– **Product Announcement:**
– IBM has announced Watsonx Code Assistant for Z, a generative AI-assisted product.
– It helps in faster translation of COBOL to Java on IBM Z, enhancing developer productivity.
– General availability is expected in Q4 2023.
– Preview during TechXchange event in Las Vegas, Sept 11-13.
– **Watsonx Code Assistant Family:**
– New addition to Watsonx Code Assistant product family.
– Includes IBM Watsonx Code Assistant for Red Hat Ansible Lightspeed, releasing later this year.
– Powered by IBM’s watsonx.ai code model with knowledge of 115 coding languages.
– Targeting one of the largest generative AI foundation models with 20 billion parameters.
– **COBOL Modernization and Generative AI:**
– Aims to make it easier to transform COBOL business services into Java code.
– Estimated billions of lines of COBOL code are potential candidates for modernization.
– Generative AI to assist developers in updating, validating, and testing code efficiently.
– **Tooling and Capabilities:**
– Designed to provide tooling for each step of the modernization journey.
– Includes IBM’s Application Discovery and Delivery Intelligence (ADDI) tool.
– Potential benefits include accelerating code development, managing cost, expanding IT skills access, and achieving high-quality code.
– **Collaboration and Industry Perspective:**
– Collaboration with Broadridge Financial to leverage generative AI interfaces.
– AI-assisted mainframe application modernization is considered an imperative.
– **Challenges and Approaches:**
– Many application modernization approaches are available, each with its pros and cons.
– Generative AI is promising but lacks COBOL support in current technologies.
– **Performance and Interoperability:**
– Resulting Java code will be object-oriented and optimized to interoperate with existing COBOL applications and runtimes.
– **Governance and Innovation:**
– Focus on protecting sensitive data and customer intellectual property.
– IBM Consulting offers expertise in IBM Z application modernization across key industries.
– **Future Considerations:**
– Combination of humans and AI assistants could reduce coding tasks time by 30% by 2028, according to Gartner.
– IBM’s plans may change at any time at its discretion.
https://lnkd.in/ezye6wPB
IBM Unveils watsonx Generative AI Capabilities to Accelerate Mainframe Application Modernization
