Since the general availability of IBM z/OS 2.4  in September, clients have been pleased with its compatibility with prior z/OS versions while concurrently delivering on new market technologies such as IBM z/OS Container Extensions.
 
“z/OS V2.4 brought us many benefits – improved system management, improved availability and security – through a set of new functions, to our mission critical environments. The ease of installation and migration helped us to run smoothly the new z/OS release and deliver the service our users depend on.” Marc Theis - Head of Mainframe and Production at CTIE


The continuous delivery model for z/OS is meant to further extend the capabilities of z/OS V2.4 with enhancements as well as deliver innovative new features and capabilities for clients. We continue to follow our continuous delivery cadence with 4Q 2019 enhancements to z/OS V2.4 with new function APARs.  You can find them collected in a convenient reference format on the new function APAR link in the resources below. 
 
Highlights of the 4Q19 capability enhancements to z/OS V2.4 include:
 
Driving agility through automation and scripting for optimized systems management  
IBM z/OSMF contains a functional workflow engine that helps to automate management task and this deliverable includes a set of enhancements that further simplify and modernize the user experience for optimized productivity.
 
Driving more capability for the z/OS Container Extensions 
IBM z/OS Container Extensions, which enables the integration of Linux software with native z/OS, co-located in the same z/OS image, has been enhanced with a new proxy server support feature to enable proxy access to client-relevant s390x Docker images in Docker Hub directly from z/OS. zCX has also been enhanced with the Inbound Workload Queueing support for better network efficiency and economics.
 
Continued focus on security
IBM SMF Quantum Safe Signatures provides protection of SMF data into the future with an optional digital signature to help determine if SMF data has been tampered with. 


IBM z/OS is committed to a continuous delivery roadmap that delivers regular capability updates for current releases of z/OS as well as incremental capabilities in preparation for the next release. 

Exciting things are coming in upcoming quarters. Notable Statements of Direction for this 4Q19 GA include: 

IBM z/OS Integrity Scanner Tool
IBM intends to deliver a new feature of z/OS to scan Program Call (PC) and Supervisor Call (SVC) routines to further strengthen the integrity of the z/OS solution stack and simplify compliance requirements. 


Additional Resources:
Read more about the z/OS continuous delivery model - https://www.ibm.com/it-infrastructure/z/zos
New function APAR: https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/new-function-apars-zos-platform