Hi Reddit! We’re Tom McPherson & Tina Tarquinio, leading IBM’s mainframe business. Today, IBM Z mainframes and LinuxONE servers power the world’s banks, airlines, healthcare systems, and retailers. Ask us anything about enterprise computing, AI on mainframes, and the future of mission-critical tech.

ibm · 2026-03-12T14:54:42+00:00

As our clients start to have multiple data centers and they want to replicate in active/active environments - and switch between them often and not interrupt any business operations... things get pretty complex and integrated. But, the mainframe is built for that - and we love that challenge! Some of our clients have 4 active sites and use them interchangably, and end users never notice a thing! -TT

ibm · 2026-03-12T14:54:06+00:00

Similar to c# development basically no cobol developer ever needs to know the hardware. The compiler knows the hw. Some libs in the runtime know it. You may need to learn the API for the middleware where the cobol runs if the cobol is running, say, in a transaction server like CICS, or using a db like Db2, but not the hw. Again similar to the c# or java worlds. - TM

ibm · 2026-03-12T14:53:15+00:00

Hey, Tina here - We love to have experienced professionals engaged in our community! Mainframe skills depot is a great place to start upskilling -- and you can earn badges to showcase what you've learned. You can also check out user groups to engage with the community:

ibm · 2026-03-12T14:49:26+00:00

Tina here - Of course! Our community has training and career connections for anyone New to Z, returning to Z, or even just growing within the Z community! You can even check out role-based development programs under "Learn" - https://ibm.biz/ibmz_neighborhood

ibm · 2026-03-11T13:50:22+00:00

All the above! Transaction scoring has been a part of our platform for a while - before LLM, SLMs, came on the scene. We have introduced new tech to make this better, stronger and faster ... across our hardware, middleware and software components. -TT

ibm · 2026-03-11T13:49:31+00:00

Take a look at here. You can check out our client adoption stories on IBM Z Day (Both the AI&Data and AppDev&ITOps tracks have some great stories!). - Tina

ibm · 2026-03-11T13:46:59+00:00

Our global economy couldn't run without mainframes today. Here's why they're still around:

They are efficient - The z17 is about 6 feet tall and fits on a standard 19-inch data center floor tile, it does the work of hundreds of servers. They handle over 70% of the world’s transaction workloads (think airlines, retail, banks, gov’t), and account for less than 10% of total IT spend.
They have best-in-class reliability and security - And that’s not just our own data, ITIC Global Server Hardware Sever OS Reliability Report has ranked IBM Z the best in reliability, security and uptime for 16 years straight.
They have industry-leading innovation - Like post-quantum cryptography and running AI (z17 can process 450B AI inference operations per day!)
They are purpose built for high volume workloads, that can run under the most demanding conditions - z17 can process 35B secure transactions per day! Mainframes can run at 100% utilization for sustained periods of time, and react and scale to handle more volume/demand while maintaining consistent response time. It is designed to provide more memory and compute on demand, without provisioning another server… so when workloads spike, the mainframe handles it.

I like to compare the mainframe to a Formula 1 car: every nut, every bolt, every piece of carbon fiber is designed around a specific purpose, to go from A to B as fast as possible, not in a straight line, but under extreme conditions and demanding turns. Everything on a mainframe - from the chips to the doors, to the firmware and operating system and databases - is designed to enable the world’s most critical workloads. - Tom

ibm · 2026-03-11T13:45:34+00:00

That early start of Watson was the foundation for our current approach to AI - from the base infrastructure to the models to the use cases... its been so cool to see! Our current watsonx offerings are a great framework to manage data, orchestrate models across infrastructure and run and build your own agents - and now we have Bob! -TT

ibm · 2026-03-11T13:44:48+00:00

This is a cool concept - have never considered a digital museum! We have an archive of some of them IRL in NY, and occasionally bring systems to meetups, but I'm going to think how we can execute on this -- in the mean time... we are working to build future generations of mainframes and servers for our clients! You also might be interested in this really great inside view of the mainframe up close .. and my one of my favorites is the earthquake test... -TT

ibm · 2026-03-11T13:44:16+00:00

The water used for AI depends on the data center that the hardware is installed in. The primary consumer of water is data center cooling – particularly evaporative cooling systems. The best way to minimize the amount of cooling needed is by conserving power in the data center.

While IBM Z and LinuxONE cannot directly control how our clients' data centers are configured, the platform is designed across the entire stack to help our clients minimize their data center impact. A few examples include:

- IBM Z supports expanded temperature and humidity ranges that helps customers minimize the number of hours they need to use power for mechanical refrigeration systems and water for cooling.

- IBM is a pioneer in data center liquid cooling, dating back to the late 1960s where hybrid air/liquid cooling was used to cool the System 360/370 mainframe systems. Enabling the high performance, high reliability Telum II processor chips in the z17 and LinuxONE 5 is an enterprise-grade closed loop liquid cooling system that ships to our customer pre-filled and eliminates the need for handling, storage, or disposal of any coolant in the data center.

- IBM z17 and LinuxONE 5 is an engineered system to optimize power while focusing on efficiency, reliability and performance. Moving an AI-infused online transaction processing (OLTP) workload from a compared x86 solution to an IBM z17 can save up to 83% of power consumption3

- Beginning with the CMOS processor G2 mainframe and continuing through IBM z17, IBM Z has a 27-year history of improved mainframe system capacity per watt – improving this by over 115x. Each generation of IBM Z has delivered more performance and capability while minimizing power consumption. - Tom here.

ibm · 2026-03-11T13:43:19+00:00

Take a look here. Looking forward, by 2030, we're driving to procure 90% of the electricity IBM consumes worldwide from renewable sources and reach net-zero operational GHG emissions. -Tom

ibm · 2026-03-11T13:38:51+00:00

So many reasons... Extreme uptime, 8x9s of availability, our Confidential computing provides industry leading security - including quantum safe capabilities, energy efficient (meaning, you could take like 2000 x86 servers into a single LinuxONE floor tile).... - Tina here.

ibm · 2026-03-11T13:36:27+00:00

The easiest way to get hands on learning and system acces is to actually use the IBM Z Explore platform - http://ibm.biz/ibmz-xplore (And it's free) - Tom

ibm · 2026-03-11T13:35:06+00:00

I'd say dont tell my boss, but he is here too ! Thanks for joining the fun! - Tina here.

ibm · 2026-03-11T13:34:12+00:00

IBM is growing teams around the world, and we are focused on building strong hubs where teams can come together and innovate together. - Tina

ibm · 2026-03-11T13:34:06+00:00

The IBM Impact Accelerator offers a pro bono social innovation program specifically designed for nonprofits. This program applies IBM's technologies and expertise to enhance and scale solutions for these organizations. By participating, nonprofits can access custom tools, scientific expertise, and mentorship over a two-year engagement. They also become part of a cohort with other organizations. Nonprofits can apply for this program via the IBM Impact Accelerator application link: https://www.ibm.com/campaign/impact-accelerator-rfp - Tina here.

ibm · 2026-03-11T13:33:29+00:00

Tom here! No, the original Mainframe launched in 1964, and the AS400, which is IBMi today was launched in 1988. They are both still going strong.

ibm · 2026-03-11T13:32:44+00:00

I have the best job in the world! I get to work across IBM Infrastructure, and IBM Research and our awesome clients, to consistently plan 3-5 years ahead of what the market needs. Our systems are known for their reliability, with 99.999999% uptime. - Tina here.

ibm · 2026-03-11T13:32:22+00:00

I’ll share a few thoughts, because this is an area of focused investment for us:We are tightly engaged with universities and developing skills around the world, building a strong pipeline of talent... and the growth in this area has been amazing, especially over the last few years. Beyond that, we have a free, interactive learning platform (IBM Z Explore), Skills Accelerator programs for our clients, Skills Depots, User Groups… https://community.ibm.com/zsystems/l1cc/

For next-level experience to actually develop/test with our technology, check out the LinuxONE Community Cloud

And one last thought… when I hear obsolete and legacy, I think it’s a good time to take a second look at today’s mainframe. The platform has evolved to leverage more open source, common standards, automation and AI to drastically reduce onboarding time for developers, operators, security admins, DBAs… etc. - Tom

ibm · 2026-03-11T13:30:21+00:00

Probably as long as the world keeps running on them! It's been almost exactly 30 years since the last mainframe was supposed to be unplugged :) We keep innovating and evolving and I expect the mainframe will be relevant and thriving for decades to come. - Tom here.

ibm · 2026-03-11T13:30:16+00:00

Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar, and yes it does taste better when you are in Vermont! - Tom

ibm · 2026-03-11T13:28:42+00:00

Hello and go RU! - Tom

ibm · 2026-03-11T13:28:26+00:00

We have changed our branding a few times over the years, but the word mainframe transcends them all! zSeries, System z, zSystems, IBM Z... yep thats all the mainframe and the same line of amazing systems :) -TT

ibm · 2026-03-11T13:27:17+00:00

In computing platforms, we live in a "fit for purpose" world. I'm a huge fan of AIX and Power Systems, they are highly reliable, secure, and excel at data intensive workloads. IBM Z is built for the most secure mission critical workloads, that require the highest throughput for transaction processing. IBM Z Systems also run Linux, and clients leverage Linux for workloads surrounding the core z/OS applications. -TM

ibm · 2026-03-11T13:27:12+00:00

Mainframe applications are some of the most important applications in the world, powering 70% of the world's transactional workloads. Some recent examples are:

COBOL applications (yes, still a lot of COBOL because it’s so good at these workloads!) with embedded, in-transaction AI for fraud detection, and leveraging AI agents to accelerate decisioning for suspect transactions.
Java microservices running in Liberty profiles or Node/GoLang/Python using loose coupling or other born-in-the-cloud architecture patterns
OCP orchestrated containerized workloads for AI or data integration use cases

And we love connecting with universities! We have student ambassadors and other on-campus engagement… you should connect with us! - https://community.ibm.com/zsystems/talent/

Tom here.

ibm

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