Mainframe technology is here to stay. Just add innovation.
Where mainframe computers are concerned, the Technology Spectator says it better than I could:
In a world where IT continues to power forward, the longevity of the mainframe and its place in today's computing environment is increasingly being questioned. With 'change' often confused with 'progress', a mainframe's durability can work against it. As demand grows for more agile and innovative systems, it is difficult to reconcile a technology in its sixth decade with the technology we carry around in our pockets or use at home. But while dissenters continue to challenge the validity of the mainframe, the technology keeps on proving its worth.Few consumers know or understand that "ancient" mainframe technology is working behind the scenes in the banking, travel, and insurance sectors, and that's unlikely to change. What is changing though is the insertion of start-up mentality and innovation into the mainframe ecosystem, like Splunk, a search specialist, teaming up with Syncsort to unlock some of the data being produced by mainframe systems. What does not change though, is the fact that mainframe systems require specialized skill sets, and those experts are getting hard to find. Not a good thing in an environment of ever-more-stringent compliance and regulatory requirements.
I see owning a mainframe as a Catch 22 to not stop owning a mainframe. Once you're in (especially if you've been in long enough that you would have at one point needed to have bought a mainframe), the price of switching your business to modern architecture goes up up and away.
But hell, I could be off base on all of this is the price is right. I don't have to time to look up numbers right now, so if someone wants to slam me into the ground with prices, that'd be cool.