Data Center Management Articles
BMC Software, a provider of system management software, has introduced a new tool intended to help companies decrease their IBM mainframe software expenses. With its new Cost Analyzer for zEnterprise, BMC says it is able to deliver predictive analytics that can help IT departments plan, report and reduce their mainframe licensing charge by identifying system peaks, and recommending preemptive cost-reduction strategies. BMC Cost Analyzer is targeted at the majority of IBM mainframe customers, who are paying for their core IBM software on a usage basis which is determined by the monthly peak usage over a four-hour average, Jay Lipovich, director of Solutions Marketing, BMC Software, told 5 Minute Briefing in an interview.
Posted September 16, 2013
Attunity Ltd., a provider of information availability software solutions, has released a new version of its data replication software intended to address requirements for big data analytics, business intelligence, business continuity and disaster recovery initiatives. Addressing expanding use cases for the solution, Attunity Replicate 3.0, is engineered to provide secure data transfer over long distances such as wide area networks (WANs), the cloud and satellite connections, said Lawrence Schwartz, vice president of marketing at Attunity, in an interview.
Posted September 16, 2013
IBM has introduced an array of new software, system and services offerings to help organizations manage big data projects. The technology is aimed at helping customers increase their confidence in their data, their speed in gaining business value out of their data, and sharpen their skill sets to address big data challenges."We have to hold that data to the same standards, manage it, and govern it appropriately for the enterprise. You can't drop those standards because it is unstructured data," said Nancy Kopp-Hensley, a director in product marketing and strategy for Big Data Systems at IBM, in an interview.
Posted September 16, 2013
IBM introduced a flexible computing platform that it claims will provide three times as many cores as current one-unit rack servers. The NeXtScale System is an addition to IBM's x86 portfolio, designed to run applications with the power of a supercomputer in any data center, via an open architecture that will support options for compute, storage, and graphics processing acceleration.
Posted September 16, 2013
Phoenix Software International announced it will soon be shipping the latest version of its mainframe spool management tool. The new software, (E)JES Version 5, Release 3.0, includes features built to take advantage of the latest release of IBM's z/OS operating system (V5R3), including email notifications and a REST-based API.
Posted September 16, 2013
BDNA, a Data as a Service (DaaS) company, announced its Purchase Order Normalization solution, intended to help change how IT spend is calculated and managed. BDNA's PO Normalization solution provides a view from purchasing to deployment with more accurate and precise data than has been previously available through standard accounting and purchasing systems. Such data can provide better spend analysis, improved business value realization, forward planning, demand management and reduced software audit risk, BDNA says.
Posted September 16, 2013
Oracle has introduced its latest ZFS Storage Appliances, the ZS3 Series, aimed at enabling customers to improve operational efficiencies, reduce data center costs, and increase business application performance.
Posted September 11, 2013
IBM has also completed the acquisition of CSL International, a privately held provider of virtualization management technology for IBM's zEnterprise System. The software will become part of the IBM zEnterprise portfolio in early 2014.
Posted September 03, 2013
SQL Sentry, Inc., the developer of software for Microsoft SQL Server, has introduced v7.5 of SQL Sentry, which provides integrated, visual monitoring and management for the high availability and disaster recovery solution, SQL Server AlwaysOn. The SQL Sentry Monitoring service actively collects data from availability group primaries, secondaries and failover cluster instances as appropriate to present a seamless view of the AlwaysOn environment.
Posted September 03, 2013
Red Hat, Inc., a provider of enterprise open source solutions, announced new initiatives within Red Hat Cloud Infrastructure, including the introduction of the Red Hat Certificate of Expertise in Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), and a Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Promotional Offering. The move to OpenStack, the open source private cloud infrastructure, represents a new approach to enterprise cloud computing, Andrew Cathrow, senior product manager at Red Hat, told 5 Minute Briefing.
Posted September 03, 2013
CiRBA, a provider of automated capacity control software, announced a new administrative console designed to enable organizations to automate new workload routing and capacity reservations processes. The console is designed to integrate with existing job scheduling or workload automation systems, Andrew Hiller, co-founder and CTO of CiRBA, told 5 Minute Briefing.
Posted September 03, 2013
Software AG announced it is acquiring JackBe Corporation, a provider of real-time visual analytics and intelligence software. Providing rapid deployment and enterprise mashups of different data sources, JackBe will serve as the foundation for Software AG's new webMethods Intelligent Business Operations Platform. The new platform is designed to provide customers with an integrated, real-time awareness of dynamic operations and processes via visualizations.
Posted September 03, 2013
Trend Micro says it is collaborating with VMware to integrate Trend Micro's Deep Security with VMware NSX, the platform for network virtualization. The goal is to provide a security framework for joint customers that increases protection and automates security deployments in virtualized data centers.
Posted September 03, 2013
Building on the momentum of SAP's OEM (original equipment manufacturer) partner base in North America, three OEM partners - AlertEnterprise, Clockwork, and PROS - will offer their customers access to solutions with SAP HANA, a real-time in-memory technology platform. SAP says it has quadrupled the total number of OEM partners licensing SAP HANA in the first 6 months of 2013 compared to the last 6 months of 2012, demonstrating strong partner adoption in North America and globally.
Posted August 31, 2013
IBM announced its new zEnterprise BC12 (zBC12) mainframe, designed for enhanced analytics, cloud, and mobile computing. Priced at $75,000 for the base model, IBM says it is targeting smaller organizations. The computer giant says it is also adding new industry solutions and software and operating systems across its zEnterprise portfolio, designed for financial services and government operations.
Posted August 21, 2013
EMC has announced the next generation of its Disk Library for Mainframe (DLm) systems, designed to deliver twice the scalability of the previous generation, with support for up to 11.4 PB of logical capacity and up to 80% faster performance. EMC's DLm 8100 and DLm 2100 systems are enabled by an enhanced virtual tape engine and eight new Gb/s FICON adapters.
Posted August 19, 2013
GT Software is shipping a new release in its Ivory Suite of products, providing SQL access to CA IDMS, a mainframe database. Ivory Data Hub v5.2.0 is designed to simplify SQL access to mainframe data, simplify problem diagnosis, and extend its integration into IBM's Workload Manager (WLM). SQL access to CA IDMS is important for a number of reasons, Eric Nelson, president of GT Software, told 5 Minute Briefing in an interview.
Posted August 19, 2013
At last week's SHARE conference in Boston, AES announced Clever Mobile for Trace, designed to help administrators diagnose TCP/IP network traffic on mobile devices. Most corporate strategy definitions of a multi-architecture end-to-end environment include mobile phones. Functions available to users of browser interfaces, now must also be available as mobile applications, the company said.
Posted August 19, 2013
Luminex Software, Inc. announced the Luminex Synchronous Tape Matrix (STM) feature for its Mainframe Virtual Tape (MVT) and Channel Gateway X (CGX) solutions. Luminex STM provides multiple data centers in campus or metro regions support for active-active tape operations, with continuous availability and redundancy.
Posted August 19, 2013
Dimension Data, a data center solutions and services provider, is making an optional backup and recovery service available as an add-on to its line of public, private and hosted private cloud offerings. The new service, Cloud Backup, enables organizations to back up files, folders, systems, applications and data to Dimension Data's cloud data centers to ensure business continuity and protection for enterprise workloads.
Posted August 19, 2013
Phoenix Software International plans to soon release an update to the company's mainframe software consumption measurement and analysis tool. The tool, zHISR 2.0, will interface directly with z/OS Hardware Instrumentation Services on IBM System z10 or zEnterprise processors to collect data for hotspot analysis of customer, vendor, or operating system program execution.
Posted August 19, 2013
IBM announced that it has teamed up with Google, Mellanox, NVIDIA and Tyan to form the OpenPOWER Consortium - an open development alliance based on IBM's POWER microprocessor architecture. The consortium intends to build advanced server, networking, storage and GPU-acceleration technology aimed at delivering more choice, control and flexibility to developers of next-generation, hyperscale and cloud data centers.
Posted August 19, 2013
To provide multiple data centers in campus or metro regions with support for active-active tape operations, with continuous availability and redundancy, LUMINEX Software has introduced the LUMINEX Synchronous Tape Matrix feature for its Mainframe Virtual Tape and Channel Gateway X solutions.
Posted August 12, 2013
Oracle is advancing the role of Java for IoT (Internet of Things) with the latest releases of its Oracle Java Embedded product portfolio - Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.3 and Oracle Java ME Software Development Kit (SDK) 3.3, a complete client Java runtime and toolkit optimized for microcontrollers and other resource-constrained devices. Oracle is also introducing the Oracle Java Platform Integrator program to provide partners with the ability to customize Oracle Java ME Embedded products to reach different device types and market segments. "We see IoT as the next big wave that will hit the industry," Oracle's Peter Utzschneider, vice president of product management, explained during a recent interview.
Posted August 07, 2013
Datawatch Corporation, a provider of information optimization solutions, introduced new server and management automation capabilities for its Datawatch Monarch Professional, Datawatch Data Pump and Datawatch Enterprise Server products. Datawatch says the new releases of its flagship information optimization software will enable businesses to better secure, simplify and accelerate their big data and business intelligence applications, and also extend the technology to more users.
Posted August 06, 2013
Join SHARE on Thursday, August 29, 11:00 a.m. ET for a complimentary webcast, New Mainframe Monitoring Capability with the OMEGAMON V5.1 Family, and hear about new features and functionality in the Tivoli OMEGAMON family to support increased demands around mobile, cloud and big data. This webcast will cover recently announced OMEGAMON capabilities across z/OS, Mainframe Networks, storage and z/VM. IBM's continued focus on integrating Service Management capabilities for improved productivity and availability across the enterprise will also be discussed.
Posted August 05, 2013
Along with its latest mainframe announcements, IBM also beefed up its midrange-class systems, with the new PowerLinux 7R4 server as well as new software and middleware applications geared for big data, analytics and next-generation Java applications in an open cloud environment.
Posted August 05, 2013
Attunity Ltd., a provider of information availability software solutions, has signed an OEM reseller agreement with Infor, an ERP solutions provider. The agreement enables Infor to offer Attunity's mainframe data connectivity software to its customers using Infor E Series and M Series mainframe-based financials and payroll/personnel applications. The partnership will help Info customers get more value from their existing investment in the company's software, said Itamar Ankorion, vice president of business development and corporate strategy at Attunity, during an interview with 5 Minute Briefing.
Posted August 05, 2013
CloudPhysics, a provider virtualized workload management software, announced a beta program for its Knowledge Base Advisor, an early warning service for IT operators that identifies operational hazards impacting VMware workloads. CloudPhysics' Knowledge Base Advisor is offered as a SaaS product.
Posted August 05, 2013
Infogix Inc., a developer of monitoring software, announced the availability of the new versions of its flagship Infogix ACR products: ACR/Detail 4.5 and ACR/Summary 4.5. The Infogix ACR suite provides an automated information controls platform for mainframe and host-based computing environments.
Posted August 05, 2013
IBM says it is accelerating its Linux on Power initiative with the new PowerLinux 7R4 server as well as new software and middleware applications geared for big data, analytics and next generation Java applications in an open cloud environment. According to IBM, the new PowerLinux 7R4 server, built on the same Power Systems platform running IBM's Watson cognitive computing solution, can provide clients the performance required for the new business-critical and data-intensive workloads increasingly being deployed in Linux environments. IBM is also expanding the portfolio of software for Power Systems with the availability of IBM Cognos Business Intelligence and EnterpriseDB database software, each optimized for Linux on Power.
Posted July 30, 2013
CA Technologies has expanded CA Chorus, its integrated mainframe management platform, with new capabilities for network and system management. The company also announced additional mainframe management solutions to help improve IT performance and productivity, a combination of solutions aimed at helping IT staff provide uninterrupted business services. "The growth of mobile and cloud use in the enterprise has created a dynamic data center that contracts and expands at the will of the business users - not IT," Michael Madden, general manager for Mainframe at CA Technologies, tells 5 Minute Briefing.
Posted July 22, 2013
Technology performance company Compuware Corporation has made enhancements to Abend-AID, its mainframe application failure resolution solution. The latest improvements make Abend-AID easier to use. Abend-AID also includes analytics to help more rapidly resolve application failures. The new release is targeted at IT staff members unfamiliar with mainframe applications or entry-level developers who are more familiar with distributed, Java applications, Stuart Feravich, director of mainframe product management at Compuware, tells 5 Minute Briefing. Along with staff inexperience with mainframes, Feravich also is seeing less tolerance for any downtime, since many of these applications are now "very much part of the customer facing application or infrastructure in companies."
Posted July 22, 2013
IBM's second-quarter 2013 results were lower across the board, with the exception of its mainframe and enterprise software units. The computer giant reports net income of $3.2 billion for the most recent quarter, compared with $3.9 billion for the same quarter last year - a decrease of 17%. Total revenues for the second quarter of 2013 totaled $24.9 billion, down 3% from the second quarter of 2012. IBM took a $1-billion charge for what it called "workforce rebalancing" - cutbacks and layoffs across its global workforce.
Posted July 22, 2013
IBM announced it intends to acquire CSL International, a provider of virtualization management technology for IBM's zEnterprise system. CSL International is a privately held company headquartered in Herzliya Pituach, Israel. Financial terms will not be disclosed.
Posted July 22, 2013
Dell Cloud Client Computing has begun shipping desktop and application virtualization software with server-streaming capability, intended to help organizations harness the benefits of virtualization and cloud computing. The new release, version 6 of Dell Wyse WSM, adds on-demand delivery of server OS images to Dell's end-user computing portfolio.
Posted July 22, 2013
Rocket Software, Inc. is now shipping a new product that enables mainframe data to better integrate with enterprise business intelligence and analytics initiatives. The new software, Rocket z/SQL for IBM System z, provides access from any system to non-relational mainframe data without moving data off the mainframe.
Posted July 22, 2013
WSO2, an enterprise middleware provider, says it has launched a platform built to enable the development of an enterprise app store for delivery of application programming interfaces (APIs). The new product, WSO2 App Factory, is designed to provide cloud delivery through a shared, self-service, multi-tenant and elastic enterprise DevOps platform. The goal is for teams to be able to collaboratively create, develop and deploy enterprise applications into cloud environments, without the necessity of server provisioning. The platform also includes lifecycle management and governance to ensure compliance with IT, corporate and government policies
Posted July 22, 2013
Riverbed Technology, an application performance vendor, announced a new release of its Riverbed Granite product family - including software and appliances - engineered to support enterprise-class server and data consolidation. New features are intended to enable IT managers to consolidate larger branch offices and data-intensive applications that previously were difficult or impossible to consolidate, the vendor says. Granite is intended to enable the removal of servers and data from branch offices so they can be positioned in a centralized data center.
Posted July 22, 2013
TIBCO Software Inc., an enterprise middleware provider, announced expansion of its partner ecosystem for the App Marketplace within tibbr, the vendor's enterprise social network. The tibbr platform was formed under the aegis of TIBCO to bring together all the key elements of enterprise collaboration - people, applications and content.
Posted July 22, 2013
Electric cars are increasingly being seen on the world's roadways, bolstered by new technologies that enhance performance and battery life. Now, it's being reported that Nissan, maker of the "Leaf" electric car, is employing its mainframe systems to serve as the back end to the vehicle's online portal. The portal provides metrics and support for a range of in-car functions, such as battery status, recharging station locations, navigation functions, and in-car cooling or heating.
Posted July 22, 2013
Terracotta, provider of in-memory technologies for enterprise big data, unveiled new versions of BigMemory 4, its flagship product for managing big, fast data, and Web Sessions 4, its solution for distributed in-memory session management. Together, the company says the new offerings enable faster, more reliable access to session data in large-scale, high-traffic web applications. According to Terracotta, BigMemory 4 offers 60% faster data access than previous versions at terabyte scale and beyond, and delivers enterprise-grade levels of reliability and flexibility that were formerly available only in traditional, disk-based data management systems.
Posted July 09, 2013
IBM says that it has completed the acquisition of SoftLayer Technologies Inc., a privately held cloud computing infrastructure company based in Dallas, Texas, for an undisclosed sum. The initial acquisition agreement was announced on June 4th, and is the basis of IBM's new cloud services division, which combines SoftLayer with IBM SmartCloud.
Posted July 08, 2013
SOA Software, a provider of application programming interface (API) management tools, announced a new product set that manages the lifecycle of IBM DataPower-based APIs, and extends the capabilities of the SOA Software Integrated Governance Solution for IBM DataPower.
Posted July 08, 2013
Compuware Corporation, a technology performance tools provider, announced a new solution set that supports application-aware network performance monitoring and user experience management, intended to provide insights into the correlation between network and application performance, and how the network contributes to user experience.
Posted July 08, 2013
IBM is shipping a new version of its DB2 database software that includes a new feature called "BLU Acceleration," designed to make it simpler, more economical and faster to analyze massive amounts of data. The new IBM DB2 10.5 with BLU Acceleration aims for analytics "at the speed of thought" with a range of made-in-IBM-Labs advances to significantly speed analytic workloads for databases and data warehouses.
Posted July 08, 2013
SanDisk Corporation, a provider of flash memory storage solutions, says its investment arm, SanDisk Ventures, is now backing Panzura, a provider of flash-based network attached storage (NAS) solutions for enterprises. Panzura's scalable offering uses flash memory to store data off-premise in the cloud, reducing customer system, support, administration, power and cooling costs.
Posted July 08, 2013