While mainframes may not dominate tech conversations today, they continue to play a critical role in industries like banking, airlines, government, and retail. 

Since the release of the IBM System/360 in 1964, computers have evolved significantly with the rise of personal computers and the cloud. Yet, mainframes remain indispensable for managing large-scale, mission-critical applications due to their reliability, scalability, and security, serving as the backbone for some of the world’s most essential operations.

Mainframes are crucial as there is almost nothing that can match its security, resilience, processing capacity, and uptime. Around 70-80% of the world’s transaction data still reside on mainframes, while 70-90% of credit card transactions still rely on mainframes. 

Mainframes remain crucial due to ongoing modernization, to which India’s tech centres actively contribute. Initially, the platform operated on a proprietary stack, but with the rise of Linux, IBM embraced the open-source system. As cloud technology gains importance, teams are innovating to ensure seamless integration between mainframes and cloud environments, allowing enterprises to run critical workloads efficiently across both systems. This adaptability keeps mainframes relevant in sectors like banking and government.

Subhathra Srinivasaragahavan, VP of IBM’s India Systems Development Lab, said, “For IBM, these are serious business transactions. So it has to happen with the required security. It has to happen reliably, which is why uptime is so critical for us. And that’s what excites the people who work on this platform.”

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