Compuware ISPW Brings Continuous Delivery to the Mainframe

DETROIT - June 28, 2016 - PRLog -- Compuware today announced ISPW Deploy, an advanced mainframe release automation solution that enables large enterprises to bring continuous delivery best practices to their IBM z/OS environments.

ISPW Deploy, built on the ISPW technology Compuware acquired January of this year, facilitates faster and more reliable mainframe software deployment through three key sets of capabilities:

·         Automation that rapidly moves code through the deployment process, including test staging and approvals, while also providing greatly simplified full or partial rollbacks.

·         Visualization that enables DevOps managers to quickly pinpoint deployment issues in order to both solve immediate rollout problems and address persistent bottlenecks in code promotion.

·         Integrations with both third-party solutions and Compuware's own industry-leading mainframe toolkitthat allow IT to build complete SCM-to-production DevOps pipelines and to quickly launch associated remediation support tools if and when deployment issues occur.

Compuware is further empowering enterprises to achieve mainframe agility by integrating

Compuware ISPW and XebiaLabs (http://resources.compuware.com/compuware-xebialabs-integr...)' cross-platform continuous delivery solutions. This integration uniquely enables IT organizations to orchestrate and visualize their mainframe DevOps processes in a common manner with their broader cross-platform DevOps automation (see separate release for details).

Most IT organizations have historically resorted to homegrown scripts to automate deployment of the code that emerges from their SCM environments. Unfortunately, these scripts do not provide essential capabilities such as rollback, progress visibility, and auditability of deployment processes.

With ISPW Deploy, IT can much more effectively automate mainframe processes to keep pace with the demands of the business for continuous delivery across all platforms.

The automation, visualization, and integrations ISPW Deploy provides are also important for IT organizations transitioning responsibility for the mainframe from their retiring senior platform specialists to a new generation of cross-platform IT professionals.

"Without intensive modernization, the mainframe will remain an impediment to large enterprises' DevOps efforts," said industry analyst Jason Bloomberg of Intellyx. "The automation and visualization provided by Compuware's ISPW Deploy positions the mainframe as a first-class participant in the DevOps toolchain. Not only does ISPW Deploy support the automation necessary for continuous integration and continuous deployment, but it also counteracts the mainframe 'brain drain' taking place as Baby Boomers age out of the active IT workforce."

"Here at Alecta we have replaced a proprietary SCM system with ISPW, which we believe is very easy to manage and will enable us to deliver quality services to our customers more quickly. The support for distributed software is also an advantage for us," said Ulf Larsson, acting CIO for Alecta.

In addition to introducing ISPW Deploy, Compuware today unveiled numerous enhancement to

ISPW's source code management capabilities (http://www.compuware.com/en_us/use-cases/source-code-mana...), as well as:

·         Capabilities in Compuware File-AID (http://www.compuware.com/en_us/products/file-aid-data-management.html) that help customers migrate to COBOL v5 and above and reap associated performance benefits

·         New features in Compuware Topaz Workbench (http://www.compuware.com/en_us/products/workbench-mainframe-modernization.html) that reduce dependency on arcane TSO/ISPF utilities

·         Enhancements to Compuware Strobe (http://www.compuware.com/en_us/products/strobe-mainframe-performance-monitoring.html) that include the addition of IMS Transaction Profiling and automated initiation of measurements across all members of a targeted CICSPlex.

·         Integration between Compuware Strobe and ConicIT (http://resources.compuware.com/compuware-conicit-integration?utm_campaign=Press%20Releases&utm_source=ISPW%20Deploy%20PR)mainframe performance analytics that helps IT organizations predictively discover and remediate operational issues (see separate release for details).

Together, these deliverables mark the seventh consecutive quarter that Compuware has fulfilled its unprecedented commitment to provide the world's largest enterprises with high-impact innovations that enable them to get maximum business value from their tremendous investments in the mainframe-every 90 days.

"The mainframe endures as a strategic platform because of its unmatched reliability, scalability, security, and performance economics-and because the investments that global enterprises have made in mainframe applications and data are irreplaceable," said Compuware CEO Chris O'Malley (https://www.linkedin.com/in/christophertomalley). "Compuware is the only mainframe ISV that is fully committed to meeting the needs of these global enterprises as they seek to combine the advantages of size with the advantages of agility in a global marketplace that demands both."

Compuware Corporation

Compuware empowers the world's largest companies to excel in the digital economy by fully leveraging their high-value mainframe investments. We do this by delivering highly innovative solutions that uniquely enable IT professionals with mainstream skills to manage mainframe applications, data, and platform operations. Learn more at compuware.com (http://www.compuware.com/)