devopsy.kinsta.cloud

Author: John McKenny

  • 6 Transformative Mainframe Predictions for 2024

    6 Transformative Mainframe Predictions for 2024

    The success of organizations in today’s digital economy demands speed — the ability to quickly respond to market trends with new applications and services, instant access to critical data, and resolution of issues even before they affect service. As we move into the new year, the adoption and adaptation of emerging technologies on the mainframe will enable enterprises to embrace changing market forces, turning them into a competitive advantage.

    Below are six predictions of how mainframe organizations will leverage new technologies to advance the platform in 2024.

    Prediction: AI/ML Adoption Grows

    The roles of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) and their adoption across the mainframe, from application development to monitoring to data management, will continue to grow.

    The generative AI revolution is real and here to stay. In the coming year, organizations will continue to explore best-use cases for its integration into mainframe management. Development teams will leverage key AI-recommended insights into automated workflows and code generation, improving developer productivity. Database administrators (DBAs) will look to automate data management processes to efficiently handle the demand for the diverse datasets required by generative AI tools, and mainframe operations teams will increase their reliance on AI-driven predictive analytics and root cause analysis.

    As adoption increases and experience is gained, organizations will work past their AI trust issues and begin to harness the power of automation to become a fully autonomous digital enterprise. At the same time, there will be a growing need to govern AIOps and MLOps to ensure the validity and accuracy of ongoing model development.

    Prediction: DevEx Comes to the Forefront of Companies’ Innovation Strategies

    With the long-awaited shift of mainframe workforces from those with decades of experience to a new generation of stewards now in full effect, organizations will find a new imperative to attract and retain top talent by providing developers with familiar tools and development environments.

    Professionals who have recently graduated from college or are moving from other platforms bring with them an expectation of integrated and automated DevOps practices. The move towards enterprise-wide DevOps and continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines will continue, with many companies also looking to employ cross-platform tooling. By giving developers the freedom to use their integrated development environment (IDE) of choice, organizations can decrease onboarding time and get new mainframe developers up to speed faster, enabling them to understand code and its function quickly and easily, and creating a seamless, frictionless way to make changes, debug, and deploy.

    Prediction: Database DevOps Bridges the Gap Between DBAs and Developers

    Changing customer demand and the need for agility will accelerate the drive for developers to seamlessly access and manage data sources. The demand for an agile development environment that extends from applications to databases will increase the inclusion of database DevOps in CI/CD pipelines, including version-controlled database schemas and data, automated database provisioning, and database testing as part of the pipeline.

    By embracing agile practices, such as incremental database changes and rolling deployments, organizations will bridge the gap between DBAs and developers and ensure that mainframe databases evolve alongside application code. This cohesive approach will enhance collaboration, reduce conflicts, and expedite application development, positioning mainframes as agile and adaptable components within the rapidly changing IT landscape.

    Prediction: Democratizing Mainframe Data

    The move ― and the need ― to democratize mainframe data, making it available to AI/ML analytics engines, will gain momentum.

    Organizations have matured their data lakes and gained valuable insights from data housed on distributed and cloud platforms, but the efforts needed to extract and transform mainframe data stored on tape and virtual tape libraries (VTL) has left volumes of business-critical data behind. By operationalizing mainframe integration with the cloud, organizations can make it easier and faster to access mainframe data and transform it into open formats, making it accessible to analytics engines and AI/ML applications.

    The ability to realize the hidden potential of data they already store will make cloud-based storage of mainframe data a prerequisite for enterprises looking to digitally transform their businesses and gain competitive advantage.

    Prediction: Object Storage Becomes Critical for Security

    Mainframe-dependent organizations will seek to integrate hybrid cloud object storage to fortify mainframe data protection against escalating cyberthreats and ransomware attacks.

    In 2024, cyberthreats will almost certainly increase in number and sophistication. The European Union’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) seeks to ensure that organizations remain vigilant and protect their systems and their customers’ data against increasing threats.

    With DORA set to come into effect in January 2025, and further regulations and guidelines on the horizon, managing mainframe data across diverse locations while prioritizing immutable data copies will be imperative. Organizations will pivot towards proactive strategies, aligning their mainframe infrastructure with hybrid cloud solutions to meet evolving compliance standards and shield against the growing sophistication of cyberthreats.

    Prediction: Innovation Takes the Lead

    Organizations will adopt ruthless prioritization, shifting focus from maintaining services and applications to building new ones for the future.

    Having seen firsthand the success of ongoing mainframe modernization efforts, organizations will place a new focus on building skills and specialties that align with future goals and product roadmaps, putting them in a position to capitalize on coming trends and giving them the ability to quickly respond to changing market forces with innovative new products and services.

    As companies mature their approaches to AI on the mainframe, many will turn to building “applied AI” teams tasked with developing proactive solutions to better analyze data and forecast trends. In short, organizations will think logically about how to embrace AI rather than being embraced by it.

    In 2024, mainframe organizations will accelerate the adoption of emerging technologies like AI and the cloud to increase the adaptability, resilience, and efficiency of the platform while situating it for even greater success in the future. The mainframe will continue to be a platform of innovation, integrating with new technologies and practices borrowed from other platforms to further the evolution of a hybrid IT environment that meets and exceeds the demands of the modern digital economy.

    The role of AI, the impact of data governance regulations, the mainframe skills gap, affordability, and interoperability requirements are all brewing a perfect storm around the mainframe that will mark 2024 as a year of significant transformation that will define the leaders from the laggards.

  • BMC Mainframe Survey Results Show a Platform on the Rise

    BMC Mainframe Survey Results Show a Platform on the Rise

    What if I told you that the oldest active computing platform is also one of the most innovative, seen as a platform for growth and new workloads, not just by seasoned professionals, but by a new generation of stewards, too? The 2023 BMC Mainframe Survey shows just that. In addition to an overwhelmingly positive perception and growth mindset regarding the mainframe, the survey reveals that the majority of those who are most enthusiastic about its future are relative newcomers to the platform.

    Now in its 18th edition, the annual BMC Mainframe Survey gauges the opinions of more than 800 executive and technical professionals on a range of topics, from overall perception of the platform to top priorities, common practices and greatest challenges.

    This year’s results show that 94% of respondents have a positive perception of the mainframe, with 62% citing it as a platform to grow and attract new workloads. This tracks the 62% who report adopting DevOps practices on the platform. It’s no surprise, then, that two of the top five priorities cited by respondents are efforts to enhance automation and modernize applications. Organizations around the world recognize that the mainframe can be a leader in innovation, powering their digital transformations.

    Modern Management Approaches

    This innovation goes beyond the software and services developed for the mainframe to include those used to manage the platform. It’s reported that 35% of respondents listed the implementation of cloud technologies as one of their top four priorities for the coming year, with 41% saying they are considering cloud-based storage and backup. With the growing volume of mainframe data and the emergence of new regulations and standards governing data security and recovery, organizations are turning to cloud-based data management to reduce costs and improve recovery options.

    Year over year, the number of survey respondents reporting the use of AIOps hasn’t changed considerably, but those reporting its cross-platform use on both mainframe and non-mainframe systems has jumped 7% from 2021.

    Organizations are recognizing the need to take advantage of the greatest business values of AIOps — cited in the survey as improved uptime and the ability to detect problems quickly, understand trends and respond proactively — as part of a holistic approach to enterprise IT operations management.

    With increased cross-platform use, significant benefits and a decrease in the number of respondents reporting implementation challenges like cost, complexity and the need for specialized skillsets, BMC sees AIOps as an area ripe for significant growth in the coming year.

    Investment Pays Dividends

    Improving the availability, quality and efficiency of the mainframe, of course, requires investment. In our report on the results of the 2023 BMC Mainframe Survey, we compare the responses of maximizers (those planning to increase investment in the platform) with those of minimizers (those planning to decrease investment levels). The results are eye-opening.

    Maximizers have invested in future-proofing their workforce in a variety of ways, and the data bears that out; 81% have ten or fewer years of experience on the platform. The new generation of stewards sees the mainframe not as a legacy platform, but one of continued growth and innovation, worthy of the investment required not just to keep it modern, but to place it at the forefront of digital transformation.

    Another key difference between maximizers and minimizers relates to security, which was cited as the top overall priority of survey respondents for the fourth consecutive year. Maximizers are more likely than minimizers to have a dedicated resource to investigate security events and to have dedicated ransomware recovery capabilities in place. It should come as no surprise, then, that maximizers were 20% more likely than minimizers to report that their mainframe security controls for ransomware are extremely effective.

    These results show that the differences between maximizers and minimizers go beyond outlook, producing tangible effects on outcomes. The maximizers increasing their investment in the mainframe report fewer challenges with staffing and skills shortages and a stronger stance against increasingly sophisticated cyberthreats. The minimizers decreasing their investment in the platform not only have greater difficulty in maintaining a skilled workforce, which increases the risk of falling behind competitively, but it also puts their organizations at serious risk of potentially catastrophic security breaches.

    A Bright Future

    In short, the results of the 2023 BMC Mainframe Survey reflect a positive outlook for the platform’s future. By investing in their workforces and the tools required to advance and protect the platform while adopting modern techniques and practices, organizations can reduce risk and promote innovation that delights their customers.

  • Six Mainframe DevOps Predictions for 2023

    Six Mainframe DevOps Predictions for 2023

    DevOps, or the automation of application development and hand-off to operations, is more prevalent than ever on the mainframe. As we begin 2023, below are six predictions for what the coming year will bring. The composite themes will undoubtedly be speed, alignment and experience.

    1. Enterprise DevOps Will Break Down Silos Across Core Systems

    DevOps practices will continue to expand beyond cloud and distributed systems to include more core systems than ever before. Core platforms, including the mainframe, are the functional backbone of mission-critical applications that drive the world economy. In a recent IDC survey, 82% of organizations reported taking steps to prioritize using the same application development tools across distributed and mainframe teams. 2023 will continue to see a rise in enterprise DevOps that will bring down the silos between platforms. As core system workloads increase, organizations will see the benefit of aligning platforms such as mainframe and distributed to realize the full benefit of their DevOps initiatives.

    2. Growth in AI/ML as Key Components for Measuring DevOps Performance Metrics

    The value of analytics will increase as organizations emphasize the use of key performance indicator (KPI) data to measure the performance and maturity of DevOps pipelines. In this way, organizations will not only gain more insights into their pipelines, but will also be able to proactively manage the data in real-time. They will be able to adjust loads as needed and create smart pipelines with advanced error handling. Organizations will leverage benchmarks within the analytics to see how they compare with their peers.

    3. Cross-Functional Pipelines Will Create Hybrid Automated Everything

    This will enable the cloud, core systems and data to deliver a more holistic view of “platforms, processes and people.” Silos will finally disappear. Automation will become a key priority in this effort as organizations seek to free up time for developers to innovate and achieve greater velocity, quality and efficiency. A single integrated and connected pipeline will emerge that automates the creation and testing of applications in a single flow. The rationale of prioritizing this alignment between distributed and core systems includes the reuse of best practices, workflow simplification, cost-effectiveness, application integration and streamlined training.

    4. DevOps Will Embrace Platform Engineering and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE)

    Platform engineering is the next evolution of DevOps, taking a DevOps platform and turning it into a self-service product to improve the developer experience. It treats DevOps as a product and allows organizations to create an end-to-end offering that serves developers, operations and platform teams. SRE focuses on the “Ops” side of DevOps, specifically how to automate operations capabilities. This is vital to the DevOps mission since it provides the data that allows organizations to manage what they can measure.

    5. DevSecOps Will Play an Increasingly Central Role

    Security must become a central part of the toolchain and a “first-class citizen” in the pipeline. Static application security testing (SAST), also known as white box testing, along with dynamic application security testing (DAST), also known as black box testing, will be further integrated into processes to enable security teams to scan large loads at rest or in real-time quickly and efficiently.

    6. Git-Centric Enterprise Source Code Management (SCM) Strategy Will Grow

    Git has become the de facto standard for SCM for distributed application workloads. In a recent IDC survey of industry professionals across 11 countries and multiple industries, 87% said they will migrate all or some of their mainframe source code to Git over the next three years. This means Git and Git-native development will become important capabilities for mainframe DevOps companies to support. Organizations will increasingly prefer implementation approaches and tools that offer flexibility in both scope and pace.

    The techniques highlighted in these predictions are, naturally, related. They point to an ever-increasing capacity for efficiency and quality that will enable core and distributed technologies to work better together.