Mainframe is the backbone of modern critical infrastructure. Even if the focus has shifted to modern technologies like Kubernetes, cloud native and GenAI, mainframe continues to go stronger as a time-tested technology like the Linux kernel itself. Mainframe is celebrating its 60th anniversary and we sat down with John Mertic, Executive Director of the Open Mainframe Project (OMP), to talk about the importance of mainframes in the modern world and what role is OMP playing in the mainframe ecosystem.

Highlights of this show: 

Mainframe technology’s 60-year history and its continued relevance in modern society

• Mertic discusses mainframe’s 60th anniversary and its importance in modern society.
• Mertic highlights mainframe’s scalability, performance, security, and resilience as key factors in its enduring success.
• Mertic discusses the staying power of mainframe architecture, citing its relevance across generations (60 years) and industries undergoing transformations (automotive, energy, and motion picture).
• Open source insertion in these industries leads to faster innovation, as seen in the automotive industry’s move from infotainment systems to modern ones, and the energy industry’s grid transformation for better predictions and energy use.

Mainframe’s 60th anniversary, open source, and future technologies like AI

• Mainframe transition needs interoperability, community effort.
• AI, modern technologies can leverage mainframe’s strengths.
• They highlight the potential of mainframes for AI workloads, citing their performance, scalability, and data capabilities.
• Mertic emphasizes the importance of trust in AI and how open source foundations can help address this challenge.
• Mertic discusses future investments in AI and telemetry.
• Mertic highlights the importance of infrastructure for the open source community and future-looking technologies.

Guest: John Mertic (LinkedIn)
Project: Open Mainframe Project (Twitter)
Show: Let’s Talk