There’s a great definition of legacy systems that goes something like this: a legacy system is one that works.
Mainframe technology works so well that, according to a 2016 Forrester Technical Adoption Survey, 99% of clients expect to store a growing amount of data on their organization’s mainframe in the coming years. And a surprising 91% of new consumer apps are touched in some way by a mainframe.
Meeting today’s challenges
In other words, this so-called legacy system isn’t going anywhere soon. Instead, mainframes are helping to meet a diverse array of modern-day computing and data challenges that include the following:
- Adaptability: There is a reason why mainframe technology has survived for more than seven decades. Mainframes have been able to support everything from 1970’s big iron data centers to the distributed devices of today because they are highly adaptable. In fact, mainframe architecture has continuously evolved and improved while remaining compatible with a wide range of current – and no doubt future – applications built for the web, mobile, and the cloud.
- Scalability: Mainframe hardware and software are scalable. Despite changes in size or volume –such as adding processors, memory, and storage – mainframes can maintain and even increase their performance levels. That means companies can easily add more computing resources to help support their dynamic business growth – without disrupting daily business processes.
- Stability: One of the key reasons why mainframes are still around is their stability and reliability. That’s why they play such a major role in the daily operations of major banking, healthcare, government, utilities, telecommunications, and other institutions. Mainframes can handle vast amounts of data while running for long periods of time. Can you say the same about your smartphone?
- Power: Need to perform thousands of business transactions per second? How about managing terabytes of info in databases? Or supporting thousands of users and applications at the same time? Mainframes deliver more power than any other computer architecture.
- Security: The security of your data is essential for ongoing business success. You need to manage and control that data effectively while also supporting user access. Mainframes enable you to both protect and share information. Why? Because it’s a whole lot easier to secure one powerful mainframe than to try and defend data spread throughout a company’s network and easily penetrated by hackers via numerous access points. Plus, with IBM’s inherent pervasive encryption on the Z/14 Mainframe, you have the choice to have all of your data encrypted.
The key is people
Mainframe technology is helping to meet the computing challenges of both today and tomorrow. The key to taking full advantage of that technology is to have the mainframe supported by the right people with the right skill sets. At New Iron Solutions, we can assist you in keeping your mainframe up and running smoothly with full-time, short-term or part-time support. Contact us online today or call 1-844-388-IRON (4766).
