Some companies perceive   the mainframe as a legacy solution that has seen better days and have put off maintaining the currenty of applications Others may be experiencing a mainframe skill gap due to retiring personnel. For the majority of existing users, the mainframe is still relevant and needs to be supported.
According to MarketWatch, the global mainframe market is predicted to grow by almost $1 billion by 2026. Mainframes can handle large volumes of transactions and do so safely enough for the financial industry. The technology continues to evolve to accommodate new trends, such as Linux and containers.
One way to free up resources is to and future-proof your company’s mainframe is to utilize a mainframe hosting provider. Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) can be a great option for companies needing to support mainframe applications without worrying about the underlying hardware or data center requirements as other workloads shift to public cloud providers. However, not all IaaS offerings are the same.
Here are 5 things to look for when choosing IaaS for your mainframe:
1) Control over data and workloads
When companies contemplate hosting their mainframe, they are frequently concerned about losing control. Many organizations that use mainframes handle sensitive financial or personally identifiable information that they need to protect.
The right IaaS should enable businesses to seamlessly move their data and workloads to a provider so the system looks and performs the same or better as if it were on site. The mainframe data and applications should be migrated so they are stored, managed and run the same way as on-site. With IaaS, it is possible for mainframe users to maintain complete control while benefiting from current hardware, disaster recovery, and on-going support from the service provider all while reducing costs.
2) Robust backup and disaster recovery
Companies rely on their mainframes for mission-critical applications, so protecting data with a robust backup and recovery process is  necessary to stay up and running under any conditions. IaaS solutions should offer out of region geographical diversity to protect your data from traumatic regional events that may affect the primary production site.
The ideal IaaS solution will include data replication for backup and recovery. Data and applications should failover to a secondary disaster recovery site should the primary site experience an event. With IaaS that offers disaster recovery services, companies can often achieve improved recovery time objectives (RTOs) and recovery point objectives (RPOs) which may have not been geographically or financial possible under a self-managed infrastructure.
3) State-of-the-art equipment
Keeping up with mainframe upgrades can be challenging, particularly if your company lacks mainframe expertise on staff. Â In recent years, IBM has hastened server and storage release cycles as the mainframe is continually evolving, stressing needs for OS and hardware upgrades contrary to its reputation as a legacy technology.
IaaS providers should ensure they provide up-to-date supported mainframe servers and storage.  While some users require older equipment to run back level operating systems, the  provider should confirm  necessary maintenance is performed and understand a clients growth plans in order to ensure access to upgrades to meet user needs.
4) Operating system flexibility
Mainframes may run multiple operating systems including z/OS, z/VM, z/VSE, z/TPF as well as  multiple versions of Linux from Red Hat, SUSE, and Ubuntu
IaaS should have the ability to accommodate any combination of operating systems that the client may need or have planned. The mainframe user should be able to migrate to the infrastructure provider, without needing to switch operating systems or applications. It is important to confirm the system software is also properly licensed from both IBM and third-party providers.
5) Cost efficiency
IT budgets are always tight, so IT leaders are continually looking for ways to do more with less. IaaS, like most cloud services, helps cut capital expenses as economies of scale can be achieved with servers, storage, networks, disaster recovery, and data center space. Instead of paying upfront capital expenses, the mainframe user can shift costs to operating expenses.
IaaS for mainframes should be delivered at a predictable monthly rate. Mainframe users should pay for only the mainframe resources and services they require. Compute, storage, backup and recovery, and disaster recovery all become operating expenses. Companies also save on energy and cooling costs needed to operate the mainframe on-premises.
A New Home for Your Mainframe
Moving your company’s mainframe from on-premises to the cloud offers many advantages if you pick the right mainframe services provider for IaaS. Before choosing a partner, carefully review the service level agreement to ensure all your needs are met.
PSR is a leading provider of mainframe hosting services. We offer mainframe IaaS through our mainframe managed services. We focus entirely on mainframe and specialize in IBM Z Systems.
Our IaaS includes the latest mainframe processors for optimum performance as well as prior generation servers need to run older operating systems if required. We offer mainframe OS flexibility and allow clients to maintain complete control of data and workloads. Customers typically also take advantage of our backup and disaster recovery services.