CA Unveils Offerings As Part of "Mainframe 2.0"

Software vendor CA Inc. has upgraded 143 of 166 offerings in its mainframe management portfolio alongside the release of some new tools -- all characterized by automation and simplified user interfaces -- as part of its Mainframe 2.0 initiative.

By Kathleen Lau
Tue, May 05, 2009

Software vendor CA Inc. has upgraded 143 of 166 offerings in its mainframe management portfolio alongside the release of some new tools -- all characterized by automation and simplified user interfaces -- as part of its Mainframe 2.0 initiative.

The announcement represents the first deliverables of this initiative, announced at CA World last November, to simplify mainframe ownership and drive adoption of the technology.

To this end, the Islandia, N.Y.-based company is introducing CA Mainframe Software Manager (MSM), a tool designed to simplify the implementation of CA mainframe software on the IBM z-OS platform, IBM's high-performance enterprise operating system. IT administrators who lack in-depth knowledge of z/OS tools like SMP/E can use automated services through a consistent browser interface. MSM also detects product maintenance as the need arises.

"The Mainframe 2.0 story is very much in synch and relevant with our overall story of lean IT," said Jimmy Fulton, vice-president and country manager for CA Canada. The majority of enhancements, he said, reflect a rationalization of CA offerings from fragmented technologies, and a better user experience.

The idea is to make mainframes similar in its management requirements and "ergonomics" to other technology platforms that IT admins and fresh IT graduates are already familiar with, said Fulton. Specifically, CA has simplified and modernized the front end through familiar interfaces "so to someone who's grown up with Google and eBay, this is not going to look like something from another planet."

Also, Fulton said CA wants to align itself with IBM's mainframe offerings by taking advantage of things like ZIP and zAAP processors and multiple pricing mechanisms. CA is focusing on cost optimization for mainframe management so IT admins can align the total cost of ownership with the needs of the business without compromising service level agreements.

Besides MSM, Tuesday's announcements also include a synchronized release stack to reduce multiple learning curves by using best practices to standardize installation, planning and implementation cycles across 46 CA mainframe offerings, including CA OPS/MVS Event Management and Automation, CA NetMaster and CA InterTest. The 46 offerings in this stack have also undergone rigorous integration testing for when hosted concurrently on the z/OS operating system image.

There are also more than 100 health checks across CA mainframe products for monitoring an IT environment for configuration problems that integrate with IBM's Health Checker for the z/OS framework

And, CA has introduced a service called Electronic Software Delivery (ESD) to speed up installation of CA mainframe products without having to build a physical tape.

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