Mainframe systems are the IT backbone and workhorse for many organizations, providing instrumental back-end transaction processing, databases, and reporting functionality. Although they are often thought of as legacy systems, this misleading characterization discounts the fact that these systems often hold extremely critical business logic and still receive heavy investment.

Organizations that develop and test applications in mainframe environments have struggled to keep up with users’ increasing demands for innovative, new functionality, especially considering the trend many organizations are adopting in moving to Agile development and testing practices. For one, mainframe development can require decades’ worth of legacy expertise, which is in danger of disappearing as a generation of workers approach retirement. In addition, modern, client-facing applications driven by the mainframe are being accessed by growing numbers of users via smartphones, tablets, and other devices — stressing mainframes in unforeseen ways. Finally, there is the significant cost of sourcing the additional MIPS needed to support new development and test requirements within the mainframe — not to mention the time and resources required to install these complex systems.

Source: DZone