The Future of the Mainframe

Not too long ago, IT professionals announced the mainframe computer was nothing more than a relic—a “dinosaur” whose mention conjured up images from the earlier, pre-PC era when the only computing option was an elephantine mainframe with tape drives whirring in a climate-controlled clean room. Indeed, in 1982, when Time magazine declared the personal computer “Man of the Year,” the IT community heard the death knell of the mainframe, as the pundits soon predicted it would be replaced by continuous, expanding networks of smaller computers that would form a completely adaptable, infinitely accessible mainframe-like computing environment. The network was the “mainframe,” or soon would be.

It didn’t happen quite as expected. What analysts perceived as the inevitable extinction of mainframes didn’t happen because it couldn’t happen. Issues of security, accessibility, reliability and data synergy simply wouldn’t go away; and a network of PCs, no matter how powerful, could not deliver the unified, uniform user experience that a centralized powerhouse like a mainframe could.

Add that to the sheer quantity and quality of established applications running smoothly on mainframes, and large organizations the world over began to realize that, not only was their mainframe not going away, but it had become more important to them than ever. To quote one CA client:

“We started sunsetting this system years ago. The sun's been setting so long, now it's coming up again."

Goals For Tomorrow’s Mainframes. Today.
The use of mainframes will continue to expand as businesses build on their strengths and discover new ways to utilize their power. There are new applications, new rules and regulations, new technologies coming on line daily, and improved means of system integration and data sharing—all managed through mainframes.

Key areas of focus in current and future mainframe functionality include:

• Risk management (security)
• Cost control
• Continued development of synergies between IT and business.

Risk Management
Breaches in security, data failures or lost data are costly business and public relations nightmares—examples of which we’ve all seen in the headlines over the past few years. Commitment to corporate asset protection (reports, records and other invaluable data), compliance and service continuity is an absolute essential. CA mainframe software manages these critical risk management objectives, enabling 99.999% uptime. And, we continue to improve our solutions to better enable this, while adding new offerings such as our eTrust® Cleanup and Brightstor® Tape Encryption to broaden and deepen our support of this goal.

Cost Control
Two of the primary factors in mainframe cost control are business resource optimization and process automation. Business resource optimization can be achieved through aligning IT with all other aspects of business operation, eliminating the inefficiencies of conflicting directions. CA software enables this approach. It also cuts administrative costs through the system–wide automation of routine processes that improve reliability and assist with optimizing personnel expenses.

Alignment of IT with Business
As illustrated in the previous point, ensuring IT is in step with the business is essential. Four pillars form the sub-structure of expanding mainframe use:

1. IT portfolio management
2. IT fiscal management
3. Simple, unified enterprise graphical management interfaces
4. Systems management

CA software, education and services enable optimal utilization of these four critical facets of computing capabilities with, respectively:

1. Configuration management software, assessment services and product education
2. Resource accounting, chargeback and capacity planning solutions
3. Enterprise-wide management GUIs which enable full awareness and control
4. Industry-leading systems management software to cover all key aspects of running a production IT environment on all leading platforms, including the mainframe.

Realizing the Objectives
The future of mainframe computing will expand the functions of mainframes in two fundamental ways:

• Through the integrated management of the business’s IT infrastructure, which provides greater oversight, security, accessibility and, naturally, productivity
• Through the ongoing development of business service optimization (BSO). Now in its nascent stage, but certainly an emerging science distinct from IT business management, BSO employs a more client-centered approach to the conduct of business—as it should.

Enterprise IT Management: Vision for Tomorrow’s Mainframe
Why is the mainframe growing? More uses, improved alignment of IT and business functions, ever-increasing data capacity and throughput, all-around ROI and, of course, data security.

“There is no doubt that the mainframe is growing, and our vision includes a strategy that supports that growth,” said Sam Greenblatt, SVP and Strategic Technical Advisor at CA. “Through carefully planned acquisitions, research and development and key partnerships, we are expanding our product offerings to provide optimum security, access and business solutions that will meet the needs of our mainframe customers holistically and cost-effectively.”

To that end, CA’s vision for the future of the mainframe is called Enterprise IT Management (EITM), which is designed to bring uniformity and simplicity to mainframe use at the enterprise level.

The Advantages of EITM
The advantages of EITM are numerous and comprehensive, and demonstrate strong commitment. To achieve the vision of the tomorrow’s mainframe, CA is committed to:

• Clearly define management and security disciplines that are unparalleled in the IT realm.
• Develop heterogeneous platforms, both for mainframes and for distributed use across thousands of workstations globally.
• Build compliant tools that seamlessly integrate with IT infrastructure components and new (and as-yet unimagined) IT services.
• Work with other software and hardware developers in an ongoing journey of improvement, with the goal of greater value from openness, standardization and interoperability. Specific to the mainframe, this includes technical currency and strategic alignment with IBM’s mainframe hardware and operating system development and strategy.

Other advantages to EITM include granular modularity to deploy functionality on an as-needed basis, workflow administration at the enterprise level, and global access to critical data required for decision-making by upper tier management.

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