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2025 Was Big Year For Big Iron With z17 Taking Center Stage
While z17 Garnered the Column Inches, 2025 was the year of AI for Mainframe Workloads
Executive Summary
In 2025, the mainframe underwent a significant transformation, evolving from a "legacy" platform into a specialized "AI Factory" with the launch of the IBM z17 and the Spyre Accelerator. While the new Telum II processor enabled massive on-chip AI inferencing, specialized software from vendors like Broadcom, Rocket, and BMC bridged the gap between traditional reliability and modern developer experiences. Simultaneously, a paradox emerged where mainframe capacity grew due to AI-integrated transactions, while non-core applications migrated to the cloud more easily via AI-powered refactoring tools. This shift has solidified a hybrid reality where the mainframe serves as a high-performance data hub and the cloud acts as a playground for rapid innovation.
2025 Mainframe Highlights
The IBM z17 debuted with the Telum II processor, capable of performing over 450 billion AI inferencing operations daily to enable real-time fraud detection.
The IBM Spyre Accelerator introduced a "turbocharger" for the platform, allowing Large Language Models (LLMs) to run directly where sensitive data resides.
Mainframe availability continues to dwarf the public cloud, offering "eight nines" (99.999999%) of reliability, which equates to less than a second of annual downtime.
New AI-powered tools from companies like AWS, Bloop, and Mechanical Orchard have "de-risked" migrations by automating the translation of COBOL into modern, maintainable Java.
The workforce is seeing a generational shift, with Millennials and Gen Z now making up 66% of the mainframe community, supported by modern VS Code-based development environments.
To find out more, download the research report.
Steven Dickens | CEO HyperFRAME Research
Regarded as a luminary at the intersection of technology and business transformation, Steven Dickens is the CEO and Principal Analyst at HyperFRAME Research.
Ranked consistently among the Top 10 Analysts by AR Insights and a contributor to Forbes, Steven's expert perspectives are sought after by tier one media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal and CNBC, and he is a regular on TV networks including the Schwab Network and Bloomberg.