Modernizing IBM Z® for mission-critical performance and innovation

Organizations running IBM Z® must modernize without sacrificing stability—Rocket Software helps you access data faster, close skills gaps, strengthen security, and optimize costs without disruption.

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SUMMARY

How do you modernize IBM Z® without disrupting business-critical operations?

IBM Z® continues to power the world's most critical workloads, managing 75% of enterprise data and processing $3 trillion in daily commerce. Yet organizations face an urgent need to modernize: integrate mainframe data with cloud analytics and AI, address workforce skill shortages, reduce operational costs, meet stricter compliance requirements, and improve visibility across complex environments.

Rocket Software meets you wherever you are in your IBM Z® modernization journey with solutions that enhance developer experience, automate operations, strengthen governance, optimize performance, and unlock the full value of your mainframe data—ensuring IBM Z® remains a strategic asset for decades to come.

How Rocket Software helps:

Unlock mainframe data for AI and analytics

Governed, real-time integration connects IBM Z® data to cloud platforms, making critical information accessible for modern insights without compromising security or compliance.

Bridge the skills gap with modern tools

Modern DevOps workflows, AI-assisted coding, and open-source integrations empower new developers to work confidently on IBM Z®, preserving institutional knowledge while accelerating innovation.

Optimize costs and improve efficiency

Automated workload scheduling, batch optimization, and intelligent monitoring reduce overhead, prevent costly failures, and maximize the value of your IBM Z® investment.

Enhance security and resilience

With advanced encryption, real-time monitoring, and automated compliance, we protect mission-critical workloads from evolving cyber threats while ensuring business continuity through resilient backup and recovery.

Trusted by IBM Z® leaders worldwide

75 %

of enterprise data runs on IBM Z® 1

45

of the top 50 banks rely on IBM Z® as a core platform 2

92 %

of the world's top 100 insurers depend on IBM Z® to power their critical operations 3

Source: 1. Rocket Insight, 2. Omdia Research, 3. Rocket Whitepaper

EXPERTISE

What IBM Z® modernization solutions can help you solve your biggest challenges?

DATA ACCESS & INTEGRATION

Unlock and integrate IBM Z® data for AI and analytics

Over 75% of leaders struggle to access mainframe data and metadata, and nearly 64% find it difficult to integrate IBM Z® data with cloud-based AI and analytics tools—creating barriers to modernization and insight generation.

Organizations need governed, real-time access to IBM Z® data to fuel analytics, AI, and hybrid cloud strategies. Rocket Software delivers solutions that virtualize, replicate, and secure mainframe data, making it ready for modern platforms without disrupting core operations.

How Rocket Software helps:

  • Governed hybrid-cloud data integration with real-time CDC replication, metadata discovery, lineage tracking, and data virtualization
  • In-place access to unstructured content while honoring compliance controls
  • Granular dataset recovery for fast restoration and business continuity
  • Reduced I/O and improved data access performance to support resilient, high-performance pipelines
  • Automated cross-platform workflows with predictive issue detection
  • Automated JCL validation for stable batch-driven data processes
  • Supported open-source tooling and Zowe REST APIs for seamless cloud integration

Explore Rocket’s data solutions

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SKILLS & EFFICIENCY

Close skills gaps with modern tools and automation

Experienced IBM Z® professionals are retiring faster than they can be replaced, creating deep knowledge gaps that slow development, complicate operations, and hinder modernization efforts.

As mainframe expertise becomes scarce, organizations must onboard new developers quickly and make IBM Z® accessible to teams familiar with modern tools. Rocket Software bridges this gap with solutions that bring Git workflows, AI-assisted coding, and modern IDEs to the mainframe.

How Rocket Software helps:

  • Modern DevOps workflows with Git integration, Zowe CLI, and VS Code plug-ins
  • Real-time system change tracking and automated disaster recovery workflows
  • AI-driven JCL explanation to help new developers understand and update JCL
  • Supported open-source tools and modern DevOps integrations

Explore skills & efficiency solutions

COST OPTIMIZATION

Reduce costs and optimize IBM Z® performance

High operational costs—including licensing, infrastructure maintenance, and labor-intensive processes—continue to strain IT budgets and delay modernization goals.

Reducing total cost of ownership requires automation, optimization, and governance. Rocket Software delivers solutions that automate workload scheduling, reduce batch runtimes, optimize resource consumption, and eliminate costly rework.

How Rocket Software helps:

  • Automated workload scheduling with predictive logic to prevent resource-draining failures
  • Governance and lifecycle management to reduce regression errors and costly audit cycles
  • Powerful subsystem monitoring to prevent slowdowns and optimize resource use
  • Batch runtime reduction of 50–75% and I/O reduction of up to 90%
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SECURITY & COMPLIANCE

Strengthen security and simplify compliance across IBM Z®

Only 27% of organizations feel highly confident in their mainframe security posture amid rising regulatory scrutiny (DORA, PCI DSS 4.0, GDPR) and increasingly complex attack surfaces.

Modern compliance frameworks demand stronger identity controls, vulnerability management, and audit-ready governance. Rocket Software extends enterprise IAM to the mainframe, automates vulnerability scanning, and provides real-time change tracking to meet regulatory requirements.

How Rocket Software helps:

  • Mainframe-native vulnerability analysis with precise scanning and audit-ready reporting
  • Enterprise IAM extension (MFA, SSO, passwordless authentication) and TLS 1.3 encryption for terminal sessions
  • Granular dataset recovery and rapid restoration to meet compliance mandates
  • Elimination of single points of failure and accelerated data restoration
  • Rapid CVE patching for supported open-source developer tools
  • Real-time system and dataset change tracking for stronger governance

Explore security & compliance solutions

PERFORMANCE MONITORING

Improve visibility and resolve performance issues faster

Fragmented tools and limited visibility create performance bottlenecks, SLA breaches, and slower root-cause analysis across IBM Z® environments.

Complex IBM Z® environments demand unified visibility and intelligent diagnostics. Rocket Software delivers deep transaction profiling, subsystem-wide analytics, and automated batch optimization to resolve bottlenecks before they impact SLAs.

How Rocket Software helps:

  • Deep, intuitive CICS transaction profiling to accelerate diagnosis
  • Subsystem-wide visibility with rich analytics across CICS, IMS, TCP/IP, MQ, and z/OS
  • Improved batch reliability with predictive and conditional logic controls
  • Automated batch I/O optimization cutting I/O by 90% and runtime by up to 75%
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RISK MITIGATION

Modernize IBM Z® with less risk and greater control

With 44% of organizations reporting delays due to unclear modernization strategies, risk mitigation is essential for evolving IBM Z® without disrupting core workloads.

Modernization doesn't require risky rewrites. Rocket Software supports incremental, low-risk modernization with modern DevOps tooling, open APIs, automated validation, and essential visibility to prevent regressions.

How Rocket Software helps:

  • Modern DevOps with end-to-end lifecycle governance
  • Modern tooling and APIs for incremental modernization—not risky rewrites
  • Error-free batch modernization with automated validation and standards enforcement
  • Essential visibility to prevent performance regressions and modernization-related incidents

PROVEN RESULTS

What do customers say about working with Rocket Software?

Rocket’s tools help us ensure that our mainframe is running reliably and efficiently, and they contribute to our ability to dynamically scale with wide increases or decreases in demand. We consider them a key strategic partner in allowing us to complete our essential mission of maintaining a robust workforce for our state.

Head of IT State Workforce Development Agency

Read the full case study

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Leading UK Retail Bank: Closing Skills Gap and Accelerating CICS Problem [...]

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INSIGHTS

What are the latest IBM Z® insights & trends?

INSIGHT

Why Retiring Your IBM® i and IBM Z® is a Mistake

These platforms remain invaluable to IT organizations, hosting crucial applications such as customer order processing, financial transactions and payroll. 

/en-us/insights/retiring-ibm-i-ibm-z-mistake
INSIGHT

Uniting Mainframe Data with Hybrid Cloud for Stronger Data-Backed Insights

Many enterprises face challenges when connecting mainframe data to cloud infrastructure. 

https://www.rocketsoftware.com/en-us/insights/real-time-data-synchronization-without-disruption
INSIGHT

Modern Testing Strategies for IBM i Application Development

Explore practical testing approaches for IBM i application development, from automated unit testing to modern DevOps workflows that reduce risk and improve release confidence.

/en-us/insights/modern-testing-strategies-ibm-i-application-development
View more insights

Frequently asked questions