IT Management: IMS Modernization Survey Reveals Concerns for the Future

by Alan Radding
January 29, 2009

IMS/DB, IBM’s original mainframe database platform, has maintained its position as the leading pre-relational database in the z/OS environment since the ’70s. Millions of applications, running in thousands of blue-chip companies around the globe, continue to deliver secure, high-availability service to users in a wide range of industries. Thanks to IBM’s continuing investment in enhancements and supporting tools, these systems can now integrate with other legacy and Web services-based applications.

Concerns remain, however, as to precisely how these applications can continue to be modernized, and a recent survey we conducted was aimed at providing some insight into mainframe users’ intentions in the coming years.

Our survey was completed by 207 respondents, representing just under 200 organizations, and thus represents the views of between 5 and 10 percent of the estimated global user base for IMS/DB.

Reassuringly for IBM, more than 80 percent of the respondents’ organizations continue to view the mainframe as a long-term, strategic operating platform. With IBM recently reporting significant growth in new application demand on the platform, driven by many convergent issues such as security, simplification and energy costs and availability, this figure is perhaps unsurprising. Consistent with this finding is the intention of nearly 60 percent of these organizations to revitalize legacy applications using SOA techniques.

Turning to IMS/DB specifically, our survey found almost 73 percent challenged by the absence of relational query capabilities and the difficulty of maintaining and enhancing applications. Clearly, IBM’s efforts in recent years have had limited success in helping users with this challenge.

As the baby boomer generation continues to retire, IBM has long recognized the challenge of skills acquisition for its z/OS customers. More than half of our respondents indicated issues in this area relating specifically to the continued support of IMS/DB applications in their shop. While one could speculate that reduced 401k values in recent months may have temporarily slowed down the retirement process, the underlying problem will continue to grow. The challenge here is twofold. First, how do you replace 30 or 40 years of real-life experience working with specific applications, and with all the historic knowledge of past challenges? Second, how do you convince a recent IT college graduate that a couple of years spent learning hierarchical database technology and the intricacies of logical relationships is the best long-term career path to open up a golden future?

Of course, cost also remains of significant concern to IMS/DB users. Even where IBM’s more flexible licensing policies have created a more realistic cost base for the core database for some users, many more are reliant on third-party IMS management tools. More than 20 percent of our respondents highlighted the ongoing costs of these applications as a deep concern.