I am still surprised when I go to industry conferences and I hear people talking about the imminent demise of the mainframe. More common and equally wrong is how mainframes don’t work in today’s agile/DevOps/cloud/container world. The fact is, with trillions of dollars invested in our mainframes and more every day, the mainframe is not going extinct anytime soon. Equally factual is mainframes and DevOps can work well together.
They may seem incompatible at first blush, but mainframes and DevOps work. We have written more than several articles on mainframes and DevOps. Our own Don MacVittie has written two excellent ebooks on mainframes and DevOps: “DevOps-ing the Mainframe” and “Automation: Modernizing the Mainframe for DevOps.” There is also a series of DevOps Chats on this subject. This one, with Rosalind Radcliffe of IBM’s Enterprise Systems, is a good one.
Now, we would like to hear from you. What do you think regarding mainframes and DevOps? Working with our friends at CA Technologies’ mainframe business unit, we are conducting a mini-survey (just 10 questions) on mainframe use. It is embedded below this paragraph. You taking a few minutes to answer will help us better understand what is happening with mainframes and DevOps.
The Mini-Survey
Create your own user feedback survey
If the survey embed didn’t work for you, you can also answer the 10 questions right here.
If you’ve reached here because you took the survey, thanks very much. If you didn’t, please take a moment and do so. The survey doesn’t ask for any contact info and we promise you won’t receive any spam email or calls.
Still would rather not answer the survey? OK, at least have a look at the ebooks listed above or listen to the chats. But, if you really think mainframes are going away or you have an opinion on mainframes and DevOps in general, you can write me at [email protected]. I would be happy to hear about it. Perhaps you want to write an article about your views? That is fine, too—write me.
In the meantime, next time you are at a tech conference and the issue of mainframes and DevOps comes up, don’t spread fake news. The mainframe is alive and well. More of our financial, health and other transactions as well as systems of record go through them than ever before.