The Open Mainframe Project (OMP) has announced the addition of ASG Technologies, BMC Software, and High School Technical Services, as well as new projects, COBOL Check and ConzoleZ, to its global community.
Hosted by The Linux Foundation, the Open Mainframe Project is comprised of business and academic leaders within the mainframe community, including SHARE, that collaborate to develop shared tool sets and resources.
“Despite the pandemic, Open Mainframe Project experienced record growth over the past year,” said John Mertic, director of program management at the Linux Foundation. “We more than doubled the number of projects hosted and that is a direct result of the commitment and talent of our members and contributors. Their passions are pushing projects to meet technical milestones and members are collaborating on governance, which has helped Open Mainframe solidify our role as the premiere resource for DevOps technology and education.”
COBOL Check is a project that is intended to support legacy COBOL l application maintenance on IBM zSeries (mainframe) systems by enabling developers to work either on-platform (directly on the mainframe) or off-platform (on a Windows, UNIX, Linux, or OS X instance not connected to a mainframe) and to enjoy the benefits of fine-grained "microtest"-driven development at the level of individual COBOL paragraphs. It has no dependencies on resources hosted on the Z system, which makes it easy to implement and key to supporting future technologies. For developers, COBOL Check will reduce code modifications and offer a shorter lead time to production. The program also improves the design, understandability, maintainability, and longevity of core business applications and supports IBM’s mainframe modernization program by enabling restructuring of existing applications of APIs. COBOL Check will complement the COBOL Training Course and will leverage the support of the COBOL Working Group.
ConsoleZ offers a new open source tool for z/VM and zLinux. The web user interface gives browser access to z/VM console data and CP commands, while limiting access to certain teams. It can save more time and resources so teams don’t have to interact with many z/VM LPARs, and it is secure and efficient.
Open Mainframe Project, which launched in 2015 by The Linux Foundation, is now comprised of 43 business and academic organizations. The newest members are ASG Technologies, a provider of solutions for the information-powered enterprise; BMC Software, a global leader in software solutions; and High School Technical Services, which offers coding and technology services in more than 50 topics for students and adults.
“The world’s largest organizations continue to rely on the mainframe,” said Jeff Boatright, senior vice president, development at ASG Technologies. “As they accelerate digital transformation, advancing the mainframe ecosystem is more critical than ever. We’re thrilled to join Open Mainframe Project and contribute our expertise in enabling organizations to modernize mainframe culture, processes and tools and to empower the next generation of mainframe professionals.”
“We’re excited to bring the combined expertise and experience of BMC, Compuware, and RSM Partners to the Open Mainframe Project to support ongoing innovation on the mainframe,” added John McKenny, SVP and general manager of ZSolutions at BMC. “With mainframe processing and transaction levels increasing in most industries, there is an increased need for compute power to support mission critical applications, and mainframe modernization is absolutely critical. We have a deep relationship and history of collaboration with the Open Mainframe Project and look forward to working with other members for an open source future of the mainframe.”
For more details about Open Mainframe Project, visit www.openmainframeproject.org.