Influential Mainframers
Influential Mainframer Trivia: Bob Evans
At Planet Mainframe, April is dedicated to honoring influential mainframers past and present. This week’s quiz dives into the life and times of Bob Evans (1927–2004), who played a central role in shaping modern enterprise computing during his career at IBM. ...
From Classroom to Community: Geoffrey Decker’s Mainframe Impact
Geoffrey Decker Instructor, Northern Illinois UniversityCo-Founder and Lead Instructor, Eli Madison Memorial Apprenticeships (EMMA) DeKalb, Illinois, USA This piece is part of the 2026 Planet Mainframe Influential Mainframers series.The Maestro of the Mainframe...
Influential Mainframer – Marcus Davage
“I’m an Influential Mainframer because I drive innovation, share expertise, and advocate for the future of mainframe technology.” Marcus Davage Lead Product Developer, BMC Software Wales, Great Britain Connect with Marcus on: View the entire 2025 Influential...
From Wine to Workforce Solutions – Influential Mainframer Magie Hall
Magie Hall, Ph.D., is an associate professor of information systems and quantitative analysis at the University of Nebraska Omaha. She’s also one of the very few tenured professors doing scholarly work in mainframe education. She didn’t plan to build a workforce...
Influential Mainframer – Anthony (Tony) Anter
Tony Anter is a familiar face and voice in the modern mainframe community. With decades of experience and a streak of dry humor, he’s one of the platform’s most vocal champions for automation, DevOps, and developer experience. Anthony (Tony) Anter Technology Director...
Influential Mainframer – Derek Britton
This month, Planet Mainframe celebrates influential mainframers nominated by the community. Today, we recognize a man who won’t let the conversation about COBOL—or the mainframe—fade. Derek Britton CMO of PopUp Mainframe England, United Kingdom Connect with Derek on:...
Influential Mainframer – Bruno Binotti
This month, Planet Mainframe celebrates influential mainframers nominated by the community. Today, we recognize a mainframer equally comfortable working on z/OS and hybrid cloud challenges. Bruno Binotti Camargo Mainframe Infrastructure Analyst, Kyndryl São Paulo,...
Influential Mainframer – Cameron Seay
Dr. Cameron Seay doesn’t tiptoe around problems. He isn’t into discussing the mainframe skills gap; he’s invested in eliminating it. For years, he listened to the industry wring its hands about the “mainframe skills crisis” while very little changed. Cameron Seay,...
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Surveys, security and spaghetti
Mark Wilson reflects on the findings of a recent mainframe survey, explaining why security should be the number one priority, and why we need to start talking about complexity and observability. I read with interest the highlights of the Arcati Mainframe survey 2024,...
Vertali zTrust: Detect Network Activity and Control Traffic to Enhance Cybersecurity and Compliance
Vertali’s zTrust is a unique software solution that dramatically reduces the time, effort and costs needed to secure your operations and prove compliance with data standards and industry regulations. zTrust reveals network activity to and from your mainframe,...
Ransomware Attacks and your Health
Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming more common place, and many people have used things like ChatGPT, a popular generative AI (GenAI) that can answer questions, write essays and poems, or summarize a book. However, like most things, AI can also be turned to the...
Surprising Revelations from the recent Rocket Software Security Study
While at GSE UK, Planet Mainframe’s own Amanda Hendley, the Managing Editor of Planet Mainframe, interviews Phil Buckellew, President of Infrastructure Modernization at Rocket Software, and discusses the importance of mainframe security, emphasizing that while the...
Securing software products—protecting the supply chain
Earlier this year, I presented sessions at SHARE New Orleans on mainframe security, hacking, and security assessments. These spiked quite a bit of interest among attendees. In particular, a conversation kicked off with several leading mainframe-focused software...
Hybrid Cloud: The Key to Marrying Security & Modernization
As of 2023, over 72% of businesses worldwide have been affected by ransomware attacks. With new attacks seemingly every day and the cost of these attacks on the rise, companies know they can’t afford to joke around about security. Because of this, many are opting to...
How to Prevent Scary Cyberattacks with Mainframe Cyber Resiliency
Preventing ransomware attacks has become one of the top cybersecurity priorities for organizations. Mainframes are not immune to ransomware or any other cyberattack. Yes, the most secure platform on the planet that runs mission-critical applications and holds...
History of Cybercrime and Cybersecurity
For a long time, mainframes seemed like a safe room where a company’s most precious data possessions would be secure. But while mainframes still present unique challenges to bad actors, the days of mainframe impenetrability are most definitely over. Ever since the...
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European Mainframe Technical Exchange – Prague – April 21-23
Prague, Czech Republic Prague, Czech RepublicRegistration is open for the 2026 European Broadcom Mainframe Technical Exchange! This year’s event will take place in Prague, Czech Republic, from April 21 - 23. Register today to reserve […]
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GSE UK Virtual Conference 2026 including Mainframe Trends 2026: Insights from the Mainframe User Survey
GSE UK Virtual Conference 2026Do More at the Core. Built to Learn, Engineered to Lead. Join the global mainframe community for the GSE UK Virtual Conference 2026, taking place April […]
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Virtual CICS User Group | May 12, 2026
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Virtual Db2 User Group | May 19, 2026
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New Survey Findings, New FlashSystem Portfolio, and more
New Rocket Software Survey Finds 69% of IT Leaders Report Data Security Keeps Them Up at Night Kyndryl Named a Leader in 2025–2026 IDC MarketScape for Mainframe Modernization IBM Introduces Autonomous Storage with New FlashSystem Portfolio Powered by Agentic AI...
2026 Arcati Survey Results Trivia
Welcome to this week’s Planet Mainframe trivia quiz! On the heels of the 2026 Arcati Survey Results release, this round of trivia focuses on changes underway. Workforce demographics are shifting, new generations are entering mainframe computing fields (and through...
Business-Driven Automation, AI Confidence Outpaces Readiness, and more
BMC Advances Business-Driven Automation and Mainframe Transformation with AI-Powered Innovations Precisely’s State of Data Integrity and AI Readiness Study: AI Confidence Outpaces Readiness Rocket Software to Acquire Vertica Analytics Database Platform from OpenText...
❓Python Programming Trivia
We often describe Python as a “modern” language, but its story spans decades of technological change, cultural shifts, and unexpected platforms. What began as a small side project in the Netherlands evolved into one of the most widely used programming languages in the...
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™...
❓Mainframe Professional Skills Trivia
Our last trivia quiz explored the legacy of mainframe pioneers, and this week we’re going to continue looking into the lineage of skills in mainframe professional practice, examining how early design and operational decisions shaped the way mainframe expertise is...