Driving Innovation Through Mainframe Modernization with Kyndryl and AWS

By Mac Mahalingam and Paulo Coutinho – AWS
By David Claypool, Solomon Ebenezer, and Nagaraju Kasimsetty – Kyndryl

Kyndryl

In today’s competitive and fast-changing business environment, where many leaders often have to reconsider spending choices, enterprises are looking for ways to start or accelerate their mainframe modernization journey.

Organizations want to drive increased efficiency, agility, and innovation through a combination of modernization, integration, and public cloud environments that help move workloads off the mainframe.

According to a Kyndryl survey on the “2023 State of Mainframe Modernization Research,” companies seeking to transform their mainframe environments know its value:

• 95% of respondents are in the process of migrating some of their mainframe applications to cloud or distributed platforms, with an average of 37% of their workloads being relocated.
• Enterprises that choose to move off the mainframe name three key advantages in this approach: 1/ faster time to market (51%); 2/ improved performance (47%); 3/ improved innovation (44%).

Almost all respondents use a combination of approaches, by considering the capabilities of each platform and tailoring projects to their business and technical needs. However, the lack of a skilled workforce to support and secure these mission-critical environments is a significant challenge for many businesses.

A key observation from Kyndryl’s survey is that regardless of the chosen mainframe modernization approach, businesses report reduced costs and increased profitability by 9-11%. Average annual cost savings per organization are $25 million, showing that mainframe modernization yields a positive return on investment.

In addition to financial benefits, respondents indicate that transformation is fueling innovation by allowing them to take advantage of increased scalability, diverse skills, and faster time to market.

In this post, we will explore how Kyndryl’s expertise, capabilities, and solutions assist clients in smoothly navigating a complex journey of modernizing their mainframe systems while enhancing operational efficiency.

Kyndryl is an AWS Premier Tier Services Partner and Managed Service Partner (MSP) that is a continuously innovating to support customers in their transition to cloud-native environments and ensuring a seamless transformation process.

Kyndryl’s Unique Approach

The AWS Mainframe Modernization service helps modernize mainframe applications and data to Amazon Web Services (AWS) managed runtime environments. It provides proven tools supporting all phases of modernization, from initial planning to implementation and post-migration cloud operations.

Application modernization is a complex journey, though, and requires expertise, resources, tools, and experience that often draw from multiple partners. If not done well, it can lead to failed projects, cost overruns, and unsatisfactory business outcomes. Kyndryl brings its industry-leading mainframe and AWS cloud expertise, skills, and capabilities to help customers manage their complex transformation initiatives more efficiently and effectively.

Kyndryl’s Mainframe Management and Integration services with AWS introduces capabilities that automate the provisioning, management, and observability of the service using the Kyndryl Bridge open integration platform.

The diagram below highlights Kyndryl’s core strengths along with the four capabilities outlined to support clients mainframe modernization journey.

Figure 1 – Kyndryl capabilities aligned with AWS Mainframe Modernization service.

1. Kyndryl Cloud Native Services (KCNS) and new Resource Manager for Kyndryl (RM4K) for AWS Mainframe Modernization service:
   • Streamline lifecycle management, including provisioning, backups, compliance, and monitoring.
   • KCNS with Kyndryl Bridge provide actionable insights for better outcomes.
   • KCNS automates operations, tracks the service runtime performance, and ensures system health using KCNS RM4K enabler in the AWS Mainframe Modernization service.
2. Factory for AWS Mainframe Modernization Refactor with AWS Blu Age:
   • Enables migration experts from Kyndryl to accelerate the refactoring of your mainframe applications to AWS, and to manage the infrastructure and applications with Kyndryl Bridge and KCNS.
3. DevSecOps for AWS Mainframe Modernization Replatform with Micro Focus and Refactor with AWS Blu Age:
   • Kyndryl brings automation, skills, and technology which enables customers with modern continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipeline capabilities combining:
     • AWS Replatform with Micro Focus and Kyndryl Bridge.
     • AWS Automated Refactor with AWS Blu Age and Kyndryl Bridge.
4. AWS Mainframe Modernization Data Replication with Precisely:
   • Provides near real-time replication with change data capture (CDC) between the mainframe and AWS enabling new functions, data analytics, and modern application development.

With Kyndryl’s capabilities and the AWS Mainframe Modernization service, we create an end-to-end mainframe transformation solution to integrate and migrate mainframe applications and data to AWS, providing seamless hybrid estate management for our joint customers.

Customer Benefits

Kyndryl’s distinguished track record in mainframe management and extensive experience in mission-critical IT environments, coupled with a robust team of skilled experts and innovative solutions, solidify its position as a leading partner in mainframe modernization journeys.

• Experience: According to ISG, Kyndryl has the largest installed base of IBM Z mainframe MIPS. It has 80+ years of experience across 22,000+ subsystems, 6.2 million MIPS, and 100+ million batch jobs per day, managing 61% of IBM Z MIPS in the service provider market. Alongside its experience in the mainframe business, Kyndryl has 30+years of designing, building, and managing mission-critical IT environments and extending to the AWS cloud.
• Skills: Kyndryl boasts a team of more than 7,500 mainframe experts and 8,000+ AWS practitioners, collectively holding over 10,200 AWS Certifications and 6,000+ AWS accreditations.
• Solutions: Kyndryl is a leader in mainframe modernization and co-creates with each customer to deliver digital transformation across the IT estate and accelerate their mainframe hybrid cloud journey. It is positioned with industry leading AIOps-based solutions to manage the entire IT estate, including application management with Kyndryl Bridge.
• Accreditation: Kyndryl is one of the preferred global MSPs validated by AWS as part of the AWS Mainframe Modernization service.

You can explore further insights and success stories from Kyndryl and its clients who have embarked on this modernization journey.

Summary

AWS has collaborated with Kyndryl to make your mainframe modernization journey smoother than ever. Kyndryl brings decades of experience and expertise to the table, helping you:

• Choose the right platform for the right workload: Whether you want to modernize existing applications, integrate them with AWS, or migrate them completely, Kyndryl can guide you through the process and ensure a successful outcome.
• Manage transformation projects efficiently: Kyndryl’s team of experts will work closely with you to assess your IT landscape, develop a customized digital transformation strategy, and implement it seamlessly.
• Get started quickly and easily: Whether you’re ready for a full-scale transformation or just want to test the waters with a proof of concept, Kyndryl can tailor a solution to your specific needs.

Contact Kyndryl Consult to get supported from dedicated mainframe modernization experts:

• Assess your IT landscape: Kyndryl will take a deep dive into your existing systems and identify the best modernization path.
• Craft your digital roadmap: Collaborate with Kyndryl to develop a personalized strategy for a successful transformation.
• Get started with confidence: Choose the right engagement model, whether it’s a pilot project or a full-scale rollout.

Visit the Kyndryl website to learn more and schedule a consultation, and download the free whitepaper on the state of mainframe modernization.

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Kyndryl – AWS Partner Spotlight

Kyndryl is an AWS Premier Tier Services Partner and MSP that is a continuously innovating to support customers in their transition to cloud-native environments and ensuring a seamless transformation process.

Contact Kyndryl | Partner Overview | AWS Marketplace