Tone Software recently announced that it had released STEPLIB-Rx 3.1, a solution to replace the TSOPLUS software originally offered by CA Technologies for z/OS-based IBM (News - Alert) mainframes. The release comes at a time when press about mainframes is relatively scarce, even though the sector is a huge money-maker for IBM.
Anaheim, Calif.-based Tone Software (News - Alert) develops ReliaTel telecommunication software that monitors UC and VoIP systems. It also develops solutions for IBM mainframes, and offers installation and implementation services.
TSOPLUS was a set of IBM mainframe utilities originally developed by CMA Software for the time sharing option (TSO) environment, which manages logins and other activities related to concurrency. CMA Software was acquired by Legent in 1992. Legent in turn, was acquired by Computer Associates (News - Alert) in 1995. Computer Associates renamed itself to CA Technologies and ceased supporting TSOPLUS as maintenance agreements expired, after giving it “end of life” status in 2010.
What Tone Software has basically done is rescue the TSOPLUS community and their investments in z/OS mainframes. These businesses will be able to upgrade to a compatible set of software as if TSOPLUS was still being supported.
Tone Software’s announcement about STEPLIB-Rx 3.1 comes at a time when the mainframe industry does not get nearly the attention it used to. There is much more talk of mobile devices, some about PCs and a lot about cloud systems. It would seem that the mainframe had become an archeological piece destined for a technology wing at the Smithsonian.
Reality turns out to be quite the opposite. According to The New York Times, IBM mainframes account for only three percent of sales, but 25 percent of revenue and 35 percent of operating profit. For a company that had $92 billion in revenue in 2014, that’s no small chunk of change.
An interesting paradox is that the latest mainframe from IBM, the z13, is designed to support modern technologies like mobile devices and clouds. Mainframes are still very powerful when it comes to transaction processing and as more people conduct business over their smartphones and tablets, the number of transactions will continue to increase.
The Times pointed out that the mainframe business was not a ‘growth market for IBM’, but it still makes up a large source of the company’s revenue and there are still businesses using them. Fortunately for those that used TSOPLUS, Tone Software threw them the technology equivalent of a life preserver.
Edited by Rory J. Thompson