IBM is keeping an eye towards helping customers migrate business critical applications to Service Oriented Architectures with the upcoming release of Information Management System 10, the latest version of the companys hierarchical database management and transaction system.
IMS 10, the latest edition of a database with a history that stretches back to the early mainframe days of the 1960s, will begin shipping worldwide Oct. 26.
The new version is also a continuation of IBMs Information On-Demand initiative and includes a range of new technologies and enhancements aimed at improving the way information is stored, managed and accessed in mainframe computing environments.
The release of IMS 10 is one of the final notches in a total upgrade of the entire IBM data server portfolio, including the soon-to-be-released DB2 9.5 “Viper 2” and IDS (Informix Dynamic Server) 11 “Cheetah” data servers, as well as new versions of the UniVerse and UniData data servers.
“The focus of this offering is again, enabling rapid use of data across the enterprise,” said Bernie Spang, director of data servers at IBM. “IMS clients are increasingly leveraging the transactions and the data managed by the IMS systems within new service oriented architectures powering their solutions more broadly across the enterprise.”
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IMS 10 includes new XQuery, Enhanced XML and Web services support that opens IMS data up to third-party tools, like those for query generation, and offers a standard, shareable integration point between IMS and other industry databases.
According to IBM, the product also features dynamic resource definition to ease management, installation and operations with the aim of reducing the total cost of ownership, and encourages new application development and expands connectivity by supporting open standards such as Web 2.0, XML, SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), Java, and JDBC (Java Database Connectivity).
In addition, the IMS SOAP Gateway-which enables IMS transactions as Web services for interoperation with client applications regardless of location, programming language, and platform-has been enhanced to provide z/OS environment, PL/I applications and Asynchronous Callout support, IBM officials said.
“A major part of Wachovias SOA environment is supported by IMS, IBM WebSphere software and IBM eServer zSeries hardware,” said Keith Harris, manager of architecture at Wachovia, in a statement.
“Wachovia has built a set of foundational and business services that it needs to support its delivery channels, such as its online banking, call center and interactive voice response channels. With the IMS Connect solution, users can access all of the clients core business applications-such as its retail banking, customer information, and relationship and deposit systems-on the IMS system.”
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