As old-guard mainframers give way to a younger generation of mainframe professionals, this new cadre brings modern ways of thinking that inevitably drive cultural change and mainframe modernization initiatives.And not a moment too soon. Mainframe modernization, after all, isn’t a ‘nice to have.’ It’s essential for the competitiveness of any enterprise that depends upon the platform.As digital transformation gives way to the AI revolution, today’s technology-empowered business imperatives require all parts of the IT organization to support comprehensive modernization efforts.Given the importance of the data on the mainframe to this revolution, the cultural change necessary to modernize the mainframe becomes the key to success with AI, and thus to modernizing the enterprise itself.“The cultural change necessary to modernize the mainframe becomes the key to success with AI”Why the enterprise modernization buck stops at the mainframeAs enterprises increasingly look to AI to drive business value, it becomes clear that the organization’s data is the key to success. And where is the data in the enterprise? Much of it – the most important data – resides on the mainframe. Today’s mainframes contain the most accurate, complete, and trusted data for any organization that depends upon the platform. In the absence of successful modernization, however, mainframe data can be difficult to access in real time. It may be locked away behind proprietary interfaces and obsolete integration technologies.Furthermore, within some organizations, a cultural ‘walled garden’ has imprisoned mainframe data, where cultural inertia holds back the enterprise’s efforts to modernize its business.Breaking down the cultural walled garden around mainframe dataThe good news: there is a well-established movement within the mainframe world dedicated to revamping this cultural inertia – shifting how organizations think about their technology-driven innovation to bring the mainframe into the fold rather than leaving it behind.This movement: The Open Mainframe Project, and its flagship project Zowe. The Open Mainframe Project (OMP) is an initiative of the Linux Foundation, the world’s predominant open-source organization. A consortium of vendors, partners, and academic institutions, including platinum members IBM, ADP, CA Technologies (now Broadcom), and SUSE, founded the OMP in 2015 to encourage the use of Linux and other open-source technologies on mainframes. (Broadcom is an Intellyx customer.)In addition to any technological benefits, the most important aspect of OMP’s vision is the role the mainframe should play in the modern enterprise. According to the OMP, the mainframe should be an active, well-integrated, and essential part of any mainframe-based organization’s IT landscape.In fact, the OMP’s open-source mission leverages more than just the availability of source code and the free use characteristics of open-source software. More importantly, OMP leverages the collaborative nature of the open-source community, which drives innovation on the mainframe.“OMP leverages the collaborative nature of the open-source community, which drives innovation on the mainframe.”By leveraging the collaborative power of open-source, enterprises can transform the mainframe from its vendor-locked status into an interoperable, community-driven platform – the essential characteristics of any cloud-native initiative.Zowe: The heart of the OMPAt the heart of the OMP is Zowe (pronounced ZOH-wee), an open-source framework that provides the technical underpinnings and associated tooling for both developers and mainframe operations personnel to build and leverage open-source software on the mainframe.While the OMP provides an open-source community and ecosystem for the mainframe, Zowe delivers the technical bridge that makes the OMP’s vision a reality.By implementing Zowe, organizations can reduce the risks associated with mainframe modernization, expand the pool of employees comfortable working on the platform, and leverage the mainframe to modernize their enterprises.In fact, many mainframe shops that have implemented Zowe report faster developer onboarding, accelerated access to core business data, and improved collaboration among mainframe teams and the broader distributed computing organization.As a result, mainframe-based organizations can overcome cultural barriers to modernization, becoming more innovative and dynamic by leveraging the data and applications on the mainframe to modernize their businesses.The Intellyx takeIt’s easy to make the case that the increasing maturity of OMP and Zowe drives success and lowers the risks of mainframe modernization. But can we make the broader argument that OMP drives modernization of the entire enterprise?Such modernization goes beyond technology to encompass how people work, interact with customers, and perceive the role technology plays in their organizations.With OMP, the mainframe evolves from a constraint on innovation to a strategic platform for it. Whether it be AI initiatives or other strategic digital efforts, the mainframe can now play a central enabling role for all such activities.One result of this cultural shift is a freeing of resources that had previously been difficult to access. Modernization initiatives, regardless of their particular focus, can now count on the mainframe for support. Numerous enterprise business benefits result from OMP-driven modernization efforts:Change at the enterprise level is both faster and saferModern technology efforts, including AI and cloud native computing, can now rely upon the mainframeEnterprise modernization efforts can take full advantage of the unmatched security and resilience of the platformGreater collaboration across the IT organization, as well as between business and technical staff, drives cultural changeThe mainframe will remain relevant as innovation progresses.No longer offering an ‘us vs. them’ or ‘slow vs. fast’ dichotomy, the mainframe is a powerful, resilient, and secure participant in today’s enterprise modernization efforts.If your organization still struggles to position the mainframe as an engine of innovation across the enterprise, take heart: OMP can show you how to place the mainframe at the heart of enterprise modernization, where the mainframe transforms from a system of record to a system of innovation.The post Mainframe modernization is no longer optional for the AI-driven enterprise appeared first on The New Stack.