According to new IDC survey conducted to gain insight into usage of IBM System z mainframes, almost 50% of the 300 respondents are planning to increase their spending annually on mainframe hardware and software. The study, "Mainframe Directions in the Multi-Platform Data Center 2009-2013: Today's Workloads and Future Outlook," was conducted during the winter and spring of 2009 all participants were IBM mainframe users.

The study uncovered an emergence of what IDC described as a blended or hybrid approach to computing on the IBM System z platform. "Customers are finding that new workloads, including Linux-based and Java-based workloads, can leverage the mainframe's built-in security and high levels of availability, by running them on mainframe specialty processors, such as the IFL, zIIP and zAAP processors," states Jean S. Bozman, research vice president with IDC's Enterprise Platforms Group. "This pattern of adoption is placing software licensing costs on a lower price schedule for these new workloads than if they were running natively on the IBM System z hardware platform. In this way, customers are seeing a blended approach to deploying and maintaining workloads-carrying longtime workloads forward on System z, even as they bring new workloads onto the mainframe."

In other key findings, the study determined that IBM has revitalized the mainframe with the specialty processor strategy; and that attributes, including "processing power" and "system reliability/uptime," were among the primary reasons for organizations to host applications on the mainframe. For more information on the IDC study, go here.