Mainframe Data Virtualization

By some industry estimates, 60–70% of the world’s business critical information is maintained on mainframe systems. Depending on the industry, large segments of this data are still stored in a non–relational structure that is incompatible with relational data base management systems (RBMS). How to unlock mainframe data and streamline integration is the challenge that many organizations face today as they use data for Business Intelligence, Analytics, Cloud and Mobile Initiatives.

Traditional methods for getting to mainframe information rely on data movement, data replication or use intermediary servers and connectors for point-to-point integration. These data integration methods are becoming less viable due to three factors; high cost of data movement, the enormous growth in data and customer expectations for real-time information.

Data virtualization overcomes the challenges of data that is scattered or fragmented across the enterprise. Data virtualization or sometimes referred to as data federation, allows multiple, disparate data sources to be accessed from a single, logical interface, effectively separating or abstracting the external interface from the internal implementation. This provides a high degree of flexibility and adaptability to change. Data virtualization doesn’t require physically moving data because it uses only the metadata to create a virtual view of the data source/s, providing a faster, more agile way to access and combine data from multiple sources – mainframe, distributed, Cloud and Big Data. Where the data virtualization solution resides has never been a question because the default implementation has always been on a distributed Linux, Unix, Windows (LUW) system due to its economical computing model.

Rocket Software takes a different approach. We believe with the right software, you can effectively transform the mainframe into a data virtualization platform that is cost competitive with any distributed-based solution, and with superior performance and security. Rocket Data Virtualization Server (DVS) is the industry’s only IBM System z data virtualization solution, providing most comprehensive platform for mainframe data connectivity and integration.

• You can reduce the complexity of mainframe data integration through Rocket DVS’s high performance data virtualization server that eliminates redundant point-to-point integration for improved performance, scalability, and manageability.
• By diverting processing–intensive data mapping and transformation away from the mainframe’s General Purpose Processor to the zIIP specialty engine, you can dramatically lower your MIPS capacity usage and thus reduce your Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).
• If you want to exploit the value of mainframe data, you can use Rocket DVS to dynamically transform non–relational mainframe data into relational formats that can be consumed by Business Intelligence and Business analytics applications.

Rocket DVS contains all the components needed for real-time, universal access to data, regardless of location or format. Our development environment simplifies data discovery, mapping and the creation of virtual tables; standards based connectivity ensures secure, reliable integration from any platform or data source; access mainframe databases and programs, as well as non-mainframe data and application sources; a high performance, multi-threaded, z/OS resident runtime delivers highly scalable, low cost data virtualization, with up to 99% of its processing running in the mainframe zIIP specialty engine.

The end result is a unique mainframe data virtualization solution that enables any data consumers or applications the ability to access information on any data provider, regardless of format or location.