SOFTWARE major IBM is in the process of tying up with six universities in India to fill the shortage of engineers trained in Mainframe technology, which is fast gaining wide acceptance among different industry sectors worldwide.

The collaboration is part of IBM’s academic initiative—System Program, under which IBM is tying up with 230 universities worldwide to have 20,000 trained Mainframe engineers by 2010.

“IBM will provide colleges and universities with educational resources to enhance the IBM System z skilled resource base and help students develop relevant skill-sets in Mainframe technology before entering the job-market,” said Jyoti Satyanathan vice-president, STG, IBM India/South Asia.

Talks are on with six universities in different parts of the country, he said, while adding a significant number of mainframe professionals are expected to come out of these varsities.

“Mainframe professionals have always been in demand. With the wide adaptation of the Mainframe technology across practically all sectors and verticals, we expect the demand for Mainframe engineers to grow,” said Sathyanathan.

According to Sathyanathan, more than 70 per cent of large corporationsworldwide use Mainframes to run their critical business applications. They also have huge databases, which can be managed only by Mainframes. There are about 10,000 Mainframe footprints worldwide across verticals, including banking-financial services, manufacturing, stock exchanges and depositories, utilities, airlines, railways, oil-sector PSUs and the travel industry.