Everyone sits on the edge of their couch waiting for the next season or new hot show to drop on Netflix, Apple TV, Hulu, or their favorite streaming platform. Mainframers now have a series just for them: “Big Iron Bits! — A Mainframe Mockumentary.” The exciting new series just premiered in early November as a way for mainframers to humorously educate their colleagues on how valuable this legendary platform is to industries around the world. The first two episodes are now available to watch, and the series will ultimately consist of 12 short episodes
The show’s quirky cast of characters includes the new CIO of Techutex Technologies, Chaz; a long-term mainframer named Larry who is set in his ways but loves his coworkers; a new developer named Ravi, who loves the platform so much he created a mainframe fraternity in college; and Alice, the bridge between the seasoned and new mainframer. What happens in each episode is a mix of chaos and comedy that reveal insightful truths about the mainframe, and its ever-present business value. With businesses across the globe reviewing their technology investments and expenses, mainframers and others in IT departments have had to justify their platforms and investments. “Big Iron Bits” provides those in the ecosystem a way to address those challenges and highlight the value of the mainframe platform.
According to Keelia Estrada Moeller, “Big Iron Bits” producer and marketing content specialist for Broadcom Mainframe Software, Broadcom developed this series to “rally those in the mainframe community and address those obstacles head on.”
“We wanted something that spoke to the mainframe community and some of the challenges they see,” says Estrada Moeller. “It’s funny, and it’s also educational. It’s a conversation starter viewers can share with others outside of the ecosystem to talk about mainframe value.”
In crafting the series, the goals were clear:
- Create approachable conversation starters and solutions to real-world mainframe challenges.
- Develop “edutainment” where facts about mainframe are mixed with entertainment/comedy.
- Offer broad mainframe education to demonstrate the platform’s value to people outside the ecosystem.
- Highlight mainframe talent and their wide breadth of skills and knowledge.
Over the course of the first season, viewers will see Chaz evolve from someone who believes the mainframe needs to be replaced to someone who ultimately champions its business value. With Alice’s dead-pan delivery of mainframe facts (e.g., 74% of the world’s transactions are completed on mainframe), Chaz has little wiggle room to convince the team that the mainframe is not a good investment. Viewers will ultimately see Chaz transform into a champion of the platform, but how it happens will be through a series of follies and missteps on his part.
Mainframe ecosystem audience members are eager for more than just one episode.
Rebecca Rolling, executive director for SHARE, says, “I was completely surprised at the sophisticated ‘humor first’ scripts and professional actors. They’re hilarious! This rivals ‘The Office’ in belly laughs!”
Each episode in season one will be released biweekly until all 12 are available to watch on YouTube, but mainframers shouldn’t wait to binge them. Armed with statistics, customer success stories, white papers, and studies, every person working in mainframe can demonstrate the platform’s value to their business and its executive leaders.