NEON Enterprise Software released its latest version of NEON zPrime, a software product that enables organizations to safely and legally offload work from IBM System z mainframes to low-cost IBM specialty processors (SPs), and potentially carve millions of dollars from IT budgets.
NEON zPrime 2.1 reduces mainframe costs by expanding the types of workloads that can be offloaded to SPs. With zPrime 2.1, NEON says, up to 90 percent of CICS workloads can now be offloaded to SPs, and virtually all DB2 workloads are enabled - without any additional hardware or software changes - to run on IBM zIIPs and zAAPs (z Integrated Information Processors and z Application Assist Processors). In addition, mainframe administrators can ensure maximum utilization of SPs and fine-tune utilization to match specific needs, with even less intervention than previous zPrime versions.
"NEON is extremely pleased that more mainframe users are taking advantage of the dramatic cost savings zPrime delivers," says Lacy Edwards, chairman and CEO of NEON. "We remain committed to investing in and enhancing zPrime in ways that further reduce the costs of mainframe computing."
NEON's investment in zPrime 2.1 includes development of technology that gives users more succinct control over specialty processor usage. The new "Scan" interface monitors the system at user-designated intervals for tasks to be made eligible. Working in conjunction with zPrime's "Attach" interface, which uses the standard z/OS interface to enable workloads when tasks are started, this technology gives administrators the versatility necessary to maximize specialty processor utilization according to their specific needs. zPrime no longer uses z/OS exits for workload enablement.
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