Featured
No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
Workforce & Training
New To Z: Year One as a Mainframe Trainee
What’s it like to enter the mainframe world with no previous experience on the platform? In early 2024, Vertali recruited Felix Scott to join its ground-breaking New To Z (NTZ) program as a trainee. Below, Felix reflects on what it’s like. As I write, it’s been...
Do You Need a Trainer, a Coach, or a Mentor?
Anyone, whether working on mainframes or not, can reflect on where in their career they are and what kind of help—i.e., training, mentoring, or coaching—will move them forward their career (and their work-life balance) successfully. But first, consider the differences...
No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
Latest
Breach recovery – the fast and the furious!
Your organization has had a data breach. You’ve managed to confirm that it’s not a false alarm, it really is an issue. And now you need to recover from it. What do you do? The US Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has produced...
Lost in translation? Why mainframers and non-mainframers need to communicate
In today’s connected world and with security high on the agenda, IT people across the enterprise have to understand each other. Mainframers need to be able to talk to non-mainframers with clarity, and vice-versa. Managers in the enterprise need to understand both...
Securing data in transit
One way of looking at mainframe data is that it is either at rest or in transit. Data at rest is data that is not actively moving from device to device or network to network such as data stored on DASD or tape or some other way. Sometimes, data at rest is thought to...
Pervasive encryption concerns
In today’s treacherous world of constant hacking threats and corresponding data breaches, IT security and breach prevention has become a top-line concern for everyone in large IT organizations. With over six million data records lost or stolen every day – that’s...
Multi-Factor Authentication
There was a time when mainframes were in a world of their own, separated from other computing platforms. A world where even the mainframe staff seldom mixed with the distributed people, and managers had no idea what the mainframe did or how it did it. People who...
Database security – You need to pay better attention to it
Almost 2 years ago, it was reported that over 10,000 MongoDB databases had been deleted by ransomware groups - and much of that was done in a week's time. Let that sink in for a minute - 10,000 databases in a week - it's mind boggling. Makes you think twice about your...
Why mainframe shops are procrastinating over multi-factor authentication
In my last article I outlined why, for a number of reasons, mainframe shops are growing increasingly aware of the importance of bolstering security on their ‘Big Iron’ box. Despite that, in this piece I want to discuss why some organizations are procrastinating over...
Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?
Or: We need to talk about mainframe hacking There’s an elephant in the room says Mark Wilson. It’s mainframe-sized, at serious risk of being hacked, and its name is Z. “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” That was US president Franklin D. Roosevelt at his...
Sign up to receive the latest mainframe information
Upcoming Events
-
-
Virtual CICS User Group | The IT Stairway to Heaven. CICS Testing Pyramid: From Unit to Integration to Production-Like Environment
Zoom - Virtual MeetingEffective testing is essential for building robust systems. Dive deep into a structured approach to the testing pyramid for CICS applications. Using Test4z, we will demonstrate how unit tests form […]
-
Virtual Db2 User Group | January 20, 2026
Zoom - Virtual Meeting -
-
Virtual IMS User Group | February 10, 2026
Zoom - Virtual Meeting -
-
Virtual CICS User Group | March 17, 2026
Zoom - Virtual Meeting
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...
TRIVIA – Penetration Testing
Mainframes have long been known for their unmatched reliability and security—but even the most trusted systems can hide surprises beneath the surface. As technology evolves, so do the tactics of those trying to exploit it. Penetration testing (pen testing), or...
NEWS – Expanded AI-Powered Data Quality, Strategic Partnerships, & more
IBM and Groq Partner to Deliver Faster Agentic AI Capabilities Precisely Expands Access to AI-Powered Data Quality with Natural Language Interfaces in the Data Integrity Suite IBM Announces Advancements to Help Enterprises Operationalize AI Mainframe Technology...
TRIVIA – Cybersecurity Month
For many of us, October is about falling leaves, shorter days, and cooler weather. It also happens to be Cybersecurity month, the time when we dial in on the never-ending (and ever-evolving) task of securing the mainframe. Mainframes have a reputation for being...
NEWS – Commercial Availability of Spyre Accelerator, Kyndryl Survey 2025, & more
IBM Introduces the Spyre Accelerator for Commercial Availability Kyndryl Survey 2025: Mainframe Modernization Projects Deliver 2-3X ROI BMC 2025 Mainframe Survey: Confidence, Generational Shift in Views on Mainframe Development Rocket Software Advances COBOL...
TRIVIA – COBOL in Enterprise IT
In September, Planet Mainframe pays tribute to the programming language that has formed the backbone of many mission-critical workloads — COBOL. Considered by some to be a relic of early computing, COBOL continues to play a vital (if often overlooked) role in the...


