OpenFrame

Last updated
OpenFrame
Developer(s) TmaxSoft
Type Mainframe rehosting
License Proprietary
Website www.tmaxsoft.com/products/openframe/

OpenFrame is a mainframe rehosting solution developed by TmaxSoft that aims to help customers move existing mainframe assets to the cloud quickly and with minimal risk. [1] It replaces legacy CICS/IMS/JES mainframe engines and shifts business applications written in legacy code like COBOL and PL/I to Linux. [2] This allows reduced licensing costs compared to the mainframe.

Mainframe computer computers used primarily by corporate and governmental organizations

Mainframe computers or mainframes are computers used primarily by large organizations for critical applications; bulk data processing, such as census, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning; and transaction processing. They are larger and have more processing power than some other classes of computers: minicomputers, servers, workstations, and personal computers.

TmaxSoft is a South Korea-based multinational corporation specializing in enterprise software. It was founded in 1997 by Professor Daeyeon Park, former Professor at KAIST. The company is separated into 3 businesses: TmaxSoft, TmaxData and TmaxOS. Currently, TmaxData and TmaxOS are run as affiliated companies.

Cloud computing Form of Internet-based computing that provides shared computer processing resources and data to computers and other devices on demand

Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage and computing power, without direct active management by the user. The term is generally used to describe data centers available to many users over the Internet. Large clouds, predominant today, often have functions distributed over multiple locations from central servers. If the connection to the user is relatively close, it may be designated an edge server.

Contents

It also includes a test tool which helps users determine if the migration will preserve functionality without additional adjustments. [3]

The current version of OpenFrame is 7.0, which was first released in Japan in September, 2015. [4] The previous version, OpenFrame 6.0 was released in the U.S. market in 2009. [5]

Mainframe Migration

Organizations that run on mainframes tend to have difficulty with costs and agility. [6] Rehosting is one approach an organization may take to migrate their mainframe operations to the cloud, with other options including batch-job migration and full re-engineering. With the rehosting option, the entire mainframe is emulated on the cloud so that the end-user experience is essentially unchanged. [7]

Compatibility

Solution architecture of OpenFrame 7.0 (click to enlarge) OpenFrame 7 Architecture.jpg
Solution architecture of OpenFrame 7.0 (click to enlarge)
OpenFrame 7.0 implementation methodology (click to enlarge) OpenFrame Implementation Methodology.jpg
OpenFrame 7.0 implementation methodology (click to enlarge)

OpenFrame advertises the following components can be migrated and continue working without modification, provided they run on open systems components such as Linux:

A compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language into another language. The name compiler is primarily used for programs that translate source code from a high-level programming language to a lower level language to create an executable program.

COBOL is a compiled English-like computer programming language designed for business use. It is imperative, procedural and, since 2002, object-oriented. COBOL is primarily used in business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments. COBOL is still widely used in legacy applications deployed on mainframe computers, such as large-scale batch and transaction processing jobs. But due to its declining popularity and the retirement of experienced COBOL programmers, programs are being migrated to new platforms, rewritten in modern languages or replaced with software packages. Most programming in COBOL is now purely to maintain existing applications.

PL/I is a procedural, imperative computer programming language developed and published by IBM. It is designed for scientific, engineering, business and system programming. It has been used by academic, commercial and industrial organizations since it was introduced in the 1960s, and is still used.

Notable Users

Kela

Kela, the Finnish government agency in charge of the nation's social security programs, used OpenFrame to rehost its mainframe. The agency had estimated that the rising costs of maintaining a mainframe would become prohibitive in the near future, and saw a shortage of IT professionals skilled in working in a mainframe environment. As a result, Kela was able to lift over 10 million lines of code to the rehosted environment and reduce the cost of system maintenance. Since the rehosted iteration was functionally similar to the mainframe system, Kela was also able to keep its existing IT staff in place. [8] [9]

Kela (Finnish institution) Finnish government agency in charge of social security

Kela, abbr. from Finnish: Kansaneläkelaitos, Swedish: Folkpensionsanstalten (Fpa), English: The Social Insurance Institution (SII), is a Finnish government agency in charge of settling benefits under national social security programs. Kela was founded in 1937 to handle retirement pay. In the 1980s and 1990s, its role was expanded to handle other fields like child benefits, unemployment benefits, sickness benefits, health insurance and student financial aid.

GE Capital

GE Capital opted to use OpenFrame to modernize its aging IT infrastructure, which was mostly made up of mainframes. Before rehosting, the GE Capital system was managing 5 million account schedules, over 382 interfaces, with up to 1,700 concurrent users, resulting in an average of 3.5 million transactions per day. In addition to high costs, the disaster recovery process was slow and the system was generally inefficient. OpenFrame allowed GE Capital to rehost without redeveloping any applications or changing the user interface. The results included 66% reduction in costs associated with running the system and a 240% increase in disaster recovery speed. [10] [11]

Related Research Articles

IBM mainframes are large computer systems produced by IBM since 1952. During the 1960s and 1970s, IBM dominated the large computer market. Current mainframe computers in IBM's line of business computers are developments of the basic design of the IBM System/360.

MVS operating system for IBM mainframes

Multiple Virtual Storage, more commonly called MVS, was the most commonly used operating system on the System/370 and System/390 IBM mainframe computers. It was developed by IBM, but is unrelated to IBM's other mainframe operating systems, e.g., VSE, VM, TPF.

z/VSE is an operating system for IBM mainframe computers, the latest one in the DOS/360 lineage, which originated in 1965. Announced Feb. 1, 2005 by IBM as successor to VSA/ESA 2.7, then-new z/VSEwas named to reflect the new "System z" branding for IBM's mainframe product line.

z/OS 64-bit operating system for IBM mainframes

z/OS is a 64-bit operating system for IBM mainframes, produced by IBM. It derives from and is the successor to OS/390, which in turn followed a string of MVS versions. Like OS/390, z/OS combines a number of formerly separate, related products, some of which are still optional. z/OS offers the attributes of modern operating systems but also retains much of the functionality originating in the 1960s and each subsequent decade that is still found in daily use. z/OS was first introduced in October 2000.

IBM Db2 Family relational model database server

Db2 is a family of data management products, including database servers, developed by IBM. They initially supported the relational model, but were extended to support object-relational features and non-relational structures like JSON and XML. The brand name was originally styled as DB/2, then DB2 until 2017 and finally changed to its present form.

CICS transaction management system by IBM

Customer Information Control System (CICS) is a family of mixed language application servers that provide online transaction management and connectivity for applications on IBM mainframe systems under z/OS and z/VSE.

IBM MQ is a family of message-oriented middleware products that IBM launched in December 1993. It was originally called MQSeries, and was renamed WebSphere MQ in 2002 to join the suite of WebSphere products. In April 2014, it was renamed IBM MQ. The products that are included in the MQ family are IBM MQ, IBM MQ Advanced, IBM MQ Appliance, IBM MQ for z/OS, and IBM MQ on IBM Cloud.

Tuxedo is a middleware platform used to manage distributed transaction processing in distributed computing environments. Tuxedo is a transaction processing system or transaction-oriented middleware, or enterprise application server for a variety of systems and programming languages. Developed by AT&T in the 1980s, it became a software product of Oracle Corporation in 2008 when they acquired BEA Systems. Tuxedo is now part of the Oracle Fusion Middleware.

The IBM System z Application Assist Processor (zAAP), previously known as the zSeries Application Assist Processor, is a mainframe processor introduced by IBM in 2004. zAAP engines are dedicated to running specific Java and XML workloads under z/OS, accelerating performance. zAAPs are available for zSeries 990 and 890 servers and later zSeries and zEnterprise models. Beginning with the IBM z13, the zAAP functionality is integrated with zIIP processors.

Cullinet was a software company whose products included the database management system IDMS and the integrated software package Goldengate. In 1989, the company was bought by Computer Associates. Cullinet was headquartered at 400 Blue Hill Drive in Westwood, Massachusetts.

CA-Telon

TELON, later renamed CA-TELON, is one of the first commercially successful application generators for building business applications.

GXS is a subsidiary of OpenText Corporation headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland, United States. Its GXS Trading Grid managed more than twelve billion transactions in 2011. Since 2004, GXS has invested more than $250 million in GXS Trading Grid. As of March 16, 2012, more than 550,000 businesses connect to GXS Trading Grid and, on average, more than 2,000 new businesses join each month.

Rational Business Developer

Rational Business Developer (RBD) provides a workbench for Enterprise Generation Language (EGL) development, an end-to-end rapid development approach.

The history of operating systems running on IBM mainframes is a notable chapter of history of mainframe operating systems, because of IBM's long-standing position as the world's largest hardware supplier of mainframe computers.

Datacom/DB is a relational database management system for mainframe computers. It was developed in the early 1970s by Computer Information Management Company and was subsequently owned by Insyte, Applied Data Research, Ameritech, and Computer Associates International, Inc.. Datacom is now owned by CA Technologies, which renamed it to CA-Datacom/DB and later to CA Datacom/DB.

Linux on z Systems

Linux on IBM Z is the collective term for the Linux operating system compiled to run on IBM mainframes, especially IBM Z and IBM LinuxONE servers. Similar terms which imply the same meaning are Linux on zEnterprise, Linux on zSeries, Linux/390, Linux/390x, etc. The terms zLinux or z/Linux are also sometimes used, but these terms are discouraged by IBM as they create the implication of an IBM-offered or IBM-distributed version of Linux, which is incorrect.

JEUS is a Korean Web application server which is developed by TmaxSoft. JEUS provides the web application server component of TmaxSoft's middleware-tier framework solution. It has been widely adopted in Korea where it holds the largest (42.1%) share of the market.

References

  1. ↑ "Mainframe Rehosting | OpenFrame| TmaxSoft". TmaxSoft. Retrieved 2017-11-02.
  2. ↑ "TmaxSoft OpenFrame Challenges IBM Mainframe Business". eWEEK. Retrieved 2017-11-03.
  3. ↑ "Walking Away From the Mainframe -- Virtualization Review". Virtualization Review. Retrieved 2017-11-03.
  4. ↑ "TmaxSoft - Better Technology, Better Tomorrow - News & Events". cn.tmaxsoft.com (in Korean). Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  5. ↑ "TmaxSoft Launches OpenFrame 6.0 to U.S. Market". MarketWired. 10 November 2009.
  6. ↑ "The mainframe is hindering application delivery - Information Age". Information Age. 2016-12-14. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  7. ↑ Orban, Stephen (2017-01-09). "Yes, You Can Migrate Your Mainframe to the Cloud". AWS Enterprise Collection. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  8. ↑ "Case Study: Kela and the Rebirth of the Mainframe System - DATAVERSITY". DATAVERSITY. 2017-10-04. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  9. ↑ "Digitalisation World". digitalisationworld.com. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  10. ↑ Modern Systems YouTube Channel (2016-07-20), GE Capital Gartner Case Study , retrieved 2017-11-29
  11. ↑ "Assessing, Converting & Replatforming a Massive Business Critical Application with Astonishing Results". March 3, 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.