IBM Z Systems For Dummies

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z Systems
IBM Limited Edition
by Barry Schoenborn
These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition

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Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
About This Book......................................................................... 2
Foolish Assumptions.................................................................. 3
Icons Used in This Book............................................................. 3
Beyond the Book......................................................................... 4
Chapter 1: Embracing the CognitiveEra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Defining the Cognitive Era......................................................... 6
Cognitive business............................................................ 6
Sensing the scope of cognitivesystems........................ 7
Witnessing the awakening of the Cognitive Era............ 8
A New Era of Business................................................................ 9
Citing mobile and social impactas examples............... 9
Citing other impacts....................................................... 11
IBM meets the challenge................................................ 11
The Future Is Out There for the Taking................................. 12
Starting down the path to the Cognitive Era............... 12
Affecting IT leaders and their IT infrastructure.......... 13
Chapter 2: Exploring the Role of z Systems

in Digital Business. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Busting the Myths Surrounding Mainframes......................... 16
Going back to the roots................................................. 16
Debunking the myths..................................................... 17
Mainframe Positives................................................................. 19
But who uses a mainframe?........................................... 19
Popularity with clients................................................... 20
Building Business Value with z Systems................................ 20
Evolution Precedes Revolution............................................... 21
Chapter 3: Providing a Trusted Cloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Understanding the Advantages of z Systems Clouds........... 24
z Systems rationale......................................................... 24
z Systems advantages.................................................... 25
Reviewing Clouds...................................................................... 27
Public cloud..................................................................... 28
Private cloud................................................................... 28
Hybrid cloud.................................................................... 29
iv

The Importance of the Hybrid Cloud..................................... 29
Integrating SoR with SoE.......................................................... 30
SoR.................................................................................... 30
SoE.................................................................................... 30
SoI..................................................................................... 31
Chapter 4: Capitalizing on Analytics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Analyzing Analytics.................................................................. 33
Conventional Big Data analytics................................... 34
In-transaction analytics................................................. 34
Looking at Analytics................................................................. 35
Volume............................................................................. 36
Velocity............................................................................ 36
Variety.............................................................................. 36
Value................................................................................. 37
Gaining Insight through Analytics.......................................... 37
Examining types of analytics......................................... 37
Considering the concept of real-time insights............ 38
Benefitting from integrating analytics and data......... 39
What z Systems Brings to the Analytics Game..................... 40
Chapter 5: Expediting Enterprise Mobility . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Defining Mobile as a Computing Phenomenon..................... 42
Defining Mobile as an Organizational Phenomenon............. 43
Facilitating the Mobile Mind Shift........................................... 43
Looking at an integration example............................... 44
A future that begs for integration................................. 45
Voicing the Value of Using z Systems for Mobile.................. 45
Chapter 6: Blockchain: Ensuring Future-Proof IT . . . . . 47

Considering the Concept......................................................... 47
Blocking Out Blockchain.......................................................... 48
Assessing the Applications...................................................... 49
Eyeing IBM Superiority............................................................. 50
Chapter 7: Joining the Open Source Revolution . . . . . . 51

Lauding Linux............................................................................ 52
Affirming the Open Mainframe................................................ 52
Reaping the Benefits of Linux.................................................. 53
Table of Contents
Chapter 8: Ten Ways z Systems Delivers

for Customer Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Speed.......................................................................................... 58
Mobile Friendly......................................................................... 59
Blockchain Efficiency............................................................... 60
Encryption................................................................................. 61
Security/Fraud Detection......................................................... 61
Hybrid Cloud............................................................................. 62
Analytics.................................................................................... 63
Solutions.................................................................................... 63
Pricing........................................................................................ 64
Backward Compatibility........................................................... 65
Legendary Support................................................................... 65
vi
Introduction
he world is changing, and its changing for the better. This

is largely due to innovation in Information Technology
(IT). What we currently think is good just keeps getting better,
and getting better is an ongoing process.
We sometimes look back on the past with a nostalgic sigh, but
beware! The Good Old Days especially in business and
for consumers werent that good, and they werent so long
ago. Business, computing, and even living were clumsier in
the past. For example:
Mobile computing meant visiting a branch office or
working at home with a pad and pencil.
Connectedness took place by mail or wired telephone.
Information access typically meant opening a phone
book. Alternately, it meant reading a printed newspaper
or watching one of three television networks.
Shopping took place at a brickandmortar store during
defined hours.
Analytics was confined to accountants poring over ledgers, spreadsheets, or giant computer printouts.
Getting unstructured data from a device meant reading an
analog oven thermometer.
Digitization of music, video, and books was unheard of.
The Great New Days are here, as technology continues to
evolve. Of course, pressure on businesses hasnt changed,
except maybe its now greater than ever. As in the past, a
business still needs to maintain or increase profitability.
Itstill needs to deal with competition.
What has changed is that IBM has developed new powerful
ways of meeting those needs. IBM continues to assess business needs and is constantly innovating to help enable new
possibilities things never thought possible before. The
solutions are exemplified by z Systems from IBM.

Theres a consumer and technology revolution taking place,
and it impacts individuals, businesses, industries, societies,
and nations. IBM z Systems is a big part of the change.
The revolution isnt limited to a few entities; everyone and
everything is affected. Increasingly, connectedness and data
drive everything from how the worlds largest banks operate to how fishermen in India find the best prices for their
catches before they return to port.
This revolution has many facets, and youll often hear them
called out separately. A few expressions are digital revolution, mobile economy, the Internet of Things, everything
in the cloud, cognitive business, and so forth. Underpinning
this is the digitization of everything around us and the near
universal adoption of mobile technologies.
About This Book

If youre reading this book, I assume that youve heard a little
(or maybe a lot) about IBM z Systems. Maybe youre familiar
with some models, but not the full line of product offerings
or their capabilities. IBM z Systems is an effective way businesses can prosper in the new, demanding mobileconnected,
everythingallthetime world we now live in.
This book begins by presenting IBMs concepts about changes
taking place now in the business world and more that are
coming. IBM defines and addresses the rapidly changing
business/IT ecosystem. Its a challenging world for Clevel
decision makers, but there are potentially great rewards for
businesses that meet the challenges.
It then elaborates on solutions, such as the hybrid cloud,
mobile, blockchain, analytics, DevOps, and security so you
can see the scope of what must be done to meet the challenges. And it will be no surprise to you that IBM has created
sophisticated solutions for business success. Those solutions
are reflected in IBM z Systems, which is a fast, advanced, intelligent, and trusted business system.
This book is meant for executives decision makers and
senior IT practitioners who want to put the concepts in front
Introduction
of executives. Its written in compact form, so you wont find

marketing hype here. The intention is to give you the information steak without the marketing sizzle.
Foolish Assumptions
I assume youve heard about the power of mainframe computers (as we have all grown up with them). Its also possible that
you are full up on hearing about smaller (but more complex
and less efficient) alternatives to mainframes.
The modern mainframe is very much with us today, as you
will see in various lists and comparisons throughout this
book. I assume you want to consider the power and speed
that these boxes unleash for some of the most innovative
business customers in the world. If so, then this book is where
you want to be. In a few pages, organized into a small number
of short chapters, you get the big picture of Big Blues important z Systems family.
Icons Used in This Book

Throughout this book, there are several icons in the margins.
They guide your eye and help you classify information that
may be useful to you but is secondary to the main text.
Heres what the icons mean:
A tip is a suggestion or a recommendation. It usually provides
a handy piece of extra information, or points out a quick and
easy way to get things done.
Anything that has a Remember icon is a factoid that you may
want to keep in mind.
The Technical Stuff icon contains information thats interesting and useful but not vital to your understanding of the topic.
It may include a brief history of a principle, the earliest practitioners, or the origin of a word. It also showcases technical
points. You can either read these or skip over them.
Beyond the Book

You can find additional information about IBM z Systems by
visiting the following websites:
General information about IBM z Systems is found at
www03.ibm.com/systems/z.
Theres an overview of IBM z Systems software at
http://www03.ibm.com/systems/z/software.
Chapter1
Embracing the
CognitiveEra
In This Chapter
Naming a new era and defining it
Looking at the new era in business and its details
Placing z Systems in the picture
new era in business has arrived, driven by changing

business demands and answered by new innovations in
technology. You may read this with some skepticism because
new era announcements persistently generate headlines in
business and technical journals. But abandon that skepticism;
this time its different. Its the real deal, because this new
era has been announced by International Business Machines
Corporation (IBM) and IBM doesnt mess around. This declaration is backed up by extensive research, and its driven by
IBMs most recent announcements about z Systems. Simply
put, z Systems is a powerful, fast, intelligent, and secure
system.
Heres a good name for the times: the Cognitive Era, and an
excellent catchphrase is Digital intelligence meets digital
business.
An online dictionary reminds us that an era is a period of
time marked by distinctive character, events, etc. Think
of the Age of Sail, the Age of Discovery, and the Industrial
Revolution.
No, you werent sleeping; in fact, you saw it coming. The
trends have been out there, and Information Technology (IT)

executives and Clevel executives have had their hands full
anticipating the impact.
This chapter gives you a working definition of the Cognitive
Era and describes some of its elements.
Defining the Cognitive Era

If you reduce the thousands of factors affecting modern business and technology, you see two simple propositions:
Theres an abundance of information available. It exists
in all forms. If you could get it, you could probably do
something useful with it.
If you had the power, capacity, speed, and knowhow to
manipulate that information, you could probably succeed
wildly. Whether your most important metric is increased
profits, decreased costs, or helping people, youd likely
be a success.
The rest is elaboration. While people are relatively slow to
find things out, draw inferences, learn, and act, machines are
fast. That doesnt make machines smart, but its a pretty
good imitation by human standards.
Cognitive business
Welcome to the Cognitive Era, where the power of data progresses. Industry convergence spawns new forms of competition. Also, new digital invaders with novel business models
are entering the arena, and the most disruptive entrants are
reshaping entire economies, seemingly overnight. This is both
exciting and challenging!
To compete and outcompete in this new battleground
fighting both traditional competitors and new market entrants
you must rethink and distinguish every interaction with every
client at every opportunity.
Every business is facing these pressures. This is a new mobile
centric, everythingconnected economy, and its driving a
dramatic shift in power from your business. Yes, the power
has moved from you to your clients, who expect and demand
Chapter1: Embracing the CognitiveEra
instantaneous service and valuable personalization. And you

must earn their unwavering trust.
This era is about business innovation a top priority for leaders everywhere, from CEOs to heads of state. You may hear
them describe this as going digital or becoming digital.
Thats part of the process for innovation. Digitization certainly
spurs innovation. The logic is, Now that I have information in
digital form, what can I do with it?
Theres some truth in the statement Data is the new natural
resource. Yet 80 percent of data is largely invisible to
computers its unstructured data and has therefore
beenuseless to us. So far.
Definitions of unstructured will vary a bit, but many professionals agree upon the possibilities and value of making
unstructured data usable. The scope might vary from elements of language to images; from ocean current/temperature
measurement (previously undigitized) to antibiotic dispensing
patterns in the nations hospitals (possibly unstructured but
definitely disparate).
For all the talk about and all the challenges of unstructured
data, structured data is still very much with us, and theres a
lot of it, too! Cognitive is not just about unstructured data, its
about all data. Its about insights, adaptive learning, sensing,
reasoning, and responding.
The point is that as you round up valuable data and make
it processable, cognition happens. Now, there are tools
and techniques to accomplish this. Thats where IBM and
zSystems come in.
Sensing the scope of

cognitivesystems
Cognitive systems understand unstructured data through
sensing and interaction. They reason about it by generating
hypotheses, considering arguments, and making recommendations. And they learn from training by experts, from every
interaction, and from continually ingesting data. In fact, they
never stop learning.

Cognitive building blocks include relationship extraction,
personality analysis, tone analysis, concept expansion, and
tradeoff analytics. Today, these building blocks are powered
by 50 technologies, and this is only the beginning. In 2016,
IBM plans to increase its number of cognitive services by 50
percent and to keep adding capabilities after that.
Incidentally, IBM made a key decision to open up Watson
(the worlds first cognitive system) as a cloudbased API platform. The intention is to nurture an ecosystem in which businesses can build cognitive capabilities into their applications.
Witnessing the awakening

of the Cognitive Era
Why now? One theory is that the Cognitive Era is emerging
now because of the convergence of three massive shifts at the
intersection of technology and business. They are
A world of data: The world is awash in data. Volumes of
data are generated by mobile devices, social networks,
and every digitized and connected product, machine, and
infrastructure. Often, actual data can replace estimates,
guesses, approximations, averages, and so forth.
Businesses can determine with greater precision what
customers will want, where traffic will form, how a disease will progress, and where the risk is greatest. But 80
percent of the data is still invisible to computers and,
therefore, of limited use. That 80 percent includes everything humanity encodes in language from textbooks and
formulas, to literature and conversation, to everything
thats captured in sight, sound, and motion.
The amount of unstructured data is increasing fast. The
estimate is that unstructured data will constitute the
majority of all the data in the world, reaching 44 zettabytes
by 2020.
The world reinvented in code: The world is being
rewritten in software code, and the cloud is the platform of choice. IBM asserts that digital builders are reimagining everything from banking, retail, and healthcare
to transportation, supply chains, and waterways. (More
precisely, they are composing, writing code, connecting
to pipelines of data, and integrating application programming interfaces APIs).

By some estimates, there will be one million APIs before
the end of the decade including cognitive APIs.
In 2014, developers used an average of 15.4 APIs on
a typical software project.
By 2017, this is expected to rise to 19.1.
Of the 18.2 million software developers in the
world, 1.2 million are now publishing APIs for external use and 4.7 million are publishing APIs for use
by their partners or registered associates.
670,000 developers are working across the Apple
and Google platforms, which make up 80 percent of
all available apps. They are submitting more than
2,000 apps a day.
By 2020, its estimated that 26 billion devices will be
using one trillion applications.
Ingestion and digestion of data: You can harvest the
data crop when you have speed and capacity to match
the volume. Cognitive systems can ingest unstructured
data in all its forms.
Its inevitable that with cognizant computing there comes
a new era of business. Smart businesses seize the moment;
ignorant businesses do nothing at their peril.
A New Era of Business

Competition and technology advances are driving companies
to adopt new business models. The new models are enabled
by technology, particularly cognitive systems, mobile, the
hybrid cloud, and the Internet of Things. The result is a
cognitive business.
Citing mobile and social

impactas examples
Theres been a proliferation of mobile devices (smartphones,
tablets, and PDAs). The devices tend to promote an increase
in the use of social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and
10

LinkedIn, for example). Together, the two technologies are
changing the world of business. Its easier to shop, its easier
to buy, and its easier to talk about it.
New records are set every day. Heres just one example
from the 2014 holiday season in the United States. American
consumers can relate to this (as can those familiar with
November 11, Singles Day in the Peoples Republic of China).
In the US, the Thanksgiving holiday weekend is one of the
biggest shopping times of the year.
Thanksgiving weekend in 2014 was a recordsetter. For
the first time, online traffic from mobile devices outpaced
traditional PCs on Thanksgiving Day. In fact, mobile traffic
accounted for more than half of all shopping. This phenomenon wasnt limited to Thanksgiving Day. Black Friday and
Cyber Monday continued the trend.
Table11 illustrates the increase in online sales in 2014, with
an emphasis on sales from mobile devices.
Table 1-1
The Impact of Mobile on Sales in 2014
Event
Online Sales Increase
Mobile Sales Increase
Thanksgiving
14.3 percent
25.4 percent
Black Friday
9.5 percent
28.2 percent
Cyber Monday
8.5 percent
27.6 percent
Activity was bound to increase during the 2015 shopping

frenzy. Zacks.com reports that during the 2015 holiday
weekend, mobile shopping made up 34 percent of all online
purchases.
The question arises, Why has the mobile device become
such a source of transformation in retail? Very likely its
because consumers have the devices with them all the time.
And when consumers are shopping, theyre pulling out their
mobile devices and doing comparison shopping in real time.
The competition isnt down the street; its in every store, in
every shoppers pocket. Anytime, anywhere, any device. This
notion has forever changed how the world of retail works.
11
Citing other impacts

Other impacts of the Cognitive Era are dramatic and affect
practically every industry, too. Power has shifted from the
business to the user of that business. Today, because users
have power at their fingertips, the power of physical presence
has been replaced by the power of virtual presence. This lets
smaller companies in various industries challenge and compete with industry leaders.
Todays perceived wisdom is challenged by new entrants
who are creating new approaches to meeting the demands of
newly empowered users. The situation changes the fundamentals of how a business can operate.
So, todays success is no guarantee of future success. All businesses must transform to meet the new demands within their
industries and often the bigger the business is, the harder it is
to transform.
All businesses have an obligation to drive growth. But they
also must consider delivering personalized services (based
on business intelligence) and developing mobile engagements and interactions. But a business doesnt just need to
manage innovative change. It also has an existing operation to
manage one that must deal with data growth, growth and
fluctuation in transaction volumes, and so on. Theres also
an increasingly complex cyber threat landscape and a need
to maintain nearly 100 percent uptime so consumers can do
business anytime/anywhere.
Talk about pressure and pain! Following is a random selection
of three headlines from IT sources:
IoT stat of 30 billion devices
Shoppers want ondemand promos
Cybercrime Will Cost Businesses Over $2 Trillion
by2019
IBM meets the challenge

For the past several years, the IT industry has been restructuring, driven by simultaneous developments in data, analytics,
12

cloud, mobile, social media, and the Internet of Things. IBM
has undertaken one of the most significant transformations in
its history to help its clients take advantage of these new capabilities. In doing so, IBM has learned that while there are great
benefits from applying the individual technologies, the greatest value comes from putting these capabilities together in
comprehensive, powerful, fully functional computer systems.
The Future Is Out There

for the Taking
You may sense that theres a challenging future ahead, and
youre right! Its challenging, but its not by any means impossible to get there. Basically, the path requires some knowledge and a good partner such as IBM.
Starting down the path

to the Cognitive Era
How do you become a cognitive bank, a cognitive retailer,
or a cognitive hospital? How do you build a cognitive supply
chain? As you may expect, it will be a fascinating journey from
where your business and IT division are today to where you
want to be.
You should capitalize on everything youre doing today
and be planning for the future. Consider cloud deployment, real-time analytics, mobile impacts, social networking impacts, and security.
Fundamentally, you need to architect a new kind of IT
core, creating a heterogeneous infrastructure that serves
as the backbone of your enterprise. Of course, new technologies should harmonize as well as possible with your
existing systems.
You need to develop a cognitive strategy, defining how
toapply cognition to fundamentally transform your
business.
You can refer to this as business process reengineering
delivered through IT transformation.
13
Affecting IT leaders and

their IT infrastructure
What about the IT operation? Simply put, creating a cognitive
business is really about creating a business that effectively
thinks for itself (on behalf of its customers and partners), that
learns, reasons and adapts to outthink the competitors.
Technology is the key enabler for success, and IT leaders
need to constantly rethink their IT infrastructure. Its not
about cloud or mobile or analytics alone. Its not just about
core competencies such as security, availability, scalability,
and speed. Its not even about cognitive. It is about all of the
above and much more as an integrated whole.
You wont get there by doing more of the same. Success
requires evaluating the alternatives out there, seeing if
theres a better way, and seizing the moment. Get ready: The
Cognitive Era will define new market winners and losers.
14
Chapter2
Exploring the Role of z

Systems in Digital Business
In This Chapter
Separating mainframe myths from the truth
Taking a look at z Systems
Going back to the future
BM is a leader in breakthroughs in computer technology.

In the 1950s, IBM led the way with breakthroughs. (For
a closer look, jump to the section Evolution Precedes
Revolution in this chapter.) The z Systems family had a direct
greatgrandfather, IBM System/360, announced on April 7,
1964. In 50+ years since then, its clear that IBM knows what
its doing.
IBM owns the world of large systems (formerly known as
mainframes or big iron) and with good reason. There are
other manufacturers and other approaches to computing, but
IBM z Systems is a quality product designed to handle the
most sophisticated and complex tasks.
The chapter dismantles some myths about mainframes and
supplies some positive attributes. It concludes with a summary of z Systems business value benefits, which are reiterated throughout this book.
16
Busting the Myths Surrounding

Mainframes
Over time, the mainframe computer has gone through periods
of growth, decline, and revitalization. The mainframe went
from strength to strength through the 1970s and early 1980s.
It was synonymous with the word computer. But by the late
1980s, with the rise of personal computers and Unix systems,
the mainframe was in decline. It was seen as being too expensive, proprietary, and old fashioned, with a limited application
portfolio and a shortage of skilled personnel.
In the 1990s, there was a prediction that the last mainframe
would be unplugged in 1996. Er, well, reports of the mainframes death have been exaggerated. IBM reinvented the
mainframe in the mid1990s.
Mainframes run the worlds top businesses, including 92 of
the top 100 banks worldwide, the top 10 insurers, and 23 of
the worlds 25 largest airlines.
This section looks at mainframe roots, mainframe myths, and
mainframe positives.
Going back to the roots

Mainframes have a long history and can trace their roots back
over 50 years, a huge timescale for the IT industry. The first
mainframe, the System/360, was introduced in 1964 and revolutionized the computer industry.
The IBM archives tell us that the introduction of the
System/360 was a bet the business moment for IBM, later
described by Fortune magazine as IBMs $5,000,000,000
gamble. The System/360 took computing from being a niche
player to being mainstream. By the end of the 1960s, more
than 3,000 different types of businesses and research facilities (dealing with rockets, railroads, securities, and more)
were using one of System/360s 19 models. See the section
Evolution Precedes Revolution later in this chapter.
Chapter2: Exploring the Role of z Systems in Digital Business
17
Some perceptions that led to predictions of the mainframes

death persist today, while another perception is that the
mainframe as the most efficient IT system possible. z Systems
certainly has unmatched capabilities ideally suited to the
needs of major endeavors, such as business, science, and
government. But for the majority of people, its unknown in a
world dominated by smartphones, tablets, laptops, and servers.
The truth is that large systems are the backbone of the global
economy; theyre right at the heart of it all.
When you swipe a credit card, use an automated teller
machine (ATM), or buy an airline ticket, the chances are
excellent that a mainframe is managing the transaction.
Debunking the myths

To understand better what todays big systems deliver, take
a look at how z Systems addresses the negative perceptions
from 30 years ago.
Expensive
First the mainframe was seen as too expensive. Originally,
they were costly (and they proved their worth), but thats not
exactly true anymore. IBM has invested in new technologies
that bring down the cost of the mainframe and has introduced
new pricing and packaging (a flexible acquisition approach)
that deliver lower cost.
But this is only part of the story. The economics of the IT
industry have changed dramatically. Thirty years ago, hardware was the big budget item, and hardware acquisition costs
were a major drain on IT budgets. Today its the cost of people
to run the system, manage it, or deliver new services. Its now
labor and software development that dominate IT costs.
These are areas where savings can be generated with the
right technologies.
Total Cost of Acquisition (TCA) is important, but whats more
important is Total Cost of Operation (TCO). Thats where you
can find big savings. Solitaire Interglobal released a report
that said mainframes run 68 percent of the worlds production
workloads at only 6 percent of total IT costs. Hows that for
value?
18
Proprietary
Its true that (way back then) the mainframe was a proprietary, closed environment. But IBM has since invested in
adopting many open and industry standards. It now supports all the latest compilers and languages, runs common
middleware, and for the last 15 years has been running Linux.
(Today, more than a quarter of installed mainframe capacity
is running Linux.)
Thirty years ago the majority of mainframe applications were
home grown (or more delicately, developed inhouse).
Today, mainframes support over 8,000 applications. That may
not seem a lot when hundreds of new apps are created every
day, but these 8,000 include all of the leading business applications that form the foundation of industry activity.
In the past, the mainframe required a specialized skill
set thatwas in short supply. Today, IBM has invested in
standardization in common technologies and easeofuse
technologies to dramatically reduce the need for specialized skills. At the same time, IBM works with academia to get
the mainframe on the syllabi. Today more than 1,000 colleges
feature mainframerelated courses to train new generations
ofcomputer professionals.
Oldfashioned
Mainframes were sometimes thought to be oldfashioned,
although thats a perception, not reality. They were thought
to be legacy systems, a remnant of an earlier era of computing. Interesting if true, but not true these days.
Todays generation of z Systems is designed for digital
business. Consider what they can do:
Transact at the scale and speed of mobile, being capable
of up to 30,000 transactions per second or 2.8 billion
transactions per day. Thats with fast response time
36percent faster than x86 and 45 times more consistent.
Bring righttime analytics to every transaction. IBM z
Systems can handle millions of transactions per second
while analyzing data on the fly. The integrated of transaction and analytics capability within z Systems delivers
insights up to 17 times faster than the competition.
19
Ensure the highest levels of security and trust. z Systems

can provide encryption at double the speed of previous
generations. z Systems accelerates the speed of encryption works in harmony with integrated IBM software
technologies to help protect the privacy of data throughout its life cycle.
Mainframe Positives
Of course the mainframe didnt gain a resurgence in popularity purely by addressing negative perceptions. It came back
by extending its strengths, delivering new capabilities, and
providing unique abilities that drove its greater adoption.
You learn about z Systems technology in more detail throughout this book. But be assured that its the mainframes
strengths (security, availability, scalability, manageability,
and multiworkload virtualization) that are the foundation of
their differentiation in the market.
Mainframe capabilities have never been more in demand than
they are now. Why? Because market requirements shift, and
theyve shifted toward demanding the capabilities that mainframes provide. Installed mainframe capacity has in recent
times been doubling about every six years. Not a bad result
from a platform that was declared dead 30 years ago!
But who uses a mainframe?

If mainframes are so successful, where are they being used
and by whom? The short answer is pretty much everywhere
and by everybody big. Thats if youre talking about IBMs
enterprise clients. (See the section Popularity with clients
later in the chapter.)
The slightly longer answer is you, me, and most people.
Many of us regularly use a mainframe; we just dont realize
it. Almost every time you withdraw money from an ATM, use
a credit card, shop online or in store, book a flight, or make
an insurance claim, theres likely a mainframe involved. The
mainframe is widely used across nearly all industries.
20

While many think of the mainframe as being a banking sector
system, its also used extensively in retail, insurance, healthcare, government, and many other industries. Its estimated
that mainframes run 30 billion business transactions every
day. We as individuals and businesses use it frequently; we
just dont realize it.
Most organizations have traditionally used the mainframe
for core businesscritical applications (in the back office, you
might say). Its used because of its scalability to ensure that
workload demands can be met; for its security to ensure that
the business and its clients are protected; and for its reliability and availability to ensure that key services are available
whenever and from wherever a user needs to access them.
The fact that the mainframe delivers on these requirements
without the enduser realizing it makes it (in many ways) a
victim of its own success.
Popularity with clients

Mainframes are popular. IBM mainframes are popular with
enterprises, as seen in these examples:
92 of the top 100 worldwide banks
23 of the top 25 retailers in the United States
10 out of 10 of the worlds largest insurers
23 out of top 25 of the worlds largest airlines
These numbers are drawn from The Banker, IBM market
development, and insights documentation.
Building Business Value

with z Systems
In general, z Systems is built by intention to add value to business operations. IBM z Systems computers are enterprise
systems. To paraphrase the old knife/gunfight saying, Dont
bring a PC to a big system fight. Well, enterprises are cautioned not to bring too little processing power to a vigorously
competitive business world.
21
The enterprise systems category can be described as being

comprised of highend machines with an acquisition cost
of more than $250,000, typically deployed only in large
businesses.
As a leader in the enterprise systems category, IBM doesnt
limit the enterprise systems conversation to the cost of the
system or the size of the organization. Instead, IBM focuses
on the capabilities of the system: Enterprise systems are the
infrastructure at the core of an enterprises IT. The hardware
with its supporting software delivers a hybrid cloud at enterprise scale, flexible service delivery models, dynamic efficiency, workload management, and so forth.
Evolution Precedes Revolution

z Systems computers are innovative, but (as is well known)
they werent the first and likely arent the last innovations from IBM. An oftrepeated sentence in press releases
is, A new generation of electronic computing equipment
was introduced today by International Business Machines
Corporation. Its repeated because it has been true many
times for different systems. Always an innovator, that sort of
announcement isnt uncommon regarding IBM.
z Systems is part of a revolution, as business and technology
enter the Cognitive Era. Prior to z Systems, there was evolution, with every family of IBM mainframes going to new levels
and establishing new standards. For example, there were
two highly significant IBM computers in use prior to the IBM
System/360:
The 701 was formally announced to the stockholders
on April 29, 1952, with a press release issued on May 21,
1952. It was IBMs first commercial scientific computer.
In 1959, IBM introduced two of its most important computers. These were the 1401 Data Processing System,
widely used for business applications, and the 1620 Data
Processing System, a small scientific and engineering
computer used for such diverse applications as automatic typesetting, highway design, and bridge building.
22

Then the IBM System/360 appeared, and it was revolutionary.
The press release is dated April 7, 1964, and IBM Board
Chairman Thomas J. Watson, Jr. called the event the most
important product announcement in the companys history.
Subsequent periods of evolution have produced the
System/370, System/390, zSeries, and zEnterprise families
of computers. All these important changes have led up to
the next step in large system development, IBM z Systems.
Without hyperbole, this system is a dramatic leap forward for
technology and for business.
IBMs product history underscores its success and showcases both evolution and revolution. For a history of IBMs
mainframe systems (beginning with the System/360 announcement), visit the Mainframes Reference Room at http://ibm.
co/1MQ2SLD.
The benefits of z Systems that add business value are
Speed
Security
Analytics
Virtualization
Open source/Open systems
Reliability (nearzero downtime)
Resilience (nearzero recovery time)
Manageability
Chapter3
Providing a Trusted Cloud

In This Chapter
Considering the shape of the cloud
Making the most of z Systems, Linux, and the cloud
Looking at the nature and benefits of cloud computing
any organizations have turned to cloud computing,

and many more are getting on board every day. There
are several sound reasons for doing so, and a big one is to
improve business responsiveness. Very broadly, the cloud
puts all your customers in contact with you 24/7. What a difference that makes! If you sell, there are more selling opportunities. If youre a bank, theres improved service to customers
(as well as an improved chance to sell financial products).
A second reason to use a cloud is reduced costs. To use a
bank as an example, consider the savings in labor at branches
when a significant portion of the banks daytoday customer
activity can be conducted by computers over a distance
and increasingly on mobile devices.
With cloud computing, its not a case of Should you deploy
cloud? No, its the opposite: Why shouldnt you deploy
cloud? Is it a trend? Theres no reason to doubt it. The prediction is that cloud traffic will represent 76 percent of total
data center traffic by 2018.
Its a world apart and a world evolved from the past. If you
judge cloud computing to be beneficial, then consider the
best way to implement it.
Whats the best way to implement a cloud? It varies, of
course, but for major enterprises, theres a key component.
24

The secret isnt really a secret. You build your cloud using a
firstclass mainframe system because a solid infrastructure is
essential. Its the ideal solution for enterpriselevel workloads
(and IBM also has z Systems offerings that are attractive to
businesses smaller than enterprise level). With a sound
choice (presumably a connected device to z Systems data),
you get additional assurances: security, reliability, and the
ability to meet demanding service levels.
This chapter examines cloud computing in general, with an
emphasis on the integration of hybrid cloud with z Systems
and Linux.
Understanding the Advantages

of z Systems Clouds
A cloud built on z Systems has several distinct advantages.
To put it broadly, z Systems makes cloud computing more
agile, efficient, and secure. In this section, you take a look at
the rationale for implementing a hybrid or a private cloud.
After that, you find specific advantages in the section
z Systems advantages.
z Systems rationale
There are simple reasons z Systems is an efficient vehicle for
implementing either a hybrid or a private cloud.
Whether youre using an offpremises public cloud, an
onpremises private cloud, or a combination (a hybrid), z
Systems provides good protection, low security risk, high
availability, and superior performance for the best possible
cloud solution. You should have no worries when you need
to connect your Systems of Engagement to your Systems of
Record and make them part of your cloud workload.
Implement a hybrid cloud on IBM z Systems for rapid development and deployment of next generation cloud workloads. Implement a private cloud on IBM z Systems for faster
response time. You also get near100 percent uptime (99.99
percent is the goal) and the best security developed by IBM.
Chapter3: Providing a Trusted Cloud
25
Distributed systems have an inherent weakness theyre

distributed. Horizontal scaling means many distributed systems sit unused. Unused means powering up, heating up, and
cooling down your computer power for no reason, and such
systems take up real estate in your data center. (Im thinking
of blade servers, with one company using as many as 40,000
blades in one building.)
By contrast, a single IBM z Systems server can respond in
nanoseconds with tremendous processor power to handle
the largest application workload peaks without compromising
service. IBM has the metrics to substantiate such claims.
z Systems advantages
z Systems has specific advantages, and theyre discussed in
this section.
Performance
With z Systems, you can consolidate up to 8,000 virtual servers on one system. Thats significant, and that setups likely to
boost performance. As a bonus, it will probably reduce cost
and enhance efficiency.
z Systems can host more virtual machines in a single footprint
than any other platform. The resources are shared among
workloads, so you get the highest possible utilization.
Further, because z Systems has dedicated processors for I/O
operations, workloads with high I/O demand, such as transaction processing, can run more efficiently.
Cost savings
A z Systemsbased cloud competes well with other platforms.
A recent IBM study found that the threeyear total cost of
ownership (TCO) for a z Systems cloud can be 75 percent less
than a thirdparty providers public cloud and as much as 49
percent less than an x86based private cloud.
With z Systems, you can consolidate and virtualize a variety of
workloads on a smaller footprint, which results in lower overall software costs when compared to other solutions.
26

A costsaving bonus is that with its smaller footprint, z Systems
costs for labor, electricity, and floor space tend to be lower, too.
Flexibility
A z Systems cloud is flexible. Management tools let you adjust
resources automatically in real time. Also, the open platform
supports multiple independent software vendors.
Reliability
z Systems operates by design with the highest levels of reliability and availability. Each component is built to be resilient, with support for nondisruptive configuration changes
and dynamic replacement (hot swap) capabilities.
Many organizations using IBM machines report years of going
without any unplanned downtime. The system tends toward
nearzero downtime, and builtin redundancy tends to prevent
data loss.
Security
IBM systems have some of the highest marks in the industry for security. For example IBM has earned Evaluation
Assurance Level 4+ (EAL4+) certification for its systems.
You should expect a z Systems implementation to excel in
providing secure workload isolation, data protection, and
privacy. Theres also extensive security and audit reporting to
meet industry standards and regulations. The z Systems has
onthefly fast encryption to further ensure security.
An excellent combination of products

Heres how you get a firstclass cloud:
Combine IBM z Systems, Linux, the
hybrid cloud, and IBM Cloud Manager
with OpenStack. The combination
enhances the benefits of each part
to produce a powerful and reliable
enterprise solution. See the section

The Importance of the Hybrid Cloud
later in this chapter.
To see a brief video, visit http://
bit.ly/1UPZEXo.
27
Analytics
You came for the transaction processing, but stay for the analytics. z Systems can gather massive quantities of information
economically. The box is fast, too.
Reviewing Clouds
Cloud computing might well be called ondemand computing,
shared computing, Internetbased computing, or highaccess
computing. Each of the terms suggests what it is, but no one
term defines it precisely. This is understandable, as the composition of a cloud system can be highly diverse. However,
the computing is still done at a data center; its the access that
is relatively new and different.
As you likely know, cloud computing has dramatic advantages
for a business, and its useful to exploit them. It also entails
new concerns, and its essential to address them.
No matter what kind of cloud, its an ondemand approach
to computing. It has no quarrel with distance or time, and it
provides the different capabilities businesses require. Also,
a cloud doesnt (usually) care what sort of device is used to
access it.
There are obvious qualifications about devices, of course. For
example, a shipping companys private cloud will be interested only in package delivered transactions coming from a
handheld device in the delivery persons hand. A utility company is interested only in gas or electric consumption data
going from its smart meters to its processors.
Ignoring such specialized devices and transactions, many
enterprise clouds welcome interaction (inquiries and purchases) from PCs, laptops/notebooks, mobile phones, and
tablets. And, as a bonus, the enterprise has essentially no
application maintenance requirement on the client side.
Typically, users download, install, and update the apps they
need.
Clouds fall into three types: private, public, and a combination
known as hybrid. An IBM client will use one or more of these
types, with hybrid and private clouds being predominant.
28
Public cloud
The most common cloud type is the public cloud. In general
terms, if the public can see and use data, the cloud is a public
cloud. Shared infrastructure is a defining component.
The nature of the cloud isnt always apparent. For example,
Amazons online presence is daunting, so it appears much like
a public cloud, but the data is processed at Amazon data centers. By contrast, Amazon Web Services is a public cloud offering, one that allows AWS developers to deploy a public cloud.
Of course, there are security considerations for data transmitted via public cloud, but its fair to say that security isnt
likely to be as intense as transactions done over a private
cloud.
The Internet of Things (IoT) implies the existence of a cloud,
most likely (but not always) a public cloud. Communications
from a device to a company are unlikely to be sensitive. In the
future, if your refrigerator senses that youre running low on
milk, the cloud will post a notice to your personal Messages
section on the manufacturers website part of a public
cloud. It will probably send a text message to your phone.
While your milk level is important to you personally, its not a
matter of national security.
Private cloud
A private cloud provides user access over a secure network. It
usually operates for (and is operated by) a single enterprise.
Two variations come to mind. First, a mortgage service
company provides webbased, interactive services for small
banks and credit unions. They are customers, but only paying
customers are part of the cloud. A supply chain software company offers webbased, interactive services for its retail chain
clients. Again, they are clients, and the information is available only to clients. In both cases, the relationship is private,
limited, and highly secure.
Private clouds are usually specialized and require elaborate
security. They tend to be capitalintensive. Having said that,
sometimes theyre very good investments.
29
Hybrid cloud
A hybrid cloud is a combination of two types of cloud
public and private. Its an integration of one cloud service
with another. The combinations can be highly variable.
To generalize, one possible approach might be to keep sensitive information on an app in a private cloud, but to carefully
and selectively connect some of that information to an app
that services a public cloud.
For example, a bank puts a good deal of client information
out there for client consumption. Its reasonably secure, of
course. Just the same, there is other sensitive client information which that bank will keep internal and private.
The Importance of the

Hybrid Cloud
Any cloud implementation can be useful, but IBM has engineered a powerful and reliable solution for enterprises. Its
the hybrid cloud, teamed with Linux and z Systems. That combination has great advantages:
You can connect apps, data, and services securely across
traditional systems, cloud platforms, and mobile devices.
You can easily recompose your business through secure
access to data, apps, and services where theyre most
optimally placed.
The arrangement is reliable but also dynamic and
adaptable. Your Systems of Record (SoR) are well
protected IBM has a trusted Systems of Record
machine. Your Systems of Engagement (SoE), widely
utilized, are out there.
The arrangement is flexible. You use Cloud Manager with
OpenStack Virtualization for workload provisioning, so
the workloads are matched to the right infrastructure.
See the later section, Integrating SoR with SoE, for details
about SoR and SoE.
30

The integration of z Systems, Linux, and hybrid cloud also
yields these advantages:
Integration and portability: Easily integrate, compose,
and deliver web and mobile apps.
Visibility, control, and security: Gain transparency and
control over data and applications while protecting workloads in the cloud.
Developer productivity: Develop, refine, and deploy apps
quickly and continuously.
Data and analytics: Get insight from all relevant data.
Integrating SoR with SoE

The Cognitive Era has produced new terms: Systems of
Record (SoR), Systems of Engagement (SoE), and Systems of
Insight (SoI). The last one focuses on analytics.
SoR
An SoR is simply the latest term for what IT has always called
the files, the database, or simply the data. It amounts to that
vast array of data elements the enterprise uses to conduct
business.
SoR was never passive, but its largely considered retrospective instead of prospective, and viewed as rather dull. (Thats
a bit unfair, and data scientists on your staff should take issue
with the view. Theres plenty of interesting data in your SoR.)
The reason SoR now gets such a label is that the world has
changed and there are two other active, dynamic systems to
deal with: SoE and SoI.
SoE
An SoE anticipates the continued growth of interaction
between people. More broadly, it strives to address social
technologies, the integration of currently unconnected systems, disparate decentralized technologies, and so forth.
More permutations are possible than ever before.
31
Words from a recognized expert

Geoffrey Moore wrote a white paper
entitled Systems of Engagement and
the Future of Enterprise IT, in 2011
for the Association for Information
and Image Management. He anticipated a revolution, which may be an
apt description of changes in information over the last several years.
The website is www.aiim.org/
futurehistory.
I mention Moore because his w
riting
has garnered industry attention.
Of course, youre cautioned not to take

everything you read as a revolution.
You may find value in reading books
by Geoffrey Moore. Hes a business
author. In 1991, he wrote a book with
a shakeemup title: Crossing
the Chasm: Marketing and Selling
Disruptive Products to Mainstream
Customers. Its now in its third
edition.
Employee collaboration software and file sharing software

are relatively new (and modest) examples of systems of
engagement. Theres profusion of collaboration apps, and not
without cause. Various forms of employee engagement can
produce very positive results for an enterprise.
Although Facebook and other social networks are maturing,
their capacity to offer up abundant, useful unstructured data
hasnt yet been well exploited. However, social networks have
a crop of potentially valuable data to offer up.
For a simple web page describing IBMs take on SoE, visit
http://ibm.co/1hC855C.
SoI
SoI is a broad way of describing digital business analytics.
Some folks (Brian Hopkins in a Forrester article, for example)
opine that only delivering insight at the point of action matters. He asks: Did your customer get the right information, in
32

context, at his or her moment of need? Did your firm use that
engagement to make the right offer and upsell? Do your sales
or call center reps have the insight they need to set priorities
or meet customers needs efficiently?
Like Moore, Hopkins sounds an alarm and businesses would
do well to take notice. However, companies such as IBM have
taken notice and are laboring extensively to develop and offer
SoI products.
Chapter4
Capitalizing on Analytics
In This Chapter
Getting a perspective on analytics
Seeing the business need for analytics
Introducing the elements of analytics
nalytics is an assessment of data with the goal of getting

meaningful, actionable information from it. Adroit analytics
can tease out useful information by finding relationships, sometimes even between disparate and seemingly unrelated data.
These days, speed is most important (while in some other
scenarios, the volume of data is important). Acting fast on a
small population (one transaction) is whats needed. With z
Systems, analyzing large volumes of individual transactions
quickly in real time is now possible.
This chapter takes a look at the components of analytics,
embracing both z Systems intransaction analytics and conventional Big Data analytics. The emphasis is on z Systems.
Analyzing Analytics
Analytics isnt new. The need for intelligence in planning goes
back a long way, probably millennia. What has always hampered civilizations enterprises was insufficient data and slow
speed in acquiring it.
That was then; this is now. The Cognitive Era uses the most
modern computer tools to quickly produce the analytic
information desired with the likelihood that valuable
insights are possible.
34

Analytics evaluates large numbers of transactions fast, allowing
speedy analysis to drive effective business decisions. The next
sections address the two approaches to analytics: conventional
Big Data analytics and z Systemsbased intransaction analytics.
Conventional Big Data analytics

Its not an exaggeration to say that data is one of the worlds
most valuable resources. And theres a lot of it. (One prediction is that there will 44 zettabytes by 2020.)
Conventional Big Data analytics harvests enormous amounts
of structured and unstructured data. Then data scientists look
for new and useful insights that the data may yield. But that
data is sent elsewhere, stored, and analyzed later. Its a valuable technique, but its not intransaction analytics.
Intransaction analytics
With z Systems, you can have embedded analytics. The transaction engine can process transactions fast. This permits each
transaction to be analyzed in real time to detect fraud (for
example) before a customer is impacted. Further, the system
instantly gets a realtime view of the customers purchasing habits. This presents an opportunity to boost sales the
moment a transaction is complete.
Doing this is a challenge. For example, during the Christmas
2013 shopping season, Amazon sold 426 items per second and
each transaction yielded a wealth of data and triggered further
actions. Since that holiday season, the number of transactions,
especially mobile transactions, has increased, and the trend is
that transaction numbers will continue to do so. Of course that
means that money spent will also increase dramatically.
To illustrate this, in 2015, Amazon reported attracting ten million
new Prime customers in December, with more than three million
joining in the third week of December. Furthermore, Internet
Retailer reports that for 2015 Amazons average order value was
up 6.2 percent versus Christmas Day 2013. Prime members shopping via mobile more than doubled in the 2015 holiday season.
z Systems meets the challenge. Intransaction analytics requires
that data be analyzed in place and in realtime. Analyzing data in
Chapter4: Capitalizing on Analytics
35
place produces the information needed for effective action now.

The value of now and the need for now is simple: The value
of insights is perishable and therefore these insights need to
be developed in realtime regardless of the size of the data set.
Its a good idea to keep things in proportion. Analytics is simply
smart reasoning, dramatically updated for the Cognitive Era.
In the Good Old Days (say, 100 years ago), business reasoning
was less intense and on a smaller scale, but still logical: When
it rains, people buy umbrellas, If a person buys an umbrella,
he or she might also want a raincoat, and If a person pays
with a $100 bill with the wrong president printed on it, theres
probably some fraud going on.
As part of a cognitive strategy, organizations can transform
their business. IBM analytics lets a business engage with data
to answer the toughest business questions, uncover patterns,
and pursue breakthrough ideas.
The traditional infrastructure (computing, storage, and networking) was never designed for handling massive quantities
of transactions and varieties of data; nor was it able to process complex analytics and algorithms in a timely and cost
effective manner. So modern times require a new approach to
thinking about analytics. Heres what the times call for:
Speed: Building intelligence into operational transactions
through fast analytics and optimization for different analytics workloads
Availability: Maximizing realtime availability of information and insights for addressing the needs of more users,
striving for more concurrency, and changing demand and
resiliency at the point of impact
While analytics can be applied to all kinds of transactions, in
business analytics is usually concerned with customers and
their activities.
Looking at Analytics
Executives say, If only I had known this [substitute your own
item] and if only I had known it sooner, I would have made a
smarter decision. Thats the problem analytics addresses. Its
the mechanism that lets you know more, and know sooner,
36

about a lot of data. And, as a bonus, you can get information
you need from disparate data. Remember the four Vs of Big
Data Analytics (BDA): volume, velocity, variety, and value.
Note: Some sources have a slightly different list, leaving out
value and adding variability or veracity.
Volume
The first attribute of is volume. Analytics tends to imply terabytes to petabytes of information. However, some smaller
industries and organizations are likely to deal with mere
gigabytes or terabytes of data. z Systems handles transaction
volumes of all sizes.
Even smaller organizations may still require intense and complex information processing. For example, a manufacturer
may have only a few retail outlets, but getting and acting on
reliable sales data still is important. The same manufacturer
may have a simple supply chain, again requiring acquisition of
reliable data.
Terabytes and petabytes, frankly, arent a big deal anymore.
At the low end, a 1 terabyte external disk drive fits in a shirt
pocket. A 4terabyte external drive has dimensions of only 5.5
x 1.9 x 6.7 inches. And these are devices for the home use.
Velocity
The second attribute is velocity the speed at which information arrives, is analyzed, and is delivered. The intransaction
analytics provided by z Systems is designed to acquire and
process data fast.
Complex technologies employed by z Systems allow analysis
right now. Its a world apart from traditional data warehousing.
Modern analytics relies on complex event processing (CEP),
rules engines, text analytics, inferencing, and machine learning.
Variety
The third attribute of variety. In the past, enterprises had only
to deal with a finite and manageable number of data sources
37
(mainly Systems of Record, as described in Chapter3). Times

have changed. Todays business environment includes both
conventional structured data and disparate (unstructured)
data, from a variety of data sources and in a variety of f ormats.
Value
The fourth attribute of is value, the key measure of which is
improved profits. If you invest $1.00 in something and derive
$2.00 from it, youll likely consider the investment to have
provided value. In addition to increasing revenues, analytics
can decrease expenses. Intransaction analytics provided by z
Systems can (for example) encourage upsells and reduce the
chance of fraud.
Gaining Insight through

Analytics
Analytics matters to business. Enterprises have embraced the
idea that while a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, a lot
of knowledge is a very good thing. There are two numbers that
reinforce the concept that analytics is important to businesses:
Up to 90 percent of surveyed industrial organizations
say analytics is the top priority or in the top three for the
company.
Customer engagement analytics users enjoy a 79 percent
greater annual increase in client satisfaction rates, compared to nonusers.
Examining types of analytics

There are four principal types of analytics. This list shows the
progressions from traditional analytics to modern intransaction
analytics provided by z Systems:
Descriptive: Descriptive analytics uses basic statistics
or cool visualizations to characterize a set of data. The
results might show averages, totals, frequencies, and
often a causal relationship. The vast majority of analytics
38

done today falls in this category. Until z Systems came
along, that is.
Predictive: Predictive analytics is more interesting. This
type helps you see what the future may hold. You use
statistical models to forecast a condition such as revenue,
profits, marketshare, or operational outcome. Predictive
analytics is based on a modeled relationship between a
set of independent variables. Companies deploy this type
of analytics in different ways, but its most often used for
planning. This is the grandfather of modern intransaction
analytics. Intransaction analytics can anticipate a buyers
behavior by accessing the purchase history and making
recommendations. It can anticipate perpetration of a fraud,
based (for example) on the buyers location and purchase
amount.
Prescriptive: Prescriptive analytics is even more interesting. This type takes predictive analytics (see the
preceding bullet item) to a new level by optimizing the
best outcome of a prediction. It takes into account new
inputs or constraints that are specific to a given situation. It may include the next best action of changing
your credit or pricing policies or upselling/crossselling
strategies.
Cognitive: Cognitive analytics takes things to an even
greater level. This book begins by introducing the concept of the Cognitive Era, and z Systems products are a
significant part of the move there. IBM employs machine
learning, natural language processing, and a growing
list of other cognitive analytical techniques to extract
valuable relationships from diverse data. This results in
systems that learn and adjust.
Considering the concept of

realtime insights
IBMs premise is that data and analytics are creating a new
economy based on insight. In this economy, insight is the
basis for value creation and growth. Its powered by a new
generation of individuals and breed of organizations who are
innovating to gain competitive advantage. Organizations that
succeed in this economy leverage insight to create new business models and transform their industries. They empower
everyone to build an insightdriven culture that thrives. Most
39
importantly, the Insight Economy is likely to disrupt entire

marketplaces by reshaping the boundaries of whats possible.
More than harvesting insights, theres also the concept of
finding those insights at the right time to increase company
performance hence the term RightTime Insight.
The idea is to obtain insight more quickly, in time to take
meaningful action. Ideally, this will allow a business to
Improve operational efficiency
Optimize the sales pipeline
Enhance customer satisfaction
Drive profitability
You can realize two kinds of costsaving efficiency
enhancements:
Operational efficiency: These gains are measured by
reducing labor cost to get the same or better results.
Business process efficiency: These enhancements are
measured by the impact of new, better ways of conducting business.
Benefitting from integrating

analytics and data
Each major type of analytics (intransaction and Big Data)
produces benefits:
Intransaction analytics features:
Fraud protection for the customer as transactions
occur
Upsell/Crosssell opportunities presented to the
customer after the system accesses the customers
purchase history
Increased customer loyalty because of increased
understanding of the customer and increased
engagement with the customer
40

Conventional Big Data analytics features:
Insights obtained by extracting, comparing, and
analyzing large datasets
Business questions resolved
Dashboards that can present information
Graphic reductions of data, which are valuable for
sharing online or in meetings
What z Systems Brings to the

Analytics Game
IBM z Systems are singularly suited to analytics. Its not only a
matter of speed, but also its true that analytics was designed
into the system. A key differentiator is IBMs development of
intransaction analytics.
z Systems makes insights more timely, accessible, and actionable in three ways:
Built for 100 percent integration of analytics across
transactions
3.4 times faster analytic performance versus competing
platforms
Nearrealtime analytics to inform actions and offers
IBM z Systems with intransaction analytics can help you
compete in the Cognitive Era. Analytics produces fast
customer insights, business insights, and systems insights.
Realtime analysis of current data is a reality. Its important
to analytics that the platform is designed for availability, optimized for flexibility, and engineered with the highest levels of
security
z Systems is highly virtualized, via logical partitioning
(LPARs), and supports a range of operating systems, includingz Systems z/OS environment and Linux distributions.
(And with Linux, theres a wide variety of business analytics
packages available.)
Chapter5
Expediting Enterprise
Mobility
In This Chapter
Looking at two mobile phenomena
Measuring the mobile mind shift
Making z Systems the vehicle for mobile
obile computing has asserted itself as a giant force in

commerce. Its more than a rising tide. Because mobile
is growing so fast, you may liken it more to a stampede of wild
horses.
In June 2014, Josh Bernoff of Forrester, writing in Forbes, said
that things are different now. The world has undergone a
mobile mind shift. Six out of ten online American adults expect
your company to have a mobilefriendly website, and four out
of ten expect an app. He points out that there are over a billion people with smartphones in hand, and millions of apps
exist (over a million in the Apple Store alone). That should
alert you that somethings going on.
Mobile computing has produced a shift in corporate thinking,
too. Theres a shift in the perceptions of many enterprises
about how to get things done. The emphasis here is usually on commerce. Of course, numerous activities besides
commerce are handled by mobile. Information access and
retrieval, employee collaboration, and scientific measurement come immediately to mind. Employees, scientists, and
researchers are an important part of the total picture.
42

But commerce is the centerpiece and focal point for a discussion about mobile. Commerce produces big numbers, both
in terms of the number of transactions and the amount of
money involved. Also, an enterprise is very likely to commit
big resources (money and people) to managing its mobile
business.
This chapter describes aspects of the mobile computing
world, with an emphasis on enterprise customers. It also
describes how IBM z Systems manages mobile.
Defining Mobile as a Computing

Phenomenon
You can find the broadest definition of mobile computing in
more than one place online. At its simplest, its a computer
transaction technology that takes place when a user has a
mobile device and a means of communications.
Currently, the definition embraces three devices: smartphones,
tablets, and laptop computers. The current definition embraces
two communication methodologies: Wi-Fi and LTE. The Wi-Fi
signal is transmitted to/from a wired router; the LTE signal is
transmitted to/from a cell site (cell tower).
At one time, plenty of other devices wouldve fit into the
definition for mobile computing, but theyre obsolete. For
example, consider the shortlived netbook computer. Some
other devices, such as ebook readers, are portable, but do not
(yet) communicate. Other devices probably should be considered, but havent made the list. For example, the highend
navigation systems for luxury cars have a surprising amount
of computer functionality and communicate by satellite. (You
can form your own opinion as to whether smartwatches might
qualify.)
The general advice is to stay flexible in your perception of
mobile computing. Technologists are infinitely creative, and
hybrids or new variations could emerge at any time.
Chapter5: Expediting Enterprise Mobility
43
Defining Mobile as an
Organizational Phenomenon
Independent of commerce, it should be mentioned that some
organizations have adopted the social business model.
Internally, they use social media tools and social networking
standards to communicate and collaborate. The concept is
known as enterprise social networks (ESNs). For example,
Socialcast is a company that promotes this, and you can be
sure the app works on mobile devices.
Externally, companies engage more and more with customers via social media. Its not surprising for companies to have
Facebook pages and Twitter accounts.
Social implies mobile and mobile implies social. Theres a
growing abundance of company interactions with customers,
and in commerce perhaps the most obvious is the growth of
customer reviews, customer feedback, and customer product
forums.
To see how facile a company is in handling social media,
visit a few Twitter or Facebook pages run by your competition. There are some great ones and some notsogreat ones.
Youcan use them as a yardstick for measuring your future
success.
Facilitating the Mobile

Mind Shift
One way you facilitate the mobile mind shift is by promoting
systems of engagement (SoE) for both your customers and
your employees. A system of engagement (SoE) anticipates
and promotes the continued growth of interactions between
people.
A system of engagement uses social technologies, approaching them as a useful (although unintegrated) whole. Theyre
decentralized and theyre disparate, but they remain the best
44

available environment for building bridges. Consider doing
the following:
Promote collaboration with customers and collaboration
between employees.
Offer customers and employees new systems or
embellishments to existing systems that promote
collaboration.
Promote interaction with your systems interaction that
considers watch lists and wish lists. This can be great if
you sell merchandise directly and it works even if you
have brickandmortar stores. For an example, think of
big office supply stores.
Integrate unconnected systems to the greatest degree
possible. For example, if you have a customers order history, consider the common practice of making it available
for the customer to see. That will likely promote sales.
You do all this because facilitating the mobile mind shift pays
off. It pays off in terms of increased sales, increased customer
loyalty, and an increased customer perception that your company cares.
Looking at an integration example

Johnathan Kempel wrote an article for IBM called The New
Face of Enterprise Integration. He gave an example about
buying coffee at a nearby coffee shop. Given that the coffee
company knew his location history and his purchase history,
he wondered why the company hadnt considered sending
him push notifications to remind him that it was, say, 6:44
a.m., and his morning coffee was ready and waiting for him at
a branch nearby. He would need only to confirm and pick up.
Aside from the idea that the call would show that the company cared about him, he figured that it would spur sales.
Hebacked that up by citing smartphone penetration of over
75 percent in the United States, with 91 percent of adults
keeping their smartphone within arms reach at all times.
He believes that this is an example of meeting customer needs
by creating systems of engagement and providing personalized experiences. Its not impossible; its not even difficult.
Chapter5: Expediting Enterprise Mobility
45
And its a vast improvement over a persons getting push

emails about products that he or she doesnt want, doesnt
need, and will never buy.
A future that begs for integration

Worldwide, people are poised to do commerce at an
increased rate, facilitated by mobile. Nearly 7 billion mobile
cellular subscriptions currently exist worldwide, which is
approaching the number of people on earth.
Voicing the Value of Using z

Systems for Mobile
IBM z Systems provides improved performance and lowered
costs for mobile. Thats exactly whats needed.
A key element in ensuring improved performance is IBMs
management of the starburst effect. As you might imagine, in
the Cognitive Era, one transaction produces multiple related
transactions (a starburst). IBM estimates that a typical
single transaction can trigger from four to as many as 100
associated starburst system interactions. Step that up to a
large scale, with a global retailer doing business 24 hours a
day, 365 days a year, and thats a lot to manage.
For example, making a retail purchase can trigger bankto
bank reconciliations, credit checks, comparisons to past purchases, encryption/decryption, and customer loyalty alerts,
discounts, and point accumulations. Mix mobility in and the
process can be further complicated with geolocation, upsell
(instore) and crosssell (partner sales) promotional data,
along with analytics processes of various kinds.
How does z Systems make mobile more responsive, flexible,
and secure? Check out this list:
Fast microprocessor: z Systems has the worlds fastest
microprocessor, twice as fast as the most common
server processors. It has three times more memory, over
100 percent more bandwidth, and vector processing
analytics to speed mobile transactions.
46

Throughput: z Systems is the first system capable of
supporting 2.5 billion persistent, protected, and auditable transactions per day equal (as Im fond of
mentioning) to about 100 times the 25 million online
transactions completed on Cyber Monday, 2012.
Fast transaction response time: z Systems mobile transaction response time is up to 36 percent faster than in
the past.
Scalability: z Systems has the dynamic scalability to
manage unexpected shifts in user demand.
Alwayson: With z Systems, theres virtually no unplanned
downtime.
Fraud detection: The z Systems transaction engine analyzes transactions in real time and is able to detect
fraud before consumers are impacted.
Security: z Systems can provide encryption at double the
speed of previous generations. Transactions are secure
without loss of speed.
Loyalty: z Systems has capabilities to add more personalization by providing a realtime view of a clients purchasing habits. A company can offer upsell and crosssell
promotions before the customer leaves the store.
Analytics: z Systems has embedded analytics. That is, it
supports analytics processes that occur within the primary system, rather than passing data back and forth to/
from a secondary, specialized system. Its optimized for
analytics and can execute 17 times faster than competitive
solutions.
Chapter6
Blockchain: Ensuring
FutureProof IT
In This Chapter
Defining blockchain in simple terms
Examining the business need for blockchain
Looking at possible applications for blockchain
hapter1 points out that the Cognitive Era is an era of

innovation. IBMs implementation of blockchain illustrates its leadership and its ability to consistently reinvent
itself to address future requirements.
The changing business environment calls for a distributed
database whose purpose is to protect transactions from tampering and revision. Thats essential in a world where mobile
computing and the hybrid cloud are driving business.
In an uncertain future, robust systems like blockchain will
grow in importance. By offering blockchain, IBM makes IT
futureproof to the greatest extent possible.
The idea is to take a technology, strengthen it, and build in
security and flexibility. This chapter describes the blockchain
basics.
Considering the Concept

Blockchain is a digital technology that uses a distributed database to manage transactions. It minimizes people tampering
48

(something which, unfortunately, isnt rare). Further, the technology can speed processing.
The concept was advanced by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008. He
wrote the original bitcoin source code. There is a fascinating
story about the roots of blockchain. There may be no such
person as Nakamoto. Hes named as the founder of bitcoin,
but theres no solid evidence that he exists. The search
has been going on for years, and many theories have been
advanced as to who Nakamoto really is. He or she might be
another engineer or a team of engineers. Dorian Prentice
Satoshi Nakamoto of California appeared to deny his involvement, but that isnt 100 percent clear. Bitcoin is called the
worlds first digital currency. It has attracted the attention of
regulators, legislators, merchants, and criminals. Theres a
lesson here: Let bitcoin (and its blockchain underpinnings) be
a sign of the challenges and benefits to come in the future.
Blockchain can help radically improve industries, beginning
with banking and insurance. However, the opportunities for
blockchain go far beyond this. IBM predicts that this technology will be used to create smarter, more efficient systems
for supply chains, Internet of Things (IoT) networks, gaming,
multimedia rights management, car rental, government
proofofidentity (or license) creation, and insurance record
management.
Blocking Out Blockchain

Blockchain allows users to execute transactions without an
intermediary. The components include the following:
Transactions: Transactions can take numerous forms,
depending on the application. The most widely known
(at this point) is a bitcoin transaction used to purchase
goods and services. Transactions are subject to intense
validation.
Blocks: A block is a batch of transactions. The transactions must be valid, and theyre timestamped. A block is
linked to other blocks, and together they form a chain.
Thats a distributed ledger, and there are several principles employed to keep the chain valid.
Chapter6: Blockchain: Ensuring FutureProof IT
49
The concept is best described as a distributed database, and

it can have uses far beyond cryptocurrency. The numerous
potential benefits include
Greater efficiency
Greater security
Greater costeffectiveness
Reduced risk
Assessing the Applications

Blockchain has enormous potential in any sector where the
parties want to enforce performance or compliance. Its an
adaptation to an expanding world of commerce. As a bonus,
blockchain may very well improve some tired, old ways of
doing business. (See the quote in the section Eyeing IBM
Superiority at the end of this chapter.)
For example, Nick Szabo, the computer scientist and legal
scholar, coined the term smart contract. He advocates bringing the best business practices to the design of electronic
commerce protocols between strangers on the Internet. That
idea applies to much more in business than just contracts.
A few sectors and applications right for blockchain include
Accounting
Accounts payable
Accounts receivable
Internal cash management
Corporate treasury
Asset depository
Finance
Trade finance
Letters of credit
International payments
50

Contract law, including smart contracts
Digital rights management
Supply chain
Eyeing IBM Superiority

To futureproof IT, IBM is making blockchain an effective tool
for enterprises. In a world of decentralized business, IBMs
implementation of blockchain can help radically improve
industries. Perhaps the philosophy is best summed up by
Arvind Krishna, Senior VP, IBM Research:
Over the past two decades, the Internet has revolutionized
many aspects of business and society making individuals
and organizations more productive. Yet the basic mechanics
of how people and organizations execute transactions with
one another have not been updated for the 21st century.
Blockchain could bring to those processes the openness and
efficiency we have come to expect in the Internet Era.
Chapter7
Joining the Open Source

Revolution
In This Chapter
Getting a perspective on open systems
Looking at z Systems and open source technology
Making the most of Linux on z Systems
pen source software is possibly the most effective way

of ensuring an effective transition for millions of businesses and billions of people to the Cognitive Era. At its core,
open source software is freely licensed. Anyone can use it,
share it, and change it. The source code is openly shared.
Eliminating the restrictions imposed by proprietary software
(hidden code and restrictive licenses) makes opensource
software an excellent foundation for all kinds of development.
Many software packages use open source code, but most dramatic among them is Linux, a complete operating system.
Open systems is a term derived from open source. Open systems has a degree of interoperability. In theory, applications
are portable, and in practice, many apps can be ported without too much difficulty.
In the last century, some large companies (including IBM)
had a negative view of open source, but times have changed.
Concern over disadvantages has evolved into an appreciation
and enthusiastic promotion of advantages.
IBM has fully embraced Linux as part of its overall sales strategy, with open standards being the significant phrase. Its
52

a major offering for z Systems. To see more, check out ibm.
co/1UPIgC5.
Lauding Linux
Linus Torvalds introduced Linux on October 5, 1991. In an
August 26, 2013, article for Simpler Media Group, Inc., Barry
Levine said that Linux has now been released for more hardware platforms than any other OS in history. If you anticipate
that innovation in software development will only increase
(and is showing no sign of leveling off or decreasing), you can
safely anticipate many more Linux implementations in the
future.
Linux is everywhere. It dominates smartphones, because the
Android OS dominates the market and its built on the Linux
kernel. Linux is wildly popular on embedded systems (like
DVRs, game consoles, and routers) and its reach extends even
to mainframes and supercomputers. In fact, its practically
impossible to cite the number of implementations, because
by the time you read this several million more devices will be
added to the count.
One great story of our time (assumed to be the truth and not
an urban legend) is that Torvalds wrote of his OS development as being just a hobby. He said it wouldnt be big and
professional like the GNU version of Unix.
Affirming the Open Mainframe

IBM recognizes the ubiquity of Linux and its value. IBM
says Linux is everywhere, driving an open standards revolution that creates the freedom and agility to fuel enterprise
innovation.
When benefits are listed (see the next section, Reaping the
Benefits of Linux), terms such as freedom and agility
typically dont make the list. Why? Because those are development concepts. Theyre a little difficult to quantify, but they
are vital and very real benefits to programmers in an IT development environment.
Chapter7: Joining the Open Source Revolution
53
There are additional subtle elements that derive from a Linux

deployment on z Systems. IT staff and executives can usually
use past experience to find new possibilities for digital business. Those possibilities may produce competitive advantages or even thrust your business into a leadership position.
The key thing about IBMs approach to Linux is that its engineered for businesscritical applications. Call it an enterprise
grade platform or an industrial strength platform. This makes
great sense, given that IBM z Systems devices are placed with
some of the largest and most demanding clients in the world.
And IBM has supported Linux on z Systems for more than
15years.
For example, blockchain (covered in Chapter6) is a new
challenge one with enormous potential for business
growth. In December 2015, IBM Systems Magazine reported
IBM z Systems and LinuxONE to Advance Blockchain for the
Enterprise.
The article states that The Linux Foundation announced this
week the Open Ledger Project, a new collaborative effort to
advance blockchain technology by developing an opensource
ledger framework with enterprisegrade capabilities. By partnering with an industryled community, IBM advances blockchain technology. When IBM deploys a technology on the
enterprise level, it shows its commitment to making it real
for business.
If youd like to read the article, visit http://bit.ly/1ZLS8A7.
Reaping the Benefits of Linux

IBM has supported Linux on z Systems for 15 years; its a successful combination. A Linux implementation on z Systems
has several substantial benefits, which include
Performance: Not only does Linux have performance
efficiencies, but theres quite a boost when its deployed
on the worlds fastest computer.
Scalability: As Red Hat (one of IBMs Linux partners)
points out, virtualization allows you to significantly
54

increase the number and types of workloads running on
a single system.
Convenience: Linux is an OS that you likely know well
already. Generally, its easy to install and maintain.
Reduced costs: Virtualization alone is a great cost
reducer. So is the reduced learning curve for those
who develop Linuxbased applications or maintain the
system.
Open: Heres a random sample of useful open source
packages that run on z Systems:
Docker, deployment and management of containers.
MongoDB, to easily store data of any structure and
dynamically modify the schema.
PostgreSQL, a powerful, objectrelational database
system.
MariaDB, an SQL server.
Node.js, for building fast, scalable network apps.
KVM for z Systems provides open source
virtualization.
IBM Spectrum Scale for Linux on z Systems is an
asynchronous multisite disaster recovery package.
IBM XL C/C++ for Linux on z Systems is (get ready)
a C/C++ compiler.
Simplicity: There are fewer servers; indeed, there is one
mainframe. That reduces complexity and should lower
costs in a number of areas, mainly in the total cost of
operations.
Security: There are embedded security features for data.
Reliability: Reliability is typically 99.999 percent (5
Nines).
Flexibility: The test (and z Systems and Linux meet
it) isnt whether the combination will meet todays
demands. Thats a given. The test is whether z Systems
and Linux will meet tomorrows requirements, and the
prospects are excellent.
Chapter7: Joining the Open Source Revolution
55
And now for our partners ...

IBMs Linux Distribution Partners are
Red Hat, SUSE, and Ubuntu. Each
Linux flavor has slightly different
capabilities, but these three distributions are typically installed in the
greatest numbers, as reported by services such as Gartner.
Opinions about the top five or top ten
implementations by commenters and
developers will vary slightly from
each other. The opinions depend
on personal history with a product,
developer skill (some seem better
for newbies) and of course, the specific use.
A ZDNet writer believes the five distributions getting the most buzz are
Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu, Mageia,

and Linux Mint. See http://
zd.net/1XjiJF4.
HowTo Geek compares ten distributions, including Ubuntu, Linux Mint,
Debian, Fedora, CentOS/Red Hat
Enterprise Linux, openSUSE/SUSE
Linux Enterprise, and Mageia. Please
visit http://bit.ly/1Jlacuz.
Note: Its interesting but not germane
that for popularity, the Android distribution wins the prize. Its installed on
phones, tablets, watches, game consoles, cars, and so forth. In September
2015, Google announced that there
were 1.4 billion active Android devices
worldwide.
56
Chapter8
Ten Ways z Systems

Delivers for Customer
Success
In This Chapter
Allowing for future growth while meeting present customer needs
Providing more speed and power than ever previously imagined
Supporting the customer from planning through implementation
(and beyond)
n January 15, 2015, an IBM press release announced

a new addition to its z Systems family. The news was
dramatic for both computing and business. The headline reads
IBM Launches z13 Mainframe Most Powerful and Secure
System Ever Built. Those words alone underscored IBMs
commitment to giving customers what they need and want,
and with those words IBM took us into the Cognitive Era.
At the risk of sounding like a latenight infomercial, Ill say
But wait! Theres more! On February 16, 2016, IBM introduced another z Systems model. It has a lower entry point and
thus extends z Systems to enterprises of all sizes. Thats good
news for a wide range of companies.
IBM z Systems offers a combination of powerful hardware,
extensive software solutions, and legendary customer support. Combined, these elements put customers on track to
success in a complex business ecosystem. No, its not hyperbole, as the facts and the numbers support this assertion.
58

In addition to the raw numbers, there are numerous use cases
taken from varying industry sectors. To see details about
how banks, retailers, power companies, governments, and so
forth, have benefitted from IBM z Systems, please visit ibm.
co/1P1bFe7.
Different executives and Line of Business (LoB) managers will
likely vary a bit in their perceptions about where they find the
most value in their z Systems configurations. Perhaps the CIO
most appreciates the raw speed and scalability, while the CFO
finds z Systems to be a costeffective solution. The numbers
and use cases indicate that IBM z Systems delivers in both
categories.
This chapter gives you ten (okay, 11 consider one a bonus!)
key factors things you get from IBM and its z Systems
that should promote your success. Note that they tend to be
interrelated. For example, a system with a high transaction
count implies a fast system (being transactions per time unit);
encryption and analytics on the fly also imply speed (while
providing security); and in an era where more useful data
than ever is produced, you can expect meaning analytics.
Speed
IBM delivers speed to ensure customer success. IBM has
always been committed to speedy solutions, and z Systems
processors are no exception.
z Systems is the first computer able to process billions of
transactions a day, with the result being 2.5 billion transactions a day. Thats the traffic of about 100 Cyber Mondays,
every day. And referencing Cyber Monday is apt, given the
growth of all online commerce and the very rapid growth of
transactions originating from mobile devices.
In a way, this processors performance isnt unexpected.
To quote IBM, in reference to one of the newest z Systems
models, The z13 system culminates a $1 billion [investment],
five years of development, exploits the innovation of more
than 500 new patents and represents a collaboration with
more than 60 clients.
Chapter8: Ten Ways z Systems Delivers for Customer Success
59
When you consider the many factors that will promote your
enterprises success, its likely that processor power, as indicated by speed, ranks high.
How fast is fast? z Systems features the worlds fastest microprocessor, two times faster than the most common server
processors, with 300 percent more memory and 100 percent
more bandwidth. One hundred percent? Yes! The z Systems
press release from January 13, 2015, put those figures out in
front of the professional community and the general public.
You can see it here: ibm.co/1PXLi62.
Its done through IBMs use of a new vector processing facility for faster mathematical computation, thus speeding up
analytic transactions. (Vector processing is a feature of
modern CPU designs and a term you may be familiar with. Its
based on SIMD Single instruction, multiple data.)
z Systems has been fast ever since the product was introduced in 2010. Speed is influenced by the number of central
processors, the speed of chips, cache, the use of solid state
disks (SSDs) for I/O improvement, and so on.
Mobile Friendly
Because z Systems is capable of handling up to 2.5 billion
transactions per day, that makes it a perfect match with the
burgeoning mobile economy. There are security features as
well (see the section Security).
The mobile economy isnt yet generating billions of transactions per day, but it will soon. Consider some of the predictions and reporting on Cyber Monday, 2015.
On November 30, 2015, IBM predicted that Cyber Monday
online sales would grow by more than 18 percent compared to 2014.
Thats a prediction about online sales increasing, but
what about mobile? Reports vary, but in 2014 another
source predicted that 30 percent of Cyber Monday transactions would come from mobile devices.
60

On November 19, 2015, business journalist Deena M.
AmatoMcCoy predicted that 48 percent of all retail transactions from Black Friday to Cyber Monday would be
made from mobile phones and tablets.
IBMs press release predicts that mobile activity will
grow to 40 trillion mobile transactions per day by 2025.
No one expects predictions to agree, but the key point for IBM
customers is that as online transactions grow, mobile transactions grow faster, and z Systems is ready for them.
Blockchain Efficiency
IBMs big systems (as exemplified by z Systems) have such a
strong pedigree of leadership and innovation that it should be
no surprise that the company has reinvented blockchain as an
essential way to deliver customer success.
IBMs implementation of the blockchain distributed database protects transactions from tampering and revision. Yet,
because of distribution and security, its also quite flexible for
participants to use.
Blockchain has enormous potential in financial sector applications, including accounts payable, accounts receivable, trade
finance, international payments/cash management, and letters
of credit. But theres more. Look for blockchain to provide
efficiency and security in the worlds of supply chain, Internet
of Things, rights management, and legal contracts.
IBMs blockchain will futureproof IT operations. This is
essential, because the future is likely to have a vast number
of decentralized applications and collaborations (with a vast
amount of pressure on IT operations to deliver). Ultimately,
the world will have both written and unwritten laws of
Cyberspace; conduct will be regulated by innovative systems
like blockchain. Bad stuff will be minimized or eliminated.
The secret is to develop technologies that anticipate the
impact, and thats what IBM has done with blockchain. For
more detail, flip back to Chapter6.
61
Encryption
z Systems can encrypt all transactions in real time. Thats a
factor that will grow in importance as the volume of mobile
transactions grows.
To elaborate, as the number of mobile devices increases,
there will be many more mobile transactions (exponentially
more is no exaggeration). A mobile transaction triggers a cascade of events across computing systems. The events include
comparisons to past purchases, data encryption and decryption, banktobank reconciliations, and customer loyalty discounts. This cascade of events causes a starburst effect, where
a single transaction can trigger from 4 to 100 (!) additional
system interactions.
The starburst effect can create security vulnerabilities at each
interaction point. In fact, 71 percent of CIOs and IT managers
surveyed by IBM indicated that security is their most significant mobile enterprise challenge.
With data and transactions under constant threat from multiple points of attack, consumers want to know that their
mobile transactions are as secure as the financial data held by
banks. Therefore, realtime encryption is a must have, not a
nice to have.
On October 7, 2014, The Independent (UK) reported The
world is home to 7.2 billion gadgets, and theyre multiplying
five times faster than we are? A more restrained prediction
came from Gartner on January 7, 2014, with a prediction of
2,621,678,000 units shipped.
Security/Fraud Detection
The best way to discover fraud is to detect it as its happening. With that detection, a financial institution (or a retailer,
for that matter) can stop a fraudulent transaction before it
proceeds. To do this, you need realtime fraud detection on
100 percent of the business transactions.
62

Hows this done? To put it compactly, IBM designed realtime
scoring into the system. Decisionmaking is automated, based
on business rules.
Say for an example, a transaction is from a foreign country
and say its for a high amount (maybe $250.) Thats a red
flag. These elements contribute to a score that could cause
the transaction to be rejected.
There are several valuable techniques used in scoring; they
shortcircuit fraud. At the same time, nonrisky transactions
go through fast. For much more information about fraud
detection, give a glance at an IBM Redbooks paper. Visit
http://ibm.co/1T1R75o for more info.
There are other elements, as well. IBM promotes security
without sacrificing speed. It uses cryptographic accelerators
such as CryptoExpress. It should also be mentioned systems
have met EAL4+, a high level of the international standard for
security.
All the techniques employed make consumer protection faster
and better. And consumer protection can also save the financial institution and the consumer a lot of trouble.
Hows this done? To put it compactly, IBM designed realtime
scoring into the system. Decisionmaking is automated, based
on business rules. One of the benefits of the of the z Systems
embedded analytics is that it helps guarantee the ability of
the client to run realtime fraud detection on 100 percent of
the business transactions.
Hybrid Cloud
Cloud computing (the cloud) is a concept, and its sometimes convenient to tell endusers it simply means that
computing and storage is out there somewhere. But IBM z
Systems is a very real home for cloud computing. IBM delivers
for corporate customers by providing an efficient and relatively affordable cloud.
63
z Systems is a good choice for private or hybrid cloud architecture. There are two key points:
Scale: z Systems can run up to 8,000 virtual servers, with
more than 50 virtual servers per core.
Cost: z Systems lowers the cost of running a cloud. IBM
research shows (and this is a direct quote), For compared
environments, it is estimated that a z Systems cloud will
have a 32 percent lower total cost of ownership over three
years than an x86 cloud and a 60 percent lower total cost
of ownership over three years than a public cloud.
Analytics
The Cognitive Era demands fast and effective analytics. IBM
knew this and designed analytics into the system. Why?
Because you need to increase business from your customers
in order to expand your enterprise and to differentiate yourself from your competition.
The best approach is to know how each individual has been
interacting with you in realtime, right down to the split
second. Generating instantaneous business insights requires
building in analysis transforming your systems of record
into systems of insight. Both operations and analytics are
critical to the mission.
By all means, continue to hire data scientists to discover new
and intriguing relationships in seemingly disparate data, but
in the here and now, rely on realtime analytics.
Solutions
Customers rely on IBM (and justifiably so) to have abundant
experience with a vast range of computing situations. The
solutions harmonize completely with z Systems computers.
A short list of functionalities includes
Analytics
Cloud computing
64

Commerce
Data warehousing
Energy and environment
Enterprise content management
Security
Web experience
A brief list of business sectors includes
Automotive
Banking
Government
Healthcare
Insurance
Retail
Travel and transportation
Longtime partners include
Oracle
SAP
To find out more both descriptions and use cases visit
http://ibm.co/1y3CtNc.
Pricing
A Chief Financial Officer (CFO) will, of course, be responsive to technology that handles business well and produces
economies. The idea is to maximum income streams. But the
bottom line also takes into account whether IT costs can be
managed.
The good news is that IBM pricing is good for clients. In absolute terms, z Systems may provide a lower total cost of ownership (TCO) than other platforms. In relative terms, it can
usually be demonstrated that costs are well offset by gains.
65
Check out the estimated cost savings in the section Hybrid

Cloud.
Additionally, for financing, theres IBM Global Financing. Visit
ibm.co/1ZuagBJ.
Consider that total cost of acquisition (TCA) is a onetime
charge. Its total cost of ownership (TCO) that takes into consideration a range of cost factors, including savings.
Its all relative. In 1964, IBM Board Chairman Thomas J.
Watson Jr. announced the IBM System/360. Its core storage
memory ranged in capacity from 8,000 (8 KB) characters of
information to more than 8,000,000 (8 MB).
The price? System/360 monthly rentals will range from $2,700
for a basic configuration to $115,000 for a typical large multisystem configuration. Comparable purchase prices range
from $133,000 to $5,500,000. Expensive or affordable? Its fair
to say that IBMs System/360 changed the world forever.
Backward Compatibility
IBM large systems maintain backward compatibility to the
greatest extent possible. The reason is simple: Many customers have a substantial investment in their applications.
In theory, applications written as long ago as 1964 could run
on a current IBM system. In fact, absolute compatibility over
decades isnt possible. However, IBMs designers give customers plenty of advance warning if software changes are needed.
This concept is reinforced by text at the IBM Knowledge
Center. Please visit http://ibm.co/1T1T55S.
Legendary Support
IBM supports its z Systems customers during presale, during
implementation, and after the golive date. This total support
builds on a long IBM history of sensitivity to customer needs.
66

Support begins with presales analysis, as IBM engineers are
well aware of the most important drivers for customers
in major industry sectors. They have a good sense of what
is likely to meet customer requirements. In addition, they
have access to numerous use cases and will share them with
customers. They combine that with a detailed assessment of
customer needs.
Obviously, both the clients and IBM have a strong investment
in the success of any implementation. Mainframe changes,
both present and future, are serious business.
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IBM Limited Edition

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition

Business Development Representative:

Chapter 1: Embracing the CognitiveEra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Chapter 2: Exploring the Role of z Systems

Chapter 3: Providing a Trusted Cloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition 

Chapter 4: Capitalizing on Analytics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Chapter 5: Expediting Enterprise Mobility . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Chapter 6: Blockchain: Ensuring Future-Proof IT . . . . . 47

Chapter 7: Joining the Open Source Revolution . . . . . . 51

Chapter 8: Ten Ways z Systems Delivers

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition 

he world is changing, and its changing for the better. This

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition 

About This Book

of executives. Its written in compact form, so you wont find

Icons Used in This Book

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition 

Beyond the Book

new era in business has arrived, driven by changing

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition 

Defining the Cognitive Era

Chapter1: Embracing the CognitiveEra

instantaneous service and valuable personalization. And you

Sensing the scope of

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition 

Witnessing the awakening

Chapter1: Embracing the CognitiveEra

to pipelines of data, and integrating application programming interfaces APIs).

A New Era of Business

Citing mobile and social

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition 

The Impact of Mobile on Sales in 2014

Online Sales Increase

Mobile Sales Increase

Activity was bound to increase during the 2015 shopping

Chapter1: Embracing the CognitiveEra

Citing other impacts

IBM meets the challenge

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition 

The Future Is Out There

Starting down the path

Chapter1: Embracing the CognitiveEra

Affecting IT leaders and

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition 

Exploring the Role of z

BM is a leader in breakthroughs in computer technology.

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition 

Busting the Myths Surrounding

Going back to the roots

Chapter2: Exploring the Role of z Systems in Digital Business

Some perceptions that led to predictions of the mainframes

Debunking the myths

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition 

Chapter2: Exploring the Role of z Systems in Digital Business

Ensure the highest levels of security and trust. z Systems

But who uses a mainframe?

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition 

Popularity with clients

Building Business Value

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition

z Systems For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition