Kyndryl and Google Cloud are expanding their partnership to help customers use generative AI to move data off the mainframe and into the cloud.
Kyndryl will offer a new Mainframe Modernization with Gen AI Accelerator Program, which includes Google Cloud’s AI and Gemini large language models, Mainframe Connector package, and BigQuery analytics platform. Google’s Gemini LLMs are integrated into the Google Cloud platform and offer AI-based help across services and workflows, Google stated.
The goal of the Kyndryl/Google Cloud service is to make it easier for organizations to utilize AI assistance to access and integrate mainframe-based data with cloud-based resources and combine that data with other information to build new applications, the companies stated.
The package supports features such as COBOL-to-Java application coding assistance, and it enables AI training using customer on-premise data, according to Kyndryl.
With the new service, the idea is to offer customers generative AI-driven code analysis and documentation of mainframe applications. Then, the service will help customers who are interested rewrite their mainframe applications to applications for Google Cloud, the companies said in a statement. Following an assessment, customers receive a modernization blueprint and plan, from Kyndryl Consulting. Testing, certification, and de-risking of the modernization project is also offered.
The vendors are looking to help the growing number of companies that are adopting DevOps methodologies, containers, and APIs improve their development and maintenance platforms, according to new research published by Information Services Group (ISG).
“Many need to integrate mainframe data with the cloud and update applications to meet new security and compliance rules. Providers are using genAI-based code inspection to accelerate the discovery of code changes and modernization of legacy code,” ISG stated.
“GenAI can inspect code and explain how it works, reducing and sometimes eliminating the dependence on senior experts’ knowledge, thus reducing the cost of maintaining legacy applications,” ISG added.
“GenAI has opened new possibilities and elevated clients’ trust in application modernization. Companies facing rising mainframe costs prefer re-platforming their mainframes to the cloud to achieve savings quickly. However, genAI has enhanced reengineering and rewriting processes with rich documentation and extended testing while reducing the time required to complete modernizations,” ISG stated.
Still, not all customers are interested in moving all of their mainframe apps to the cloud, as Kyndryl reported in its own second annual State of Mainframe Modernization Survey last year.
Mainframe modernization can take a few forms—enterprise customers can keep data on the big iron, migrate workloads off, or create a hybrid environment. This year, more respondents reported increases in mainframe usage, while fewer are shifting workloads off of the mainframe, Kyndryl stated.
“In 2024, more respondents confirmed they are focusing on modernizing on the mainframe or integrating with cloud, and fewer are choosing to move workloads off the mainframe as their primary strategy—a five percentage point drop from last year (30% to 25%). Additionally, 53% of respondents saw their usage on the mainframe increasing this year, with 49% saying their mainframe usage will increase again in the next 12 months,” Kyndryl stated.
AI and genAI promise to transform the mainframe environment by delivering insights into complex unstructured data, augmenting human action with advances in speed, efficiency, and error reduction while helping to understand and modernize existing applications. GenAI also has the potential to illuminate the inner workings of monolithic applications, Kyndryl stated.
“Enterprises clearly see the potential with 86% of respondents confirmed they are deploying, or planning to deploy, genAI tools and applications in their mainframe environments, while 71% say that they are already implementing genAI-driven insights as part of their mainframe modernization strategy,” Kyndryl stated.
Kyndryl has mainframe modernization services with other cloud vendors as well, including Microsoft and AWS. Google Cloud and Kyndryl have offered combined services since 2021.
Source:: Network World