VirtualZ Computing Raises $4.9 Million to Enable Enterprise Innovation With Mainframe Data
VirtualZ Computing, the only woman-founded mainframe company, has announced $2.2 million in seed financing, bringing the total capital raised to $4.9 million. The capital will be used to enable enterprise innovation with mainframe data through out-of-the-box, bi-directional access from hybrid cloud.
VirtualZ provides solutions which enable all apps, no matter where they reside, to work off of a single, gold copy of data on the mainframe. In the company’s words: “No more “Changes will be reflected in 24-48 hours.”
Jeanne Glass, VirtualZ’s CEO and co-founder says the company will be using the raised funds to build out a sales team and expand the company’s development capabilities. According to Glass, “I saw first-hand the immensity of the mainframe data problem when I was head of worldwide client relations at CA Technologies, so we know there’s strong demand for a solution, and we want to ensure we have everything in place now to support the rapid growth we expect to see.”
Currently, VirtualZ offers one solution, Lozen™, which enables hybrid cloud, SaaS, distributed and custom applications to gain real-time, read-write access to mainframe data out of the box. With Lozen™, data isn’t moved; instead, all apps share the data equally as a peer with mainframe applications. The solution installs in minutes and runs on the zIIP engine, consuming a fraction of the capacity of a general processor.
According to a press release, two more solutions are in the pipeline:
- Zaac™: This solution provides mainframe applications with real-time, read-write access to external data out of the box, including hybrid cloud, physical storage and SaaS. It provides all of the benefits of Lozen and will be available in Q1 2024.
- PropelZ: This utility makes it simple to create a copy of mainframe data whenever needed for experimentation or analysis in hybrid cloud environments. This capability enables organizationsIv’e ac to push a one-time copy of mainframe data for just a fraction of the cost of legacy ETL solutions, and it is ideal for use cases that don’t require real-time read-write access.
Seed financing was led by Next Frontier Capital. Additional investors include 2M Investment Partners, Innosphere Ventures, and Next Coast Ventures.
Source: VirtualZ Computing
Rocket Software to Acquire OpenText’s Application Modernization and Connectivity Business
Global technology leader Rocket Software has just announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire OpenText’s Application and Modernization and Connectivity business (AMC).
Rocket Software will fund the $2.275B acquisition with a combination of new cash equity from its existing shareholders, committed debt financing, and cash from its balance sheet. The deal is expected to close in Q2 2024.
According to Rocket Software the combination of its industry-leading customer service with more resources to innovate, the company will be uniquely positioned in the market to not only meet customers’ immediate needs but also to help them transform over time.
OpenText stated in a news release that its AMC business provides market-leading mainframe modernization and connectivity software to more than 10,000 customers.
With plans to apply the net proceeds of the transaction to reduce debt, OpenText’s CEO and CTO, Mark J. Barrenechea, states that “the growth prospects for Information Management have never been better. We are divesting our mainframe business so we can singularly focus on the powerful Cloud and AI opportunities within Information Management.”
Rocket Software’s President and CEO sees the acquisition as a win for customers: “For the many enterprise organizations who are built on the mainframe and ready to unlock opportunity using hybrid cloud, reality calls for a continuum with solutions and expertise that span both worlds. Welcoming the AMC business and its talented team to Rocket Software marks an extraordinary moment for the company, the market, and the thousands of organizations who share in our vision of making the best-of-both-worlds a reality.”
Source: Rocket Software, OpenText
BMC Announces New Product Innovations
A global leader in software solutions, BMC has just announced two new product innovations, BMC AMI DevX Code Insights and BMC AMI zAdviser Enterprise.
According to John McKenny, senior vice president and general manager of Intelligent Z Optimization and Transformation at BMC, the new products are designed to “make the mainframe as approachable as any other platform, welcoming in a new era of fast and fearless mainframe application development.”
The BMC AMI DevX Code Insights solution allows next-generation developers to use automated intelligence to understand and break apart monolithic mainframe programs for faster changes to complex code:
“Developers often fear making changes to monolithic mainframe applications, because they lack the understanding of how these large, complex programs work. Refactoring the code into smaller, callable modules provides greater responsiveness to make the changes businesses demand,” said Katie Norton, senior research analyst, DevOps and DevSecOps at IDC.
The new solution will enable developers to maintain and extend their applications to:
- Understand how the application works in real-time with runtime visualization
- Break apart monolithic programs into smaller, more manageable subprograms to isolate business logic and enable APIs
- Quickly remove dead code
- Analyze data flow and debug code
The BMC AMI zAdviser Enterprise solution helps DevOps managers harness the full potential of telemetry data using AI/ML to:
- Gain valuable insights into the adoption of DevOps tools
- Continuously improve debugging and testing
- Monitor critical metrics, including lead time for change, change failure rate, deployment frequency, and mean time to restore service
- Uphold code quality by detecting abnormal levels of regressions in application code
“BMC AMI DevX Code Insights and BMC AMI zAdviser Enterprise make the mainframe as approachable as any other platform, welcoming in a new era of fast and fearless mainframe application development,” says McKenny.
Source: PR Newswire
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.