Rapid SOA access to CICS Transaction Server for z/OS
Service oriented architecture (SOA) is a business-centric IT architectural approach that supports integrating your business as linked, repeatable business tasks, or services. Because much of the world's data is processed on mainframes using the qualities of service of proven transaction servers such as IBM CICS® Transaction Server for z/OS, delivering access to these CICS applications using standards-based interfaces is a vital and core step in the journey to SOA.
With IBM CICS Transaction Gateway for z/OS, Version 7.0, you can use your CICS communications area (COMMAREA)-based applications in comprehensive and sophisticated Java™ and Web services solutions hosted on IBM WebSphere® SOA Foundation server products such as IBM WebSphere Application Server, IBM WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus (WebSphere ESB) and IBM WebSphere Process Server. Reusing these applications in mixed CICS and WebSphere workloads delivers real business value by supporting reuse, which gives your organization flexibility and helps reduce cost.
Java EE platform, standards-based composite applications
CICS Transaction Gateway for z/OS supports the standard Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition (J2EE) Connector Architecture (JCA), Version 1.5 specification as its strategic interface. As a component of the Java EE specification, alongside other standard services, the JCA provides a standard programming interface to all enterprise information systems (EISs).
Using JCA offers two significant development advantages. First, it enables Java EE developers to program to a standard interface that is widely supported in education materials and software tools from IBM and non-IBM vendors. Second, JCA provides delegated management of connection pooling, transactional scope and security control, so that Java EE developers don't have to develop these capabilities within the application. Together, these benefits mean that better applications can be developed faster and more easily.
A number of complementary tools with the IBM software-development platform support CICS Transaction Gateway and JCA. Together these products can deliver a complete end-to-end IBM solution that can help minimize cost, risk and time to market of new applications.
Key enhancements in CICS Transaction Gateway for z/OS, V7.0:
Introduction of real-time monitoring of CICS Transaction Gateway systems, providing the ability to analyze system utilization metrics and perform online problem determination.
Extension of networking capabilities to include support for IPv6 connections, and integration with the z/OS Workload Manager (WLM)
The advancement of security capabilities to include TLS, Version 1.0 support, improved offload of encryption to the System z hardware cryptographic services, and stronger RACF password support
