IBM’s Big Iron OS updated with improved cloud security

IBM announced that it has released an update to its mainframe operating system, z/OS V2.5, which introduces enhanced support for AI, containers and security, according to NetworkWorld. The company said the OS now has several new features, including Cloud Provisioning and Management, which enables easy provisioning and deprovisioning of z/OS systems. This new feature includes a set of z/OS provisioning templates taken from the IBM Cloud Provisioning software services catalog, enabling less-experienced system programmers to provision a new instance of z/OS in in less than one hour instead of the days and weeks such a process typically takes. The update also introduces support for z/OS Container Extensions to allow integration with Linux applications and utilities, enhanced COBOL-Java interoperability, support for enhanced cloud storage capabilities and z/OS Communications Server support for Shared Memory Communications Version 2. z/OS V2.5 also improves security with enhancements to authentication, authorization, encryption and system integrity, such as new support for large-format and sequential basic-format SMS-managed data sets allowing data encryption without application changes.