Imagine all of Amazon’s daily transactions in the US—roughly 12 million orders—processed in just 12 seconds?1 That’s what a modern mainframe makes possible. With the ability to process more than 1 million transactions per second, today’s mainframe is a processing powerhouse engineered to run some of the largest, most critical workloads that require the highest levels of security, uptime and resilience.
What makes mainframes such powerful computing platforms? Why are they foundational to enterprise IT in the age of cloud? Explore the answers in the white paper How mainframes are rewriting the AI playbook.
The silent giant of global commerce
Mainframes play a quiet but critical role in our everyday lives. Whenever you tap your credit card at your local coffee shop, make an ATM withdrawal for weekend cash, book a flight or access your medical records, chances are there’s a mainframe behind the scenes. These systems process the data that keeps our digital world moving, reliably and efficiently.
Mainframes manage 68% of the world’s production IT workloads and process 90% of all credit card transactions.2,3 They’re trusted by leading organizations across industries.
A growing force in modern computing
Despite misconceptions, mainframes are anything but outdated. Their relevance and usage continue to rise. The global mainframe market is projected to grow at a 7.9% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), reaching USD 6.2 billion by 2032.4 According to Forrester Research’s 2024 State of Mainframes report, 54% of organizations currently using mainframes plan to increase their use over the next 2 years.5
As Gartner analyst Chirag Dekate notes, “Mainframes have a very specific role to play in this modern ecosystem. Many enterprise core data assets in financial services, manufacturing, healthcare and retail rely on mainframes quite extensively.”6
The engineering advantage
Mainframes are purpose built and continuously engineered to meet the rigorous, dynamic needs of enterprise IT. The mainframe architecture can scale both vertically and horizontally and is uniquely engineered to add capacity without any disruption. If an unexpected surge in transactions happens, like on Black Friday or during market opening, these systems scale on demand to meet the needs. Custom accelerators are built into the chip and firmware for compression, encryption, Java, AI and more to ensure secure transactions are processed as fast as possible. Built-in redundancy, earthquake and extreme temperature testing, intelligent error handling and quantum-safe encryption are some of the unique engineering advantages that make the mainframe purpose-built for secure transaction processing at scale.
The economic advantage
Recent research from the IBM Institute for Business Value reveals that 75% of surveyed global IT leaders consider mainframes equal to or better than cloud computing in terms of total cost of ownership (TCO).7 And while mainframes handle 72% of transaction workloads worldwide, they account for only 8% of total IT costs.8 These stats challenge the perception that cloud computing is always the most cost-effective solution for enterprise computing needs.
A platform for the AI era
With the gravity of existing data on the mainframe, today’s mainframe is uniquely positioned in the age of AI. These systems are designed to handle 1 trillion web transactions daily, equivalent to the volume from 55 Black Fridays.9 But their real power lies in their ability to store and process massive amounts of business-critical data where it resides and the on-chip AI acceleration. This allows them to apply AI directly to the data at the source and in transaction, accelerating AI outcomes while maintaining cost efficiency.
Evolution meets innovation
The mainframe’s enduring success is intentional. It’s the result of a technology strategy that has continuously evolved with market demands and user needs. Through a design philosophy that seamlessly integrates and optimizes hardware and software, modern mainframes deliver unparalleled transaction throughput and scalability. These systems are often so reliable that they can calculate their mean time between failures not in hours or days—but in decades.10
The future is hybrid
As we move deeper into the era of specialized compute with AI, cloud computing and quantum technology, the mainframe continues to be a purpose-built cornerstone of enterprise IT. Its unique combination of processing power, reliability and adaptability makes it not just relevant but essential for organizations handling critical data and high-volume transactions.
The real question is, how will organizations leverage these powerful systems to drive innovation and growth in an increasingly digital world? As we look to the future, one thing is clear: the mainframe’s story is far from over. In fact, it may just be starting its most exciting chapter yet.
Read more: How mainframes are rewriting the AI playbook
1. Amazon Statistics: Key Numbers and Fun Facts
2. Mainframes: The next 60 Years, The Open Mainframe Project, April 2024.
3. Why Is Mainframe Still Relevant and Thriving in 2022? Planet Mainframe, 20 December 2022.
4. Mainframe Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Type (Z Systems, GS Series), By End-User (BFSI, IT and Telecom, Government and Public Sector, Retail and E-commerce, Healthcare, Travel and Transportation, Manufacturing) and By Region (North America, Europe, APAC, Middle East and Africa, LATAM) Forecasts, 2024–2032, Straits Research, 7 June 2024.
5. The State Of Mainframes, Global, 2024, Forrester Research, 21 March 2024.
6. AI on the mainframe? IBM may be onto something, CIO.com, 03 October 2024.
7. Mainframes as mainstays of digital transformation, IBM Institute for Business Value, 8 October 2024.
8. An Economic Model for Optimizing Technology Investments, Rubin Worldwide, May 2023.
9. What is a mainframe? IBM, 1 March 2024.
10. The Eye-Opening Benefits of Mainframe Computers, Precisely.com, 17 November 2023.