IBM announced 12 of 30 new System z software offerings, designed to help improve developer productivity, increase business intelligence and data management capabilities, and improve transaction speeds.
IBM plans to release an additional 18 new software technology enhancements in 2009 that extend the advantages of using System z.
The announcement is part of IBM's consolidation pitch to move applications and data from distributed systems onto System z. The software initiative spans IBM's branded product lines for application architecture, development, and delivery; business intelligence and database management; transaction management and IT service management.
IBM also says more than 150 new ISVs have embraced the System z platform, and more than 1,000 new vendor applications were added over the past year. ISVs recently deploying applications on System z include SAP, Chordiant, Temenos, i-flex, ACI, and Norkom.
For application architecture, development, and delivery, IBM announced Rational System Architect v11.3 and Rational Focal Point for Product and Portfolio Management v6.4 to enable better decision-making and impact analysis using blueprints of strategy, processes and IT infrastructure and their inter-dependencies. The new capabilities will help maximize budget and resources with critical business and IT collaboration, and provide the enterprise planning and risk analysis necessary for successful enterprise consolidation and transformation initiatives.
Other offerings include IBM Rational Developer for System z v7.6, designed to helps improve developer productivity, and IBM Rational Team Concert for System z v2.0, based on the IBM Jazz technology platform, which enables collaborative, Agile development among distributed and mainframe development teams building Java, C/C++, COBOL, PL/I, and EGL applications.
For business intelligence and new database technology, recently announced and future IBM software products include InfoSphere Warehouse for System z, which adds core data warehousing and analytics capability to DB2 for z/OS, including optimized multidimensional reporting and analysis. Cognos 8 BI for Linux on System z v8.4 now provides a single view across virtually any data source, and the next version of DB2 for z/OS will boost performance, IBM says. Available later this year, IMS 11 provides Open Database support which makes interaction with other applications and databases much simpler, faster, and more cost effective to implement.
For transaction management, recently announced IBM software products include CICS Transaction Server v4.1, with new features to help organizations respond to the demands of increased regulatory scrutiny, address changing demographics, and position themselves to take advantage of new growth opportunities. Existing CICS programs and resources can now participate in mashups, Web 2.0 and other situational applications. The CICS Explorer also simplifies the development and management of traditional and modern applications for integrating with IBM and third party tools.
WebSphere Business Events v6.2.1 for z/OS helps businesses detect, evaluate, and respond to the impact of business events based on the discovery of actionable event patterns. For more information about System z, visit the IBM mainframe site.