IBM recently welcomed more than 6,000 customers, as well as IBM execs and other IT industry leaders, to Las Vegas, Nevada, for IBM Edge2015.

theCUBE hosts Dave Vellante and Stu Miniman observed that the event has expanded through the years to include mainframe servers, Power Systems servers, an even an “analytics flavor.”

Coming full circle

“We’ve come full circle in the IT world,” said Miniman. “What started on the mainframe is now back on the mainframe.”

Vellante said that IBM’s recent announcement of the z13 mainframe will give IBM an earnings boost, as well as expand its presence in the marketplace. “IBM has brought the open Linux platform to the main frame, which allows people to develop modern Linux-based apps on top of the Linux platform,” he said.

The future for IBM hardware and flash storage solutions

theCUBE hosts predict 2015 to be a strong year for IBM’s hardware division and for its flash storage solutions, which have improved with the acquisition of Texas Memory Systems.

“We’ll see more innovation and change happening in the next four years with flash than we did in the last six,” said Miniman.

Watch the full interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of IBM Edge2015.