Compuware ISPW Brings Continuous Delivery to the Mainframe

Automation, Visualization, and Integrations Enable Faster Rollouts with Fewer Errors—Even by Less Experienced Operators


  • At large enterprises—where distributed/mobile/cloud apps must access mainframe programs and data—continuous delivery is badly impaired by poor automation of and visibility into deployment of mainframe code.
     
  • By providing unmatched automation, visualization, and integrations, Compuware’s new ISPW Deploy solution enables these enterprises to promote new mainframe code more quickly and with fewer errors than ever.
     
  • As a result, large enterprises can better compete in today’s dynamic digital markets—while also empowering a new generation of less mainframe-experienced staff to manage IBM z/OS environments with excellence.

  • This announcement again evidences Compuware’s mainframe market leadership with consistent quarterly innovations that greatly enhance customers’ ability to fully leverage their massive investments in the platform.

DETROIT, June 28, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 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.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b7005d1b-9f8c-4ea4-b6ff-7f440e077dad

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 toolkit that 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’ 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.

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.”

“Market pressures are making it essential for us to deliver quality products and services to our clients more frequently, and the mainframe plays a critical role in that delivery,” said Craig Danielson, Assistant Vice President for Commerce Bank. “We leverage ISPW to help in this capacity and its new capabilities will provide us the automation and visibility of our software deployment process to help us continuously improve our internal operations and services.”

“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 enhancements to ISPW’s source code management capabilities, as well as:

  • Capabilities in Compuware File-AID that help customers migrate to COBOL v5 and above and reap associated performance benefits
  • New features in Compuware Topaz Workbench that reduce dependency on arcane TSO/ISPF utilities
  • Enhancements to Compuware Strobe 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 mainframe performance analytics that helps IT organizations predictively discover and remediate operational issues.

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. “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

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Press Contact
Kristina LeBlanc, The Medialink Group, kristinawleblanc@gmail.com, (508) 930-5636
Mary McCarthy, Public Relations Manager, Compuware, mary.mccarthy@compuware.com, (313) 227-8188

For Sales and Marketing Information
Compuware Corporation, One Campus Martius, Detroit MI 48226, 800-266-7892, www.compuware.com.

Copyright © 2016, Compuware Corporation. All rights reserved. The Compuware products and services listed within this release are trademarks or registered trademarks of Compuware Corporation.

The photo is also available via AP PhotoExpress.

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