Dear fellow mainframer,

The fear of releasing a second album looms heavily over young rock ‘n’ roll bands following a successful debut. I am not that young though, but I feel the same. The pressure to deliver something equally captivating and fresh can be paralyzing, but within it lies an opportunity for growth and evolution.

I received lots of encouragement after my first email, but ultimately, I believe the blend of my creative fear and your feedback will make Mighty Mainframe really useful content.

So please, join me as we continue to explore how to maximize the benefits of mainframe technology in modern organisations.

One of our clients from the Middle East recently embarked on a significant tech transformation journey. They decided to switch from their existing BMC MainView products to the IBM Z Service Management Suite (IZSMS). Quite a leap, right?

The customer’s IT infrastructure, which includes the IBM Z platform running z/OS and z/VM operating systems, was highly automated and customized with over a thousand rules based on BMC products. The project was divided into two phases: implementing IZSMS and migrating to IBM Z NetView and IBM Z System Automation. The main challenge was analyzing, interpreting, and classifying the rules and notifications to implement them using IBM Z NetView and System Automation products.

The team also had to rewrite user REXX scripts to fit the new environment. The project demonstrated that the IZSMS solution can help mainframe customers build a highly automated and optimized z/OS environment and you can read all about it in Marko Jurman’s blog.

We’re happy to share one of the latest mainframe modernization projects. Our team helped a major mainframe customer modernize their DevOps pipeline by moving from a rigid, mainframe-specific solution to a more general CI/CD pipeline. We were following “in-place modernization” approach, therefore nothing was broken, we’ve just made our trusty mainframe even better.

The tools used included IBM’s DBB, Ansible, Nexus, Sonar, Urban Code, GitLab, and GitLab Runners. They assess the challenges of adopting agile principles in technology infrastructure and the importance of setting goals based on analysis.

With a unique blend of expertise in traditional mainframe technologies and the latest DevOps tools, we assembled a team consisting of Ivan Krnić, Bruno Kurevija, and Ivo Štampalija for a video podcast. Here’s their story.

Experienced mainframe experts love to stay ahead of the curve by adapting to the latest practices. In this webinar, we want to delve into the world of Mainframe, from a perspective important to you.

Go here and let us know what would you like to hear about in the webinar that we’re preparing!

The proof-of-concept phase is a vital stage in mainframe tools migration, as it assesses the feasibility, performance, and functionality of the new tools while identifying potential challenges early in the process. The key steps involved include defining the scope, setting up the environment, performing small-scale migration, testing functionality, testing performance, and validating the results.

Testing functionality and performance ensures the new tools meet the organization’s requirements and potential issues are addressed early on. Based on the proof-of-concept results, informed decisions can be made about whether to proceed with the full migration or make necessary changes to the plan. If the results are positive, the team can confidently move forward with the migration process. If not, adjustments may be needed, such as identifying alternative toolsets or implementing old features differently. Overall, the proof-of-concept phase mitigates risks and helps ensure a successful migration and smooth transition to the new platform.

Read all about that in Filip Djurikovic’s new blog.

What are the most important reasons for replacing mainframe tools ? I checked the Arcati Mainframe Yearbook 2023 for the answer.

It is very useful source of information  for all mainframers bringing strategy overview of the mainframe technology, tools and vendors. I found particularly useful “User Survey” section because it brings the real-life answers from 100+ mainframe shops from all around the globe.

Back to my original question about reasons for mainframe tools replacement. There might be number of technical and organizational (or political) reasons, but the cost is the number one!