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Revolutionizing Mainframe Delivery

Deliver mainframe change faster and
more cost effectively than ever

PopUp Mainframe – your own mainframe environment whenever you need it

Solving common mainframe issues:

Mainframe processing speeds are famously fast, but the time to delivery of mainframe systems is hampered by resource challenges, highly complex systems, and rigid, inflexible processes.

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Changing mainframe systems is subject to tight controls because the organizations that use them are highly regulated. Ensuring all mainframe change is undertaken without risk is imperative.

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While the cost per transaction is famously low for mainframe systems, the cost of change is worryingly high, often compounded by operational and organizational bottlenecks.

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Today’s digital business must move at the pace of the always-on consumer, yet many mainframe systems are unable to provide instantly available resources to support rapid deployment.

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IT has a huge part to play in helping meet sustainability targets, yet precious few organizations have looked at how to reduce emissions and resource usage with innovative solutions.

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Traditional tooling and limitations in available resources hamper mainframe organizations’ IT skills and training programs – making resourcing and delivery a difficult challenge.

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Your on-demand mainframe environment is here

Fast, cost-efficient, fully functional

PopUp Mainframe delivers mainframe change faster and more cost-effectively than ever, by providing mainframe delivery teams with an immediately available, fully functioning mainframe.

We revolutionize mainframe delivery by removing the most commonplace of challenges – delivery bottlenecks – and dramatically reduce the cost of change.

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  • Reduce the Cost of Critical System Change
  • Deliver Mainframe Change Faster Than Ever
  • Meet Changing Demands With Flexibility
  • Retain Control of Core Processes
  • Deliver on Green IT objectives
  • Resolve skills and resourcing challenges

Tackling Challenges Across the Mainframe Team

PopUp Mainframe addresses bottlenecks across key functions within the mainframe technical organization

Application Developers

An always-on z/OS environment including apps, data, tools and config enables developers to collaborate and accelerate their delivery pipeline activities.

Testing / QA Teams

A scalable, replicable z/OS instance ensures testing cycles can complete as fast as required, and all testing staff have access to the right environment when they need it.

Training Providers / Teams

So often overlooked in terms of mainframe access, training teams benefit from PopUp’s instantaneous, fully configured z/OS environment to accelerate onboarding activities

DBAs

Investigating new releases while managing multiple versions in production is a DBA resourcing and scheduling headache, resolved by an always-on sandbox for testing new versions.

SysProg / SysAdmin

Initiating new LPAR environments across a multiplicity of subsystems and user requirements is highly resource intensive. Imagine offering a self-service solution that consumes no extra LPAR resource?

Industry thoughts on PopUp Mainframe

“The PopUp Mainframe capability is another breakthrough technology that adds even greater value to the LinuxOne and IFL/KVM environments. As our clients continue to seek ways to maximise their IBM z investments, PopUp Mainframe stands out as a powerful tool—enabling them to accelerate mainframe innovation and drive measurable business value more efficiently than ever before”.
Paul Knight
Paul KnightTES Enterprise Solutions
“Hosting critical time- and availability-sensitive business functionality on the mainframe remains a vital part of IT in the enterprise and much of the public sector. But change management on the mainframe can be slow and inefficient, especially as business complexity and regulatory pressures increase. Innovative technologies such as PopUp Mainframe offer mainframe teams opportunities to accelerate the delivery velocity of their business-critical systems.”
Guy Currier
Guy CurrierFuturum Group
“The introduction of PopUp Mainframe’s tools on Linux on Z unlocks new possibilities for mainframe agility and workload testing. This strategic move enables organizations to harness Linux environments directly on the mainframe to allow for the deployment of modern DevOps processes while ensuring operational efficiency for mainframe teams.”
Steven Dickens
Steven DickensHyperFRAME Research
"PopUp Mainframe just seems so compelling - instant mainframe images, fully configured, for development"
Stephen Foskett
Stephen FoskettHost, Tech Field Day
"Such an important and extremely useful tool for the mainframer"
Geoffrey Decker
Geoffrey DeckerInstructor, Northern Illinois University and Co-Founder, Eli Madison Memorial Apprenticeship (EMMA)
"PopUp Mainframe offers an innovative solution to mainframe organizations looking to accelerate their deliveries."
Bill Vitiello
Bill VitielloCo-Founder at Direct Computer Resources (owner of DataVantage)
"PopUp Mainframe delivers code-and-component-complete virtual mainframe environments onto cloud or local hardware in minutes, so DevOps teams can safely observe changes and module installations, in order to predictably run functional, performance and reliability tests"
Jason English
Jason EnglishPartner & Principal Analyst, Intellyx
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Award-Winning Innovation

Blog

January 22, 2026

Modern mainframe development – responding to reality

Seen as the engine room of IT for large enterprises, the mainframe delivery process is under relentless pressure to deliver at the pace of business change, but challenges facing development leaders makes this appear difficult. Yet, in reality, effective modernization is simpler than you think.
January 15, 2026

Are Testing Times Finally Over for Mainframe QA?

As the software world continues to modernize, the mainframe delivery process is under constant pressure to keep up with the pace of modern business change. Yet with long-standing restrictions, improvements have been largely elusive. Until now, that is.
January 6, 2026

PopUp Mainframe Announces Even Greater Delivery Flexibility For Mainframe Developers

We’ve just launched our latest release, the new PopUp Mainframe Flex Edition. Here is the press notification in full.