Neon Enterprise Software upgrades its zPrime software product, which enables businesses to more easily cut their mainframe costs by moving more workloads from IBM's central mainframe processor onto less expensive specialty engines. The software comes at a time when rivals are complaining about IBM's dominance of the mainframe market and federal investigators reportedly are looking into IBM's business practices.Neon Enterprise Software has updated its zPrime product, which enables
businesses to reduce the cost of their IBM
mainframe environments.
Neon's zPrime software makes it easier for enterprises to move more of their
workloads from the more expensive IBM System
z central processors to less expensive specialty processors from IBM.
Neon initially released zPrime in June, and company officials say almost 50
companies worldwide are testing the product. On Nov. 2, the company announced Version
1.2 of the software.
The goal is to drive down the cost of mainframe computing for businesses,
according to Neon officials. IBM bases its
license fees on the amount of work done on the central processors.
Over the years, IBM has attempted to
expand the reach of its mainframes by helping cut the operating costs. One way
has been to develop specialty processorszIIPs (System z Integrated Information
Processors), zAAPs (System z Application Assist Processors) and IFLs
(Integrated Facilities for Linux)that run particular workloads such as Linux,
Java and databases at a lower cost.
Neon officials found that those specialty engines could take on more
workloads, which in turn saves businesses money. That desire to save money is
reflected in the market, according to Neon Chairman and CEO
Lacy Edwards.
"This incredibly rapid adoption reflects how much companiesand how
many of themwant to reduce the high costs of mainframe computing,"
Edwards said in a statement Nov. 2
IBM officials are said to be unhappy
about zPrime and have reportedly sent letters to customers warning them away
from zPrime, which they said violates the terms related to IBM
mainframe systems.
IBM's dominance in the mainframe business
is getting some scrutiny. Over the past few years, a number of smaller
companies have made an effort to gain traction in the mainframe market. For
example, Platform Solutions sold non-IBM
systems based on Intel's Itanium processor that could run mainframe workloads. IBM
eventually bought the company.
More recently, T3 Technologies, which also sells non-IBM
systems to run mainframe software, recently saw its lawsuit against IBM
claiming noncompetitive practices thrown out. However, the suit apparently
caught the eye of federal antitrust regulators, who reportedly are looking
into IBM's mainframe business.
zPrime 1.2 includes a new Enablement Console that makes it easier for
enterprises to pick which applications they want to move from the central
processor to the zIIPs or zAAPs. In addition, the LE (Language Environment)
Initialization Exit feature automates the task of enabling all LE-compliant
applicationsthe majority of mainframe legacy application are LE-compliant,
according to Neon officialsto migrate to the specialty engines.
IT Infrastructure 
