IBM’s IMS, the combined database and information management system that incorporates extensive transaction management capabilities, is the mainstay of many back office management systems. But it is also a mainframe system and, as such, still remains somewhat aloof from the hustle and bustle of the growing army of increasingly mobile and distributed front office applications.
But getting the two to collaborate is one of the increasingly important goals for a number of businesses, and tools to help make this happen are now becoming available. Some of them, including GT software’s new Data Unification Solutions, are on show at the SHARE conference and exhibition and “IMS in the Connected World” at SHARE Event this week in Anaheim, California.
SHARE Inc. is an independent association providing enterprise computing professionals with continuous technical education, training and networking opportunities, with IBM as its year-round Strategic Partner. This year, SHARE Anaheim 2014 will celebrate the Mainframe’s 50thAnniversary.
GT Software, which specialises in helping enterprise organisations unify business information across any platform, data format or programming language, is promoting how these solutions can leverage IMS for Mobile, Web and Cloud.
“In 2013, 75 percent of Fortune 1000 companies included IMS in their technology portfolios”
The key tool the company offers is its Ivory Suite, a packaged suite of data unification solutions that simplify and accelerate integration with mainframe applications, data and processes. With Ivory, users can seamlessly integrate and unify previously ‘hard-to-access’ mainframe information to create innovative new applications, such as mobile banking, web portals, business analytics and business process management.
“In 2013, 75 percent of Fortune 1000 companies included IMS in their technology portfolios,” said GT Software’s Dusty Rivers. “However, many IMS users may not know that they can now leverage lightweight development tools to integrate with IMS data and transactions, without any coding and without changing the underlying mainframe applications. These can be used to quickly build user-friendly, self-service applications for mobile, web and cloud.”
