Understand and troubleshoot your data and infrastructure with more confidence:
- With Data Privacy in Diagnostics, IMS V15.2 enables you to remove private identifiable information before shipping diagnostic information to IBM.
More information can be found here.
Dynatrace has announced that it has extended Dynatrace, its AI-powered platform, to include IBM Z support for IMS, CICS, and middleware. This gives customers precise information about the performance of digital services across hybrid environments; from modern cloud applications to the mainframe. Dynatrace provides software intelligence to simplify enterprise cloud complexity and accelerate digital transformation. It provides end-to-end visibility by automatically discovering and mapping every transaction with a single AI-powered solution. This real time visibility, from cloud to the mainframe, gives enterprises a competitive advantage – they can eliminate inefficiencies and consequently, innovate at a faster rate.
More information can be found here.
Compuware has updated Topaz for Total Test, its automated mainframe unit testing software. The product now provides automated unit testing for IMS batch and transactional applications.
More information can be found here.
BMC Software has announced new capabilities for its BMC Data Management and MainView solutions for IBM IMS, offering enhanced continuous availability, scalability, security, lower CPU consumption, and improved management of unpredictable workloads.
The new solutions are designed to help provide improved mean time to recovery (MTTR), reduce resource consumption and costs, and deliver improved reporting capabilities.
The new capabilities are intended to help resolve IMS issues faster when exceptions occur, through integration of the MainView solution with the Log Analyzer for IMS capability. They are designed to automatically restart applications using VSAM Record Level Sharing, helping to reduce resource consumption and costs with the ability to identify and take action on looping transactions. They also aim to help improve IMS transaction throughput and performance through tuning recommendations, including preloaded transactions.
More information can be found here and here.
IBM has announced IMS V15, which delivers capabilities that help users:
- Confidently manage risk – IMS V15 with the IBM z14 allows z/OS data set encryption of IMS data with minimal CPU overhead and no application changes. It also provides support for leveraging RACF password enforcement and other RACF features critical for end-to-end security in a connected mainframe environment.
- Amplify your business efficiency – IMS V15 delivers dynamic configuration of Java environment variables and options, providing better security, flexibility, and control. It also supports the tracking of JVM usage statistics, including elapsed run time, heap memory used, number of threads processed, and more. In addition, the IMS logger leverages DFSMS Media Manager, which enables the use of hardware features that maximize performance.
- Simplify system administration – reducing reliance on the IMS system definition process, simplify dynamic resource definition, and helps keep IMS trouble free.
More information can be found here.
Compuware has announced the latest version of Topaz Workbench/File-AID, which provides file and data management to access, edit, compare, move, and transform data. Topaz Workbench provides a modern, Eclipse-based IDE for File-AID. File-AID for IMS DBD Visualization lets users visualize the structure of physical or logical IMS databases to understand the segments, keys, logical relationships, and other fields defined within the DBD.
More information can be found here.
Compuware has acquired Standardware's COPE IMS virtualization technology to broaden essential agile DevOps enablement of the mainframe. They say: "Faster, Easier and Less Costly Development and Testing of Critical Back-End Systems Help Large Enterprises Better Compete in Digital Markets".
More information can be found here.
IBM has released a new z/OS Platform for Apache Spark, which enables Spark to run natively on z/OS. This makes it easier for data scientists and developers to apply advanced analytics on the rich data that is available for real-time insights.
The solution supports programming languages such as Scala, Python, R, and SQL. Data abstraction services allow analysts to interact with data in formats they use with traditional databases, such as IMS, VSAM, and DB2. The services also enable z/OS analytics applications to leverage standard Spark APIs.
More information can be found here.
IBM has announced the General Availability of IMS 14. In addition, IBM announced new offerings for IMS Database (DB) Manager Value Unit Edition (VUE) and IMS Transaction Manager (TM) Value Unit Edition, IMS Tools and IMS Enterprise Suite.
More information can be found here.
BMC has announced new versions of its mainframe cost optimization suite, Mainframe MLC Cost Management, which are meant to help mainframe customers save on monthly licensing charge (MLC) software costs. The suite includes BMC's Cost Analyzer for zEnterprise, BMC's Intelligent Capping (iCap) for zEnterprise, and BMC's Subsystem Optimizer for zEnterprise. BMC's Subsystem Optimizer 2.0 adds new options for saving money by separating IMS TM (Information Management System Transaction Manager) subsystems from corresponding DB2 databases, which can significantly lower costs, they claim.
More information can be found here.
SQData has announced SQData’s replication feature for IBM’s DB2 Analytics Accelerator (IDAA), which is designed for users of advanced data analytics where access to current, real-time information is a critical requirement. With SQData’s IDAA replication, companies now have the ability to leverage the power of the DB2 Analytics Accelerator with real-time data from a variety of operational sources. Key features include near-real-time replication directly into IDAA from IMS, DB2, VSAM, and non-z/OS databases.
More information can be found here.
Compuware has announced Version 5.2 of Strobe, which provides insight into how application code (including IMS, DB2, COBOL 5.1, and MQ processes) consumes resources in IBM z Systems environments. This, they claim, enables IT to drive down mainframe costs while significantly improving application responsiveness for both internal end-users and customers. Amongst the enhancements is global IMS transaction monitoring. Strobe 5.2 now collects information on IMS transaction performance including execution counts, elapsed times, and CPU times throughout the day, week, and month. This is accomplished automatically and with minimal impact. Strobe reports also help teams zero in on specific transactions exhibiting sub-standard performance.
More information can be found here.
Compuware has announced Version 12.4 of Abend-AID, its fault management tool. The new release features tighter cross-product integration, modernized utilities, and usability enhancements. There's deeper integration between Abend-AID and File-AID within the Eclipse plug-ins, which facilitates faster problem solving. Abend-AID Fault Analytics now shares common Web services with iStrobe to help users simplify and automate common tasks. Compuware Find & Fix functionality has been expanded to include IMS, Batch, and DB2 components along with existing CICS support.
Syncsort has announced new technology, which is now committed as SQOOP-1272, that supports loading multiple mainframe data sets to each of the nodes in a Hadoop cluster in parallel and transforming them into any Apache Sqoop-supported file format. This makes it simple for organizations to integrate data from mainframe databases, such as DB2/z, IMS, Adabas, IDMS, and Datacom, with the rest of the data in a typical next-generation Big Data environment. This make it more cost-effective to store mainframe historical data in HDFS and will also help free-up mainframe CPU cycles by allowing customers to move expensive data processing workloads from the mainframe to Hadoop.
More information can be found here.
GT Software has announced Version 4.6 of Ivory Service Architect, which allows users to extend access to mainframe applications, data, and processes through Web services. It now provides support for IMS/TM multiple segment output messages, and variable length output messages.
More information can be found here.
BMC Software has announced BMC Subsystem Optimizer for zEnterprise, which removes the traditional requirement that DB2, IMS, and CICS subsystems must reside on the same LPAR to communicate and process workloads. Users can now reduce MLC charges by reconfiguring their subsystem placement across partitions. The product ensures that calls to DB2 and IMS can always be delivered to a subsystem on other partitions.
More information can be found here.
IBM has announced a new version of IMS Transaction Manager Value Unit Edition (TM VUE) that delivers an alternative and attractive pricing option to access IMS assets from qualified Java, mobile, analytics, and big data workloads. IBM is offering one-time-charge (OTC) pricing for newly-qualified IMS workloads on IBM System z New Application License Charges (zNALC) Logical Partitions (LPARs). IMS TM VUE terms limit its use to support of Eligible Workloads (net new applications or workloads).
More information can be found here.
Imperva has acquired real-time mainframe security auditing agents from Tomium Software. The Tomium Software solution enhances the security of z/OS mainframe environments by enabling continuous auditing of DB2 and IMS database activity with event monitoring. Tomium Software monitoring agents stream real-time audit data to the Imperva SecureSphere platform, a centralized security management and reporting framework.
More information can be found here.
Compuware has announced enhancements to Compuware Strobe, a component of Compuware APM for Mainframe. Strobe is a mainframe application performance measurement and analysis solution that helps users pinpoint application inefficiencies. Amongst other enhancements, Strobe Advisor now automatically highlights the largest performance opportunities and provides recommendations on how to resolve problems. Strobe Advisor now includes information on IMS, CICS, and Language Environment (LE) performance issues.
More information can be found here.
CA Technologies has released Version 7.1 of CA LISA. Enhanced mainframe support includes the IMS Connect protocol for IMS gateway transactions and full support for standard system IRM (IMS Request Message) headers and COBOL copybook or XML parsers used with IMS Connect. More information can be found here.
IBM has announced IMS 13. More information can be found here.
Syncsort has completed the acquisition of UK-based Circle Computer Group. Circle's flagship product, DL/2, provides a software engine that enables the rapid, transparent migration of applications accessing large quantities of data from IMS to DB2, without requiring any application changes. This mainframe data can be made securely available to Big Data platforms such as Apache Hadoop by using Syncsort's DMX-h product line. More information can be found here.
CA Technologies has announced Version 16 of CA Database Management for IMS, which offers expanded support for IMS 13. More information can be found here.
Parasoft has announced a new release of its Service Virtualization solution, which helps development and QA teams access the complete, realistic test environments needed to develop or test an application. They can capture real system behaviour by using monitors to record live transaction details, by analysing transaction logs, or by modelling behaviour from a simple interface. This latest release introduces advanced service virtualization for mainframes and enables fast, easy manipulation of complex data structures for use in defining sophisticated simulation behaviour.
Parasoft's Service Virtualization enables organizations to simulate the application under test's interactions with subsystems including IMS, CICS regions, and DB2 databases. Communication may occur over protocols such as MQ, HTTP, TCP/IP, and JDBC, and it may involve payloads such as Copybook, XML, fixed-length or other custom message format. This not only promotes faster, more complete testing, but also minimizes disruption to high-value mainframe resources that could be better utilized for runtime or later-stage testing and validation. More information can be found here.
IBM has announced the IBM Enterprise COBOL for z/OS V5.1 compiler, which works with the latest versions of IMS, CICS, and DB2. It's expected to be available later this quarter. The new software: provides support for Java 7, new UTF-8 built-ins, debugging enhancements, and support for unbounded tables and groups; supports a new level of z/OS System Management Facilities (SMF) tracking, which allows users who implement sub-capacity tracking to reduce their administrative overhead; Improves control over XML documents with the z/OS XML parser, allowing parsing workload to be off loaded to specialty engines to reduce operating costs. More information can be found here.
BMC Software has announced BMC Application Accelerator for IMS. The product dynamically tunes DL/I batch applications, which reduces both the CPU usage and elapsed time of IMS batch jobs. BMC Application Accelerator for IMS automatically monitors DL/I batch jobs during execution. If it determines that it can improve the performance, on subsequent execution of the analysed jobs, it dynamically changes job parameters so that the job will run more efficiently and consequently faster. More information can be found here.
Compuware has announced that the Workbench File-AID Data Editor now supports browsing and editing of IMS databases in addition to DB2 and other mainframe file systems. Developers can edit, browse, and understand IMS data constructs from within the same editor they use for other mainframe data types. More information can be found here.
Virtel has announced Virtel for iPad. Mobile users can access the traditional screen interface of IMS, CICS, TSO, and other 3270 applications with iPad ergonomics and BOYD-capable security features. Android tablet support will follow (Q2 2013). More information can be found here.
Grid-Tools has announced that its Enterprise Data Masking suite now provide full native support for data masking and subsetting for z/OS on DB2, VSAM, IMS, and non-indexed files. Enterprise Data Masking can provide all the functionality required to deliver compliant test data. The data masking solutions include the ability to implement dynamic masking routines and to return masked values to an application. In addition, users will now also be able to subset, unload and mask, and write to a flat file that can be loaded into DB2. More information can be found here.
CA Technologies has announced Version 9 of CA Mainframe Application Tuner. The new graphical interface is designed to increase productivity to more quickly resolve performance inefficiencies. The product discovers tuning opportunities, simplifies root cause analysis, and speeds resolution of application performance problems. The new Eclipse-based user interface supports IBM Rational Developer for System z. CA Mainframe Application Tuner 9.0 provides enhanced support for applications that use DB2 for z/OS, IMS for z/OS, and CA IDMST databases. More information can be found here.
IBM has announced the IMS 13 Quality Partnership Program.
IMS 13's Database Manager enhancements include:
- IMS full-function, high-availability database and fast-path data entry database alter support enhances availability.
- Database versioning offers greater flexibility and speed in enabling new programs and databases.
- Additional support for Java and SQL and tools ease IMS development and access to IMS data.
- Enhanced log, storage, and infrastructure support reduce total cost of ownership, improve performance, and enable growth.
IMS 13's Transaction Manager enhancements include:
- IMS Connect, the TCP/IP gateway to IMS transactions, operations, and data, offers improved IMS flexibility, availability, resilience, and security.
- The Intersystem Communication (ISC) connection TCP/IP link can help reduce maintenance costs and complexities.
- Synchronous program switch and enhanced callout support ease IMS application development and connectivity to assist developers with business transformation.
- Enhanced commands, security, repository, and open transaction manager access (OTMA) support simplify operations, improve availability, and can help reduce total cost of ownership.
General availability of IMS V13 has still to be announced. More information can be found here.
GT Software has released Ivory Hub, a product suite that allows rapid application delivery for mobile, Web, and cloud. Ivory Hub helps organizations tap the valuable data inside their mainframes and meet current business needs faster. The Ivory Hub product suite enables users to tackle various business challenges from direct access to data and applications to transferring data between mainframe and non-mainframe systems. The product removes the complexities from these tasks, requires minimal professional services, and operates in a multi-platform environment. It also provides SQL access to distributed data and allows users to deploy access through a gateway or directly, depending on their preferred deployment option. Ivory Hub Enterprise Access enables SQL access to distributed data on mainframe and non-mainframe (LAN-based) platforms from single SQL queries
Supported access environments including: IMS and DL/I, CICS, DB2, VSAM, Adabas, Datacom/R or Datacom SQL, and sequential disk. More information can be found here.
Oracle has announced Oracle Tuxedo ART 12c, which lets sites run mainframe applications on Exalogic. Tuxedo ART currently emulates CICS, and, with this release, ART will also emulate IMS. Sites running IMS could move their applications to Tuxedo and have them run on Exalogic. More information can be found here.
Logic Online has announced Version 2 of RIPPLE-TRAC for Source Code and IMS, which helps distinguish high- from low-leverage features or behaviours (concerns) in highly-complex systems. Separation of 'concerns' is a concept that is at the core of software engineering. It refers to the ability to identify, encapsulate, and manipulate those parts of software that are relevant to a particular concern (concept, goal, purpose, etc). The product encapsulates of all kinds of 'concerns' in a software system, simultaneously. More information can be found here.
IBM has announced IBM SmartCloud Enterprise+ mainframe edition, which means that mainframes will be available for its SmartCloud customers later this year. It will support recent releases of z/OS, CICS, DB2, IMS, WebSphereMQ, and WebSphere application server. More information can be found here.
GT Software has announced Version 4.4 of Ivory Service Architect, which includes a new IMS/TM Application Wizard. The IMS/TM application wizard for Ivory Studio allows developers to speed delivery of Web services for enterprise application initiatives. Ivory automates the process of building Web services with Ivory Studio Project Wizards. The Ivory Wizard process provides faster time to production with higher quality than can be achieved using tooling that depends on manual coding. The IMS/TM application wizard enhancements provide the ability to create new business logic Interfaces for IMS/TM from WSDL service contracts. Providing the ability to create Ivory Services from existing service contracts, promotes the sharing of application development across multiple departments of the enterprise. More information can be found here.
CA Technologies has announced a new release of its CA Cross-Enterprise Application Performance Management (CA CE APM), which monitors and collects information on the mainframe and integrates with CA APM to provide 24x7 monitoring of business transactions in one place across mainframe, distributed, and the cloud. Included in the display are over 90 metrics for DB2 for z/OS, end-to-end IMS for z/OS, and the mainframe network. More information can be found here.
Select Business Solutions has announced NOMAD 7.54 for z/OS, its business intelligence reporting tool and database. The IMSSCHEM utility, which generates NOMAD schemas from IMS PSBs, has been enhanced. There is a new method of generating item, master, and segment names for IMS fields with similar names or with names containing invalid characters for NOMAD. More information can be found here.
Compuware has announced Abend-AID Version 12.2. This fault resolution tool includes new features such as a COBOL PERFORM trace, consolidated displays of IMS and DB2 data to speed access to crucial information, and easier access to Abend-AID reports. More information can be found here.
IBM's IMS 12 GA'd on 28 October
Voltage Security has announced Voltage SecureData z/Protect, which makes encryption easier for any application in any z/OS environment. Mainframes running CICS, IMS, DB2, and batch can now add native encryption. More information can be found here.
CONNX Solutions has announced CONNX 11 SP3, which introduces a metadata comparison tool that facilitates the migration of metadata from test, to development, to production. Additionally this release includes several enhancements for VSAM, Adabas, and IMS. An additional method to import metadata for IMS has been added that enables customers to use an Index Text Specification file rather than the IBM IMS Library Integrity Utilities for zOS. More information can be found here.
IMS is one of IBM's 100 icons of progress. More information can be found here.
CA Technologies has announced that CA ACF2 r14 SP1 for z/OS and CA Top Secret r14 SP1 for z/OS have met the requirements of Common Criteria, an independent security certification recognized by governments in more than 26 countries, including the USA. CA ACF2 and CA Top Secret provide access control for z/OS resources across operating systems, subsystems, third-party software and databases, which includes externalized security controls for UNIX System Services (USS) as well as DB2, CICS, and IMS transaction and database management subsystems. More information can be found here.
NEON Enterprise Software, which recently lost its court battle with IBM over zPrime, has sold its IMS portfolio to BMC Software. Full information can be found here.
SQData has announced an IMS data replication utility that enables customers with mission-critical applications a high-availability, disaster tolerant framework to minimize outages. product highlights include: Active-active IMS data replication; multiple IMS data capture options; IMS Sysplex ready; IMS Fastpath and full-function support; allows for recovery of changed data. SQData's LiveCheck for IMS monitors data consistency during high-speed replication, while LiveSync resynchronizes data without having to take active databases offline. Full information can be found here.
Select Business Solutions has announced Transit ETL, which is designed to allow non-technical users to extract data from the mainframe and mid-tier systems (including IMS, VSAM, QSAM, DB2, IDMS, Oracle, and SQL Server), transform the data using over 100 built-in functions and operators, and save the data in one of a variety of formats, including fixed, delimited, and XML. Full details can be found here.
GT Software has announced Version 4.3 of Ivory Service Architect, which consists of Ivory Studio, a graphical modelling environment; Ivory Server, a service processor with run-time service orchestration; and Ivory Server for Batch. The new version adds REST architecture as a new interface option. RESTful interfaces, those that conform to the Representational State Transfer client-server architecture, provide an alternative to SOAP-based Web services because they require less development and runtime overhead. Without requiring any changes to the service definition, Ivory supports the deployment of mainframe-based SOAP or RESTful Web services across z/VSE, z/OS, CICS, IMS, Windows, and Linux. Full details can be found here.
IBM says IMS 12 Transaction and Database Servers (QPP) deliver
extremely high performance and availability at very low cost per transaction. Full details can be found here.
IBM announces potential data corruption for IMS or DB2 for z/OS following rebuild of lock structure in data sharing mode. Full details can be found here.
SOA Software has announced SOLA for IMS, a legacy modernization solution that transforms IMS applications into enterprise services, allowing the mainframe to be a full participant in an Service Oriented Architecture enabled environment. SOLA for IMS runs independently of any transaction management software, making it ideal for IMS-only environments. SOLA for IMS handles IMS transactions written in COBOL, PL/I, or Natural, with multiple input and output segments. SOLA for IMS also allows any mainframe program to consume services. SOLA's orchestration capabilities allow multiple IMS transactions to be executed on a single trip to the mainframe, reducing latency. SOLA for IMS can also service-enable DB2 stored procedures and SQL statements. Full details can be found here.
IBM has announced V2.1 of IMS Recovery Expert, a storage-aware back-up and recovery solution that integrates storage processor fast-replication facilities with IMS back-up and recovery operations to allow instantaneous back-ups with no application downtime, reduce recovery time, and simplify disaster recovery procedures while using less CPU, I/O, and storage resources. Full details can be found here.
NEON offers zPrime for IMS for just one dollar. Full details can be found here.
BMC Software has announced the BMC Fast Path Online Restructure/EP solution, which reduces downtime to improve availability of critical IMS Fast Path applications. The product enables IMS Fast Path databases to be restructured quickly, allowing business needs to be met. Databases remain online during the majority of the restructure process, increasing application availability and minimizing the risk of financial losses associated with outages. Full details can be found here.
CONNX Solutions has announced the Release of its DataSync Transformation Server product that allows full ETL capabilities from any source to any target database. Now you can access your IMS data along with any other data source using SQL and create and keep updated at near real-time in any target data warehouse database. Full details can be found here.
IMS Version 11 became generally available on 30 October 2009. The product had been pre-announced last year. Here are some of the highlights:
Database Manager enhancements:
- IMS Open Database support offers direct distributed TCP/IP access to IMS data, providing cost efficiency, enabling application growth, and improving resilience.
- roadened Java and XML support and tools can ease IMS development and access to IMS data.
- IMS Fast Path Buffer Manager, Application Control Block library, and Local System Queue Area storage reduction utilize 64-bit storage to improve availability and overall system performance.
- Enhanced commands and user exits simplify operations and improve availability.
Transaction Manager enhancements:
- IMS Connect (the TCP/IP gateway to IMS transactions, operations, and now data) enhancements offer improved IMS flexibility, availability, resilience, and security.
- Broadened Java and XML tooling eases IMS application development and connectivity, and enhances IMS Web services to assist developers with business transformation.
- Enhanced commands and user exits simplify operations and improve availability.
- IMS Application Control Block library and Local System Queue Area reduction utilize 64-bit storage to improve availability and system performance.
Progress DataDirect has announced Release 7.2.1 of its Progress DataDirect Shadow mainframe integration platform with an enhanced ANSI SQL-92 engine for relational to non-relational data processing utilizing the IBM System z Integrated Information Processor (zIIP). The latest Release allows ANSI SQL-92 workloads for IMS DB databases and CICS VSAM files to be diverted from the mainframe's General Purpose Processor (GPP) to the zIIP specialty engine, which does the work without using any of the mainframe licensed MIPs capacity. Full details can be found here.
CA has announced CA Database Management r12 for IMS, an integrated solution that eases the management of IMS databases. This solution provides database administration, performance management, and backup and recovery capabilities for IMS Full Function, Fast Path, and High Availability Large Database (HALDB) structures... Key enhancements to CA Database Management r12 for IMS include support for IMS 11, performance improvements to both the CA products and IMS itself, and increased data availability during backups. Full details are available on the CA Web site.
Mainstar has announced Database Backup and Recovery for IMS (DBR for IMS) on z/OS, that maximizes investment in large system databases and storage systems. DBR for IMS is a storage-aware backup and recovery solution that integrates storage processor fast-replication facilities with IMS backup and recovery operations to allow instantaneous backups with no downtime, reduce recovery time, and simplify disaster recovery procedures while using less CPU, I/O, and storage resources. DBR for IMS provides organizations with a new set of IMS backup and recovery techniques not provided by any other IMS tool on the market. DBR for IMS provides backup and recovery techniques to address the high availability and integrity needed by organizations today. DBR for IMS complements Database Backup and Recovery for DB2 (DBR for DB2) to provide a consistent methodology for both DB2 and IMS database management systems. Full details are available here.
WinterGreen Research, an analyst firm, has announced it has completed work on a Web-based calculator to measure the Total-Cost-of-Ownership (TCO) of mainframe SOA enablement when utilizing a zIIP specialty engine in combination with DataDirect Shadow integration middleware from DataDirect Technologies. The calculator can compute the daily and annual savings in dollars and MIPS capacity that can occur by exploiting the zIIP specialty engine rather than the General Purpose Processor (GPP). DataDirect Shadow Version 7 expands the utilization of the zIIP specialty engine beyond DB2 to include Adabas, IMS/DB, IDMS, and VSAM as well SOAP/XML parsing necessary for creating Web services within the mainframe to applications residing within CICS, IMS/TM, IDMS, and Natural - the company claims. Full details are available here.
NEON Enterprise Software has announced NEON zPrime, which can facilitate the transfer of as much as 50 percent or more of a company's IMS, DB2, CICS, TSO/ISPF, and batch workloads from System z CPs to zIIP (System z Integrated Information Processor) or zAAP (System z Application Assist Processors) processors, and consequently reduce mainframe costs significantly - the company claims. Mainframe users now have more options of what workloads to move to a specialty processor to meet capacity planning and cost optimization objectives.
NEON zPrime is 100 percent compliant with IBM specifications, rules and conditions for System z processor access to assure a seamless environment that makes IMS, CICS, TSO/ISPF, DB2, batch jobs, and NEON IMS utilities workloads eligible for processing on zIIPs or zAAPs. Full details are available here.
Customer looking to run IMS off-mainframe will be interested in Clerity's recent announcement that its UniKix mainframe rehosting software suite will support the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 running on HP standards-based servers and other platforms. Clerity's mainframe rehosting software provides a mission-critical environment for deploying online and batch mainframe IMS, CICS, IDMS, Adabas, Natural, and other assets on open standards-based systems. More information is available here.
SOA Software has launched its mainframe SOA solution SOLA for IMS transactions. SOLA is a mainframe Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) solution that makes mainframe applications part of an SOA. SOLA provides customers with a process to expose mainframe applications as secure Web services, and allows mainframe applications to consume Web services. Using SOLA, customers can leverage existing mainframe investments when building an enterprise SOA. The SOLA runtime environment runs entirely on the mainframe, eliminating the need for expensive, unreliable and unnecessary middleware. This coupled with SOLA's Development Studio increases developer productivity, providing faster time to market and lower application development cost—the company claims. More information is available here.
Grid-Tools has announced that their data generation software tool, Datamaker, now integrates with mainframe data sources such as IMS/DB. Datamaker editions offer test data generation to create test data, data masking, data scrambling, data modelling, data quality assurance, subsetting, database compare, a test data warehouse, "Test Data on Demand," and third-party integration with performance and SOA tools. More information is available
here.
CA has announced Release 12 of its CA SYSVIEW Performance Management software, which is designed to reduce the complexity of managing mainframe-based services, enabling IT to deliver greater value to a business with its existing resources. CA describe CA SYSVIEW Performance Management r12 as an interactive solution for proactive management and real-time monitoring of z/OS environments, making it easy for IT staff to optimize service levels across multiple systems. Release 12 includes a new GUI and auditing capabilities. Among the enhancements is advanced centralized management through the added support of IMS Type 2 commands that enables users to centrally issue IMS commands and query responses across multiple systems. Full details are here.
GT Software has announced a learning series co-sponsored by IBM designed to deliver interactive education focused on Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) capabilities within the context of IBM's IMS transaction and database systems. This learning series is designed to demystify SOA to IMS customers. The hands-on workshops focus on how companies today can leverage IMS as part of a comprehensive SOA strategy. Participants learn how to develop a requirements checklist for IMS and SOA, and then actually build in-bound and outbound Web services against the live IMS system. Further, SOA governance, performance, and security considerations are addressed. Companies interested in participating in the IMS and SOA Hands-On Workshops can register
here.
Microsoft has announced the public beta release of BizTalk Server 2009. Not an announcement you'd expect to see on the Virtual IMS Connection Web site, but BizTalk Server 2009 adds support for various IBM technologies. The product now works with the latest versions of IMS, CICS, DB2, and WebSphere MQ. Developers can now expose a mainframe as a service in the WCF (Windows Communication Foundation) format. Developers don't need to know the complexity of the mainframe. The final version should be available in the first half of 2009. More information is available here.
Clerity Solutions has introduced new software and services that enable legacy mainframe applications and rehosted workloads to play strategic roles in SOA and Web services initiatives. Clerity Service Builder and Clerity Web Connect allow organizations to expose legacy assets as secure Web services and transform screen-based applications into Web applications. Using Clerity Service Builder, organizations can assemble and deploy multi-step, multi-operation composite business services from 3270-based CICS, IMS, and UniKix Transaction Processing Environment (UniKix TPE) transactions, in addition to COMMAREA and native data Web Services. Clerity Service Builder's runtime environment runs on a mainframe or rehosted platform, eliminating the need for middleware. Full details are available
here.
Software AG has announced a new version of the webMethods Application Modernization Suite designed to help organizations create a stable and economical IT environment with a clear path to future capabilities. Both the Web Edition and SOA Edition of the Suite now incorporate new functionality to make users more productive and to squeeze additional business value out of existing assets such as "green screen" user interfaces and COBOL programs. The Mainframe Integration Support is designed to leverage existing mainframe environments and facilitate a broad range of capabilities. Among the features now included in the SOA Edition is "zero footprint" support for Information Management System (IMS) applications, which means that the SOA Edition has broader access to mainframe applications without requiring actual installation on a mainframe - enabling developer productivity gains within enterprises that have geographically or organizationally separated systems. Full details are available
here.
IBM has announced IMS V11 beta. Building on SOA and XML technologies introduced in IMS 10, IMS 11 enhances business flexibility with easier access to the world's highest volume and most reliable applications and data services. With more than 95% of Fortune 1000 companies using IMS, and more than 200 Million IMS users per day, integration of IMS services as part of modern Service Oriented Architectures has already been embraced by hundreds of IMS clients. IMS 11 will also continue to raise the bar for availability and performance while reducing the resources needed to manage the system. The IMS 11 beta program begins immediately, with availability planned for the fourth quarter of 2009. Full details are available
here.
ASG Software Solutions has expanded its BSP (Business Service Platform) capabilities to integrate performance information from both distributed and mainframe environments. The new BSP solutions include specific products for distributed performance management, virtualization performance management, enterprise performance management, and z/OS performance and reporting management. These new developments are designed to assist in locating key performance information, federating this data into a meaningful context, and automating the performance management process for a range of IT environments. ASG's new BSP solutions are supported by six strategic rollouts in ASG's line of ASG-TMON performance monitoring products, which include solutions for z/OS, TCP/IP, IMS, CICS, WebSphere MQ, and WebSphere MQ Enterprise Edition. With ASG's BSP, CIOs can manage the enterprise from the perspective of business services, avoiding critical downtime while saving time and money, the company claims. Full details are available
here.
NEON Enterprise Software has announced that its Eclipse Reorganization Utilities will now run using IBM's z9 Integrated Information Processors (zIIP). The advantage of this is the fact that zIIP processors free up general computing capacity and lower the total cost of computing by moving selected types of workload from general-purpose processors to zIIP processors. Customers incur no software costs for zIIP processing, resulting in reduced software costs and additional processing capacity, which can eliminate or delay the need to upgrade.
Version 5.1 of the NEON Eclipse Reorganization Utilities have the following zIIP processing potential:
iCheck - 97%
iSurvey - 97%
iBuild - 97%
iUnload - 50%
iExtract - 50%
iLoad - 3 %
iReorg - 50%
Full details are available here.
IBM is discontinuing service for IMS Version 8 on 5 November 2008. Full details are available
here.
Mainstar has announced a new product, Clone and Rename for IMS (ICR). The product is designed to make it easy to refresh IMS subsystems and selected databases within minutes instead of hours, increasing data access and productivity. ICR can help users gain access to critical data quickly, with minimal downtime. If available, fast copy technology is utilized to gain speed, and automation is used to enable cloning on the same LPAR by renaming the volume internals and data sets, and to update the cloned IMS subsystem or DBRC definitions if a database was refreshed. Full details are available
here.
Layer 7 Technologies has announced the availability of its SecureSpan Mainframe SOA Gateway, a mainframe SOA appliance. The appliance is used to expose mission-critical mainframe applications, business logic, and data as a composite business service without coding or porting efforts. The SecureSpan Mainframe SOA Gateway offers support for industry standards and run-time orchestration technology powered by GT Software. The SecureSpan Mainframe SOA Gateway is the only appliance-based mainframe SOA enablement product to support IMS (conversational and non-conversational), CICS BMS and COMMAREA applications, Link3270, TN3270, and mainframe data. Customers can create composite services incorporating one or all of the mainframe environments without requiring WebSphere MQ connectivity. Full details are available here.
AQM Solutions, a TRILOGexpert company, has announced Version 4.1 of TriTune, which features enhanced support for z/OS Version 1.9, IMS Version 10, and Websphere for z/OS Versions 6.0 and 6.1. TriTune is part of an automated AQM (Application Quality Management) solution that proactively identifies potential application tuning opportunities before they become performance problems. TriTune V4.1 allows users of IMS Version 10 to identify poorly performing transactions and DL/I calls for both Full Function and Fast Path environments using Full Function, DEDB, and HAL/DB databases. Full details are available here.
GT Software has announced Release 3.6 of Ivory Service Architect, with enhancements to Ivory's usability and productivity features. Ivory Service Architect consists of Ivory Studio, a graphical modeling environment; Ivory Server, a high-performance SOAP processor with run-time service orchestration; and Ivory Server for Batch. Without requiring any changes to the service definition, Ivory Service Architect supports the deployment of mainframe-based Web services across z/VSE, z/OS, CICS/TS, CICS, IMS, Windows, Wintel, Unix, and Linux. Full details are available at here.
Attachmate has announced Version 4.0 of Verastream Transaction Integrator, which eases IMS service enablement in an SOA environment. The company says that Verastream Transaction Integrator 4.0 offers superior performance and reliability to meet the demands of high-throughput, high-availability, transactional environments while masking the complexity of programs developed for IMS transactional environments. It offers a new intuitive graphical user interface, Verastream Transaction Designer, which provides enhanced support for complicated copybook structures. This enables virtually all IMS programs to be easily consumed and used within a simple graphical designer. Full details are available here.
CA has announced CA File Master Plus for IMS and r11.6 of CA Database Management for IMS. CA File Master Plus for IMS simplifies IMS data management with capabilities including segment selection filtering for access to data, and a graphical display of database segments. Its extraction, browsing, editing, and updating capabilities increase IT staff productivity across multiple IMS environments, CA claims. To maintain IMS data integrity and to ensure that IMS-dependent applications perform as expected, users can access and edit IMS data and test applications.
CA Database Management for IMS r11.6 encompasses interoperable, integrated solution suites for database performance management, administration, and back-up and recovery that improve service levels, data availability, and application responsiveness across IMS for z/OS databases.
Full details are available here.
GT Software has announced Release 3.6 of Ivory Service Architect, with enhancements to Ivory's usability and productivity features. Ivory Service Architect consists of Ivory Studio, a graphical modeling environment; Ivory Server, a high-performance SOAP processor with run-time service orchestration; and Ivory Server for Batch. Without requiring any changes to the service definition, Ivory Service Architect supports the deployment of mainframe-based Web services across z/VSE, z/OS, CICS/TS, CICS, IMS, Windows, Wintel, Unix, and Linux. Full details are available here.
Attachmate has announced Version 4.0 of Verastream Transaction Integrator, which eases IMS service enablement in an SOA environment. The company says that Verastream Transaction Integrator 4.0 offers superior performance and reliability to meet the demands of high-throughput, high-availability, transactional environments while masking the complexity of programs developed for IMS transactional environments. It offers a new intuitive graphical user interface, Verastream Transaction Designer, which provides enhanced support for complicated copybook structures. This enables virtually all IMS programs to be easily consumed and used within a simple graphical designer. Full details are available here.
IBM has announced IBM Rational Developer for System z V7.1, which simplifies Web, SOA, and cross-platform development of mainframe IMS, CICS, and WebSphere applications. It hides the technical complexity of runtimes and middleware and ensures easy interoperability with existing processing and data. This was part of a suite of announcements designed to make mainframes easier to use. Full details are available here.
IBM has announced Version 10 of IMS (Information Management System), its high-performance database and transaction management system. Highlights of the new version include enhanced XML and Web services capabilities, which are designed to make it easier for to users to move to a Service Oriented Architectures (SOA). Full details of IBM’s announcement can be found here.
IBM began shipping the product 26 October.
CA has announced r12 of its security products ACF2 and Top Secret for z/OS. These provide access control for z/OS operating systems-including externalized security controls for IMS, CICS, Unix System Services, and DB2. Full details can be found here.
