Mainframe modernization remains a difficult undertaking for enterprises that depend on decades-old applications to support essential business operations. Financial transactions, customer records, insurance processes and other mission-critical workflows can rely on systems whose underlying logic is poorly documented and understood by only a limited number of experienced specialists.
As those specialists approach retirement, organizations face a growing knowledge gap. Replacing legacy applications without understanding their actual behavior can introduce operational failures, disrupt business processes and increase modernization costs.
Emtech is addressing this challenge with QMT Mainframe, a new platform announced at Protectors Vegas 2026. The product automatically discovers how mainframe applications operate, maps their workflows into an executable Digital Blueprint and generates tests to verify application behavior.
The objective is to help enterprises preserve knowledge about existing systems while creating a more structured foundation for application modernization.
Digital Blueprints Capture Existing Application Behavior
QMT Mainframe centers on automatically discovering the functionality of legacy applications rather than relying exclusively on existing documentation or manual knowledge transfer.
Its Digital Blueprint represents application screens, fields, validation conditions and workflow paths in an executable model. This provides development and modernization teams with a structured reference for understanding how an existing application behaves.
The distinction between documentation and executable knowledge is important. Traditional documentation can become outdated as applications change, while undocumented business rules may remain embedded in application logic.
Emtech says its patented Deterministic Knowledge Graph technology builds application documentation and tests from discovered behavior. This approach is intended to give teams a verifiable record of how the system operates.
The resulting Blueprint can support two connected activities: regression testing of existing applications and validation of replacement systems during modernization.
For example, a financial institution replacing a legacy transaction-processing application could use the Blueprint to identify existing validation rules, workflow dependencies and business conditions. Developers could then test whether the replacement application preserves the required functionality.
Automated Testing Targets Mainframe Modernization Risk
Testing is another major part of QMT Mainframe’s proposition.
Enterprises maintaining legacy applications often face lengthy testing cycles because changes must be checked against complex workflows and interconnected business rules. Manual testing can place additional pressure on teams that already depend on a limited number of mainframe specialists.
QMT Mainframe aims to automate test generation and execution using the behavior captured in its Digital Blueprint.
According to Emtech, automated and repeatable testing can reduce the effort required to validate application changes, improve operational confidence and reduce dependence on individual experts.
The same testing foundation can also help organizations evaluate modernized applications. Rather than treating migration as a simple transfer of code and data, teams can compare the behavior of the replacement system against the discovered logic of the original application.
This is particularly relevant for modernization programs involving application reengineering, platform migration and gradual replacement of legacy infrastructure.
Internal Benchmark Reports 100% Screen Coverage
To demonstrate the platform’s capabilities, Emtech conducted an internal test using a simulated application. The company reported the following results:
Emtech’s QMT Mainframe benchmark
100%
Screen coverage
57
Screens reached
170
Fields tested
638
Digital Blueprint model nodes
102
Workflow paths discovered
142
Validation points verified
102
Tests generated and executed
3m 50s
Test execution time
Parallel test execution
16 tests
Company-reported internal benchmark using a simulated application, not a customer production environment. Results may vary by application and configuration.
The results suggest that automated application discovery and model-driven testing could reduce the manual effort involved in documenting and validating complex legacy systems. However, the figures should be treated as an internal demonstration rather than independently verified evidence of production performance.
The distinction matters because real mainframe environments can involve integrations, data dependencies, transaction volumes and operational constraints that are not necessarily represented in a simulated application.
Mainframe Modernization Moves Toward Knowledge Preservation
The launch comes as enterprises continue balancing the reliability of established mainframe infrastructure with demands for modernization, cloud integration and more automated development processes.
A 2025 Kyndryl study found that 70% of surveyed organizations had difficulty finding the skilled talent needed for mainframe modernization. The research also found that 89% considered mainframes very or extremely important to business strategy and operations.
These figures illustrate why modernization is not simply a matter of replacing older infrastructure. Enterprises must understand which business rules, workflows and application behaviors need to survive the transition.
Established technology providers such as IBM continue to support mainframe modernization through application transformation, hybrid integration and modernization tooling. Emtech is approaching a more specific part of the problem: discovering existing application behavior and converting it into a reusable testing and modernization reference.
QMT Mainframe’s commercial relevance will depend on how accurately it can discover complex applications, how well its generated tests represent real business requirements and whether its Digital Blueprints remain useful as systems evolve.
For CIOs, quality engineering leaders and modernization teams, the proposition is straightforward: understand the system before changing it, automate the testing process and preserve the knowledge required to validate what comes next.
Market Landscape
QMT Mainframe enters the enterprise software modernization and automated testing market, where organizations are increasingly looking for ways to preserve legacy application knowledge while reducing the cost and risk of transformation.
Four market developments are particularly relevant:
- Mainframe modernization: Enterprises are updating legacy applications while retaining critical business functionality.
- AI-assisted software engineering: AI technologies are increasingly being used to discover application dependencies, interpret legacy systems and support development workflows.
- Automated software testing: Model-driven testing can reduce dependence on manually maintained test scripts and improve regression testing.
- Enterprise knowledge preservation: Digital representations of application behavior can help organizations retain institutional knowledge and support modernization planning.
Kyndryl’s 2025 research found that 70% of organizations face difficulties finding the talent needed for mainframe modernization. This creates an opportunity for platforms that automate application discovery and testing.
The competitive landscape includes IBM mainframe modernization technologies, Broadcom mainframe software and BMC Software application management and automation solutions.
Emtech’s differentiation is its focus on creating an executable Digital Blueprint that connects application discovery, automated testing and modernization validation.
Top Insights
- QMT Mainframe automatically discovers legacy application behavior and converts it into an executable Digital Blueprint for enterprise modernization.
- Emtech’s Deterministic Knowledge Graph technology connects application discovery, documentation and automated testing through a structured representation of existing system behavior.
- The platform addresses mainframe skills shortages by reducing dependence on individual experts for application documentation and regression testing.
- An internal simulated application test achieved 100% screen coverage across 57 screens, although production performance remains independently unverified.
- Digital Blueprints provide modernization teams with a behavioral reference for checking whether replacement applications preserve critical business functionality.
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