Developing and delivering code faster

BMC has announced several new offerings and integrations within the BMC Automated Mainframe Intelligence (AMI) and BMC Compuware portfolios designed to modernise and streamline mainframe application development and delivery, while also increasing uptime and accelerating threat detection.

This latest release transforms mainframe management across the BMC Compuware ISPW, BMC Compuware Topaz, BMC Compuware File-AID, BMC AMI Ops Insight, BMC AMI SQL Performance, and BMC AMI Security solutions to enable users to:

·         Build, analyse, test, deploy, and manage mainframe applications quickly, efficiently, and with precision through an expanded cross-platform DevOps toolchain;

·         Reduce and potentially eliminate how long it takes to diagnose a problem with intelligent, automated, probable cause analysis; and

·         Detect and respond more quickly to security threats by uniting mainframe security and IT Operations workflows to make threat events visible, assignable, and trackable

Mainstream mainframe development with an Enterprise DevOps approach

BMC has completed the integration of Compuware, a BMC company, to create the BMC Compuware suite of tools that build upon the existing BMC AMI DevOps offerings. Now integrated with Visual Studio Code, a popular development tool, the BMC Compuware ISPW solution allows developers to edit source code and compile it on the mainframe with a simple right click. The BMC Compuware Topaz solution comes with a new command line interface and multiple application programming interfaces that give developers flexibility in how they connect to the mainframe, lessen dependence on specialised skillsets, and extend the DevOps toolchain. Finally, developers can also experience dynamically reduced search times when reviewing billions of transactions and log files with the new BMC Compuware File-AID 21 solution’s release.

“This move by BMC has sent a clear signal that DevOps has shifted from the broad adoption phase to the massive adoption phase. DevOps has become table stakes for every enterprise; whether they operate in the cloud or on a mainframe, they need to adopt DevOps to remain relevant, let alone be competitive. Yet adopting DevOps for many organisations, especially those with mainframes, has been a challenge,” wrote Christopher Condo, Chris Gardner, and Diego Lo Giudice at Forrester Research.¹ “…If DevOps doesn’t scale on mainframes, too, where modernisation of the core is an impediment, core will all move to the cloud. The bet of BMC and Compuware is to scale DevOps on the mainframe like any other platform.”

To support DevOps processes and increase code quality, the BMC AMI SQL Performance for Db2® solution provides the ability to shift left the quality control of Db2 SQL through a Jenkins plugin that helps prevent SQL from violating company standards and impacting production environments. The solution interrogates static and dynamic SQL in its current environment and against target production environments. This ensures SQL coding standards and performance issues are reported and resolved prior to moving to the next step in the route-to-live process.

Move from reactive to real-time proactive problem resolution

The BMC AMI Ops Insight solution shifts systems management from reactive to proactive mode with automated intelligent diagnostic capabilities that now provide probable cause. Users receive the earliest possible notification of system degradation, with fewer false positives, as well as the ability to pinpoint the issue. By getting to the possible cause faster, BMC AMI Ops Insight provides more time to remediate with actionable insights.

Unite Security and operations workflows

The BMC AMI Security offering, which protects against vulnerabilities, malicious actions, and data theft, now integrates with the BMC Helix ITSM solution. If the BMC AMI Security solution detects a threat, this new integration will automatically generate a security incident in BMC Helix ITSM, providing IT Operations teams with greater visibility through a single, real-time data feed and a well-defined process so they can act, track, and respond to threats and events faster.

In addition to its integration with BMC Helix ITSM, the new BMC AMI Security release continues to integrate with a wide number of enterprise security information and event management solutions and thus provides more ways to assign and rapidly investigate events, shorten mean-time-to-remediation, and make mainframes more secure.

“Mainframes are an essential part of our customers’ digital transformation strategies. With tools that transform mainframe management, we allow our clients to better embrace DevOps practices and get the most value out of their investments to accelerate innovation,” said John McKenny, SVP and General Manager, Intelligent Z Optimisation and Transformation at BMC. “We continue to help our customers achieve operational resiliency, while automating and minimising manual tasks to free them up to become an Autonomous Digital Enterprise.”