Ground-breaking performance and unrivalled flexibility are just two benefits of the new IBM zEnterprise mainframe range. How does Micro Focus add value to this new setup and help organizations get even more from their enterprise environment…?
Next-generation mainframe power
The IBM zEnterprise range of mainframes represents the next generation of powerful, scalable and flexible enterprise-class mainframe environments – and a significant investment by IBM in its customer base. And they’re not stopping there.
IBM recently announced further improvements to the zEnterprise environment: their support for big data analytics and cloud is a clear demonstration of IBM’s continuing commitment to their flagship products.
We have already looked at the power of zEnterprise environment, the efficiency of the Eclipse development IDE – and how Micro Focus harnesses both environments to create Enterprise Developer for IBM zEnterprise, a unique, streamlined application development capability. Power and control – what more could you want?
You want this
Now, the latest refresh of the Micro Focus Enterprise product set adds to the enduring value and flexibility of zEnterprise.
How? By addressing the application innovation and modernization needs of IBM mainframe development and delivery teams with application knowledge, user interface, development, test and workload deployment tools that boost the efficiency of business application delivery.
The refresh of the Enterprise product set covers a variety of products –
- Micro Focus Enterprise Analyzer 3.5
- Micro Focus Rumba 9.2
- Micro Focus Enterprise Developer (for zEnterprise) 2.2
- Micro Focus Enterprise Test Server 2.2
- Micro Focus Enterprise Server 2.2
Rocks in the road
The journey of enterprise application modernization is shaped by the clients’ challenges. These “rocks in the road” can impact service delivery and business innovation, and potentially can occur at any stage of the application delivery cycle.
Whether the issue is system knowledge, the ability to execute change, the pace of delivery, challenges with testing, or even the effort of managing production workload, there are ways of improving processes and supporting technology to help reduce the backlog and support new initiatives (see Figure 1). In short, we are aiming to make that journey obstacle-free.
Micro Focus has helped hundreds of clients tackle difficult operational challenges while protecting core IT assets to evolve their core systems. The latest product refresh of the Enterprise solution seeks to tackle all these challenges, easing the journey overall.
Streamlining zEnterprise application delivery
While mainframe application infrastructure is seen as reliable and robust, providing an ever-present core business service, it is also true that this infrastructure (and the process for updating it) is highly complex and difficult to manage cost-effectively and efficiently.
So the Micro Focus Enterprise product set now streamlines the key mainframe application lifecycle activities even further. As of right now, organizations can expect greater potential and value from their zEnterprise infrastructure – and experience bigger efficiency gains.
Working across the Enterprise application delivery lifecycle, this fully-refreshed Micro Focus technology removes bottlenecks, improves IT efficiency and accelerates delivery cycles, while reducing costs and resource burden.
Highlights of the latest releases include:
- Critical analysis phase results can be moved, via Eclipse, directly into your core system development environment, providing a continuous workflow across the key lifecycle phases of Analysis and Execution/Change
- New capabilities are provided in the Enterprise products for improved usability, mainframe compatibility, integration and configuration
- Enterprise Analyzer includes a brand new web-based client and Eclipse-based plug-ins to provide greater availability and support for a broader range of user profiles
- Many new capabilities result from direct customer requests, including Eclipse and Visual Studio IDE updates and new 3rd party software and operating system support.
Streamlining zEnterprise application value
While much of the Enterprise product set targets the IT community – specifically developers and analysts, the flexibility within the new technology expands its remit beyond the walls of the IT department. Why? Because sometimes a major technology-related challenges occur not in IT, but in the business.
The operational side of the business may suffer from inefficiencies caused by old applications, with poor interfaces slowing down important business processes. Dealerships, call centres and order processing teams may face complex and cumbersome green screen systems that take far too long to process a single client request. We’ve all experienced it and come away with a negative view of the company involved.
So for this client, the change requirement does not affect the application or code, but works a simple refresh at the user interface (UI) level. Challenges such as low user functionality (look-ups, drop downs, mouse control), badly designed screens and inadequate platform/device support (typically green screen only) cause operational efficiencies even though the core application is sound. Step forward Micro Focus Rumba.
The Rumba family addresses mainframe application interface challenges by enabling older-style 3270 or related interfaces to be updated, streamlined and rendered on a variety of devices including desktop, web and mobile.
While the changes seem radical – and the results are certainly remarkable – the work can be undertaken without affecting the program logic of the application. Do it right and you have a rapid and low-risk way of providing a first stage of core system modernization. Your journey is well underway.
Explore the possibilities
Your Enterprise modernization journey will be shaped by your own requirements and will look different to your contemporaries. But there has never been a better time to explore how Micro Focus can help you.
For more information, visit www.microfocus.com
