DEVOPSdigest

Compuware and XebiaLabs announced integration of ISPW, Compuware’s DevOps solution for the mainframe, with XebiaLabs’ continuous delivery technology for cross-platform application release orchestration.

This integration empowers large enterprises to include their core mainframe applications, data, and computing infrastructure into their broader cross-platform strategy for digital agility.

Enterprises using XebiaLabs' solution suite and Compuware ISPW, can now automate and monitor all phases of mainframe DevOps within the same continuous delivery management environment they use for their distributed, web, and cloud platforms. This automation and monitoring includes test/QA, pre-copy staging, and code promotion.

Complex multi-tier enterprise applications often include back-end mainframe applications and data. Upgrades and enhancements of these applications therefore require modifications of application code, data interfaces, and other components across multiple platforms simultaneously.

Historically, IT organizations have used homegrown scripts to automate certain aspects of mainframe code deployment. But this approach no longer fulfills evolving demands for digital agility and increased release frequency—since such scripts don’t integrate with software components on other platforms and often only address certain phases of software delivery. Scripts are also nearly impossible to audit and are typically dependent on the personal knowledge of the individual technicians who happened to write them. Furthermore, scripts do not provide the end-to-end process visibility essential for continuous delivery success.

By leveraging Compuware ISPW in conjunction with XebiaLabs’ solutions, enterprises can overcome these limitations and gain multiple high-value advantages, including:

- Faster, more reliable upgrades of applications that span multiple platforms — including the mainframe

- Clear and complete visibility into upgrade rollout timelines — enabling DevOps managers to discover and remediate bottlenecks in the end-to-end continuous delivery process

- Simplified one-click rollback and re-start for all application components

- Reduced dependence on idiosyncratic mainframe expertise

According to Forrester Research, “Mainframe application delivery does not need to be inherently slow and complex. Application Development and Delivery leaders have found that automating the mainframe application delivery pipeline reduces risk, cost, and complexity while improving responsiveness to changing customer needs.”

The integration supports both companies’ shared vision of seamless, automated cross-platform DevOps where COBOL applications, DB2 databases, z/OS processing power, and other mainframe assets are all elements in a single, shared pool of enterprise digital resources that IT can adaptively apply wherever and whenever they are required by the business—without operational or staffing impediments.

“The mainframe is the enterprise’s single most valuable resource when it comes to business logic, business data, performance at scale, and operational reliability,” said Compuware CEO Chris O’Malley. “By partnering with XebiaLabs, Compuware is helping enterprise IT harmonize mainframe releases with continuous delivery efforts across its broader portfolio of distributed, web, cloud, and mobile assets.”

“Compuware plays an important role in the mainframe niche of the global DevOps ecosystem,” said XebiaLabs CEO Derek Langone. “By integrating Compuware ISPW and XebiaLabs XL Release, we are further extending the ability of our customers to maximize the impact their software applications have on their core business functions.”