IBM z/OS Connect

Create truly RESTful APIs to and from your IBM Z mainframe

Getting started checklist What's new in IBM z/OS Connect?
Illustration showing servers connecting cloud, users, developers and APIs

Modernize your z/OS® business applications by using RESTful APIs

Watch the webinar to discover the latest user experiences and capabilities that z/OS Connect offers.

Watch the webinar

Bring the power of APIs to your mainframe

IBM® z/OS® Connect allows you to quickly create and run Open Standard APIs to interact with z/OS applications and data. It enables you to bring the power of APIs to your mainframe, integrating with AI-ready interfaces to unlock the value of your IBM Z® within a hybrid cloud strategy.

Create consumable OpenAPI interfaces in minutes and leverage AI to discover, understand and consume z/OS services and data. This enables LLMs to access business data and programs on z/OS, allowing you to respond accurately to your business-related prompts.
Monitoring

Use unified API monitoring and auditing with OpenTelemetry support for modern observability platforms.
AI

Enable Model Context Protocol for AI agents to discover, understand and consume z/OS services and data.
Security

Achieve enterprise-grade API security with fine-grained, operation-level authorization for core business services.
Scalability

Dynamically scale API workloads without reconfiguration or downtime risk, based on real-time demand.

Features

Agile API design and deployment
Quickly create OpenAPI APIs with robust mapping and isolated API flows. Easily rebuild and deploy flows for safe, fast changes that align with enterprise standards.
Simplified developer experience
An easy-to-use interface supports both cloud and z/OS developers. No deep mainframe knowledge is required, enabling decentralized, scalable and automated API management.
Flexible deployment options
Deploy by using z/OS Started Task, CICS JVM Server or as an OCI container on platforms such Kubernetes or Red Hat® OpenShift®.
zIIP-eligible processing
Built on Java™, over 99% of processing can be offloaded to zIIP on z/OS, helping reduce general CPU usage and operational cost.
Use cases
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Scale

Handle a large volume of API requests daily from z/OS Connect to support fast-growing fintech startups.
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Speed

Reduce API development time from months to under a day with z/OS Connect.
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Time to value

Modernize core banking apps on Z with APIs in half the time and at a fraction of the cost.
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Simplification

Reduce integration time, effort and cost when connecting regulatory APIs to core systems on Z.
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Expanding Z

Increase website conversions by using APIs to deliver instant quote experiences.
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ROI

Accelerate account creation from days to seconds, driving thousands of new accounts and deposits through APIs.

Real clients—real results

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Gruppo BCC ICCREA uses IBM z/OS Connect to provide secured invocation of external REST APIs directly from core banking applications.
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The global bank BNP Paribas uses IBM z/OS Connect to expose IBM Z services as RESTful APIs to be called and used by other applications.

Technical details

Hardware requirements

IBM z/OS Connect runs on any hardware that supports the chosen operating system.

Software requirements

z/OS Connect Server Image: An OCI-compliant container platform of your choice, for example, Red Hat OpenShift 4.9 or later.

z/OS Connect Server started task:

  • z/OS 2.4 or later
  • IBM z/OS Connect 3.0.55 or later
  • IBM 64-bit SDK for z/OS 8

Resources

Getting started tutorials
Learn about OpenAPI support with tutorials guiding you from start to finish, developing APIs with z/OS Connect.
Get started with GitHub samples
Fast-track your experience with z/OS Connect by using the samples provided in these repositories.
IBM Z Integration Guide for Hybrid Cloud
Learn how IBM z/OS Connect helps you to easily create APIs for today's mobile and cloud applications.
CICS Development Client Success Team services
Explore how IBM technical services for CICS and related products can help to solve business problems and exploit new opportunities.

Related products

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Modernize mainframe applications faster, with lower risks and costs with the purpose-built coding assistant.

 IBM webMethods® Hybrid Integration

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 IBM App Connect

Integrates apps and data, automating workflows across cloud and on-premises systems.

 IBM API Connect®

Create, expose, manage and monetize APIs across multiple clouds.

 CICS Transaction Gateway

Secure access to CICS from Java, Java EE, .NET Framework and C and C++ applications.

 IBM Host Access Transformation Services

Extend mission-critical terminal applications without touching the existing application.

 IBM Data Virtualization Manager for z/OS

Modernize IBM Z applications with virtual, integrated views of data and read/write access.

 IBM File Manager for z/OS

Get flexible, easy-to-use tools for enhanced file processing and application development.
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Discover how to create truly RESTful APIs to and from your IBM Z mainframe with IBM z/OS Connect.

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