As part of its "Mainframe 2.0" initiative, CA announced it has named Montreal-based Nexio Technologies as part of its business partner network to deliver "Out-Tasking" for Canada. Nexio will deliver turnkey management software and services solutions that will enable customers to better govern, manage, and secure their mainframe environments, despite budget and staffing constraints. Nexio has been a CA business partner for more than 10 years.
CA's "Out-Tasking," part of Mainframe 2.0, is an accelerated time to value turnkey offering that combines software delivery with management services in a single subscription-based package. This combined software and services approach helps deliver rapid ROI by enabling customers to quickly and cost-effectively address key mainframe management challenges so that they can more effectively fulfill service-level agreements, maintain policy compliance, and optimize application performance.
"CA's Out-Tasking is not just a services offering; it is a complete functional solution that bundles targeted services with CA software using a subscription-based pricing model, which may be installed in the customer's environment or hosted by the CA service provider partner," David Hodgson, senior vice president in CA's Mainframe Business Unit, tells 5 Minute Briefing. "So, unlike a mere services offering, CA Out-Tasking doesn't just replace internal person-hours and skills with external person-hours and skills. It also gives customers fast, more cost-effective access to the advanced mainframe technologies they need to fully optimize their critical mainframe environments-even as they face the retirement of their most experienced mainframe personnel."
CA's Compliance Out-Tasking for Mainframe Security is delivered remotely and includes a software subscription, customized software implementation, baseline assessment, around-the-clock monitoring, on-demand reporting, periodic performance reviews, knowledge transfer, and expert advice on relevant mainframe management best practices. Because the customer does not directly license CA's software, and the customer obtains its benefits through a turnkey services offering, the customer may be able to fund Out-Tasking from operating budgets rather than from restricted IT capital budgets, CA says.
The initial Out-Tasking solution to be delivered by Nexio will be CA Compliance Out-Tasking for Mainframe Security. This solution features mainframe access control, based on CA Cleanup, which provides routine maintenance of security definitions; and mainframe system integrity, based on CA Auditor for z/OS, which identifies vulnerabilities and opportunities for improvement in an organization's z/OS security policies.
Nexio expects to begin delivering Out-Tasking services to new and existing CA customers this month. In the U.S., Out-Tasking solutions will initially be delivered in conjunction with CA service provider Acxiom Corporation, a provider of IT services including remote infrastructure management and mainframe hosting. CA says that more than 30% of Canadian enterprise-class organizations continue to rely on mainframes as an important computing platform, and more than 16% of Canadian enterprise-class businesses rely on mainframes as their most mission-critical platform.
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