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IBM has just announced the release of z/OS V2.5, a significant announcement to further help clients on their journey of digital transformation and hybrid cloud. z/OS V2.5 is a modern and easy-to-use platform that enables innovative hybrid cloud and AI development, underpinned by next- level security and resilience. The latest release of the mainframe operating system was designed in collaboration with more than 60 clients and partners and offers an immense amount of valuable new functions, including some that are also available on previous releases through the z/OS Continuous Delivery model. 

At a glance, z/OS V2.5 brings new opportunities for clients to:

• Create better experiences for their developers and users through application modernization 
• Fuel business growth with a standard cloud-native approach
• Have a simplified experience for easier use of z/OS, with no special skills required
• Innovate with integrity with cyber solutions to address evolving threats and new regulations
• Build competitive advantage with a cyber-resilient infrastructure that predicts, responds, and recovers 

A securable and scalable environment for hybrid cloud deployment

As clients accelerate their journey to hybrid cloud, having a securable and scalable environment is critical for the underlying transformation process. IBM z/OS V2.5 introduces many new capabilities that support application modernization and provide a cloud native experience on z/OS, including:

• • Java/ COBOL Interoperability: Modernize heritage applications with full application transparency by extending application programming models, with new support to manage parallel 31-bit and 64-bit LE addressing mode enclaves within the same address space.
  • z/OS Container Extensions (zCX): Run Linux on IBM Z software directly in z/OS with enhanced performance and ease of use for consistent and extended access to z/OS Qualities of Service.
  • AI ecosystem enablement: z/OS V2.5 clients can now enable the use of AI in their mission-critical applications to improve business outcomes by utilizing z/OS Container Extensions to broadly expand their choices of AI tools, frameworks, or libraries to deploy colocated with z/OS applications. 
  • z/OS Cloud storage: Solutions such as transparent cloud tiering and Object Access Method enable z/OS to utilize hybrid cloud as an additional storage tier for structured and unstructured data. z/OS use of flexible cloud storage is designed to be cost-effective with data transfer to hybrid cloud storage environments for simplified data archiving and data protection on IBM Z.

A modern and simplified user experience

z/OS system programmers, including early-tenure system programmers, can independently and confidently deploy, maintain, and manage z/OS (and stack) software functions using guided and customized instructions and workflows. With a simplified management experience supplied by streamlined and automated tasks, z/OS V2.5 enables easier installation, management, and use of z/OS by programmers and administrators of all levels, with no specialty skills required:

• • ServerPac for z/OS V2.5 as a portable software instance: This new delivery format enables an efficient and accelerated installation path using a common, simple, and guided process within z/OSMF to reduce time to value.
  • z/OS Management Facility (z/OSMF): Provides an intuitive user-interface as well as automated instructions, with numerous enhanced capabilities to help drive the effort of automating traditional tasks and simplifying areas of system management. 
  • z/OS Upgrade Workflow: Drastically reduces installation barriers to provide an improved upgrade experience, and starting in this new release, the z/OS V2.5 Upgrade Workflow and z/OS z15 Upgrade Workflow are shipped as part of the z/OS product deliverable, making the acquisition of these important technical upgrade materials faster and more convenient.

A resilient infrastructure that helps strengthen overall cyber-security posture

Today, there is a continued need for clients to further strengthen their overall cyber security posture. z/OS V2.5 is uniquely positioned to address this crucial need and includes a broad spectrum of enhancements that enable teams to protect against the impact of cyber attacks and help strengthen the security, integrity, and privacy of data, including:

• • Anomaly mitigation: This solution leverages PFA, Runtime Diagnostics, WLM, and JES2 to further enables clients to detect anomalous behavior in near real-time, so potential problems can be proactively addressed before an availability-impacting event can develop.
  • System Recovery Boost: z/OS V2.5 extends the solution to provide value in scenarios beyond image-level shutdowns and startups with a new class of short-term recovery process boosts addressing a specific set of z/OS Parallel Sysplex recovery events in order to mitigate impacts and restore normal sysplex operation as quickly as possible.
  • Data set encryption: z/OS V2.5 continues to drive pervasive encryption efforts within an enterprise with support for additional z/OS data set types, providing users with the capability to encrypt data without application changes and to simplify the task of compliance.

Learn more about z/OS V2.5 by reading the full announce here.
Read the z/OS V2.5 press release here. 

Be sure to also attend the upcoming z/OS V2.5 webinar, which will provide an overview of the new release and review many of the new features and enhancements available in z/OS 2.5.

• • Title: 'z/OS V2.5: Enabling innovative development to support new hybrid cloud and AI business applications' 
  • When: Tuesday, August 17, 2021 at 12:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time.
  • Register here: http://ibm.biz/zos-0817