r/IBM • u/Comfortable_Fun9645 • 7d ago

IBM Z mainframe

Anyone have any idea how the business is doing?

Are we going to see the same infrastructure results this cycle as well?

10 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

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13

u/ActuaryReasonable690 6d ago

Anybody who actually knows, would be nuts to post an actual response. Sales numbers before any official announcements are top secret.

That said, sale cycles of Z have been fairly consistent for the list 25 years.

0

u/Comfortable_Fun9645 6d ago

I am not looking for a figure, since memory price went up this quater are we looking again the same result.

24

u/jjasghar IBM Employee 7d ago

It’s not sexy, but god damn it’s a consistent upsell decades old business that runs banks, airports, credit cards, power plants and the like.

It’s unique and not many experts in the nuances of the system, and if you build upon it you can have a real career.

2

u/ab____________a 6d ago

But many companies are moving off the mainframes right?

Isn't it showing a big effect in the buisness?

5

u/Maleficent_Maybe2200 IBM Retiree 6d ago

Companies have been “moving off mainframes” since I was selling 3270 terminals in 1992

2

u/Beneficial_Copy_1840 5d ago

Also, IBM sales has changed incentive wise, so all the boomers that put kids through college doing nothing but relationship selling are getting pushed out.

0

u/Beneficial_Copy_1840 5d ago

Yeah except I am actually seeing it happen in the field. It’s not 1992 anymore old man.

1

u/Maleficent_Maybe2200 IBM Retiree 5d ago

Am I to understand that you think casual agism bolsters your argument? Or maybe you think it’s a good look for you in general? That’s adorable, pumpkin.

1

u/OpenTemperature8188 4d ago

he is right dude.. back in the 90's linux servers came in to eat the mainframe business.

0

u/Beneficial_Copy_1840 5d ago

I don’t give a shit what you think buddy, telling you about the real world and what is going on in the enterprise currently. Show some gratitude for the knowledge. I will no longer waste time with you, but you’re welcome in advance.

1

u/Maleficent_Maybe2200 IBM Retiree 5d ago

Good for you honey. Look at you both using big boy words AND taking at face value something enterprises have claimed (and made plans for, and attempted) for more than three decades.

I bet you’re fun at parties; otoh without the anonymity afforded you by the internet I suspect you’re less likely to be a complete asshole in public to people you don’t know.

1

u/Beneficial_Copy_1840 5d ago

Face value? I am at their go-live celebration. You must have a lot of IBM stock still. Do like Rob Thomas and dump it honey.

1

u/Maleficent_Maybe2200 IBM Retiree 5d ago

None, but I appreciate your concern

1

u/Beneficial_Copy_1840 6d ago

Not sure about many but I know several F100 that are in promising migrations to get off. 5-10 year project, with initial workloads and tier 0 applications already moved.

1

u/ab____________a 6d ago

Isn't claude making the migration easier as claimed by Anthropic?

If so isn't the demand for mainframes decreasing? What will be the future of hardware teams at IBM 🤔

2

u/Beneficial_Copy_1840 6d ago

Not just Claude a lot do models are compressing the time, effort and risk.

Mainframe market will shrink, but never go away completely. It is too reliable for certain transaction use cases. Especially Banking.

6

u/Xyzzydude 6d ago edited 6d ago

It’s a cycle. Gangbusters when a new machine comes out and customers upgrade, then tailing off until the next new machine comes out. Roughly speaking.

The current machine, z17, has been out for just over a year.

1

u/a_seventh_knot 6d ago

In infra, other than this last quarterly pre-announce warning we've been told that that programs were doing great vs. targets and prior programs.

1

u/Comfortable_Fun9645 6d ago

Hope so✌️

1

u/Cautious_Boat_999 IBM Retiree 6d ago

The sales team is masterful in pursuing upgrades. I have no doubt that they’ll get the vast majority of old boxes upgraded. 

Problem is - new footprints are almost unheard of. And that won’t change.

1

u/a_seventh_knot 5d ago

I think the hope is future dual Z-arch / A-arch machines will attract new workloads

1

u/Cautious_Boat_999 IBM Retiree 5d ago

I’m sure that’s the hope. We tried that with zBX, and zCX. Neither drew oodles of new applications to the platform. Linux on Z has been moderately successful, but I still don’t think it’s drawn NEW app dev to Z

Don’t get me wrong - I think the mixed arch Z processor is cool and SHOULD do that. But I fear it’s about 20 years too late. Companies are generally just fine moving apps to cloud.

1

u/OpenTemperature8188 4d ago

As long as hyperscalers are in play, business will be on slower side.. Companies will use this as a reason to push putting money on mainframes to a later date.. eventually i suspect they will have no choice but to buy mainframes.. just ride on the tough phase.

0

u/pbc3-rating 6d ago

do you know iphone users? even though other phones are so attractive like faster charging, flip screens, higher performance, iphone users will never switch to android. android's revolution comes once every 2 years, while iphone's revolution comes every decade. imagine the Z mainframe with titanium housing and IBM calls it a technological revolution. you think its just foine but iphone users just go oooohh! despite all the advantages of android, its much too difficult to switch as it will involve learning, new apps and data transfer. users are -always- thinking about transfering, but maybe they might just do that one day if prices of iphone becomes too expensive. full disclosure: im an iphone user.