WSJ via MSN:  “Banks, insurance providers and airlines still find uses, including artificial intelligence, for the large computers that have been around for decades The industrial-strength mainframe computer, invented decades ago for heavy-duty data processing, is proving its staying power even as next-generation artificial intelligence takes center stage. The two are interconnected: Banks, insurance providers and airlines are a few of the big industries that still rely on the mainframe for high-speed data processing. And now, some are looking to apply AI to their transaction data at the hardware source, rather than in the cloud. For banks, analyzing potentially fraudulent transactions must be accomplished in milliseconds. “You can’t go off to the cloud, go do a search, go do a generative AI query, because it will just time out,” said Steven Dickens, vice president and practice leader for cloud at Futurum Group, a research and advisory firm. That means performing a query, looking it up and analyzing it can only happen in real time, on the mainframe, he said. “Everyone’s kind of realizing that it’s better to bring your AI to where the data is, than the data to the AI,” said Ross Mauri, general manager of International Business Machines’ mainframe systems. IBM reported 6% growth in its mainframe business during the quarter that ended June 30. Part of the mainframe’s staying power is that it can support huge numbers of transactions, as many as 30,000 a second, at super fast speeds. The latest version of IBM’s zSystem mainframe can hold up to 40 terabytes of data, weigh up to 1,800 pounds and cost upward of $1 million. IBM is by far the biggest player in mainframes, with over 96% of the market, followed by NEC, Fujitsu and Hitachi, according to International Data Corp. Forty-five of the top 50 banks and four of the top five airlines still use mainframes as their core platform, IBM said. Globally, the mainframe market was valued at $3.05 billion in 2023, but new mainframe sales are expected to decline through 2028, IDC said. Of existing mainframes, however, 54% of enterprise leaders in a 2023 Forrester survey said they would increase their usage over the next two years.

Working with AI and the cloud – As companies modernize their information-technology tools, mainframe computers will continue to play a role. BMC Software, an IT services, consulting, and enterprise software company, said clients want to run AI on those machines, although such uses likely won’t materialize until next year, according to John McKenny, BMC senior vice president and general manager for mainframe modernization. The ability to access or replicate their mainframe data in the cloud also helps companies train AI models, said Phil Buckellew, president of Rocket Software’s infrastructure modernization unit.”