IBM highlighted key developments to assist clients expedite transition, with a number of new capabilities focused on modernising apps across hybrid cloud settings. IBM Z as a service for development and testing on IBM Cloud, as well as additional tools for building hybrid apps, are among the plans.
71 percent of executives surveyed believe mainframe-based programmes are crucial to their business strategy, according to the IBM Institute for Company Value research titled “Application Modernisation on the Mainframe”. Four out of five respondents said their organisations should shift swiftly to be competitive, which includes modernising mainframe-based software and adopting a more open approach.
Tarun Chopra, Vice President, IBM Z Hybrid Cloud, said “Today’s IBM is focused on helping our clients across every industry apply hybrid cloud and AI to transform the way their businesses work. IBM recognises that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to modernisation,”
“By leveraging both IBM Z and IBM Cloud, clients can benefit from a hybrid cloud approach that allows them to capitalise on the innovations, technical advancements, security, resiliency of each platform. With hybrid cloud, you keep your workloads where they need to be—in the cloud, on premises, and at the edge—to help reduce risk and improve time to market.”
z/OS Development and Test as-a-service in the Public Cloud
IBM plans to deliver IBM Wazi as-a-Service (Wazi aaS) as a closed experimental, bringing z/OS capabilities to IBM Cloud for the first time which is expected to be generally available in 2H 2022 with on-demand access to z/OS, available as needed for development and test. This will give z/OS developers the agility of a public cloud development environment with the ability to use a variable amount of resources, and pay-as-you-go, matching burst and business demand. Consistent with the regulated workloads of many IBM Z clients, IBM Wazi aaS will enable self-provisioning of a z/OS Virtual Server Instance on IBM Z in a logically isolated, highly-secured private space running in IBM Cloud.