IBM watsonx Assistant for Z V2.1: Expanding generative AI conversations with IBM Z operational insights

Organizations are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to improve mainframe operations, enhance transactional workloads, accelerate modernization and close skill gaps. Revolutionizing how IBM Z® users engage with and manage the mainframes is what the IBM watsonx™ Assistant for Z is all about.

With our generative AI assistant, all IBM Z users can receive curated responses to any Z-related queries, enabling them to confidently perform both routine and complex tasks through automation.

We are excited to introduce the latest capabilities and enhancements to IBM watsonx Assistant for Z, marking the beginning of a major shift in the operations experience.

These updates now offer the ability to:

• Gain operational insights on IBM Z through AI-driven conversations
• Build and deploy robust automations and skill flows with ease by using a low-code Skills Studio
• Lower hardware requirements and enjoy the flexibility to deploy in both on-premises and cloud environments

These advancements empower users to streamline operations and improve efficiency across their IBM Z systems.

These new updates are expected to be generally available to clients from 11 December 2024, in watsonx Assistant for Z version 2.1.

Let’s dig into the details.

Mainframe operators rely on multiple SME tools such as OMEGAMON for monitoring, System Automation for automating policies, IntelliMagic Vision for performance analysis, and several other tools to monitor z/OS system health and gather operational insights. Through this release of the Assistant, we are unlocking the opportunity for IT operators and SMEs to simplify their workflows and accelerate mean time to problem remediation by providing them the ability to avoid logging on to the specific tool, enabling them to ask questions and dive deeper to issues and take corrective actions seamlessly.

With IBM watsonx Assistant for Z, users can access operational insights from various products in a unified system context through intuitive AI-driven conversations. This eliminates the need to switch between tools, enabling users to ask questions, dive deeper into issues, and take corrective actions seamlessly. For example, users can inquire about the health of their LPARs, identify top CPU consumers, explore IBM Db2® buffer pool issues, or review system alerts—all by interacting with their personalized AI assistant. This streamlined approach enhances efficiency and accelerates problem resolution

Currently, IBM watsonx Assistant for Z supports OMEGAMON performance metrics for LPARs, Db2 instances and situation events. We plan to broaden this integration to include additional tools and provide deeper insights. Future updates will offer performance data for more subsystems, insights into automated applications managed by IBM Z System Automation, batch jobs overseen by Z Workload Scheduler, and much more.

Skills Studio in IBM watsonx Assistant for Z empowers builders and system programmers to create robust automations effortlessly through a low-code approach. Users can leverage prebuilt skills or import automations built with tools such as Ansible, REXX and JCL. This flexibility allows for crafting anything from straightforward logic flows to advanced automation processes.

The streamlined interface supports building skill flows that incorporate decision-making, generative AI and more, enabling deployment in just a few simple steps. For instance, in response to IMS message alerts, you can seamlessly add a function to generate a ServiceNow ticket, including the alert details.

Clients now have the flexibility to deploy IBM watsonx Assistant for Z on a smaller footprint, whether in the cloud or on-premises. By optimizing for a reduced footprint, the solution supports more cost-effective GPUs (such as L40s) and significantly lowers infrastructure requirements, including CPU and memory needs. This results in a lower total cost of ownership, making it an even more affordable option for clients.

IBM watsonx Assistant for Z transforms how your IBM Z users engage with and manage the mainframe. For more information, please visit the product page.

Schedule a demo with an IBM expert to see IBM watsonx Assistant for Z in action.