ISLANDIA, N.Y., May 5, 2009 – CA (NASDAQ: CA) today announced that it has substantially upgraded 143 of its 166 mainframe management solutions to help customers take full advantage of the dramatic resurgence in mainframe computing and effectively respond to the generational shift in the IT professionals tasked with managing the platform.
CA also introduced CA Mainframe Software Manager (MSM), a highly innovative management solution that greatly simplifies the acquisition and implementation of CA software on the IBM z/OS® platform.
These new offerings represent the initial deliverables for Mainframe 2.0, CA’s previously announced initiative to radically simplify the governance, management, and security of IBM’s z/OS platform—and to thereby enable customers to better leverage the mainframe’s unique performance, scalability, security, compliance, and “green” IT advantages.
“As the industry’s leading independent provider of mainframe management solutions, CA has a responsibility to help customers reap the full economic benefits of today’s highly efficient, highly adaptable mainframes,” said Chris O’Malley, executive vice president and general manager of CA’s Mainframe Business Unit. “The broad scope of these initial Mainframe 2.0 deliverables underscores CA’s leadership role in the mainframe market—as well as our ability to execute on our ambitious vision for the mainframe’s future.”
Empowering a New Generation of IT Professionals
Mainframe MIPS have quadrupled to 14 million in the past eight years, but limited corporate investment in the development of new mainframe staff over the past decade has resulted in much greater workloads for the declining number of highly experienced mainframe professionals.
By simplifying essential mainframe management tasks, Mainframe 2.0 enables customers to transition them to less experienced staff—while freeing valued, highly-experienced mainframe professionals for more demanding responsibilities.
To help ensure acceptance by more junior IT staff, much of the code for Mainframe 2.0 was developed by CA programmers from the same generation.
“The mainframe continues to stand out as a secure, reliable, efficient and highly scalable platform for mission critical applications and databases,” said Tim Grieser, vice president of System Management Software Research at IDC. “CA's Mainframe 2.0 initiative helps simplify mainframe management to empower a new generation of IT professionals to deploy and operate CA software on this platform.”
Simplifying and Streamlining Mainframe Management
In addition to CA MSM—which features a rich web-based user interface implemented using the Google Web Toolkit™ (GWT)—CA’s initial Mainframe 2.0 deliverables include:
- A synchronized release stack that eliminates multiple learning curves by standardizing installation, planning, and implementation cycles across 45 CA mainframe solutions.
- More than 100 mainframe solution health checks that seamlessly integrate with the IBM Health Checker for z/OS framework.
- Enhanced electronic software delivery for 143 CA solutions that enables customers to electronically retrieve and install those solutions without having to build a physical tape.
All Mainframe 2.0 deliverables were developed in close cooperation with CA customers, who have consistently expressed an urgent need to simplify and streamline management of their increasingly complex mainframe environments.
"Thanks to the combination of MSM, synchronized product releases, and the integration testing of solutions in CA’s software stack, I can have the utmost confidence in our installations of CA software and free valuable systems programmers from a wide range of mundane, time-consuming software maintenance tasks,” said Francis Lemonda, executive director, Verizon. “This is a significant and welcome advance in systems management."
CA Mainframe Software Manager Delivers Ease of Use
CA MSM provides a standardized set of intelligent, automated software management services—enabling IT staff to install and maintain CA mainframe software more quickly, more easily, and more accurately even if they lack in-depth knowledge of z/OS tools such as SMP/E. These services are accessed through a consistent browser interface and based on SOA design principles.
CA MSM also automatically detects product maintenance as it becomes available, enabling staff to promptly download and install that maintenance.
The initial release of CA MSM provides:
- The Product Acquisition Service that gives customers transparent access to an inventory of tailored CA solutions and services in the form of electronically deliverable product packages and Program Temporary Fixes (PTFs)
- The Software Installation Service that simplifies installation and maintenance of CA solutions based on the customer’s local software inventory through an intuitive graphical user interface and an intelligent Installation Wizard. The Software Installation Service leverages the OASIS SDD metadata standard to describe how each CA software product is to be installed—thereby removing the guesswork often associated with resource allocation and feature/function selection.
Synchronized Release Stack Promotes Hassle-Free Installation
The synchronized release stack delivered with Mainframe 2.0 is comprised of 45 leading mainframe solutions across CA’s broad portfolio—including CA OPS/MVS® Event Management and Automation, CA ACF2™, CA Top Secret®, CA NetMaster®, CA Endevor® Software Change Manager, CA InterTest™, CA 1® Tape Management, CA TLMS® Tape Management, CA Vantage Storage Resource Manager, CA View®, CA Deliver™ and CA Spool™. Solutions in this stack utilize a standardized installation methodology and share common deliverables, such as best practice guides. All solutions in the stack are also subjected to extensive integration testing to verify that they operate as intended when concurrently hosted within the same z/OS operating system image.
Integrated Health Checks Proactively Alert Customers to Potential Problems
CA’s initial Mainframe 2.0 deliverables include more than 100 health checks across CA’s mainframe product line. These health checks run under the IBM Health Checker, a base component of z/OS that simplifies and automates the identification of configuration problems.
CA health checks continuously monitor the customer’s environment to confirm that CA solutions are optimally configured, best practices are being followed, and recent product enhancements are being appropriately utilized—proactively alerting technicians to potential problems before they impact service availability.
Enhanced Electronic Software Delivery Speeds Installation
CA’s enhanced Electronic Software Delivery (ESD) service enables customers to install a CA product using standard utilities—without requiring them to reconstitute a tape cartridge. This helps speeds installation and facilitates a consistent installation process across CA mainframe products, shortening the learning curve for mainframe staff.
Out-Tasking Combines Software and Services
Mainframe 2.0 also features Out-Tasking, an accelerated time-to-value turnkey offering from CA that combines software with well-defined management services in a single subscription-based package.
About CA
CA (NASDAQ: CA) is the world’s leading independent IT management software company. With CA's Enterprise IT Management (EITM) vision and expertise, organizations can more effectively govern, manage and secure IT to optimize business performance and sustain competitive advantage. For more information, visit www.ca.com.
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