IBM, Linux Foundation, Universities Partner on Open Source Mainframe Computing

IBM says the channel is in dire need of more professionals with mainframe server administration expertise, and just in time for the new school year, it is promoting a partnership with the Linux Foundation, Marist College and Syracuse University to deliver those skills through a new series of MOOCs on open source operating systems.

As one of the oldest computing platforms around, mainframes can appear lackluster in the age of the cloud, ultra-sleek smartphones and wearable computing. But "the need for a trained and modernized mainframe workforce has never been higher," IBM said in a recent statement.

The company backed up the claim with data from a Compuware study that found a "looming skills shortage of mainframe developers," according to two-thirds of CIOs surveyed. Adding to the challenge, the report concluded, is the diversification of modern mainframe workloads, which have evolved considerably in recent years.

IBM and its partners hope that MOOCs, or massively open online courses in which anyone can enroll for free and attend class over the Internet, will help prevent a skills gap that could hurt its mainframe business. And while it's hard to predict how many students in a free MOOC will go on to careers in the mainframe world, the courses have already garnered a lot of attention. More than 140,000 people have enrolled so far in the Linux Foundation's Intro to Linux MOOC, while around 500 have taken the MOOCs on mainframe computing offered this summer by Syracuse University and Marist.