Survey reveals Mainframe is alive and well

CENTREVILLE, USA: InfoSec, Inc. has released the results of its 2010 State of the Mainframe survey, which was conducted in July of 2010. The result of the survey is that the mainframe is alive and well and will continue to be a critical component of the IT infrastructure going forward.

“The results of the survey definitively show that the mainframe is alive and well in our customer’s organizations,” said Robert Fake, president & CEO of InfoSec, Inc.

He added, while not without some challenges such as shortage of skills and across the board budget restrictions, the fact that most of our respondents indicated that they have stayed the same or grown over the past two years is a great signal.

Key findings of the survey include:

* 59 percent of respondents indicated that the number of MIPS has increased or stayed the same over the past two years.

* 53 percent stated that their mainframe budget has increased or stayed the same over the past two years.

* One-fourth (24 percent) stated that their mainframe staffing levels have increased in the past two years while 35 percent indicated they have stayed the same. Thirty-five percent indicated that there has been a decrease in staffing levels.

* Interestingly, nearly three-fourths (72 percent) indicated that they are not taking advantage of Linux for System z at this time.

* Again, it was interesting to see that only about one-fourth (23 percent) are taking advantage of the specialty zIIP/zAAP engines to offload work for the general CP’s.

“While the survey results do indicate a strong continued presence of the mainframe in support of our customer’s environments, it is not without certain challenges,” stated Fake.

“Two dominant themes from the respondents were 1) mainframe skills availability and 2) budget reductions. We are ready support our customers with the sustenance and growth of their mainframe computing platform," concluded Fake.