72% of IBM mainframes now support mobile and Web applications, new Macro 4 study reveals

…but some users are worried that the additional mobile and Web workload could drive up mainframe costs and increase system response times.

Crawley, UK, December 02, 2014 – 72% of IBM mainframe users polled in a new survey have revealed that their organizations’ mainframe computers now support Web or mobile applications, with a further 8% expecting their mainframes to do so within the next three years. However, many mainframe specialists are concerned that the extra processing workload from Web and mobile transactions could drive up running costs and adversely affect response times for end users, according to the research from software and services company Macro 4, a division of UNICOM® Global.

62% of the 60 mainframe users polled in the survey said new Web applications had been developed to use back-end mainframe systems or data and 53% said existing mainframe applications had been Web and mobile enabled.

While 97% of the survey sample believe the mainframe is a strong platform for supporting web and mobile applications, 38% are concerned about the potential for higher mainframe usage costs or CPU upgrade charges due to the extra workload from supporting these newer areas. Similarly, 28% are worried about the possibility of slower response times for end users due to the increase in mainframe transaction processing from mobile and the Web.

“Overall, 93% of people we questioned said they believe it’s important for mainframes to support new Web and mobile applications if they want to stay relevant and useful. But amongst some organizations there’s a very real concern that these new online applications could have a negative impact on costs or performance if they are not managed effectively,” explained Lynda Kershaw, Marketing Manager at Macro 4, which ran the survey of IBM mainframe users in October 2014 at the GSE UK Conference held by GUIDE SHARE Europe (GSE), Europe's association for IBM computer and software users.

“There’s no denying that the huge rise in Web and mobile transactions has increased mainframe workloads - just think of the volumes handled by online hotel booking systems or financial services sites that provide quotes over the Web,” said Kershaw. “So it’s up to systems management teams to ensure that performance of the mainframe infrastructure is optimized - both at the system and application level - in order to maintain reliable service levels and keep costs in check.”

It could be that when new online systems are integrated with mainframe applications, they highlight and expose inefficiencies in the way that they run and use processing power, continued Kershaw:

“Mainframe application performance management - also known as performance tuning - can help to identify and correct these errors in order to deliver faster responses and better service levels. More efficient code should also result in the same workload being handled using less processing power, so you can minimize usage-based software licensing charges. And it would reduce the pressure to invest in additional processing capacity.”

About Macro 4

www.macro4.com

Macro 4, a division of UNICOM Global, develops software solutions that accelerate business transformation. Macro 4’s cross-platform enterprise information management solutions make it easy for companies to go digital, personalize customer communications and unlock the value of their corporate content. Macro 4 solutions for DevOps, session management and performance optimization are used by many of the world’s largest enterprises to modernize their mainframe applications and development processes.

About UNICOM® Global

www.unicomglobal.com

UNICOM Global consists of more than fifty (50) corporate entities encompassing a wide range of businesses across all geographic regions. With its corporate headquarters in Los Angeles, California, to offices in Illinois, Kentucky, Florida, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Carolina, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia, throughout EMEA in the UK, Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland and the UAE, and across Asia/Pacific with locations in Japan, China, India, Australia, Korea, Thailand, Taiwan and the Philippines.

UNICOM Global offers deep in-house resources and flexible IT solutions to our partners worldwide. UNICOM Global focuses on acquiring and integrating mature and growing mid-cap NASDAQ, London Stock Exchange AIM and German publicly-traded companies in technology, financing, IT, real estate, and business services. Please visit our websites for additional information about the services, products and solutions that UNICOM Global offers:

www.unicomglobal.com

UNICOM Global - Assets, capital and investment management

www.unicomsi.com

UNICOM Systems - IBM Mainframe software products

www.unicomgov.com

UNICOM Government (formerly NASDAQ: GTSI) - Government IT solutions

www.unicomengineering.com

UNICOM Engineering (formerly NASDAQ: NEI) Appliance platform

www.unicom.org

UNICOM Science and Technology Parks

www.unicomtechnologypark.com

UNICOM Technology Park – Innovation Labs in Virginia

www.unicomsciencepark.com

UNICOM Science and Technology Park – Innovation Labs in New Jersey

www.unicom-capital.com

UNICOM Capital - Business and Financial Services

www.usrobotics.com

USRobotics - Data communications products

www.memeo.com

Memeo - Enterprise-grade Secure File Sharing for the Cloud

www.firetide.com

Firetide - Wireless technology solutions for security and transportation

www.detec.com

DETEC - Document composition products

www.softlanding.com

SoftLanding Systems - IBM i software products

www.macro4.com

Macro 4 (formerly LONDON: MAO) - Document Management products

www.illustro.com

illustro - z/OS and z/VSE software products

www.iet-solutions.com

iET Solutions - ITSM software products

www.eden.com

Eden - Mergers & Acquisitions, Business & Financial Services, and Real Estate

www.cics.com

CICS.com - Hardware, Software, Outsourcing and Professional Services

All trademarks referenced herein are trademarks of their respective companies.