IBM Announces z/OS 3.1 Will Embrace AI
IBM has released a teaser for its much anticipated Quarter 3 2023 z/OS upgrade.
“IBM® z/OS® 3.1 marks a new era in operating system intelligence,” begins the announcement which heralds a new AI-infused, hybrid-cloud operating system. According to the statement, the new version of z/OS will provide “a framework for infusing AI throughout the system, enabling intelligent systems administration guidance and automation that learns and improves.”
As can be expected, the z/OS 3.1 will operate best on IBM’s latest mainframe, the z16, but models z14 and above will be supported. The new OS delivers on IBM’s promise in 2022 that z16 would be able to harness new possibilities of AI:
“I think the world of AI just changed with the introduction of this system,” said Ross Mauri, general manager of IBM Z. “Whether it’s for driving costs down, cutting down on the risk of fraud, or driving more revenue a whole new set of possibilities are going to be opened up with the AI on the z16 system that couldn’t be considered before.”
In addition to the promised AI enhancements, the new OS will also feature increased cloud capabilities:
“z/OS 3.1 intends to embrace aspects of cloud-native management of z/OS based on industry standards and access to consistent and modern browser-based interfaces…With enhanced management infrastructure and self-service access to tasks, z/OS 3.1 plans to continue simplifying and automating the management of the operating system to help guide the next generation of system programmers.”
Source: IBM
Delta Airlines Confirms Extended Partnership with Kyndryl
IBM’s spinoff Kyndryl has announced the extension and expansion of its long relationship with Delta Airlines even while the airline pursues a hybrid cloud/mainframe infrastructure. The new agreement confirms Delta’s ongoing commitment to its mainframe, which is responsible for complex workloads like travel reservation and crew scheduling systems. Kyndryl will also take on the task of integrating automation capabilities.
As the pandemic was shutting down travel for most of the planet, Delta airlines began its own journey of migrating some of the organization’s front-end applications from the mainframe to the cloud. These applications allow passengers, for example, to run satellite-free connected applications while in flight (on their own devices).
These new, cloud-enabled capabilities, along with the migration of some analytical workloads and data to the cloud, might sound like the beginning of the end for Delta’s mainframe infrastructure. But according to the announcement, Kyndryl will continue to help Delta to better harness data for innovative services, and the partnership seems to be solid for the foreseeable future.
“We have a good balance,” says Matt Cincera, senior vice president of software engineering at Delta, “They play together well. We have hundreds of applications that we’re in the process of moving to the cloud but a lot of our main capabilities are underpinned by workloads on the mainframe and it’s definitely with us for the foreseeable future.”
Source: CIO, SDX Central
Sonja Soderlund is an Oregon-based B2B freelance writer. Whether writing about mainframe computers, educational technology, or sustainable retail, she strives to bring clarity to complex issues. Connect with her at sonjasoderlund.com or LinkedIn.