Mainframes once ruled the data center.  Not anymore. Their dominance in data centers has waned thanks in large part to the Cloud’s emergence and the benefits this technology brings to the table. Mainframes dominance has dropped off so much over the years that some analysts have been predicting mainframe’s demise.

Mainframes may not dominate the data center any longer, but they’re still used widely by large institutions and Fortune 500 companies. Mainframes, for example, handle 90 percent of all credit card transactions, 68% of all production IT workloads, and 80% of all computer processing done by the world’s largest airlines, banks, insurance companies, and retailers.

Typical mainframe uses are highly transactional workloads such as: payroll computations, accounting transactions, information retrieval, airline seat reservations, resource management, and scientific and engineering applications. Clearly, mainframes are still quite useful to today’s larger companies. But the fading dominance of mainframes in the data center casts doubt on their future.

Do Mainframe Services Have a Future?

Predicting the future of mainframes is no easy task—even for experts. But recent research shows that mainframes are here to stay—at least for the next decade or so. According to this research 50% of businesses in the United States and Europe were planning on expanding their mainframes computing systems.

Driving these plans are the development of process-intensive innovations, such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, and predictive analytics, and the success of the IBM I and Z Series mainframes. Designed for enterprise mission critical applications, these platforms are ideal for the hybrid multi-cloud environments now found in data centers.

That’s good news for many companies. But it’s not the whole picture. While nothing provides the processing power and security of mainframes, they have their limitations, including staffing shortages and rising support costs. Buying several machines with the idea of creating excess capacity (don’t forget the software expense) on idle systems is rather costly for most companies.

So, savvy enterprises are looking for ways to reduce their reliance on legacy mainframes. Instead, they’re tapping the processing power of mainframe technology by partnering with providers offering Mainframe-as-a-Service (MFaaS) solutions.

MFaaS Positions Companies for Growth

MFaaS provides end-to-end managed mainframe hosting services from a third party. Put another way, MFaaS offers compute and storage capabilities as a Cloud service. This solution helps organizations scale capacity in alignment with their unique requirements, reduces dependence on mainframes, and positions companies for growth. MFaaS’s benefits include:

  • Increased control over workloads/data
  • Operating system flexibility and agility
  • Reduced operating costs
  • Mainframe as a monthly operating expense
  • Seamless hardware and software support
  • Easier integration with the Cloud
  • Robust security/disaster recovery

MFaaS delivers greater availability and uptime to the data center while reducing company expenses and the headaches that come with a self-managed infrastructure. It also lets companies focus on strategic initiatives and technology advancements like machine learning and AI.

When combined with the right mainframe, like the IBM z Series, this strategy boosts competitiveness and return-on-investment. Plus, it increases security because it backs up mainframe to several locations.

MFaaS Can Help Modernize Legacy Mainframes

MFaaS makes perfect sense for many companies. It can help today’s companies modernize legacy mainframes and reduce data center expenses. But MFaaS consumers will first need to develop and execute a mainframe migration strategy for their data.

This migration strategy will have to address key issues in mainframe migration to the Cloud, such as security, employees training, vendor-lock-in, and the financial cost of application data migration.

Dealing with data migration issues, like these is why many companies partner with experienced managed mainframe service providers. They can provide end-to-end mainframe hosting services and custom-driven migration strategy solutions.

Managed hosting service offerings deliver compelling benefits, including scalability, predictable costs, continuity, and business focus. More importantly, MFaaS providers pay for maintenance and upgrades to IT infrastructure. Conversely, MFaaS consumers pay only for the resources and storage consumed during normal operations.

CherryRoad: The MFaaS Provider of Choice.

CherryRoad is a recognized leader in providing MFaaS. Specializing in IBM mainframe as a service, CherryRoad provides an end-to-end, fully managed, automated service that can help companies grow. This solution includes dedicated or shared Cloud hosting on modern IBM i and z Series mainframes, colocation services on existing machines in the company’s certified and fully compliant data center, and integration with the companies Cloud.

CherryRoad’s managed hosting services also include mainframe support, disaster recovery, managed data backup and recovery, and 24/7 monitoring. These services are backed by 38 years of experience helping state and local government agencies and over 20 years of managed hosting expertise. Put simply, CherryRoad has helped thousands of clients succeed with MFaaS, including projects for 500+ public sector clients.

MFaaS Boosts Agility and Performance

While mainframes no longer dominate the data center, they aren’t dead yet, as some analysts contend. In fact, mainframes are still a viable and productive business tools. Mainframes are still widely used by banks, airlines, insurance companies and large enterprises for doing the heavy lifting in today’s data centers.

Defining mainframes as yesterday’s tech, then, is a mistake. They’re still viable solutions in the data center. But mainframes have their challenges. That’s why many companies are turning to mainframe-as-a-service solutions providers to help them capture the processing power of on-premise mainframes.

A hybrid approach, MFaaS can help companies boost agility and performance, and is ideal for today’s growth-oriented, cost-conscious companies. But not all MFaaS service providers are equal. The key is finding an experienced, knowledgeable partner that understand how to deliver defined business outcomes.

Our highly skilled and engaged consultants have vast experience of helping clients host mainframes on cloud. To learn more about CherryRoad MFaaS solutions, mail us at info@cherryraod.com