IBM Z for Gen Z
A primer for the next generation of Mainframe Developers
Introduction
The common perception of the IBM Mainframe today continues to baffle me. I started my career in IT as a Systems Programmer for the IBM 3090 in the mid 90’s. It was a heady feeling to be able to write code in Assembler. The power of being the closest to the hardware, the subsystems, wading into cross-memory functions, was all too exciting. In one of my earliest jobs, I was working on a Freight Operations Information Systems — an online transaction processing system (OLTP). A failed program meant delivery trucks lining up causing a big furore. The mainframe has been a workhorse since the 70’s. It is the back bone of most, if not all of the financial and insurance industry as we know today. The word “mainframe” evokes the following thoughts:
- Large rooms, full of expensive hardware
- Enormous cooling towers to maintain subzero temperatures in the datacenter
- Specialized skill requirements
- Green screen interfaces
- Only CICS/DB2/COBOL/IMS applications
How does the perception hold today, in 2022, and can Gen Z’ers relate to the platform? With the latest IBM Z16 hitting the market in 2Q2022, with ground breaking technologies, it will be good to set the ground for everything the IBM Z platform stands for.
Do you interact with IBM Z?
- Yes, if you use an ATM / Credit Card for your everyday cash and purchases
- Yes, if you have an insurance policy — health, auto, home, etc
Why is the mainframe still around?
The IBM Z, a new brand for the mainframe, continues to revel with it’s RAS (Reliability, Availability, Sacalability) capabilities:
- 99.99999% availability
- jaw dropping scalability of thousands of transactions per second
Almost five decades later, IBM Z is a transformed environment, common perception not withstanding, it is being used for advanced programming using cloud native technologies, making available the best technology of our times has to offer. Let’s list out some fun facts:
- Up to 30 billion transactions flow through IBM Z everyday, including 400 million retail transactions.
- IBM Z is used by 67% of Fortune 100 enterprises
- IBM Z handles 87% of global credit card transactions with about 29 billion ATM transactions
- 90% of airline transactions are handled by IBM Z
- IBM Z is used by 7 of top 10 global retailers, 85 of top 100 worldwide banks and 8 out of 10 of world’s top insurers
- An IBM Z15 machine, for example, can handle 19 billion transactions per day
Is IBM Z ready for modern workloads?
Let’s list a few capabilities of the IBM Z platform as of today:
- Supported operating systems include z/OS — the flagship proprietary , in addition to all the flavors of Linux like SuSE, RHEL, CoreOS, Ubuntu, etc
- Hypervisor platforms like z/VM, KVM, Xen, etc
- Supported programming languages & application environments include the traditional CICS / DB2 / COBOL, in addition to C++, Python, Java, Node.js, Openshift Container Platform (OCP), modern databases like MongoDB, PostgreSQL, MySQL, etc
Workloads that IBM Z is being used for, include:
- Banking, Insurance and other regulated workloads
- AI workloads like Scala, Tensorflow, SparkML
- Analytics platforms like Splunk & ServiceNow can directly consume data on IBM Z — no offloading to data lakes is required
- Blockchain
In fact, IBM Z is also available on IBM Cloud with the #hyperprotect portfolio of services in the ZaaS category, that includes Hyper Protect Crypto Services (HPCS) which brings the industry’s only FIPS 140–2 Level 4 compliant Hardware Security Module (HSM) to the cloud. All of the #hyperprotect services are built on the IBM Z LinuxONE platform — which is custom built for Linux-only workloads. The latest in the stable of IBM Z services on the cloud is WAZIaaS — that brings a traditional z/OS environment to the cloud, enabling developers to use cloud native programming practices for legacy applications on the IBM Z mainframe.
Can applications built for x86 run on IBM Z?
IBM Z is built on the proprietary s390x chipset. Having said that, application code written for the x86 platform (aka Intel / AMD) can be compiled for the s390x platform, thus making lift-and-shift operations fairly easy. Modern compilers, like GOX for GO, can do a cross-compile for any hardware platform, including IBM Z s390x.
Can you use modern IDE’s with IBM Z?
Absolutely! Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) like Visual Studio Code has downloadable extensions which will enable today’s developers code seamlessly for the IBM Z platform, like they would for any other platform. Imagine a VSCode extension like “IBM Z Open Editor” that can edit files on a remote IBM Z machine:
On the other hand, imagine a Linux VM on IBM Cloud, with the same look and feel like as any other Linux machine. The only difference will be the underlying architecture, which will be s390x:
What about starting a career in Enterprise Computing with IBM Z?
The five important things to consider for a career in enterprise computing technology are:
- Good Salary — average reported salary for enterprise computing is $70100
- Good work-life balance
- Ability to make a social impact — contribute to open source, social or community groups
- Working on cutting edge of technology — like Hybrid Cloud, Analytics, Blockchain, InsurTech, AI, IoTs
- Job security/role versatility — 90% of professionals in enterprise computing careers say the job market for their skill set is growing
It should not be surprising to know that all of this is possible with IBM Z.
Conclusion
This blog was meant to get Gen Z’ers excited about the IBM Z platform and think about career options in Enterprise Computing which will be more rewarding in many ways. For ways to stay connected,
- Feel free to reach out to Sandeep on LinkedIN.
- You can also start your learning journey with IBM Z Xplore
- Connect with other budding career aspirants in the world of IBM Z, check IBM Z Global Student Hub
And most importantly, to find out more about “How can modern applications interact with IBM Z”, look out for IBM Z for Gen Z — part 2
