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This Is Your Mainframe, All Grown Up

Dennis O'Flynn

During my IT career, I've found myself in various roles across multiple platforms. In that time, there's been one constant that I've observed: There is often a disconnect between different IT teams and across environments. We need to work to bridge those gaps, particularly in the evolving relationship between the mainframe and distributed worlds.

Over time, I've seen a lot of change in the mainframe landscape, though probably none as seismic as its recent integration with modern technologies such as mobile. This need to accommodate distributed, open systems (systems of engagement) alongside the traditional mainframe environment (systems of record) creates a larger need – to bridge that long-standing gap between mainframe and distributed teams.

Your mainframe must now operate across the enterprise, in order to interact directly with users. And that's not going to change anytime soon. And so navigating that divide is no longer an option – it has become a business imperative.

This is the new normal of mainframe.

But how are today's IT organizations troubleshooting enterprise application performance problems?

And managing mainframe resources to ensure efficiency?

In many cases, not very well, with days, weeks, even months, spent in war rooms. Plus, many organizations still approach the mainframe and distributed environments as separate worlds. Given the inter-related nature of today's enterprise, this approach is no longer effective. Now, mainframe and distributed teams need a shared view of IT and must communicate on the same level.

So we thought, in times like these, it would be helpful to have a new maturity model, a guide to helping organizations improve processes amid change. We enlisted the help of Alan Radding, veteran IT journalist and blogger. Together, we created a model that incorporates new mainframe roles and workloads alongside open systems, such as cloud and mobile, while encompassing new tools to address management and operations in this new environment.

With this model we're hoping to help IT organizations improve application performance management – plus the management of mainframe costs – as distributed and mainframe systems continue to converge.

The new model defines the following five categories for maturity across your enterprise, from the hardware and software you're employing to the way your organization is structured and how your teams interact:

- Application Technology

- Mainframe Attributes

- Organization

- Performance Technology

- Process

The 5 levels of maturity that you see in the model range from highly siloed and divided IT organizations (ad hoc), to highly integrated enterprises that effectively support and enhance the business (business revenue-centric).

Of course, there are many challenges to achieving enterprise maturity, such as:

- facing resistance to change

- changing skills as experienced mainframers retire

- management visibility of the expanded IT infrastructure

- end-user engagement

- increasingly complicated troubleshooting

But the end result is definitely worth it. By achieving enterprise maturity, you can ensure that your mainframe is more than just a legacy system. And especially through integration with the distributed side, it can drive your business forward.

Dennis O'Flynn is Director of Product Management for Compuware's Mainframe Solutions Business Unit.

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This Is Your Mainframe, All Grown Up

Dennis O'Flynn

During my IT career, I've found myself in various roles across multiple platforms. In that time, there's been one constant that I've observed: There is often a disconnect between different IT teams and across environments. We need to work to bridge those gaps, particularly in the evolving relationship between the mainframe and distributed worlds.

Over time, I've seen a lot of change in the mainframe landscape, though probably none as seismic as its recent integration with modern technologies such as mobile. This need to accommodate distributed, open systems (systems of engagement) alongside the traditional mainframe environment (systems of record) creates a larger need – to bridge that long-standing gap between mainframe and distributed teams.

Your mainframe must now operate across the enterprise, in order to interact directly with users. And that's not going to change anytime soon. And so navigating that divide is no longer an option – it has become a business imperative.

This is the new normal of mainframe.

But how are today's IT organizations troubleshooting enterprise application performance problems?

And managing mainframe resources to ensure efficiency?

In many cases, not very well, with days, weeks, even months, spent in war rooms. Plus, many organizations still approach the mainframe and distributed environments as separate worlds. Given the inter-related nature of today's enterprise, this approach is no longer effective. Now, mainframe and distributed teams need a shared view of IT and must communicate on the same level.

So we thought, in times like these, it would be helpful to have a new maturity model, a guide to helping organizations improve processes amid change. We enlisted the help of Alan Radding, veteran IT journalist and blogger. Together, we created a model that incorporates new mainframe roles and workloads alongside open systems, such as cloud and mobile, while encompassing new tools to address management and operations in this new environment.

With this model we're hoping to help IT organizations improve application performance management – plus the management of mainframe costs – as distributed and mainframe systems continue to converge.

The new model defines the following five categories for maturity across your enterprise, from the hardware and software you're employing to the way your organization is structured and how your teams interact:

- Application Technology

- Mainframe Attributes

- Organization

- Performance Technology

- Process

The 5 levels of maturity that you see in the model range from highly siloed and divided IT organizations (ad hoc), to highly integrated enterprises that effectively support and enhance the business (business revenue-centric).

Of course, there are many challenges to achieving enterprise maturity, such as:

- facing resistance to change

- changing skills as experienced mainframers retire

- management visibility of the expanded IT infrastructure

- end-user engagement

- increasingly complicated troubleshooting

But the end result is definitely worth it. By achieving enterprise maturity, you can ensure that your mainframe is more than just a legacy system. And especially through integration with the distributed side, it can drive your business forward.

Dennis O'Flynn is Director of Product Management for Compuware's Mainframe Solutions Business Unit.

Hot Topics

The Latest

According to Auvik's 2025 IT Trends Report, 60% of IT professionals feel at least moderately burned out on the job, with 43% stating that their workload is contributing to work stress. At the same time, many IT professionals are naming AI and machine learning as key areas they'd most like to upskill ...

Businesses that face downtime or outages risk financial and reputational damage, as well as reducing partner, shareholder, and customer trust. One of the major challenges that enterprises face is implementing a robust business continuity plan. What's the solution? The answer may lie in disaster recovery tactics such as truly immutable storage and regular disaster recovery testing ...

IT spending is expected to jump nearly 10% in 2025, and organizations are now facing pressure to manage costs without slowing down critical functions like observability. To meet the challenge, leaders are turning to smarter, more cost effective business strategies. Enter stage right: OpenTelemetry, the missing piece of the puzzle that is no longer just an option but rather a strategic advantage ...

Amidst the threat of cyberhacks and data breaches, companies install several security measures to keep their business safely afloat. These measures aim to protect businesses, employees, and crucial data. Yet, employees perceive them as burdensome. Frustrated with complex logins, slow access, and constant security checks, workers decide to completely bypass all security set-ups ...

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In MEAN TIME TO INSIGHT Episode 13, Shamus McGillicuddy, VP of Research, Network Infrastructure and Operations, at EMA discusses hybrid multi-cloud networking strategy ... 

In high-traffic environments, the sheer volume and unpredictable nature of network incidents can quickly overwhelm even the most skilled teams, hindering their ability to react swiftly and effectively, potentially impacting service availability and overall business performance. This is where closed-loop remediation comes into the picture: an IT management concept designed to address the escalating complexity of modern networks ...

In 2025, enterprise workflows are undergoing a seismic shift. Propelled by breakthroughs in generative AI (GenAI), large language models (LLMs), and natural language processing (NLP), a new paradigm is emerging — agentic AI. This technology is not just automating tasks; it's reimagining how organizations make decisions, engage customers, and operate at scale ...

In the early days of the cloud revolution, business leaders perceived cloud services as a means of sidelining IT organizations. IT was too slow, too expensive, or incapable of supporting new technologies. With a team of developers, line of business managers could deploy new applications and services in the cloud. IT has been fighting to retake control ever since. Today, IT is back in the driver's seat, according to new research by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) ...

In today's fast-paced and increasingly complex network environments, Network Operations Centers (NOCs) are the backbone of ensuring continuous uptime, smooth service delivery, and rapid issue resolution. However, the challenges faced by NOC teams are only growing. In a recent study, 78% state network complexity has grown significantly over the last few years while 84% regularly learn about network issues from users. It is imperative we adopt a new approach to managing today's network experiences ...

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