Evolution of Mainframe Education: Part 4
In his annual recap of the Kyndryl Internship Program, Pat Stanard stresses the power of mentorship in ensuring a steady talent pipeline
One of Kyndryl’s core missions is to foster mainframe learning opportunities for young people, ensuring a steady pipeline of talent as experienced professionals approach retirement. This year, I’m proud to be writing my fourth article on the Kyndryl Internship Program—a subject that becomes more urgent with time, and more personal as a mainframer.
What makes this effort truly impactful is the power of mentorship. I’m passionate about guiding university students as they begin their journey into the world of mainframe, the systems that quietly powers much of our world. Mentorship is more than teaching technical skills; it’s about sharing wisdom, instilling confidence, and helping young professionals see the value and potential of a career in mainframes.
This work is a labor of love. It’s essential that we not only educate but also inspire the next generation, welcoming them into a vibrant community where they can thrive, innovate, and eventually lead. The future of the mainframe depends on how well we mentor today’s students into tomorrow’s experts.
The Kyndryl Internship Program
For the fourth consecutive year, I had the privilege of working with our exceptional mainframe interns. This year’s 11-week, partially remote program welcomed 19 participants and spanned several key project areas across Kyndryl, including our mainframe discipline.
Our two mainframe architect interns brought that unmistakable “fire in the belly”—a quality I deeply admire and value in strong work ethics. Our two interns were simply amazing.
I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to Nancy Starace and Mark Baron, two of our lead mainframe architects, for their partnership in running this program. I’m also incredibly grateful to the many mentors and presenters whose contributions were essential to the program’s success.
The Kyndryl Mainframe Internship offers an immersive introduction to the role of a mainframe architect. Interns engage in hands-on zSystems lab work, explore architectural tools, dive into disruptive technologies and gain exposure to mainframe modernization and architectural thinking. They also experience real-world customer interactions through our zCloud and MFaaS teams.
At the program’s conclusion, interns showcase their learning through a team presentation, demonstrating their grasp of why mainframe architecture remains critical in today’s digital landscape. One of the highlights of the internship is a research paper on disruptive technologies. This year’s cohort delivered outstanding work, aligning their insights with our strategic vision: placing the right workload on the right platform.
Here’s a look at the topics they explored this year.
Vivian Aguirre: University of Georgia Junior
Paper: AI & ML on the Mainframe – Z
Per Vivian: While the term legacy can sometimes imply something outdated or obsolete, the mainframe defies that notion. Instead, it stands as a testament to resilience, scalability and unmatched reliability. Its ability to evolve and integrate with modern technologies, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning and containerization, ensures that it continues to play a vital role in digital transformation efforts across the globe.
AI refers to systems designed to simulate human intelligence, while Machine Learning (ML) is a subset of AI that enables systems to learn from data. These technologies are transforming enterprise computing.
The first IBM mainframe was built in 1953, marking the beginning of a technological lineage that has shaped enterprise computing for generations. It took four major iterations before NASA adopted the fifth major update as the backbone of its mission control systems during the Apollo era. Since then, the mainframe has undergone countless updates, evolving to support modern workloads, cloud integration and advanced analytics.
Today, as AI and ML reshape the digital landscape, mainframes are not just keeping pace: they’re becoming integral to these innovations by offering scalability, reliability and processing power needed to support intelligent, data-driven enterprises.
But as data volumes exploded and digital ecosystems became more interconnected and required a unified approach for success, a new imperative emerged: the convergence imperative. In today’s enterprise landscape, AI and ML are no longer an option but integral. Yet, their effectiveness depends on the convergence of several key technologies: big data, analytics, and internet of things (IoT). Big data provides the vast, diverse data sets needed to train intelligent models. Analytics transforms raw data into actionable insights with data storytelling, enabling smarter managerial decision-making. IoT devices generate real-time data streams that fuel predictive models and automation.
Mainframes have evolved to support this convergence. With their ability to handle massive workloads, integrate with cloud platforms and process data at scale, they are uniquely positioned to power AI/ML-driven enterprises. Modern mainframes, like the IBM Z and LinuxONE, are designed to integrate with cloud platforms seamlessly and can run containerized applications using technologies like Docker and Kubernetes, enabling DevOps agility and supporting hybrid and multi-cloud architecture. A standout example is the IBM z17, released in April 2025, which features on-chip AI acceleration via the IBM Telum II processor. This enables real-time inferencing directly on transactional data, ideal for fraud detection, risk scoring and personalized customer experiences.
Christopher Rodriguez: Georgia State University Senior (graduated)
Paper: Optimization in Hybrid Cloud Mainframe Environment
Per Christopher: Over the past 12 weeks as a mainframe architect intern at Kyndryl, I’ve gained a deep understanding of mainframe systems—technologies that are rarely covered in academic settings. Initially, I struggled to grasp their complexity, but I’ve come to appreciate their unmatched reliability, with up to 99.9999999% uptime (just 30 milliseconds of downtime annually), robust security and cutting-edge capabilities like AI and quantum computing. Mainframes are used globally and will remain relevant for years to come.
That said, mainframes face several challenges. One major issue is the lack of education around them. It took me weeks to understand their value, and I realized that most students—and even many executives—aren’t familiar with them. This knowledge gap contributes to misconceptions, with terms like “legacy system” often causing concern. Another challenge is the aging workforce. I witnessed retirements on the mainframe team, and with nearly half of professionals retiring and most students not learning these skills, companies are left vulnerable. Many fear updating their systems, which leads to outdated software and increased costs.
Mainframes also come with high upfront costs, which can deter smaller companies. Ironically, they can be more cost-effective over time compared to cloud-only solutions. Despite their efficiency, languages like COBOL are viewed negatively, even though they consume fewer resources than modern object-oriented languages. This creates a dilemma: Companies know how critical mainframes are but still want to move away from them.
That’s where hybrid cloud solutions like Kyndryl’s ZCloud come in. ZCloud allows organizations to retain the benefits of mainframes while gaining cloud advantages like scalability and cost optimization. It’s a low-risk, high-reward approach that avoids full system overhauls. I see this process in two phases: the visibility phase, where inefficiencies are identified, and the action phase, where targeted improvements are made.
Optimization strategies include updating compilers, balancing workloads, using elastic storage, tuning system configurations and improving hardware and latency. ZCloud also enables smart automation, like scaling during high-demand events. Ultimately, hybrid cloud integration helps companies modernize without abandoning their core systems, preparing them for future technologies like AI and quantum computing while correcting past inefficiencies
Input From Susan Couron
According to Susan Couron, VP, US Enterprise & zCloud, mainframe talent development is critical to sustaining enterprise resilience, scalability and security in an increasingly digital world. As organizations continue to rely on mainframes for mission-critical business operations—ranging from financial transactions to large-scale data processing. The need for a skilled workforce that understands mainframes becomes paramount. Investing in mainframe education ensures continuity of expertise, mitigates operational risk from retiring talent and empowers innovation through modernization initiatives.
For executives, supporting mainframe education is not just a technical imperative-it’s a strategic move to safeguard mission-critical infrastructure and maintain competitive advantage in a rapidly evolving technology landscape. Kyndryl knows how important mainframe education is for us and our customers. The Kyndryl mainframe architect internship does a phenomenal job of training the next generation of mainframe talent while providing them with career growth opportunities. This program is something that I am very passionate about and is generating mainframe talent successfully for the future.
Keeping Up With Mainframe Education
As an adjunct professor at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, I’ve spent the past 10 years guiding IT and computer science students through the wild and wonderful world of enterprise computing. My class dives into the fundamentals of the mainframe—yes, that legendary tech backbone that quietly powers the global economy—and sparks curiosity about mainframe careers. It’s always a full house, proving that mainframe education is still a hot ticket and deserves a front-row seat in our universities.
The Kyndryl Internship Program is a shining example of how we’re keeping the mainframe flame alive. With many seasoned pros heading toward retirement, it’s more important than ever to bring in fresh talent to carry the torch. Mainframes may not be flashy, but they’re the unsung heroes behind Fortune 500 companies—and they need smart, creative minds to keep them running and evolving.
Our interns bring energy, innovation, and a fresh perspective to the platform, helping modernize and optimize it for the future (and beyond!). It’s exciting to see the next generation step up and make their mark on a technology that quietly keeps the world spinning.