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IBM CICS Transaction Server

Score10 out of 10

15 Reviews and Ratings

What is IBM CICS Transaction Server?

IBM CICS (Customer Information Control System) is mixed-language application server that runs on IBM z/OS. CICS® Transaction Server, often called CICS, is used for hosting transactional enterprise applications in a hybrid architecture.

Top Performing Features

  • Application server performance

    Speed of deploy time, initialization time and other performance metrics

    Category average: 8.3

  • Security management

    Integrated security management for applications

    Category average: 8.3

  • Administration and management

    Ease of management via administration console

    Category average: 7.6

Areas for Improvement

  • Installation

    Ease of download and installation

    Category average: 8.5

  • Open-source standards compliance

    Support for open-source standards like J2EE

    Category average: 7.9

  • IDE support

    Support for a number of different programming environments or IDEs

    Category average: 7.4

CICS World class transaction server

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We still have many of our old code written using COBOL CICS that takes the data from the OnPremise system location that get sent to IBM Mainframe and need to get updated. IBM CICS Transaction Server help us update that data on the IBM Mainframe. We don't have to rewrite any of our previous logic to do these updates and we can do code reuse.

Pros

  • It helps us modernize our legacy mainframe based applications by moving the newer logic to modern platform while keeping enterprise corporate systems running
  • It works well and is stable without any issues
  • It is very secured and you rarely hear of any data breaches due to this

Cons

  • Would like to see the transaction response matrix on the average transaction response among all requests.
  • Would like to see GUI tool to be able to see currently running transactions
  • Would like to be able to get the details of where the cics transaction was triggered from

Return on Investment

  • It has allowed us to use our decades old code and still continue to support the business
  • Allows us to have faster time to market and modernize our systems
  • We can still continue to use our legacy resources for modern systems

Alternatives Considered

Db2

Other Software Used

Db2, Oracle Java SE, IBM WebSphere Hybrid Edition

My life with CICS

Pros

  • De facto standard in the legacy enterprise
  • Multiplatform connection
  • Native connection with DB2

Cons

  • Direct internet connection
  • Social connectors
  • Speak Java not only with Websphere

Return on Investment

  • More scalability than servers
  • More reliability than servers
  • More security

Alternatives Considered

IMS

Other Software Used

DB2, IBM Tivoli OMEGAMON, IBM Tivoli Business Service Manager