Phoenix Software releases updates to its product line in September 2022

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Sept. 27, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Phoenix Software International, Inc., today announced its intention to make JES3^plus V1R2, a derivative work based on IBM’s z/OS^® JES3, generally available effective September 30, 2022. This release provides new functionality and integrates continuous delivery items made available over the past twelve months. Thanks to Phoenix’s JES3^plus Customer Advisory Council, organizations that migrate to JES3^plus can reap the benefits of new features that were ranked in terms of providing true business value to their fellow customers.

JES3^plus V1R2

Functional Highlights:

• Parallel SPOOL I/O – Takes full advantage of the Parallel Access Volumes technology supported by modern mainframe DASD through support for up to eight STARTIO channel programs running concurrently for a single SPOOL extent. This is a major improvement over the traditional JES3 approach of allowing only one STARTIO at a time per SPOOL extent.
• Reduced Local Lock Contention – Now intrinsic to the way JES3^plus operates, multiple I/O completion SRBs execute simultaneously by acquiring the local lock only if and when needed. In addition, if the completing I/O contains requests from only a single address space, the SRB is scheduled directly to that address space rather than to the JES3^plus address space.
• Improved WLM Batch Initiator Balancing – Enabling this facility results in JES3plus placing batch jobs into idle initiators across the JESplex using a target percentage derived from WLM’s initiator allocation counts. Until now this behavior occurred on JES2 systems only.

“Switching to JES3^plus is the obvious choice for existing IBM JES3 customers,” said Ed Jaffe, Chief Technology Officer at Phoenix Software International, “and we have reinforced that point by improving performance with empirical results so dramatic they speak for themselves. SPOOL I/O-intensive benchmarks conducted on our z15^† showed JES3^plus running nearly twice as many jobs as IBM JES3 while simultaneously reducing FICON channel utilization by 92%! Similarly-favorable results were observed when comparing against JES2. And, because our roadmap for enhancements is 100% customer driven, we believe a migration to JES3^plus is not only the easiest and least risky choice, it’s the one that just makes sense.”

(E)JES^® V6R2

(E)JES V6R2, the latest release of Phoenix Software’s modern z/OS JESplex management tool, includes enhancements for viewing and managing Coupling Facility connections and structures, WLM scheduling environments, job class/groups, sysplex members, and z/OS UNIX mounts. Additionally, support has been added for a filter repository that provides end user ability to save filters and reload them.

Phoenix Software Product Releases: September 2022

Phoenix Software is refreshing its product line this month. Product downloads will be available to customers via the Phoenix Software International Support portal. Visit https://phoenixsoftware.com/support.htm#downloads. New product releases include:

• (E)JES V6R2
• CONDOR^® z/OS 26.2 z/VSE 32.1
• CYGNET^® z/OS 26.2 z/VSE 32.1
• Entrypoint^® 16.3
• FALCON^® z/OS 26.2 z/VSE 32.1
• Falcon64^® 11.2
• JES3^plus V1R2
• Key/101^® 9.2
• PHX-Adders^®/PHX-Guest^® 7.4
• PHX-BDT^® V1R2
• PHX-KeyPlus^® 5.4
• PHX-ODE^® 7.4

About Phoenix Software International

Phoenix Software International, Inc., (https://www.phoenixsoftware.com) is a systems software development company providing advanced software applications to enterprises around the globe. The company offers a wide range of solutions to modern business challenges.

Press contact:
(310) 338-0400
[email protected]

^† Analysis summary and raw benchmark SMF data available upon request.