Planet Mainframe brought together thought leaders and experts to celebrate CICS’s 55th birthday. From AI-infused monitoring to API turbocharging, CICS proudly proved it was anything but obsolete. Here’s what stood out and why CICS users should be excited about what’s next – because this community KICKS!
What’s Hot in CICS? Five Game-Changers
1. AI Takes the Wheel in Mainframe Monitoring
IBM OMEGAMON for CICS has officially gone from old-school command-line to modern AI co-pilot. As unpacked by Ezriel Gross in “The Evolution of IBM OMEGAMON for CICS: AI Insights, DB2 Correlation, and zIIP Optimization,” today’s OMEGAMON doesn’t just watch—it learns, predicts issues, and spots trouble before it hits. Reduced alert fatigue? Yes, please. Easier root cause analysis? Game on.
2. API Modernization: Making COBOL Accessible and Agile
COBOL isn’t going away, but exposing it through modern APIs is easier than ever. The articles “Modernizing CICS APIs with z/OS Connect: Fast, Simple, and Code-Light” and the anniversary tribute “CICS at 55” spotlight how IBM z/OS Connect running inside CICS regions simplifies exposing COBOL applications as fast, secure REST APIs.
Plus, IBM’s watsonx Code Assistant automates COBOL refactoring, helping legacy code power modern mobile apps and cloud platforms.
3. Built-In Security: Fighting Modern Cyber Threats Head-On
Mainframes are prime targets for sophisticated cyberattacks, and CICS security has leveled up to meet these challenges. The piece“Mainframe Security Isn’t What It Used to Be – How CICS and LE Are Fighting Back,” explains how new protections, like non-executable Dynamic Storage Areas in CICS TS 6.1 and later, guard against malware and code injection attacks.
Upgrading from older CICS versions is critical, as these defense mechanisms ensure compliance with modern regulations such as DORA, providing enterprise-grade cybersecurity with minimal performance impact. The message is clear: If you’re still running older CICS versions, it’s time to upgrade; you want security that’s built-in, not bolted on.
4. Closing the Talent Gap: Everybody Can Debug
You no longer have to be a mainframe wizard to solve sticky problems. Colin Pearce’s “Demystifying CICS COBOL Transaction Debugging” demonstrates how step-by-step debugging techniques combined with community knowledge sharing can help address the shrinking mainframe talent pool. Phil Buckellew’s “Understanding and Overcoming Common CICS Challenges” highlights user-friendly observability tools. Together, resources empower IT teams of all experience levels to diagnose and resolve problems faster, making CICS less daunting and more approachable.
5. Reinventing Reliability: CICS Remains the Enterprise Backbone
Celebrating its 55th birthday, CICS processes over 30 billion transactions daily worldwide and continues to innovate. The platform incorporates modern programming frameworks such as Java 21, Spring Boot, cloud-native architectures, and advanced observability standards like OpenTelemetry. This ongoing innovation ensures CICS remains a reliable, scalable, and modern mainframe transaction processing powerhouse, ready to support enterprise digital transformation.
What’s Next for CICS Users? Key Future Trends
- More AI, Less Manual Work: Expect AI-driven automation for self-tuning systems, predictive alerts, and performance anomaly detection, reducing operational headaches and increasing uptime.
- End-to-End Visibility: Monitoring and dashboards will improve to deliver holistic observability across mainframe, cloud, and hybrid environments, accelerating troubleshooting and performance tuning.
- Security You Can Count On: With built-in, continuously updated threat defenses and real-time security analytics, organizations will better manage risk and maintain compliance with evolving regulations.
- APIs Everywhere: The move toward API-first architectures will continue, enabling CICS applications to easily connect with modern applications, mobile devices, and cloud ecosystems via secure REST APIs.
- A Thriving, Supportive Community: Ongoing user groups, webinars, and expert-led sessions will remain essential in closing the mainframe skills gap and spreading CICS expertise across diverse IT teams.
CICS is thriving, not just changing. As it matures and modernizes, its core role in enterprise IT remains rock solid. From artificial intelligence to APIs and next-gen security, CICS users have plenty to look forward to on the horizon.
Penney Berryman, MPH (she/her), is the Content Editor for Planet Mainframe. She also writes health technology and online education marketing materials. Penney is based in Austin, Texas.
Connect with her on LinkedIn.