Open Mainframe Project recently announced the launch of Zowe’s Long Term Support (LTS) V3 Release. Zowe, an open source software framework for the mainframe that strengthens integration with modern enterprise processes & tools, offers vendors and customers the ability to execute on modernization initiatives with stability, security, interoperability as well as easy installation and a continuous delivery model for receiving upgraded features.
According to the Arcati Mainframe Yearbook 2024, the independent annual guide for users of mainframe systems, 85% of mainframe organizations will be adopting Zowe by the end of the year or have already adopted it into their modern enterprise solutions. Learn more for what industry leaders and Open Mainframe Project community members had to say about this important Zowe milestone.
“The continued success of Zowe as a community-driven project highlights the importance of the mainframe as an open platform supporting hybrid cloud architectures,” said George Decandio, chief technology officer, Mainframe Software Division, Broadcom. “The latest V3 release introduces new components that expand capabilities to client SDKs and additional IDEs, reflecting Zowe’s ongoing evolution to meet the needs of the mainframe ecosystem. Notably, this update enhances the Zowe API Mediation Layer, a key component our customers view as essential in transforming the role of the mainframe in their multi-platform environments.”
“Zowe V3 is the culmination of five years of work by volunteers from around the world,” said Bruce Armstrong, IBM Z Principal Product Manager at IBM and member of the Zowe Advisory Council (ZAC). “I am particularly proud of the fact that Zowe has revolutionized access to z/OS-based services for thousands of next-generation developers and system programmers that will continue the platform’s success for decades to come.”
“Rocket Software is a proud founding contributor of Zowe,” said Tim Willging, Fellow and Vice President of Software Engineering at Rocket Software. “It’s been incredible to see the success and passion of the open source community in supporting hybrid cloud initiatives. The expanded capabilities in the V3 release will help accelerate an organization’s modernization journey and provide them with enhanced security, maintainability, and scalability needed to match their customers’ needs—now and in the future.”
“It is so exciting to see the Linux Foundation Open Mainframe Project releasing Zowe V3,” said Len Santalucia, Chief Technology Officer at Vicom Infinity, a Converge Company. “The upcoming release of Zowe V3 brings a range of major enhancements in Zowe functionality. As the integrated and extensible open source framework for z/OS, Zowe combines the past and present to build the future of mainframes. Zowe comes with a core set of applications out of the box in combination with the APIs and OS capabilities on which future applications will depend. Zowe offers modern interfaces to interact with z/OS similar to what you might experience on cloud platforms today. I highly recommend taking advantage of these interfaces as delivered or through plug-ins and extensions. Your existing and new staff members will really enjoy and benefit from Zowe for years to come as thousands of others already have.”
“When Zowe V1 was released back in February 2019, we recognized it as a transformative technology and immediately began supporting it in our products,” said Ed Jaffe, Chief Technology Officer at Phoenix Software International. “Five and a half years later, with this latest turn of the crank producing Zowe V3, we’re proud to say Zowe has met all expectations. Congratulations to all who have contributed!”
“Zowe’s on the journey of modernization – Version 3 means stabilization for Version 2, introduction of new projects into Zowe core and addition of new value for the existing core projects,” said Jakub Balhar, Zowe TSC Chair and Product Owner at Broadcom. “Kotlin and Java developers benefit from the new Kotlin SDK and extension for the IntelliJ suite of products. The Node.js developers can sleep sound with knowing that Node.js SDK is in core.”
“The Zowe Version 3 release marks an important milestone in the project’s history,” said Joe Winchester, Zowe Advisory Committee member and Senior Technical Staff Member at IBM. “With Zowe deployed in 85% of mainframe sites, the community has focused on enterprise stability and longevity of its technology within mainframe shops. To that end V3 has refreshed a number of important components that make up its software stack to give a secure stable shelf life. Additionally slowing down the release train to put out new features every 12 (instead of 6) weeks provides more stability and confidence to consumers, and by removing a number of deprecated features from version 1 there are fewer component parts to maintain. Zowe LTS V3 is a more stable release that didn’t take any engineering short cuts and delivers a stable foundation for enterprises and vendors to build upon going forward. It is the culmination of a great deal of planning, engineering, testing, customer playbacks, and documentation authorship. We believe it will continue to underpin mainframe modernization for many years to come.”
“The inclusion of our Zowe Explorer plugin for IntelliJ in the Zowe core is an important milestone for IBA Group,” said Sergei Levteev, Chief Executive Officer for IBA Group. “We started contributing to Zowe in 2020 and it keeps us innovative, and promotes open source and DevOps practices on the mainframe to our customers. Cooperation with Zowe helps us attract new talent and bridge the cultural and generation gap within our mainframe teams. In simple terms, we introduce Zowe, open source, and DevOps. This makes our developers more productive and motivated. As a result, customers adopt our approach in their teams and they in turn become more efficient. The Zowe Explorer plugin for IntelliJ is just the beginning. We are committed to the adoption of new technologies that will change the landscape of the future.”
Learn more about Zowe V3 here:
- Press release: https://openmainframeproject.org/press/open-mainframe-project-announces-zowes-lts-v3-release/
- Tech blog: https://openmainframeproject.org/blog/zowe-v3-features/
- Zowe Medium blog: https://medium.com/zowe
Or, ask a question and join the conversation on the Open Mainframe Project Slack Channel #Zowe-help or #Zowe-onboarding. If this is your first time using the Open Mainframe Project Slack channel, register here.
