IBM Extends z/OS Toward DevOps Again
A few months ago, I wrote about the release of Zowe, the first Open Source project based on z/OS. Zowe is a framework for including z/OS in your applications with less pain than we have traditionally suffered. IBM supported this project as part of its view that enterprises need to have interoperability between platforms. This […]
Compuware Advances DevOps on Mainframes
Compuware has updated its Topaz for Total Test suite to enable organizations applying best DevOps practices to the development of mainframe applications to combine unit, functional, integration and regression testing within a single test scenario. In addition, Compuware is making it easier to test multiple applications simultaneously. The latest update to Topaz for Total Test […]
ABO and the Mystical Art of Source Code Compilation
Compilation can make or break the performance quality of an application. A developer might spend weeks creating the most elegant, efficient algorithm known to man, only to have it run at a snail’s pace in production because the compiler used to create the application’s executable binary is old, and not optimized to take advantage of […]
DevOps Chat: Mainframe DevOps Update With Compuware’s Chris O’Malley
Christopher O’Malley is one of the leading voices in the DevOps for mainframe community. He is relentless in advocating how the mainframe platform can not only exist but also thrive in today’s Agile/DevOps environments. His evangelism keeps his company, Compuware, front and center in the mainframe DevOps discussion and it really lifts the entire market. […]
Open Mainframe Project: Zowe Ready for Prime Time
There is a lot of interest in updating mainframe technology/interfaces across traditional enterprises. As development environments and toolsets have evolved outside the mainframe, there is a struggle to keep up—partially because backward compatibility requirements make wild changes difficult and partly because the very architecture of mainframes is different. There have been several fragmented efforts over […]
Why 2019 Will Be the Year for Shift-Left Mainframe Testing
While 2018 was the year for planning and implementing shift-left methodologies in testing, mainframe and server testers were, for the most part, left behind. These legacy infrastructure experts were tied down to old-school testing tools. Mainframes kept functioning, but tools and testing practices often became bottlenecks, preventing performance testing teams from testing more quickly mid-cycle […]
Best of 2018: The Beauty of the COBOL Programming Language
As we close out 2018, we at DevOps.com wanted to highlight the five most popular articles of the year. Following is the first in our weeklong series of the Best of 2018. Well-written code is a work of art. Always has been, always will be. A programmer pulls a thought pretty much out of nowhere […]
Let’s Bury Bimodal Thinking in Enterprise IT
We still hear a lot about mode-1 and mode-2 in enterprise IT. Like many other large enterprises, you might have adopted the terminology introduced by Gartner and use it every day to shape the way you deliver and operate technology. However, I have always been uncomfortable with the idea of bimodal, as it ignores architectural […]
Where is the Next Generation of Mainframe Talent?
Are we potentially facing a shortage of mainframe talent? “Three of us set up this tool in 1989. One is retired, and the other person is somewhere in heaven!” That was the remark of Alf (name changed), the senior mainframe architect at a large European enterprise, as he pointed toward the ceiling of the meeting […]
BMC Modernizes the Mainframe with Automated Mainframe Intelligence
BMC AMI places machine learning, predictive analytics, domain expertise, and intelligent automation at the core to help enterprises achieve self-managing mainframes HOUSTON – October 18, 2018 – BMC, a global leader in IT solutions for the digital enterprise, today announced BMC AMI, automated mainframe intelligence solutions that will deliver higher performing, self-managing mainframe environments to meet the growing […]
Dependency Based Build Promotes the Freedom to Program
Whenever I want to be amazed, all I need to do is reflect on the fact that the continuing development of the Linux operating system is done essentially by a community of volunteers. That’s right! One of the most popular and important operating systems is updated and maintained through donated labor. Any programmer anywhere in […]
Compuware Adds Testing Tools to DevOps for Mainframe Portfolio
Compuware is extending its ongoing campaign to bring DevOps processes to the mainframe by acquiring XaTester, a provider of tools for creating unit tests for both batch and CICS-based programs written in COBOL, PL/I and Assembler. In addition, Compuware announced it has formed an alliance with Parasoft, a provider of tools for testing application programming […]
Speed and Security Can Coexist in Mainframe DevOps
DevOps teams face a constant tug-of-war in their daily work, balancing the need for speedy rollouts of high-performing (fast, reliable) applications that are secure also. If the team moves too quickly, an overlooked security vulnerability may make its way into production. If the team is not nimble enough to identify those security gaps, it can […]
CA, IBM Partner to Drive DevOps on the Mainframe
CA Technologies and IBM announced today at the Built to Change Summit they are combining their tools and platforms to bring DevOps process to mainframe environments. The two companies are extending their existing relationship to include a partnership to jointly develop and sell new services for IBM’s Cloud Managed Services on z Systems (zCloud). Included […]
ADDI Addresses the Problem of Dependency Management
Want to know what a bad day looks like? Imagine you’re a developer working your way up the career ladder. One day your manager comes by your cube to tell you that you’ve been assigned to implement a critical, new feature in the company’s premiere application. You’re elated. At last you get to show off […]
CA Technologies Advances DevOps Automation Agenda
CA Technologies further advanced its staged goal of unifying its disparate portfolio of DevOps automation tools by announcing today a new release of CA Workload Automation AE (AutoSys) software now directly integrated with the CA Automic One Automation platform the company acquired early last year. CA AutoSys is the older of two offerings and is […]
Mainframe Computing and the API Economy
The API economy has come a long way since the days when I worked at a very well-known automotive website back in 2007. Back then, APIs were the thing that application programmers used at a very low level. Programming using web-based APIs was a rarity. In those days, we downloaded libraries into our local codebase […]
Application Discovery and the Value Proposition of IBM Z ADDI
Discovering how an application works can be a difficult, expensive undertaking. That’s why architectures based on REST are so popular. The architectural style provides an easy-to-implement interface that allows consumers to use an application productively without having to understand anything at all about its internals. All a developer needs to know to work an application […]
DevOps Chat: Rosalind Radcliffe, IBM, on DevOps and Mainframe Systems
In this DevOps Chat we sit down with a frequent guest on DevOps Chat, Rosalind Radcliffe, distinguished engineer and mainframe expert from IBM. Rosalind talks to us about the latest generation of Big Iron from IBM, the z14 systems. Also, we discuss some of the new API and functionality that allows you to do just […]
IBM Z: It’s Not the Dog. It’s the Trick
There’s a piece of conventional wisdom that runs rampant in the tech-o-sphere: You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Supposedly, once people become enamored with a technology and use it for a long period, they are loathe to adopt new ones. We’ve all heard it, and some believe it. Me? I not buying it […]
DevOps Chat: IBM z14, Built for DevOps from the Ground Up, with Hayden Lindsey
IBM recently GA’ed perhaps its biggest zSystems mainframe release in the last decade or longer. The z14 mainframe from IBM has also been designed from the ground up to be DevOps-empowered. From APIs and other integrations to language support, the z14 is IBM’s most advanced mainframe ever. I had a chance to speak with Hayden […]
DevOps is a Lifeline to Connected Mainframe ROI
A new IDC white paper sponsored by IBM and CA Technologies reveals the adoption of DevOps is a hallmark of those organizations that are actively modernizing and integrating legacy systems such as a mainframe to support digital transformation. Early adopters are blazing a path for faster innovation and greater ROI. DevOps Delivers Mainframe Modernization and […]
Culture Comes First in Bringing DevOps to the Mainframe
One of the most difficult challenges in engineering, oddly enough, isn’t technical: the challenge is culture transition management. In my 20-plus years of managing engineering teams worldwide, I’ve led teams through countless organizational adjustments and process improvements toward high-performance and quality, beginning with QA segregation to CMMI to ITIL, AGILE and SAFe. Today, mainframe organizations […]