Recently Published
Building What’s Next: A Journey Through Mainframe Vitality Training
I’ve always been a bit obsessed with computers—especially niche hardware. Growing up, I recall my dad having a collection of old systems from companies that no longer existed. They were different from the standard beige DOS and Windows boxes that had taken over, and I...
Rocket Software and K2view Partnership, 2025 Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice, and more
IBM Introduces New Software to Address Growing Digital Sovereignty Imperative Rocket Software and K2view Partner to Accelerate Mainframe Modernization with Governed, AI-Ready Test Data for Testing, Analytics, and AI BMC is recognized as a 2025 Gartner® Peer Insights™...
All I Want for Christmas is an IBM Db2 Analytics Accelerator
It’s always the right time to talk about my absolute favorite mainframe technology, the IBM Db2 Analytics Accelerator (we users like to call it IDAA). As you finalize your wish list for your CFO or Santa, don’t forget this!What’s Not in a Name If you’ve ever heard me...
Leadership in the mainframe community: Lessons from Industry Trailblazers
Careers in enterprise technology are rarely linear, and mainframe careers are no exception. At the GS UK Conference, a panel of industry leaders came together to share personal reflections on leadership, career growth, and what it takes to build a meaningful,...
Enterprise IT Trends: Reflections on a Year of Adjustment (and a Look Ahead)
As I reflect on yet another year of tectonic adjustment across the technology sector, I see little evidence that things are about to calm down. If anything, the forces reshaping enterprise IT feel more entrenched, more demanding, and more consequential than ever....
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...
The Open Mainframe Project Has a Trust Problem — And the Mainframe Can’t Afford It
Open Mainframe Project Security Concerns I was chatting with a mainframer buddy the other day, and he expressed some concerns about the overall code security of the Open Mainframe Project (OMP), particularly around member vetting. So, I spent a bit of time digging...
Turning Nightly Downtime into a Competitive Advantage with VSAM File-Sharing
If you run on IBM Z, you may still stop CICS overnight so batch jobs can update VSAM files. That pause might be necessary today, but it is no longer a requirement. We will show you how to remove the trade-off between fresh data and uninterrupted access with VSAM...
Latest
Zero trust: Is server level or perimeter protection best?
If you’re running a big server like a mainframe, a zero trust strategy means you shouldn’t trust anything outside that box. If it’s your responsibility to protect the mainframe, you must ensure the right mechanisms are in place on the box itself. If you're in charge...
Fight ‘Shiny Object Syndrome’ with Mainframe Security 101
With continuous innovation and new functionality developed for mainframe security, many organizations can lose sight of the basics, which means they may never achieve a Zero-Trust security stance. The mainframe continues to evolve as a critical piece of the...
How Important is your Db2 Data—(Mainframe Modernization from a Data Security viewpoint)
When talking about Mainframe Modernization, we usually discuss DevOps, Zowe, APIs, Java, Python, etc. But how often does anyone discuss how your security posture needs to be modernized? Do terms like ‘least privilege’ and ‘zero trust’ mean anything to your...
Cyber Security Awareness Trivia
October is Cyber Security Awareness month at Planet Mainframe, so over here at Trivia Challenge we’ll be focusing our trivia topics on the ever-evolving topic of mainframes and cybersecurity. Mainframes have long been the backbone of critical industries, particularly...
Fortify Your Legacy Systems
A Digitalised State We live in a hyperconnected cyberworld driven by AI and machine learning. The age of digitalisation influences how we behave. In this world, it is all too easy for states, corporations, or criminals to overreach and access information they should...
Ransomware isn’t really a problem, is it?
Even the news channels don’t make a big deal about cyberattacks these days. It’s happening all the time. It’s incredible how many people don’t recognize that there is a war going on right now between hackers and organizations with any kind of IT hardware. And when I...
The Mainframe is Not Secure
October is cybersecurity awareness month, and Planet Mainframe is kicking it off with interview insights from Mark Wilson, Technical Director at mainframe services company Vertali and Conference Manager for GSE UK. "Is the mainframe secure? No. But it is...
Get ready for DORA
In my last article about ransomware, I mentioned how important it was for chief financial officers (CFOs) to ensure that the IT in their organizations was as secure as possible—particularly now that attacks can come from artificial intelligence (AI) bots that could be...
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Upcoming Events
Events
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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 […]
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Virtual IMS User Group | April 14, 2026
Zoom - Virtual Meeting
❓ Workforce and Training Trivia
Happy 2026—and welcome to a whole new year of Planet Mainframe Trivia! As our January theme focuses on Workforce and Training, this quiz looks at mainframe pioneers and the early decisions that shaped how mainframe skills are learned and passed on. Mainframe expertise...
Newest Virtel Release, SHARE Orlando Tickets, and more
VIRTEL announces release of Virtel 4.63: a major new version to better connect, secure, and simplify access to any mainframe application SHARE Orlando Early Bird Tickets Available Hitachi Vantara's Virtual Storage Platform One Wins CRN 2025 Products of the Year Award...
❓What 2025 Taught Us About Mainframes: A Trivia Quiz
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,...
Real-Time Data Replication, Quantum Safe Assessment Service, and More
Precisely Accelerates Mainframe Modernization with Real-Time Data Replication to Amazon S3 Kyndryl Unveils Quantum Safe Assessment Service to Enable Enterprise Readiness for the Quantum Era IBM Turbonomic and IBM Kubecost unite to optimize Kubernetes performance and...
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...