Phoenix Software International
News

Mainframe Modernization Continues at Phoenix Software

El Segundo, CA, September 24, 2020: Tomorrow, Friday, September 25, 2020, Phoenix Software International, Inc., will release (E)JES V6R0, an update to its z/OS system management product. This release includes enhancements to further modernization initiatives introduced in previous releases as well as brand new features that bring the accessibility of z/OS resources and tasks to other platforms. Concurrent with this release, Phoenix Software is also launching a new online documentation library within its secure customer support portal.

(E)JES Enhancements

Zowe is an open source project hosted by the Open Mainframe Project, created to host technologies that benefit the Z platform from all members of the Z community. With the previous release, PSI provided a sample Zowe command line interface (CLI) plug-in to stream data from the z/OS system log to Windows, MacOS and Linux clients. This release enhances that CLI with the addition of four new command groups designed to bring the robust capabilities of the (E)JES REST API to off-platform scripts and interactive users.

The z/OSMF installation workflow introduced two years ago provides additional scripted workflow actions to eliminate several manual installation steps. These new actions can eliminate the need to issue z/OS UNIX commands no matter what installation path you choose.

For customers that prefer a non-GUI installation interface, the traditional installation path has been simplified and restructured to help streamline post-configuration steps.

All (E)JES executable programs and program parts delivered to customers by Phoenix Software are now digitally signed. This allows customers (at their option) to enforce that named programs be digitally signed before being loaded for execution by z/OS.

The (E)JES Java and REST APIs have been enhanced to exploit a new job submit functionality to provide flexible and reliable z/OS job submission to off-platform requesters such as (E)JES Web and Zowe users.

The (E)JES mail utility, a convenient way to transmit JES SPOOL data via email, has been enhanced with an option to allow formatting of cover letters and note text as flowable HTML rich text.

“The mainframe renaissance is well underway,” said Ed Jaffe, Chief Technology Officer at Phoenix Software International, “Phoenix Software is 100% dedicated to the platform and we enthusiastically embrace transformative technologies like Zowe and z/OSMF Software Management. These initiatives offer not only modernization but also process improvement by making z/OS resources and tasks available to other platforms to satisfy a variety of users and skill sets.”

Phoenix Software Website

In April 2020, Phoenix Software launched a new secure Customer Support Portal allowing customers to interact with their support cases, download products and licenses, and obtain corrective service. Additionally, (E)JES and JES3^plus customers can use an Automated Service Delivery (RECEIVE ORDER) server to automatically and securely receive corrective service.

Coinciding with this release, Phoenix Software is launching a new Documentation Library. Phoenix Software customers with login credentials can access documentation for supported releases of all products for which they are licensed.

Please see https://phoenixsoftware.com/support.htm for more information about individual software products and releases.