SKILLS ON DEMAND

Finding the right mainframe talent and skills can prove difficult, which is why we provide an extensive range of mainframe skills to address your short-term requirements. This includes:

• System programming, performance and capacity planning
• Security configuration, administration, planning and monitoring
• Storage management, configuration and monitoring
• Automation coding
• Batch schedule management and monitoring (TWS/IWS, CA7, JobTrac, Control-M)
• Database subsystem configuration and management (DB2, IMS, Datacom, ADABAS, VSAM)
• Database structure change and administration
• Operational monitoring and alerting
• Project and portfolio management (PRINCE2)
• Service delivery management (ITIL)
• Network configuration and management (TCP/IP, SNA) (SNMP, SMTP, FTPs, SFTP)
• File Transfer (MQ, IBM Event Streams, FTP)
• Middleware (CICS, MQ, WAS)
• Specialised ERP on mainframe skills (SAP, PeopleSoft)

 

HARDWARE

Our hardware migrations portfolio includes IBM Z, IBM P, IBM, EMC and HDS storage, SAN fabric and replication switches. We provide Z Systems hardware upgrades, manage end-to-end transitions of your workload, and can support primary, failover, DR and backup sites. We provide enterprise tape migration, virtual and physical, including tape management system (TMS) and operating system integration.

Should you be embarking on large scale transformation projects involving Containerisation and API strategies ISI have skills to help you plan and implements such changes.

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SOFTWARE

Migrations can improve capability and lower cost. At ISI, we focus not only on the technology but also how it can be best used so that we can help ensure the migration realises the highest business value from your software investment.

We can assist with mainframe software migrations for all mainframe software vendors. Our software installations, configurations, and migrations include, but are not limited to:

• Platform – z/OS, z/VM , Linux on z
• Automation – IBM SA, CA Solve Operations (SolvOps), CA ESP
• Batch – IBM IWS/TWS, BMC Control M, CA CA-7 Jobtrac
• Storage – DFSMSsfp, DFSMSsms, DFSMSdss, DFSMShsm
• Tape Management – DFSMSMrmm, CA-1
• Network Communications – (TCP/IP, SNA) (SNMP, SMTP)
• Security – RACF, ACF2, TOPSECRET, zSecure
• Middleware – CICS, MQ, WAS
• Database – (DB2, IMS, Datacom, ADABAS, VSAM)
• File transfer – FTP, sFTP, FTPS
• Data Access – DB2 Connect, APIs
• Printing Support

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DATACENTRE

We offer support for migrating the mainframe and associated infrastructure from one datacentre to another. The ISI solutions portfolio will help you enable hot failover, disaster recovery, and third copy.

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CLOUD

We can provide assistance with the migration of onsite mainframes applications infrastructure to utilise private, public or hybrid cloud infrastructure. This also includes advisory and support integration to cloud platforms and connected infrastructure.

 

ROADMAP | DEVOPS | DATA ANALYTICS

Using our unique to industry ISI Mainframe Reference Architecture, we are able to assess your mainframe environment and its IT business needs against industry best practice and advise on a roadmap to remediate.

We can advise on toolsets and toolchains for mainframe that enable agility via a DevOps software development model. These tools can cover planning, coding, building, testing, releasing, deploying, operating and monitoring on the mainframe and integrated to off mainframe components.

With the implementation of analytic tools on the mainframe, we can guide you on how to generate value from existing mainframe data that is in place.

LICENSING | PERFORMANCE & CAPACITY

We provide mainframe license management services to enable better control and return from IT mainframe investments. Our specialists can review:

• License capacity usage
• Licenses that are offered by competing vendors
• Existing contracts and restrictions

and enable better terms to ensure compliance and better outcomes based on your roadmap and future direction.

We can evaluate the performance of your mainframe applications and advise on mainframe infrastructure capacity changes and profile application performance to establish baselines to determine ‘what is normal’. From there, capacities and growth can be understood, and changes forecasted.

Using our own SCEC certified Secure Operations Centre (SOC) handling classified data up to PROTECTED, or at customer operations sites, we provide 24x7x365 operational monitoring and support across all mainframe disciplines. Our operational shift patterns can deliver continuous 24x7x365 monitoring of platform availability, capacity, security alerting, batch completion, and application status.

HARDWARE | SOFTWARE | SECURITY | PERFORMANCE & CAPACITY

Applying the hardware vendors’ best practice guidelines, we can assess the health of your IBM Z, and IBM, EMC, and HDS storage. We also evaluate the health of a z/OS and z/VM platforms and advise on risks, and constraints.

Our security health checks enable higher levels of security while addressing the impact and cost and cover regulatory, compliance, audit requirements and change.

We also assess the performance and capacity of mainframe infrastructure and platform and advise on its current utilisation and ability to meet future demands.

HARDWARE | SOFTWARE | SECURITY | CLOUD | DATA AND AI| SERVICE MANAGEMENT

To help you meet application needs of performance, resiliency, agility, and security, we design and implement an Integrated Mainframe Hardware Platform as well as evaluate your software stacks and architecture, and establish how, through integration, it could better serve application change. We also deploy and support analytic tools that integrate mainframe data.

We can integrate your:

• Broader security products to your core mainframe systems.
• Mainframe platform to mainframe and non-mainframe cloud solutions.
• Mainframe messages (alerts, warnings, requests, etc.) to service management toolsets.

 

TOOLS | CONFIGURATION REVIEW | ALERTING | COMPLIANCE | SIEM

Our team of specialists can install Security Tools as well as review the existing security configuration of a z/OS and z/VM operating system and advise on risk and ways to reduce it.

We can introduce changes to establish higher levels of security and implement security alerting for mainframe access and attempted access as well as assess your compliance requirements and adherence to them.

To capture events across various mainframe components, we can integrate security events into Security Information and Management (SIEM) tools for operational monitoring and logging.

IBM Z | LINUX ONE | POWER

We design, configure, build and sell hardware infrastructure to meet your current and upcoming IBM Z, Linux on Z via a LinuxOne, and IBM Power needs. It’s an end-to-end approach with the goal of providing you with a matched system and flexibility for all your requirements.

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IBM STORAGE

To help you prepare for future data storage, resiliency, assurance, access and performance needs, we can design and provide you with IBM Storage infrastructure. Our experienced architects and engineers ensure a successful end-to-end transition to the new infrastructure.

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STORAGE SWITCHES AND FABRIC

To support storage connectivity and replication with IBM Z and POWER hardware, we design and deliver solutions that meet your individual requirements.

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IBM TAPE INFRASTRUCTURE

We can support all IBM tape storage, whether it’s physical or virtual, remote or local. Our team can assist and manage a tape migration from your existing infrastructure to state of the art tape technologies. We design and deliver solutions that meet your individual requirements.