New York City may be “The Big Apple” and Chicago may be America’s “Second City,” but when it comes to the mainframe, there are two big “P”s that are sure to appease. Of course, every mainframer knows of Poughkeepsie, IBM’s mainframe central station. But this summer, the 2026 SHARE conference is at another big “P” that even IBM’s PJ Catalano (Principal Test Lead, IBM Z & LinuxONE at IBM) would have to admit merits appreciation.
Of course, that city is Pittsburgh. Not only is it the home of Penguins, Pirates (who should be in town during SHARE), and Steelers, it’s also home to many great food and drink establishments. And it’s also the nexus of some important mainframe history.
I checked with my Pittsburgh-based friends and colleagues Carla Flores (Global Cybersecurity Solution Advisor at Broadcom Software), whom I’ve known and worked on mainframe security with since the beginning of the millennium, Scott McFall (System Z & Open-Source Advocate, Enterprise IT & Business Skills Training Expert), who is a key figure in mainframe education with his Pittsburgh-based company ProTech Enterprise IT Training & Consulting, and my mentor and hero Jeanette Stroud Dossi (SHARE emerita and formerly of CA Technologies), and received the following wealth of insights about Pittsburgh.
First, some mainframe-relevant history.
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)
Pioneering Computing: CMU’s first Computation Center opened in 1956, placing the city at the center of the earliest days of computer science culture. AI & Time-Sharing: In the 1960s, CMU expanded its mainframe capabilities (utilizing large-scale systems like the Univac 1108). The university's heavy reliance on batch processing and multi-user access shaped early artificial intelligence and time-sharing developments. Documenting the Era: CMU produced “The Wild West of Computing,” an oral history podcast that documents the transition from early punch-card computing to the modern tech boom in Pittsburgh.
The University of Pittsburgh
Cathedral of Learning Mainframe: Pitt's early mainframes were originally housed in the seventh and eighth floors of the Cathedral of Learning.
The IBM Building
Downtown Pittsburgh’s Five Gateway Center (now the United Steelworkers Building) was originally constructed as the IBM Building in the early 1960s, serving as a regional hub for enterprise mainframe services.
Robert Morris University (RMU)
Because major legacy mainframe systems are still heavily utilized by banking and government agencies, Robert Morris University remains one of the few universities in the world that offers a dedicated mainframe computing course in its curriculum.
Duquesne Systems, Inc.
It was founded in Pittsburgh in 1970 as a software company. It developed and supported products to enhance productivity for IBM mainframe operating systems. By the late 1980s, its portfolio included Multi image Manager (MIM and MIC), Automate, Astex (storage management), TPX, and STX. In 1988, it merged with Morino Associates (MICS) in Virginia to form Legent Corporation.
In 1992, Legent acquired Goal Systems, which was headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. (Historically, Goal Systems was a software vendor for VSE and VM operating systems. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Goal started developing management software for MVS and acquiring niche MVS software companies, such as Epic (TMS), Essential (SAR), and MVS Software (OPS/MVS).)
Some of the Columbus MVS personnel were transferred to Pittsburgh’s Legent location, which was then located in the north side Allegheny Center. Legent was apparently thriving and constructed a four-story office building near the Pittsburgh International Airport. The Legent Corporate Data Center was located in a Pittsburgh suburb.
Legent’s CIO was forward thinking and developed a close relationship with IBM. Legent was an early adopter of the first CMOS Parallel Enterprise Server hardware and participated in IBM beta programs. This helped Legent’s software developers support new features quickly.
In 1995, Computer Associates acquired Legent for $1.78 billion, the largest ever software industry acquisition at that time. Because of the importance of the Pittsburgh-based software portfolio, the site was shrunk but not closed. CA continued to participate in IBM early release programs and upgrade mainframe hardware. When the P/390 became available, a couple of guys in the Pittsburgh site built a P/390 lab to host z/OS environments for development and quality assurance (QA) technicians across all CA products.
Around that same time, ProTech Professional Technical Services, Inc., was founded in Pittsburgh, and they have a very visible presence at SHARE, including a booth at the STE.
Meanwhile, the revenue from mainframe products enabled Computer Associates, later CA Technologies, to survive various forays into distributed software management. Then, in 2018, Broadcom acquired CA for $18.9 billion to expand its portfolio into enterprise and mainframe management software. This was a breath of fresh air to the mainframe staff in Pittsburgh and around the world. Investment in the mainframe products and people was revived. Broadcom is a major sponsor of SHARE.
Varied Food and Culture
Pittsburgh also has a diverse cultural food scene and several local watering holes (breweries), often associated with the letter “P,” such as Primanti Bros and pierogies. Indeed, apparently the best pierogies are homemade by the Polish Nannas and sold at church fundraisers. There are also other favorite joints around town such as Scott’s very favorite pierogi dish in a fantastic church turned brewery. There’s also Butterjoint, Pierogies Plus, and APTEKA. Pittsburgh has a diverse cultural food scene; find some recommendations on SHARE’d Intelligence.
There is also the opportunity to take a trip on the incline (The Monongahela Incline) to Mount Washington, where there are several great places to eat (Restaurant Reservation Availability | OpenTable). Several restaurants overlook the city on the mountain and eating while watching the city light up at night can be a magical experience.
And don’t miss the Large Scale Systems Museum (LSSM). It is located in New Kensington, a suburb just outside Pittsburgh. The LSSM contains exhibits on mainframes, minicomputers, and supercomputers from the 1970s to 1990s. (Large Scale Systems Museum / Museum of Applied Computer Technology). There you can see examples of IBM S/370 and S/390 mainframes, Cray supercomputers, and vintage storage devices.
To augment all of this, see our previous post highlighting what to see in America’s Steel City.
In fact, there’s so much more that Carla encourages readers keep checking for updated local recommendations as the conference approaches. She’ll work on compiling that with a few folks from the Pittsburgh Broadcom office, as well and get the word out through social channels and onsite. One good place to monitor is the #SHAREPittsburgh hashtag.
Game on at SHARE Pittsburgh
So, here’s the game: while you’re at SHARE, you will see a lot more local mainframers (that have “Pittsburgh” as their home city on their conference badges) than you may be used to at the conference. While some of them may be employees of important local mainframe shops such as banks, some of them may also be software experts associated with the above history. And all of them will have favorite places they can recommend.
Here is your treasure hunt questionnaire to try on any attendee whose badge says they’re based in Pittsburgh; after asking these questions, you may find that not only do you have new insights into Pittsburgh’s mainframe history, but you’ll have new ideas about what to do while you’re there, and a new mainframe colleague you know as well!
- Who do you work for and what is your role?
- What is your connection to Pittsburgh’s mainframe history?
- What are the best things to do, eat, and drink while at SHARE Pittsburgh?
For real-time updates about what to do, and to include your own findings, please check out the #SHAREPittsburgh hashtag on LinkedIn and post your updates there. We look forward to your discoveries!
Enjoy!