IBM’s Mainframe Simplification Reduces Data Center Staffing, Analyst Says

IBM’s Mainframe Simplification Reduces Data Center Staffing, Analyst Says

A new report by IT industry analyst Clabby Analytics says that “all of the new improvements that IBM (NYSE: IBM) is making in mainframe management may actually reduce the number of people needed to manage mainframes in the future as well as reduce the skills needed to manage mainframe environments.” The Clabby report indicates that the mainframe’s ability to run Linux and Java workloads will “play a vital role in ensuring the mainframe’s longevity.”
Clabby concludes that “the mainframe serves a unique role in the enterprise as a centralized, secure database hub, as a powerful transaction engine, and as a host of mission-critical business logic. IT executives know this — and maybe this is why the mainframe market grew 8% last year.”

The report [1] refers to IBM’s cross-company effort to make the IBM System z mainframe — the world’s most sophisticated business computer — easier to use for a greater number of computer professionals by 2011. The company’s five-year, $100 million investment aims to enable the technical community to more easily program, manage and administer a mainframe system while simplifying application development for the mainframe environment.

According to Clabby, this initiative is “not only making it possible for lesser-skilled individuals to manage mainframes — the company is also making mainframe management appeal to our next generation of Windows-born-and-trained managers and administrators.”

Read the complete Press Release