IBM: 78% of mainframe shops are piloting, operating AI apps

AI is reinvigorating the mainframe and causing enterprises to rethink their plans for mainframe modernization.

New research from IBM finds that enterprises are further along in deploying AI applications on the big iron than might be expected: 78% of IT executives surveyed said their organizations are either piloting projects or operationalizing initiatives that incorporate AI technology.

IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV), in collaboration with Oxford Economics, surveyed 2,551 global IT executives to determine how mainframes are being used and prepped for increased use in AI and hybrid cloud environments. Among respondents, 79% said the mainframe is essential for enabling AI-driven innovation.

“By applying AI directly to transactional workloads on the mainframe, businesses can extract new insights and enhance workforce productivity. This maximizes the value of their core systems and drives meaningful business outcomes,” the survey stated.

According to the IBV researchers, 74% of respondents said that they are integrating AI into mainframe operations to enhance system management and maintenance. In addition, 61% of executives said using generative AI for application modernization efforts on mainframes is important to their organization.

“Gen AI-driven application modernization tools are revolutionizing mainframe modernization strategies, accelerating time to value, and closing mainframe skills gaps by enabling developers to modernize or build applications faster and more efficiently,” the study stated.

“Organizations should leverage AI to empower DevOps teams, enhance mainframe operations, and infuse AI into business transactions,” wrote Tina Tarquinio, vice president of product management, IBM Z and LinuxONE, in a blog about the study.

“This can be achieved by equipping developers with gen AI-assisted tools that accelerate application discovery, analysis, and modernization; improving operational functions with smart aids and next-generation chatbot assistants; and leveraging AI for in-transaction insights to enhance business use cases,” Tarquinio wrote.

Hybrid by design

The mainframe’s ability to be integrated with and modernized by cloud computing architectures is an integral part of its future role.

Most enterprises have built tech estates on hybrid cloud architecture, the researchers stated. “In fact, 91% of IT executives agree that their organization promotes hybrid architectures. With workloads distributed across cloud, mainframe, and edge assets, these environments are flexible, yet highly complex. When hybrid cloud is built piecemeal, or rather by default, it leads to fragmented systems, silos, higher costs and limited innovation opportunities,” the IBV study stated.

What IBM calls the mainframe’s “hybrid-by-design framework” meets these challenges by intentionally aligning hybrid cloud and digital transformation, the study found.

“Modernizing applications on mainframes to work seamlessly in a hybrid-by-design environment is crucial for digital transformation,” researchers stated. “In fact, 88% of executives consider this essential to long-term success, recognizing that simplifying and integrating information sharing and data access are vital to derive benefits from hybrid cloud environments. Combining on-premises mainframes with hyperscalers can create an integrated operating model that enables agile practices and interoperability between applications,” researchers stated.

Of all the organizations that modernized applications on their mainframes, more than 90% of executives say that modernization processes met or exceeded their expectations in terms of budget, timeline, and scope, with the median percentage of modernized applications standing at 28%, according to IBV. “A further 95% agree that connecting workloads has become easier in recent years, and 85% reported being satisfied with the outcome, citing achievement of their business objectives,” IBV stated.

Kyndryl, BMC report similar findings

Similar trends related to AI and big iron environments have been reported in other newly published research.

Kyndryl recently reported that AI and generative AI promise to transform the mainframe environment by delivering insights into complex unstructured data and augmenting human action with advances in speed, efficiency and error reduction. Generative AI also has the potential to illuminate the inner workings of monolithic applications, Kyndryl stated.

“Enterprises clearly see the potential with 86% of respondents confirmed they are deploying, or planning to deploy, generative AI tools and applications in their mainframe environments, while 71% say that they are already implementing generative AI-driven insights as part of their mainframe modernization strategy,” Kyndryl stated.

And BMC reported that the increased prioritization of AIOps reflects surging interest in the implementation of emerging technologies on the mainframe.

“Those reporting the adoption of AIOps on the mainframe increased [9%] from the 2023 BMC Mainframe Survey, while 76% of respondents reported the use of generative AI [genAI] in their organizations,” BMC found.

“The power of AI/ML and genAI open a new world of possibility in IT management. Organizations are leveraging these technologies throughout their IT ecosystems to gain real-time insight into security postures, automate issue resolution, gain critical business insight, and onboard and train new personnel,” BMC stated.

IBM’s mainframe developments

AI interest from mainframers is likely to keep growing, as IBM has now said it will be outfitting the next generation of the IBM Z and LinuxONE mainframes with a new Telum processor and a new accelerator aimed at boosting performance of AI and other data-intensive workloads.

The new processor, the IBM Telum II, has greater memory and cache capacity than the previous generation, and it integrates a new data processing unit (DPU) specialized for IO acceleration along with enhanced on-chip AI acceleration capabilities.

Read more mainframe news

• Security, AIOps top mainframe customer challenges, BMC says: Compliance, security, operational analytics, and AIOps are the top priorities for organizations investing heavily in mainframes, according to the 2024 BMC Mainframe Survey, which is in its 19th year and polled 1,000 customers.
• Mainframe turns 60 with no plans for retirement: Decades after some predicted its demise, the mainframe is as vital as ever, even in the era of AI.
• Training program targets mainframe skills shortage: Enterprises continue to hire for new mainframe positions, even as they struggle with recruitment. IBM and its partners are investing in training programs to build up a skilled, sustainable workforce for the mainframe.
• IBM Z mainframes get AI boost with new Telum II processor, Spyre accelerator: IBM is outfitting the next generation of its Z and LinuxONE mainframes with its latest Telum processor and a new accelerator aimed at boosting performance of AI and other data-intensive workloads.
• Kyndryl: AI interest is driving mainframe modernization projects: Enterprise views on mainframe modernization are shifting as AI becomes more influential. Meanwhile, perennial issues such as security, compliance and skills availability remain top of mind for enterprise mainframe shops, according to Kyndryl, which just released the results of its second annual State of Mainframe Modernization Survey.
• IBM brings AI assistant to mainframe, promises Linux version: The IBM mainframe is the latest platform to gain a generative AI-based assistant to simplify automation and help customers with routine tasks. IBM rolled out its new watsonx Assistant for Z v1, which will tie together automation coding and watsonx AI technology to ease mainframe operations.