IBM's New Mainframe Is a Security Powerhouse

While the term "mainframe" may conjure images of room-sized computers cranking out calculations decades ago, International Business Machines' (NYSE: IBM) ever-evolving mainframe systems remain relevant more than 50 years after their initial introduction. A staggering 87% of all credit card transactions are touched by an IBM mainframe, along with 29 billion ATM transactions and 4 billion passenger flight bookings annually. A major mainframe refresh comes every few years from IBM, prompting existing customers to upgrade and producing a nice revenue boost for Big Blue.

The last major mainframe refresh came in January 2015 with the launch of the System z13. The z13 is capable of processing 2.5 billion transactions per day, with real-time encryption and embedded analytics. The big selling point of the system was that it could deal with the deluge of financial transactions initiated on mobile devices. A single z13 system can process the equivalent of 100 Cyber Mondays every day. IBM estimated at the time that 40 trillion mobile transactions would take place each day by 2025.

Source: Fool.com