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The z/OS continuous delivery model brings additional value to your existing z/OS without requiring the effort of a full release migration. We continue to follow our continuous delivery cadence with 1Q 2020 enhancements to z/OS V2.4 with new function APARs.  Each delivery consists of functional enhancements that clients are entitled to and can enable with the corresponding APAR. New function APARs are collected here in a convenient reference format. 


IBM z/OS Container Extensions (IBM zCX) 90 Day Trial
Being able to experiment with new technology to gain further understanding of what value it will have on your enterprise is key. With the IBM z/OS Container Extension (IBM zCX) 90 Day Trial, clients can use IBM zCX for 90 days to deploy relevant workloads without incurring the cost of the hardware feature code (FC 0104). Clients will need to deliberately opt into the trial with the 'Trial' APAR and once zCX is enabled, it is intended that clients will have a full zCX user experience for the 90 days. The trial will terminate at the end of the 90 days unless the hardware FC 0104 is installed. Please note that zCX is entitled and is included in the z/OS base. It does not require obtaining any additional z/OS Software. 90-day trial is free subject to normal hardware and software consumption when adding a workload to z/OS.

Beyond the 90 day trial, IBM zCX has been updated with performance enhancements for more efficient zIIP exploitation for workloads deployed in IBM zCX. Finally, an enhancement to the IBM License Metric Tool (ILMT) to support the zCX environment is a part of this z/OS release update enabling sub-capacity pricing for licensing of IBM Linux on z software products for use in IBM zCX.



z/OS Simplification and Management
Here is a round up of some enhanced as well as new capabilities that deliver productivity to z/OS systems operators through automation.

Cloud Provisioning and Management: now includes capabilities to scale the cloud provisioning environment beyond the scope of a single sysplex to multi-sysplex environment. Platform operations teams have access to a larger resource pool to deliver a flexible and agile orchestration of z/OS resources for z/OS subsystem developers. 


z/OS Management Facilities (z/OSMF): continues to deliver incremental capabilities to drive z/OS systems modernization; enabling productivity through automation, scripting of systems management tasks with desktop-like z/OS management workspace, graphical sysplex management, more powerful workflow engine, and much more.  Experienced Systems programmers can deliver a more agile experience and newer systems programmers can take advantage of better match to their skills. 


First IBM ServerPac in a Portable Software Instance Format: is a new capability of  z/OS version 2 release 4 that gives clients an efficient and accelerated install using a common, simple, and guided process within z/OSMF for installing and maintaining z/OS subsystems with minimal z/OS systems skills. Clients can reduce time to value and enable less experienced system programmers to confidently install and manage software. IBM CICS and IBM CICS licensed programs will benefit from this first delivery. Now available on IBM Shopz


z/OS Workload Interaction Correlator and Navigator
IBM z/OS Workload Interaction Correlator and Navigator, announced publicly in January and February of 2020, help to improve Client Workload Resilience by exploiting z/OS cross-stack Operational Analytics. The 'z/OS Workload Interaction Correlator' a priced z/OS feature, generates z/OS and middleware low execution cost, context-rich data.  The IBM Z Operational Analytics 'z/OS Workload Interaction Navigator' product provides the state of the art automated analytics, to convert this data directly into Problem Resolution Actionable Insights.  See Announcement



“ z/OS 2.4 is the most stable and reliable release in Generali’s history of the ESP.”
– Horst Schmidt, Unit Head Mainframe, Generali



Additional Resources
z/OS 2.4 New Function APAR 
Cloud Provisioning and Management for z/OS 
z/OS Management Facility 
IBM z/OSMF ServerPac