CA to Release Further Enhancements for IBM z/Architecture Based OS

CA (News - Alert) is making new additions to its portfolio of mainframe management solutions, intended for IBM Mainframes based on the 64 bit z/Architecture. The enhancements will extend the management capabilities of the z/OS, z/VSE and z/VM platforms. Company officials say that the extensions will help organizations to meet compliance requirements, and increase the scalability and availability of their mainframe systems.
 

The enhancements to be released for mainframe systems running z/OS include extensions that provide: Analysis and resolution of application crashes using app dumps generated; IPv6 support, C++ runtime compiler support and additional features for remote printing; Additional metrics and statistics for DB2 database management; Improved database access and replication through optimized SQL procedures; Improved control over the software development lifecycle; Additional security features in the use of LDAP directories.

The enhancement to be released for z/VSE, which is generally used for smaller mainframes, improves tape data set processing with support for hardware-based encryption and automation of encrypted tape processing and tape ejection. z/VM, which is a virtual machine (VM) operating system for z/Architecture mainframes, gets extensions that help in defining Linux guest VMs with greater ease. Storage allocation for the VMs and certain z/VM directory administration tasks have also been enhanced.

Mainframes have been making a comeback in recent times, with many companies choosing to invest in such a system owing to its cost effectiveness and amenability towards centralized management and control. Customers find that increasing the volume and complexity of the workloads run on mainframes help to maximize the returns obtained for the investment made on these systems. Enhancements and extensions offered by providers such as CA help organizations to achieve this end.

“The mainframe is undergoing a major renaissance as IT decision-makers recognize how its cost-effective and energy-efficient scalability, reliability and security make it the ideal platform to satisfy intensive business requirements,” Mark Combs, senior vice president of CA’s Mainframe Business Unit, was quoted as saying. “Our latest enhancements demonstrate that CA continues to deliver the solutions necessary to exploit the mainframe’s full economic potential.”