Java/C++ Programmers Play Lead Role in Transforming the Future of Mainframe Management

ISLANDIA, N.Y., May 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- To help ensure that the next generation of IT management professionals can effectively manage their companies' mainframes, CA (Nasdaq: CA) is putting that same generation's best and brightest programming talent to work on its Mainframe 2.0 initiative.

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In fact, much of the programming and testing work for CA's Mainframe 2.0 deliverables is being done by developers with next-generation skill sets such as Java and C++. And CA continues to recruit this next-generation talent in the U.S. and overseas to be part of its industry-leading Mainframe Business Unit.

The mainframe platform uniquely offers many significant advantages to IT organizations under increasing pressure to deliver an expanding range of sophisticated services to a growing number of internal and external end-users. These advantages include superior scalability, reliability, security, cost-efficiency, energy-efficiency, and performance.

As their most experienced mainframe professionals approach retirement, however, IT organizations are looking to pass the torch to the next generation of professionals who are less familiar with the underlying complexities of the mainframe platform-and who are accustomed to management tools with a certain look-and-feel.

Using Java and C++ Skills to Build Solutions for z/OS(R)

CA has responded with Mainframe 2.0, an initiative that is transforming mainframe management by streamlining, simplifying, and modernizing the implementation, use, and maintenance of CA's leading mainframe management solutions. By making next-generation programmers with skills in technologies such as Java and C++ an integral part of this development effort, CA is further ensuring that the mainframe can continue to play its strategic role in an enterprise computing environment dominated by browser-based interfaces and Web-centric technologies.

"A lot of people still think that you have to know COBOL to develop for the mainframe," said Lubo Slivka, a 29-year-old senior team lead at CA's development facility in Prague. "At CA, however, I learned that I can use my Java and C++ skills to build solutions for the IBM z/OS platform, which is what the biggest corporations use to run their largest and most critical business applications."

"While most of my peers have been focusing almost exclusively on the Web, I've found a very lucrative career path for myself in CA's Mainframe Business Unit," said Ahmed Saleh, a 29-year-old quality assurance engineer who worked on CA Mainframe Software Manager. "From what I can see, there's going to be great career opportunities on the mainframe for quite a while-and CA is the best place for me to pursue those opportunities."

Many programmers and IT professionals see the mainframe as an opportunity to pursue a differentiated career path that is potentially more lucrative than the stereotypical Web-centric approach taken by many of their peers. CA is promoting this opportunity through a series of nationwide events that inform college and high school students about the evolution of the mainframe and its ongoing strategic role in enterprise computing.

"We were very pleased to have CA representatives come here and talk to our students about the near- and long-term opportunities available in the mainframe market," said H. Paul Haiduk, computer science program coordinator at West Texas A&M University (WTAMU), which recently hosted a CA-sponsored seminar on the future of the mainframe. "CA's presentation was especially encouraging in light of today's difficult employment landscape-and it aligned well with WTAMU's own focus on enterprise and mainframe computing."

Inter-Generational Transfer of Expertise

CA's Mainframe 2.0 initiative is also providing value to maturing mainframe professionals by enabling them to more effectively automate and optimize their companies' ever-growing mainframe workloads, while at the same time training their eventual successors.

In fact, CA's own internal processes for the development of Mainframe 2.0 deliverables represent a major inter-generational transfer of expertise from experienced staff to new hires.

"Many of us aren't ready to retire, but we still have to take the long-term view of ensuring that a viable succession plan is in place," says Nigel Forbes, 50, a senior software engineer at CA who has more than 28 years of experience in software development. "So by training the next generation of engineers in mainframe technology, CA's most veteran programmers are doing their part to safeguard our customers' considerable investments in the platform."

CA's Mainframe Business Unit continues to expand its hiring and training of new employees across all disciplines-including development, testing, and support-as part of its Mainframe 2.0 initiative.

"CA is committed to leading the transformation of the mainframe platform," said Chris O'Malley, executive vice president of CA's Mainframe Business Unit. "Our enlistment of next-generation programmers in our Mainframe 2.0 effort underscores the fact that our commitment is both long-term and strategic."

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About CA

CA (Nasdaq: CA) is the world's leading independent IT management software company. With CA's Enterprise IT Management (EITM) vision and expertise, organizations can more effectively govern, manage and secure IT to optimize business performance and sustain competitive advantage. For more information, visit www.ca.com

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SOURCE CA, Inc.