Hi, Optim User Group!
Here's my blog about Optim native z/OS 11.7, which was announced on Tuesday Sept 11 and was made Generally Available on Friday Sept 15. Optim native z/OS 11.7 is about support for data in its native codepage in the Optim mainframe component.
Here's why we did it:
IBM clients are internationalizing their mainframe applications.
It’s remarkable that, while mainframes have been around since the dawn of the computing era, they’re still a valuable element of modern data activities. One consequence of this long history is that there are large volumes of data in a wide range of formats on the mainframe. Mainframe applications often need to integrate new data with shared older data. We in IBM InfoSphere Optim are now seeing more customers needing to internationalize existing applications, and specifically to integrate data in multiple character sets, Unicode or otherwise.
IBM Optim’s test data management and archiving native z/OS solutions now support extracting, storing, processing, and restoring data in its native character set(s), and manages conversions as needed for comparisons, processing, and for the presentation of that data to users.
A brief digression: Why should you keep your mainframe data on the mainframe?
Many of our clients like keeping mainframe data completely on the mainframe. One advantage is the superb qualities of service provided on z/OS, especially security. Keeping mainframe data on the mainframe reduces risks of data breaches and audit failure, and reduces the time and effort needed for security exception management. Performance is another advantage-- it usually benefits because processing is performed where the data resides. In the case of Optim, this speeds up extraction, storing, and restoration capabilities to accelerate all processes.
Internationalization examples
The simplest internationalization example is a client who upgrades their table of customer street addresses to handle addresses from anywhere in the world. The client can upgrade the address table to hold Unicode data in Db2 for z/OS, and can also use application code to tie in related, shared historical data in VSAM files or IMS in various character sets. Another option in application modernization is to copy data in older codepages into Db2 for z/OS and let Db2 manage codepage conversions. These choices have their benefits and drawbacks; it is important that the Optim tools support all these choices so the client can choose the best option without needing to add tool limitations to the mix. Optim now supports these choices to give clients the flexibility they want.
Another use case is when clients are acquiring outside data, perhaps for analytics queries on the mainframe. Such data may be purchased data used to augment analytics, or shared industry data, for example. This outside data arrives in whatever character encoding the supplier chooses, often Unicode. This Optim native z/OS enhancement supports integrating this data throughout its lifecycle, from testing through archiving.
#InfoSphereOptim#Optim