CA adds new GUI to mainframe developer tools

The Mainframe 2.0 initiative aims to bring modern tools to existing mainframe systems

CA has released a series of new tools as part of its Mainframe 2.0 initiative to speed development on such platforms.

The new release adds a graphical user interface (GUI) to CA InterTest Batch and CA InterTest for CICS products, designed around its Eclipse open source development platform. It also released a new version of its CA SymDump for CICS analysis tool.

“Conventional approaches to testing and debugging mainframe applications are too slow and inefficient to meet the ‘needed it yesterday’ demands of the business,” said Aline Gerew, senior vice president of software engineering in CA’s Mainframe Business Unit.

“CA has directly addressed this issue by delivering a new set of solutions that empower our customers to better meet these demands despite their current resource constraints.”

The new GUI will help developers reuse code in multiple applications and debug mainframe, distributed, web, and/or mobile applications.

Steve Ware, systems coordinator of Computing & Networking Services at the University of Florida, said: “A key challenge for us is optimising the productivity of our senior mainframe experts, while creating a working environment that helps our younger, less experienced development staff become proficient in mainframe computing.

“CA's newly enhanced testing tools are helping us do exactly that.”

The Mainframe 2.0 initiative, announced last November, aims to bring modern tools to bear on existing mainframe systems and to encourage developers to take another look at what is seen by some as a declining sector of the industry.

The initiative is not only about providing software tools to improve mainframe application use and development but also to train up the next generation of mainframe developers by investing in teaching and research around the world.