News
Serena goes for single source of control for code, Web
Software change management used to be about automating changes to code and
content in client/server or mainframe-based environments. Today, automating
change is an even more complex affair. Enterprise environments routinely
integrate Web and legacy applications. When customers access a company through
the Web, they're interfacing a group of applications running across several
platforms. If changes are not coordinated across this environment, outages will
occur.
This is why Serena Software Inc. has added XML Services to the latest release
of its mainframe change management product. The new feature in ChangeMan ZMF 5.3
will give companies a single point of control to manage software code and Web
content changes throughout the enterprise, using a Web interface, WAP device or
palm computer.
The feature will also allow companies to use standard XML to access mainframe
data from a familiar development environment. For instance, customers will be
able to reduce the cost of generating reports on enterprise change by
integrating ChangeMan with third-party report writing applications. 'Companies
can do that for a fraction of what they were paying before, just by having the
data available on an XML style sheet,' noted Tony Stayner, vice president of
marketing at the San Mateo, Calif.-based software vendor.
The idea of integrating XML and the mainframe will have broad appeal, added
Stayner, who predicts that 'the vast majority' of Serena's installed base will
be using the feature within a year. 'People have been trained to think of the
mainframe as cumbersome and slow,' he said. 'The world of XML services opens up
new possibilities. Now you can export [mainframe] data into a desktop database
like Microsoft Access or a desktop application like Microsoft Project.'
General availability of the product was announced today, along with
enhancements to Serena's distributed change management product line. These
enhancements include integration with the SAP R/3 environment, new support for
Linux on the IBM e/Server z/Series, and support within a single environment for
consolidating Unix Web servers.
For more on change management, please see 'Change management in the 21st
century' at http://www.adtmag.com/article.asp?id=3876