{"id":9942,"date":"2026-06-23T12:26:45","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T16:26:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.softwareag.com\/?p=9942"},"modified":"2026-06-23T12:29:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T16:29:54","slug":"improve-ibm-z-workload-efficiency-without-recoding-cobol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.softwareag.com\/br\/blog\/mainframe-optimization\/improve-ibm-z-workload-efficiency-without-recoding-cobol\/","title":{"rendered":"Improve IBM Z\u00a0Workload Efficiency\u00a0Without Recoding COBOL\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mainframes lie at the heart of enterprise operations, running mission-critical applications built on decades of proven COBOL business logic. But as business demands grow, application owners face mounting challenges being asked to: support growing workloads, meet tighter mainframe SLAs, and deliver innovation faster. Meanwhile, COBOL expertise becomes harder to find and the cost of outages remains high. Too often, teams are forced to spend their time maintaining COBOL applications instead of driving innovation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a better solution: JOPAZ, designed to help your teams meet mainframe SLAs and improve performance without making code changes. Instead, JOPAZ recompiles COBOL into zIIP-eligible Java bytecode. That means IT teams spend less time managing legacy code and more time focusing on innovation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0problem with traditional approaches to mainframe modernization\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Change is inevitable, but many modernization strategies demand time, resources, and changes to business logic, leaving teams scrambling and introducing unwanted risk. In short: Big effort, little gain. Here are some common approaches: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Move off the mainframe entirely.\u00a0<\/strong>This requires converting COBOL code into other languages or migrating to cloud environments. While migrations can be done, doing so threatens the underlying business logic that has been running for decades and introduces massive vulnerability.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
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    1. Buy bigger mainframes.<\/strong>\u00a0While adding more processing power is technically easy, it comes with large hardware and licensing costs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Manually optimize existing COBOL code.<\/strong>\u00a0This approach demands\u00a0significant time\u00a0and effort while tying up skilled developers who could be working on forward-looking projects.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      JOPAZ: A low-risk mainframe optimization solution<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      The fact of the matter is that you\u2019re going to have to recompile at some point\u2014and if you don\u2019t do it sooner than later, you run the risk of being forced to recompile. By then, your developers won\u2019t have time to test the code anywhere else. Ultimately, this is a threat to the mission-critical workloads you\u2019re trying to protect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      JOPAZ recompiles COBOL into zIIP-eligible Java bytecode to redistribute high-utilization workloads to the zIIP processor. In fact: recompiling just 10% of COBOL programs with JOPAZ can yield a 90% benefit in CPU offload. This small percentage of high-utilization workloads is often what consumes the majority of CPU. Plus, JOPAZ functions as part of your normal development cycle, and you don\u2019t have to move applications into production until they\u2019re operating as expected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      With JOPAZ, you don\u2019t have to choose between modernization and stability. You can increase application speed while freeing up COBOL developers to focus on innovation and do more in less time\u2014all without making code changes or touching mission-critical applications. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Five mainframe optimization\u00a0benefits of JOPAZ\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      Here is a closer look at the benefits of JOPAZ for application teams:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Improve mainframe performance to meet SLAs.<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

      Because the underlying business logic\u00a0remains\u00a0untouched, your applications\u00a0maintain\u00a0stability and reliability throughout the recompiling process. Plus, offloading work to the\u00a0zIIP\u00a0processor allows latent workloads to run faster, ensuring that critical jobs finish within their required\u00a0timeframes.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Enhance\u00a0mainframe capacity planning\u00a0and reduce spikes without adding hardware.<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

      JOPAZ flattens CPU consumption spikes. As a result, application owners can: <\/p>\n\n\n\n