Micro Focus makes its mainframe solution available on Google Cloud

Business software provider Micro Focus will make its enterprise-grade mainframe infrastructure solution available on Google Cloud marketplace.  

Mainframes are big, powerful and reliable computers that enterprises use to perform large operations, for example, handling the transactions of a credit card company, managing the database of an insurance company and so on.  

This partnership will help organisations deploy their on-premise mainframe solution Enterprise Suite on Google Cloud as they seek “digital transformation in a fast and cost-effective manner”, the companies said.

Enterprise Suite is a Micro Focus product line that enables modernization of IBM mainframe PL/I and COBOL applications, processes and infrastructure, enabling greater efficiency and time to market. On July 13, Micro Focus released an upgrade of the Enterprise Suite, version 8.0, in conjunction with Visual COBOL 8.0.

With this announcement, customers now have the choice and flexibility to deploy their mainframe applications with Micro Focus to Google Cloud (or any of the major cloud providers) as well as Google Compute Engine (GCE) services, the companies said in a statement.

“Moving critical workloads from legacy infrastructure and onto a flexible, scalable, and innovative platform like Google Cloud is an important step in digital transformation. It is imperative that organizations ensure their core business applications can meet the demands of today’s ever-changing technology and business needs,” said Neil Fowler, General Manager and VP of the Application Modernisation and Connectivity business at Micro Focus.

Today, companies are seeking cost-effective ways to deliver on IT strategies through continuous modernization and digital transformation initiatives. Research shows that 72% of COBOL application owners are considering modernization as the best way to digitally transform their strategic core business systems. 

“Legacy infrastructure should not be a barrier to innovation,” said Howard Weale, director, transformation practice at Google Cloud, who believes the partnership will “accelerate and simplify organisations’ ability to modernise some of the most common mainframe infrastructure in use today, helping them achieve their cloud agendas more quickly while benefiting from leading security, data management, and workload administration capabilities.” 

Analysts believe that migrating on-premise mainframes to cloud can help users move the workload to open system environments. It is thus possible to effectively leverage critical data, enjoy a flexible, transparent and modern environment and save money on mainframe contracts.

Meanwhile, a data from August 2022 by market research firm, Canalys, shows that Google Cloud’s business has grown by 45% year-on-year in the latest quarter, ending July 2022, with rivals Microsoft Azure growing 40% in the same time, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) growing 33%.

In terms of market share, AWS accounted for 31% of total cloud infrastructure services spend in the second quarter of 2022, making it the leading cloud service provider. Azure was the second largest cloud service provider, with a 24% market share, while Google Cloud accounted for a market share of only 8%, the report said.