Mainframe Expertise in Demand

Mainframe skills are in demand, with the old-school technology continuing to play a key role in enterprise computing and even factoring heavily in cloud-connected strategies. Recent numbers from IBM illustrate the trend: In the third quarter of 2010, the company reported a 15% jump in revenue from its System z mainframe server products over the same period last year, and delivery of System z computing power as measured in MIPS (millions of instruction per second) increased 54%. This growth contributed significantly to the best quarter in six years for IBM's Systems Technology Group. "Clearly, the mainframe is experiencing a renaissance and will continue to play a critical role in the evolving data center," says Jon Toigo, CEO and managing principal of Toigo Partners International LLC, an IT consultancy. About 200 tech executives took part in the survey, which was conducted by Decipher Research on behalf of CA Technologies. The majority of those execs are senior IT managers who oversee mainframe systems as part of their duties.