IBM Software Accelerates Workload Movement to System z, Reduces IT Costs

Ten new products help enterprises lower application management costs of System z

  • 11/19/2009
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IBM today announced 10 new software products to help companies lower application management costs by optimizing the System z mainframe for more workloads, such as data analytics, collaborative application development, application maintenance, and other key business processes.

Given System z's ability to reduce costs through server consolidation, IBM and the industry have aggressively extended the breadth of new workloads for the mainframe via 3,800 z/OS-based and 3,000 Linux-based applications. The unique ability of the mainframe to host many application services on one system has helped System z achieve one of the industry’s lowest application costs per user. Minimal application costs are important for companies that rely on multiple applications to run their business.

The new products span IBM’s software portfolio to provide a range of benefits for System z customers. The benefits include optimal application connectivity, productivity, security, and data management.

The new offerings complement IBM’s recent announcement of seven integrated hardware, software, and services packages -- IBM System z Solution Editions -- to help customers deploy new enterprise workloads, such as data warehousing, electronic payments and disaster recovery.

The new products include:

  • IMS 11 provides direct SQL access to IMS data from any distributed platform. This simplifies and speeds the process of connecting applications and data while enabling easier data replication and change capture processes. Enhanced Java support expands the number of developers available to support IMS applications and business services.

  • New products from WebSphere to enhance business process management, connectivity, and integration including: WebSphere Process Server for z/OS V7, IBM WebSphere ILOG Business Rule Management Systems, WebSphere MQ for z/OS V7.0.1, WebSphere Message Broker for z/OS V7.0, and IBM Problem Determination Tools V10. These products help clients discover insights that enable innovation, maximize the value of business interactions, and optimize productivity and resources. For a full list and description of the new WebSphere products visit: www.ibm.com/smartwork/businessagility.

To help clients cut application maintenance costs, IBM offers:

  • IBM Rational Developer for System z version 7.6 provides a modern GUI development environment, to increase developer productivity and lower the costs associated with maintaining and building multi-platform applications. The new offering helps attract next-generation workers, consolidates multi-language development into a single environment and dramatically reduces CPU usage of up to 50 percent, minimizing budget expenditures.

  • IBM Rational Team Concert for System z version 2.0 uses a new common repository to help teams to work together, share assets, automate processes and deliver software faster. The software expedites response times and cuts costs by consolidating disparate development team infrastructures and automating software development across multiple platforms, which is important for tiered applications.

  • An enhanced set of IBM Rational compilers for C/C++, COBOL, and PL/I reduce application MIP requirements while increasing developer productivity and reducing both capital expense and overall development costs.

To help clients gain better insights about enterprise assets and lower network management costs, IBM offers:

  • Tivoli Asset Discovery for z/OS removes unused and obsolete software and helps determine software usage to plan effectively for the future and to run smarter systems.

  • IBM Tivoli NetView for z/OS 5.4 improves network and automation control for data centers and change management. It provides an understanding of how network availability and events impact the business, helping customers deliver smarter, more automated systems.

  • IBM Tivoli zSecure provides a mainframe security solution for automated analysis and reporting of mainframe events and compliance dashboards that lower auditing costs helping companies run a smarter more cost effective system.

For more information of System z, visit http://www.ibm.com/mainframe. For more information about System z software, visit http://www.ibm.com/software/os/systemz.

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