Mainframe Modernization Replatforming & Refactoring with zCloud and AWS

Kyndryl’s market-leading zCloud solution is now available through the AWS Marketplace, providing clients with a flexible, multi-tenant, pay-as-you-go Mainframe-as-a-Service (MFaaS) offering designed for organizations modernizing their mainframe environments. zCloud is ideal for clients looking to modernize applications while maintaining close integration with AWS cloud services and ecosystems.

Kyndryl believes modernization is not a one-time event, but a continuous journey. This is especially true for mainframe environments, where some applications are ready to modernize today while others must continue to operate on the platform due to complexity, risk, or business dependency. As a result, most enterprises will operate in hybrid cloud environments for years to come, requiring seamless coexistence between mainframe and cloud-native applications.

The combination of AWS and Kyndryl zCloud provides an ideal solution for this hybrid future. While zCloud is not physically hosted inside AWS data centers, it is strategically located adjacent to AWS regions to minimize latency and optimize connectivity. This enables clients to move workloads out of traditional data centers while maintaining high-performance integration between mainframe systems and AWS cloud services.

By leveraging proximity to AWS, clients can take advantage of modern DevSecOps, AI-driven development capabilities, and cloud-based data platforms such as Snowflake, Databricks, and AWS Lake House technologies. Customers can also leverage Kyndryl’s Agentic AI Framework together with AWS Transform to accelerate and continuously modernize mainframe applications, automate analysis, improve developer productivity, and reduce modernization risk.

This joint AWS and Kyndryl offering also simplifies commercial procurement. Customers can transact directly through AWS Marketplace and apply existing AWS consumption commitments toward Kyndryl zCloud services. In addition, because zCloud is a fully managed solution, Kyndryl assumes responsibility for managing mainframe infrastructure, hardware, software licensing, and ongoing operations, allowing clients to focus on business innovation rather than platform management.