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Celebrating the People: A Look at the 2025 Influential Mainframers
Mainframe is more than a technology; it’s a community. From educators and engineers to quiet experts keeping systems running, Planet Mainframe spent the month sharing stories – your stories. Welcome to the wrap-up of our second annual Influential Mainframers...
Vikas Sinha: Strategy, Stewardship, and Service – Influential Mainframer
A New Mainframe BelieverVikas Sinha nearly turned down the opportunity that would define the second half of his career. Before pivoting to mainframe, Sinha led predictive analytics at IBM. He relished helping shape a future where data science would transform...
The Power of Education: How the Vitality Program Accelerated my Mainframe Career
Séphora Thurel was a Broadcom Vitality Program resident from the fifth cohort that ended in Fall 2022. She is a Canadian citizen from Montreal and attended the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM). With a keen lifelong interest in technology, Sephora is motivated...
Beyond Code: How Mainframes Fight Shrinking Specialization
It’s easily agreeable: From households across the globe, to enterprise organizations, saving money is top of mind. However, putting principles into practice to make this actionable can sometimes feel daunting. It doesn’t have to be. In the case of enterprises,...
Join CICS Training Courses
CICS is used on 80% of Mainframe Systems across the world. It is known as CICS Transaction Server. Application Programmers can write their programs using CICS Command Level interface. System programmers install CICS, and engage in Performance Tuning, and Debugging....
Our industry needs to stop hitting the snooze button
Vertali launches New to Mainframes (NTM) program The results of a survey by RSH Consulting, Inc. made sobering reading this January. Far from being a wake-up call concerning the worrying lack of trained mainframers, particularly in security, it appears the industry...
Mainframe Vs Cloud Computing: Know the Similarities and Differences
High computing power and computing resources in a centralized architecture and distributed computing resources in the cloud are the two major variations that today’s IT businesses use. But concerning selecting one, should you choose between mainframe systems and cloud...
Nurturing new mainframe talent: five key lessons
The tide is definitely turning: organizations are replacing the outdated narrative that the mainframe is ‘old’ tech with a more objective view focusing on how IBM Z can support their business over the long term, while also contributing to digital transformation. At...
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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...
Who’s in charge? Controlling network traffic to enhance cyber security and compliance
With cyber security and cyber resiliency top priorities for organizations, is enough focus given to the wider network, asks Tony Amies of Vertali How can you confirm that your network access control settings are correct and are working as intended? How can you...
A CISO Profile
For those who have grown up with the internet, it’s probably hard to imagine a time when cyberattacks did not loom as an existential threat to organizations. But the role of Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) is a fairly recent invention, coming into...
Mainframe Cybersecurity: What Every Leader Needs to Know
In this short video, Ravi Patil, Director, Product Management & Strategy, explains Mainframe cybersecurity in simple terms and recommends an effective approach for protecting your company. Learn More Here
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Upcoming Events
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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 […]
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Virtual Db2 User Group | January 20, 2026
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Virtual IMS User Group | February 10, 2026
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Virtual CICS User Group | March 17, 2026
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❓ 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...
Data Integrity Award Winners, Workload Automation in Industry Report, and more
IBM Announces New Platform for Financial Institutions and Regulated Enterprises Entering the Digital Asset Economy Precisely Announces 2025 Data Integrity Award Winners Driving AI Innovation, Business Impact, and Societal Good BMC Selected as Overall Leader for...
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...
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...