made even the most daring system programmer break out in a cold sweat. We would have heard, “Let the machine make the change? Not on my watch.” ...
Mainframe Artificial Intelligence Quiz
At Planet Mainframe, we’re spending the month of November focusing on AI and the mainframe. Once viewed as separate worlds, AI and IBM Z now work hand in hand to deliver real-time insights, predictive analytics, and intelligent automation across enterprise-scale...
NEWS – Granite 4.0, Free Cybersecurity Labs, and more
IBM Announces Granite 4.0 Free (Cybersecurity) Labs! Upcoming IBM Z Day Chase Card Decommissioning All Mainframe Code, with AI Assistance IBM z/OS Core Collection v1.15.0 GA ReleasedIBM Announces Granite 4.0 IBM has introduced Granite 4.0, initiating a new era for its...
Actual Intelligence in z/OS Performance and Capacity Planning
It is exciting to be part of the world of computer performance at the dawn of AI. Many companies are heavily investing in Artificial Intelligence (AI) with only a few crude implementations having materialized thus far. As a performance guy, I can say it is important...
AI and ethics and mainframes
When Beliefs Shape Machines Imagine two people talking in a bar—one believes in God, and the other doesn’t. One swears by Apple, the other by Android. One supports Trump, the other can’t stand him. It doesn’t matter which side you’re on; the point is that people...
Why It’s Finally Time to Retire Your TN3270 Emulator
For decades, TN3270 terminal emulators have been a staple for accessing mission-critical mainframe applications. However, as cyber threats evolve and legacy systems strain under new compliance demands, it is becoming increasingly clear that traditional...
Latest
Securing CICS with RACF
Implementing CICS Security with RACF can be a complex and demanding process. In order to do it to a level that creates a good balance can take time and requires good knowledge and understanding of both CICS and RACF. So I will explain the various steps in securing...
Why you need to protect your business with IBM Z Cyber Vault
It seems like every week there is a new story of a major company or organization being affected by a cyber-attack. It might be a ransomware attack, stolen user data, or other disruption to services, and may be initiated either by an external attack or internal...
Best Practices for Closing the Mainframe Security Gap
You could argue – as some folks have – that mainframes are inherently more secure than commodity servers because there are fewer variables at play on mainframe systems, making them easier to secure in some ways. The fact that mainframes account for a relatively small...
Fix the roof when the sun is shining: Data Loss Prevention
It’s high time we acknowledged that mainframe data loss is far more than a security problem. It’s fundamentally a business problem. As the old saying goes, prevention is better than cure. This applies to data loss and cyber attacks as much as anything else in life. If...
Db2 for z/OS: SEPARATE_SECURITY and SECADM
In the Db2 for z/OS module called DSNZPARM (ZPARM, for short), which provides the configuration settings for a Db2 subsystem, there is a parameter named SEPARATE_SECURITY. This ZPARM was introduced with Db2 10, and its purpose is to enable a Db2 for z/OS-using...
Quantum Safe Cryptography Overview
Quantum Safe Cryptography The Problem – Current Cryptography is Vulnerable to Quantum Computing Cryptography experts believe that by 2030 quantum computers will be advanced enough to cut the strength of symmetric key algorithms (such as AES, 3DES and RC4) by half, and...
Hide your privates
My mac had turned into a bit of a mess. I had ssh private keys (that use Passphrases of course!) in a variety of places and I wasn’t very happy about it. I have several different servers that I connect to. There are a few GitHub systems, a Linux system, and of course...
Recover Quickly With Surgical Precision
Resiliency is an integral part of the IBM Z platform. The IBM Z Cyber Vault solution is a concept for addressing data corruption whether through malicious intent, human error or failure of hardware or software. It provides an air gapped backup of the operating...
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Upcoming Events
Events
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SHARE Orlando 2026
SHARE Orlando is where mainframe superheroes come together for five days of deep technical learning, collaboration, and networking. It’s the only industry conference dedicated entirely to delivering expert insight and […]
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Virtual CICS User Group | March 17, 2026
Zoom - Virtual Meeting -
Virtual Db2 User Group | March 24, 2026
Zoom - Virtual Meeting -
Essential z/OS Performance Tuning Workshop – Registration Deadline: March 16, 2026.
The 4-day z/OS Performance Tuning Essentials Workshop introduces the foundational terminology, metrics, and practices necessary to measure, understand, and improve z/OS system performance. Participants will gain a comprehensive understanding of […]
Mainframe Miscellaneous Trivia!
As the year draws to a close (whether your days are growing shorter and darker or longer and brighter), December tends to invite a little reflection. Over the past year, Planet Mainframe Trivia has dished out a veritable smorgasbord of topics, from the early days of...
More Mainframe Lingo Trivia
Mainframe environments come with their own vocabulary, much of it precise, legacy-rich, and completely opaque to anyone who hasn’t spent time in the ecosystem. And there really is no end to the alphabet soup. Even seasoned professionals pick up new terms over the...
📰Agentic AI framework, and an AI Assistant and Data Catalog Agent
Kyndryl launches agentic AI framework and services for the mainframe Precisely Announces Gio™ AI Assistant and Data Catalog Agent in the Data Integrity SuiteKyndryl launches agentic AI framework and services for the mainframe Kyndryl has introduced a new set of...
📰 Top 100 Most Loved Workplace, Workload Automation in Industry Report, and more
Kyndryl Cloud Readiness Report: Hybrid Cloud Shapes the Future of AI and Enterprise Agility BMC Selected as Overall Leader for Workload Automation in Industry Report Kyndryl Named a Top 100 Most Loved Workplace® by the Wall Street Journal IBM and Groq Partner to...
❓ History of Artificial Intelligence Trivia
November at Planet Mainframe is all about AI, and you don’t need us to tell you that artificial intelligence has now been integrated into many of our daily routines. But long before AI became a household term, IBM was shaping the foundations of this increasingly...
IBM’s decision to discontinue support for the zPDT standalone offering threatens the mid-tier ISV market
IBM’s zPDT Decision Risks Mid-Tier ISVs and Mainframe Innovation I’ve been a passionate mainframe (System z) advocate for over 45 years and a staunch supporter of IBM and most of their decisions. However, when I received an email from IBM on 30 September 2025...