IBM aims to simplify mainframe modernization with AI-powered insight
Network World ·
IBM is going to use AI to help and hasten mainframe customers looking to modernize seriously complex Big Iron operations. Understanding how the entire IBM Z environment is interconnected has become increasingly important as many mainframe teams still rely on manual analysis, fragmented tooling, and institutional knowledge to understand dependencies and evaluate risk across teams, creating a manual process that is slow and ineffective, wrote Skyla Loomis, general manager, IBM Z Software in a blog about the news. “As experienced professionals retire and modernization initiatives accelerate, the siloed knowledge problem is magnified with mainframe teams having trouble measuring the full impact of their changes before they reach production,” Loomis stated. Enter Z Atlas, a native AI-based package Loomis says will map a client’s entire z/OS stack across infrastructure, middleware, and applications. The package will then use that system intelligence to reduce the manual effort of tasks such as patch management, regulatory response, and knowledge sharing across every team, from systems programmers to application developers. The idea behind Z Atlas, which is only in the “ statement of direction ” phase, is to eliminate the leading cause of unplanned z/OS outages — changes that aren’t proven to be safe — by mapping how a change impacts the z/OS stack by testing and validating it, Loomis stated. “For example, z/OS system programmers can use this solution to evaluate how a middleware upgrade might affect dependent applications, identify related infrastructure and operational processes that may require validation, determine which systems should be included in a test plan, or coordinate validation activities across application, infrastructure, and operations teams,” Loomis wrote. “IBM Z Atlas’ system intelligence is built on a foundation of automated discovery, topology modeling, dependency analysis, natural-language interactions, and AI-powered workflows to create impact assessments and change evidence. Together, these capabilities are intended to create a continuously updated understanding of the IBM Z environment and the relationships between its components,” Loomis stated. The broader vision for IBM Z Atlas is to establish the shared intelligence layer that will enable Z teams to understand, manage, govern, and quickly optimize their IBM Z environments through natural-language experiences and AI-assisted workflows, Loomis stated. Z Altas is a big step by IBM to help customers continue to modify their mainframe environments for AI and other advanced workloads. It also helps combat the myriad vendors such as AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Opentext/Micro Focus, Accenture, and many others offering to modernize the mainframe environment by moving customers off of the Big Iron onto cloud or other distributed platforms. A recent Gartner report said the poor mainframe migration decisions threaten business and operational continuity. “Organizations that pursue ‘seemingly magical’ AI-driven exit strategies, rather than taking a platform-smart approach to align workloads with the right environments, risk introducing significant technical debt and exposing the enterprise to critical failures” stated Alessandro Galimberti, vice president analyst at Gartner in the report . “As a result, the mainframe exit market is at a pivotal point. Sustained investments from IBM, along with independent software vendors such as 21CS, BMC, Broadcom, and Rocket Software, and managed service providers like DXC, GTSG, and Kyndryl, further reinforce the mainframe’s position as a modern platform for strategic investment,” the Gartner report stated. Gartner predicts that by 2030, 75% of vendors operating in the mainframe exit market will pivot their business models or cease operations, as market expectations reset and demand for one-size-fits-all migration solutions declines. “The right mainframe strategy depends heavily on the profile and complexity of an organization’s environment,” said Galimberti. “For many mainframe customers, GenAI can be more effectively used to enable modernization in place rather than accelerate migration off the platform.” “AI is driving incremental capacity growth and new workloads as clients look to run AI closer to their most sensitive data,” IBM senior vice president and CFO James Kavanaugh said in IBM’s July earnings call . “We are seeing strong early adoption of our AI innovations with nearly 50% of z17 customers investing in AI capabilities with Spyre AI accelerator, and clients deploying Watson X Code Assistant for Z are growing MIPS capacity three times faster than those who are not.” “In a world where infrastructure costs are rising and efficiency matters more than ever, IBM Z offers a compelling economic advantage,” Kavanaugh continued. “Depending on the size and complexity of workloads, clients can realize a 2 to 15x total cost of ownership benefit versus moving these workloads off the platform, reinforcing why the platform remains central to their operations and positioning us to capture additional value as AI workloads grow.” Customers interested in Z Atlas can sign up for a preview here .