LAS VEGAS – WebLayers is launching a new automated governance solution for mainframes at the IBM Impact 2008 Smart SOA Conference here.
Officials with WebLayers, known for automating service-oriented architecture governance, said the new solution is an extension of the company’s WebLayers Center for z/OS. WebLayers announced the technology April 7.
Click Here to Watch the Latest eWEEK Newsbreak Video.
WebLayers Center for z/OS helps enterprises overcome the challenges of maintaining and extending mainframe applications, including codifying the institutional knowledge of mainframe programming best practices and guidelines, defining and enforcing application development policies that ensure efficient utilization of mainframe processing resources, service-enabling mainframe resources as part of the transition to SOA, and automating the process of manual code reviews to ensure conformance with company standards, guidelines and best-practices, the company said.
In addition, key capabilities added to WebLayers Center for z/OS include WebLayers Policy Manager, which automates the definition, association and management of governance policies and enforcement for mainframe assets, including Cobol and non-source components such as Job Control Language, Indexed Sequential Access Method, and Virtual Storage Access method.
WebLayers also now has Governors that interface directly with a variety of IT infrastructure that run on the mainframe and open systems to govern mainframe assets, including Serena ChangeMan ZMF, IBM Rational ClearCase, WebSphere Service Registry and Repository for z/OS, and Rational Developer for System z.
WebLayers Center Server also is certified to run on z/OS. As a Java application, WebLayers Center Server runs within WebSphere Application Server for z/OS. However, WebLayers Center Server can also be deployed on Linux on IBM System z as well as a variety of other open systems and Windows platforms, the company said. The new WebLayers Policy Libraries provide a collection of pre-built policies and features a Mainframe Cobol Library.
“Policy is one of the central themes at this year’s IBM Impact event and is a key element of a smart SOA governance strategy,” said Sandy Carter, IBM’s vice president of SOA and WebSphere marketing, strategy and channels.
Gregg Bjork, CEO of WebLayers, said that according to a study released last month by IBM user group SHARE, “many of the applications that need to be SOA-enabled are mainframe applications. No other vendor has addressed this need. Extending WebLayers Center to the mainframe environment was an easy and logical step for us.”