via Penney Berryman and Planet Mainframe
The 2025 Arcati Mainframe Survey, conducted by Planet Mainframe from November 2024 to January 2025, reveals a landscape in flux as organizations adapt to new technology demands. Data show a split in mainframe strategies, with some organizations expanding to support growing workloads and interest in AI, while others are restructuring, reallocating, or shifting to hybrid models.
Key Insights
- Large-Scale Mainframe Environments Decline, Hybrid Models Rise
Large enterprises are shifting workloads, leading to a decline among higher MIPS environments. The 25,001+ MIPS segment fell from 40% to 30%, and environments with 10,001-25,000 MIPS declined from 17% to 9%. This reflects a continuing shift from mainframe-only workloads towards hybrid IT models, cloud extensions, and workload redistribution. - Growing Around the Middle
While large-scale environments are shrinking, mid-sized mainframe usage is surging. In the last two years, the 1,001-10,000 MIPS category more than doubled – from 13% to 28%. This growth reflects ongoing investments in modernization, transaction processing, and business expansion. - Skills Gap is Another Word for Succession Planning
Despite 46% of respondents prioritizing training, sourcing, and retention, 62% still cite a lack of modern mainframe skills as a top challenge. This is unsurprising, given that 70% of respondents reported holding a mainframe-related job for over 20 years. There’s an opportunity to keep modernization efforts on track with expanded internal training, talent pipeline planning, historical knowledge transfer, and vendor partnerships. - Should I Stay or Should I Go
Once workloads leave the mainframe, they rarely return. 48% of organizations are considering migrating workloads off the mainframe. Among those companies that completed a migration, only 24% repatriated workloads, and 60% reported no movement back. This underscores the need for modernization-in-place strategies. - Technology Spending Increases While Staffing Budgets Hold Steady
Just over half (52%) of organizations plan to increase IBM Z hardware and software spending. However, that upward trend is not matched by workforce investments, with 61% maintaining current staffing budgets stable or reducing them. This signals a shift toward automation, outsourcing, and efficiency-focused strategies rather than expanding mainframe teams. - A Reputation for Resilience Requires Security Investments
Over half (53%) of respondents express concerns about mainframe security, with data breaches (72%) as the top worry. Encryption (66%) and multi-factor authentication (56%) are widely used, but only 21% conduct cybersecurity monitoring, highlighting an opportunity for security investments. - AI is Still in Early Adoption
Strategies are divided on AI. 48% of respondents express interest in AI and machine learning, while 51% are unsure how AI will impact IBM Z usage. AI adoption is expectedly slow, following a diffusion of innovation model with few early adopters. Only 13% report using AI in production, with 32% planning and 22% testing. - Outsourcing Increased 122%
Organizations outsourcing mainframe management surged from 9% in 2024 to 20% in 2025, primarily driven by cost savings, skills shortages, and cloud integration. Hybrid management models also increased modestly from 17% to 24%, balancing in-house and outsourced support. - Fewer Newer Applications
The mainframe remains critical for high-volume, transaction-heavy workloads, while user interface, analytics, and newer business applications shift to cloud and distributed platforms. This trend reinforces the mainframe’s role as a backend powerhouse while organizations expand hybrid IT strategies. - Two Sectors Lead Investments in New IBM Z Applications
Only one-third (32%) of organizations plan to build new applications on IBM Z, showing minimal expansion. However, about an equal one-third are investing in API and web integrations, AI-driven analytics, and OpenShift apps – particularly in banking and financial services.
The 2025 Arcati Mainframe Survey confirms that mainframes remain vital to enterprise IT. Organizations support modernization by embracing emerging technologies like hybrid and distributed platforms and reserving the mainframe’s reliability and resilience for core workloads.
