Macro 4 Archiving Software for IBM System z

Part of the UNICOM Group of Companies, Macro 4 has introduced a new version of its Columbus archiving software that lets users retire legacy applications and retain important legacy information in a mainframe archive, using the lower cost IBM z/Linux platform.

“The new z/Linux version of our Columbus software is ideal for mainframe users who are keeping obsolete applications alive just in case they need to access the data. Now they can retire these applications – freeing up IT resources and cutting maintenance and support costs – while retaining access to key application data within the high performance mainframe environment. Any data and documents they may need in the future – for customer support or legal compliance, for example – are simply moved to an archive running on a lower cost specialty z/Linux processor,” said Alan Ackers, Head of Development at Macro 4. “The software is also certified for SAP archiving – allowing companies to remove and compress historical data from live SAP applications and place it in an archive to free up space on the database. This helps reduce storage growth, improves application performance and shortens backup and restore windows. The archived data is still accessible directly from the SAP system. Again, running the archive in a z/Linux environment is a low cost option.”

According to Macro 4, some mainframe users prefer an archive they can retain on the mainframe rather than on a separate server system. This allows them to continue using the existing infrastructure, including mainframe hardware and support skills.

“Mainframe users now have the choice of hosting their archive on the mainframe, running under z/Linux, or alternatively on a separate Windows or UNIX server. Whichever platform they choose will have significant cost benefits when compared to keeping data live within the z/OS environment,” Alan Ackers explained.

Alan Ackers pointed out that when regularly archiving very large data volumes, maintaining the archive on the mainframe can also speed up the archiving process as it eliminates network traffic overhead.

Columbus, now available for z/Linux, can archive all critical business documents including JES printer spool output, SAP documents and data and legacy data from any application, on any platform. The information is held online so it remains accessible to end users. If required the archive can be integrated with the original application, making the source of the data transparent to users. The data and documents are also highly compressed, so that they require significantly less disk space.