Designed for Hybrid Cloud and AI, V2.5 strengthens security, introduces new capabilities for application modernization.
IBM today launched IBM z/OS V2.5, the next-generation operating system (OS) for IBM Z, which is aimed to help clients adopt hybrid cloud and AI faster, as well as drive application modernization efforts.
According to the IBM Institute for Business Value study “Application modernization on the mainframe,” which was released today, 71 percent of executives surveyed say mainframe-based applications are central to their business strategy, and the percentage of organizations using mainframe assets in a hybrid cloud environment is expected to more than double in three years.
By bringing new capabilities in AI enablement, application modernization, resiliency, enhanced security, and a better developer experience, IBM z/OS V2.5 helps produce value for their clients.
AI capabilities on IBM Z
According to the IBM-commissioned “Global AI Adoption Index 2021,” 87 percent of global IT professionals surveyed believe it is very or somewhat vital to their firm to be able to design and execute AI projects wherever the data resides.
IBM is delivering new high-performance AI capabilities with z/OS V2.5, which are tightly integrated with z/OS workloads and designed to provide clients with business insights for better decision making.
“IBM is all-in on hybrid cloud and AI, and we are deeply focused on delivering new innovations like AI and new security capabilities on IBM Z to help our clients move forward, more quickly with their modernization journeys,” said Ross Mauri, GM, IBM Z. “For our clients, IBM z/OS V2.5 brings new security and resiliency capabilities to the platform, and enables clients to infuse AI in real-time into every business transaction – imperatives that became more urgent during the pandemic.”
Enhanced security to make client data future ready
Clients must continue to bolster their overall cyber security and resiliency posture in the face of recent threats such as SolarWinds and the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack against critical infrastructure.
IBM z/OS V2.5 is helping to address these challenges by unveiling a broad spectrum of enhancements across authentication, authorization, logging, system integrity, system and data availability, encryption for data in flight and at rest, and overall data privacy including:
- Expanding pervasive encryption to new types of data sets: sequential basic format and large format SMS-managed data sets are now included, providing users with the capability to encrypt data without application changes and to simplify compliance
- Anomaly Mitigation capabilities that leverage Predictive Failure Analysis (PFA), Runtime Diagnostics, Workload Manager (WLM), and JES2 to help further detect anomalous behavior in near real-time, letting clients proactively address potential problems
A secured, scalable environment for hybrid cloud
The underlying transformation process requires a safe, scalable environment as clients speed their trip to hybrid cloud. IBM z/OS V2.5 introduces new capabilities that support application modernization and provide a cloud native experience on z/OS:
- New Java/COBOL Interoperability that extends existing application programming models with support for parallel 31-bit and 64-bit addressing, simplifying enterprise application modernization.
- Enhanced performance and ease of use for z/OS Container Extensions (zCX) to integrate Linux applications and utilities into z/OS.
- Additional capabilities to integrate cloud storage through transparent cloud tiering (TCT) and the Object Access Method (OAM) cloud tier support to help reduce capital and operating expenses with data transfer to hybrid cloud storage environments for simplified data archiving and data protection on IBM Z.
IBM z/OS V2.5 is expected to be faster and easier to install and upgrade, with one client trial demonstrating the ability to install z/OS more than 30% faster than compared with IBM z/OS 2.3 and 2.4. IBM z/OS V2.5 is expected to be generally available on September 30, 2021.