Articles on mainframe modernization, AI integration, and the future of enterprise computing.
A company moved its core ledger to AWS. It never finished on time again. The compute was faster. The reason it failed is physics, not implementation.
Read ArticleThe exit narrative has been selling for thirty years. The mainframe has been running. Here is why the ones who stayed are sleeping peacefully.
Read ArticleGartner says the TCO math can favor mainframe over Broadcom’s VMware licensing. The business case is real. Here is what the business case leaves out.
Read ArticleThe IBM 3270 screen has been 24 rows by 80 columns since 1971. A conversation about why that never changed – and what four stolen rows taught us. Also: Zoolander, Homer, and Pulp Fiction weigh in.
Read Article zPunch ↗The demo worked perfectly. Eighteen months later, nothing is in production. Pilot Purgatory is where enterprise AI goes to die slowly–and mainframe is where it is most dangerous, most common, and most expensive.
Read ArticleA functional language that compiles to COBOL just proved something the mainframe industry has known for sixty years: the abstraction layer doesn’t change what runs underneath.
Read ArticleZero Trust for AI is a 2026 initiative everywhere else. On mainframe, it is how the platform has always worked. RACF, SMF, least privilege – the security architecture AI tools should be built around, not against.
Read ArticleThe infrastructure is not going anywhere. The interface to it is changing faster than at any point in the last thirty years. What stays the same, what changes, and what mainframe professionals need to learn now.
Read ArticleModernization with AI is not a simple story. Some transformations work beautifully. Some fail spectacularly. The difference is understanding where AI adds genuine value versus where it creates new risks.
Read ArticleThe 7Rs migration framework breaks on COBOL because it applies decisions at the wrong level. A COBOL application is not a thing–it is a population of components with different ages, purposes, and risk profiles. Learn why component-level analysis requires runtime evidence, not documentation.
Read ArticleOrganisations building AI models increasingly need mainframe data. DB2 z/OS, IMS, VSAM – decades of high-quality financial data that most AI teams cannot access. Here is how to change that.
Read ArticleAI does not replace mainframe expertise. It amplifies it. Where AI genuinely adds value in daily diagnostic work – abend analysis, performance tuning, pattern recognition on SMF data.
Read ArticleThe most dangerous knowledge on a mainframe is not in the code. It is in the heads of people who are retiring. What AI can and cannot recover, and why structured knowledge capture is urgent.
Read ArticleThe mainframe generates more runtime evidence than almost any other platform. SMF TYPE 30, CICS journals, scheduler logs – this is the foundation for AI analysis on z/OS, not source code.
Read ArticleAI tools can genuinely help with COBOL in specific ways. They also produce confidently wrong answers in specific ways. An honest breakdown from 35 years working with the language.
Read ArticleMost developers understand applications as programs that run on infrastructure. On mainframe, the infrastructure IS the application. Why this matters enormously when applying AI to z/OS systems.
Read ArticleAI vendors want you to believe code is just text. On a mainframe, code is a physical execution graph spanning three decades of IBM middleware. Why RAG pipelines fail and what approach actually works.
Read ArticleThe first post laid out the constraints. This one helps you decide if they’re the right constraints for you. A five-axis framework for making a deliberate career choice, not a default one.
Read ArticleA fully playable mainframe text adventure embedded in the post. RACF login, S0C7 abends, Change Management Cave snakes, and a T-Rex. Everything is based on real MVS conventions. Play it in the browser.
Read & PlayimZEDe brings full mainframe language support to Zed – JCL, COBOL with embedded DB2 and CICS, REXX, and HLASM. Tree-sitter grammars, ISPF-style colors, 100+ snippets. Free and open source.
Read ArticleJust started a mainframe role at a bank? Here is what to focus on in your first 90 days: ISPF fluency, JCL depth, reading COBOL, and the one habit that separates interns who get offers from those who don't.
Read ArticleApplication development has been offshored. Systems programming is a different story. An honest breakdown of outsourcing risk in mainframe careers, and how to position yourself for long-term security.
Read ArticleMost mainframe migration projects measure technical readiness and miss the real risk, the business context that has slowly disappeared around the code. An honest assessment from 35 years in the field.
Read ArticleA mainframe developer with years of COBOL experience is considering a shift to systems programming. Day-to-day reality, pay trajectory, learning curve, and an honest recommendation from 35 years in mainframe.
Read ArticleAn honest answer from 35 years in the field. COBOL, z/OS, job security, pay trajectory, everything a new graduate needs to know about choosing mainframe as a career path.
Read ArticleEveryone is talking about AI code generators. Nobody is talking about what happens when the code needs to run on a mainframe. The rise of AI is actually increasing the need for people who can connect to and operate mainframe systems.
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