IBM has made it official: a major update to its z/OS operating system for mainframes will debut in September.

IBM [1]teased a z/OS upgrade in March 2021 in a [2]document that predicted delivery in September.

Big Blue has now confirmed the debut of z/OS 2.5 – the first upgrade of real significance since 2019. The product is "expected to be generally available on September 30, 2021".

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Among promised features not mentioned in the March teaser are speedy installs.

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IBM's [6]announcement claims the new OS is "expected to be faster and easier to install and upgrade, with one client trial demonstrating the ability to install z/OS more than 30 per cent faster than compared with IBM z/OS 2.3 and 2.4.[2].”

There's also a new "simplified management experience supplied by streamlined and automated tasks" that means "specialty skills may not be required".

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Which may not mean you can prise the kids away from their gaming consoles and ask them to upgrade the mainframe — but still sounds promising.

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Another item of interest is enhanced interoperability between Java and COBOL that IBM states "extends existing application programming models with support for parallel 31-bit and 64-bit addressing, simplifying enterprise application modernization."

IBM has also offered a little more detail on predictive failure analysis (PFA) features, stating "Runtime Diagnostics, Workload Manager (WLM), and JES2 to help further detect anomalous behaviour in near real-time, letting clients proactively address potential problems."

IBM has touted the PFA feature as just the thing that's needed to make life hard for ransomware-slingers, as are new encryption capabilities that allow z/OS to encrypt more data sets and do so without disrupting existing applications.

Big Blue's current hybrid cloud obsession is addressed with more support for cloud storage, plus inclusion of z/OS Container Extensions (zCX) that integrate Linux applications and utilities into z/OS.

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In its March teaser, IBM said z/OS V2.5 was due to land in September. Today's announcement confirms that timeframe, but adds that IBM has given itself until the very last day of that month – September 30, 2021 – to get the OS out the door. ®

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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/03/ibm_zos_2_5_preview/

[2] https://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/ShowDoc.wss?docURL=/common/ssi/rep_ca/1/872/ENUSAP21-0051/index.html

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[6] https://newsroom.ibm.com/2021-07-27-Announcing-IBM-z-OS-V2-5,-Next-Gen-Operating-System-Designed-for-Hybrid-Cloud-and-AI

[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YQDWbZ4u-tpNtzOyZnfVHAAAAAc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/14/alternative_history_computer_revolution/

[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/07/ibm_cobol_x86_linux/

[10] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/07/who_me/

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[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/