IBM has already had a busy June in developer terms. The company has announced Rational Developer for Power Systems Software (RDP) version 8.5, a development tools suite for writing either IBM i, AIX, or Linux-based applications, for the Power Systems server line. Big Blue followed this up with a new version of its integrated software Collaborative Lifecycle Management (CLM) solution with extended design management capabilities.
Rational Developer for Power Systems
The new RDP suite now includes a “live outline” view of RPG code and is also said to connect more directly and more productively with the Rational Team Concert change management system. But the most significant augmentations to RDP 8.5 are likely to deliver benefits Linux and AIX users — as part of this release, IBM has included an application porting and migration advisor tool for AIX and Linux apps written in C, C++, and COBOL; there is also a performance analysis advisor tool designed for C and C++ applications running on AIX and Linux; and finally a new code test analysis tool designed to serve C, C++, and COBOL applications running on AIX and Linux.
This is a “new class” of tools, according to IBM, as it combines dynamic code analysis and profiling capabilities together with performance management features and expert guidance, all in a workflow-driven framework that is designed to help users optimize the performance of C and C++ workloads as deployed to AIX and to Linux on Power.
According to IBM’s product spec pages, this tool delivers performance analysis of C/C++ applications with capabilities such as hot spot analysis that are linked with performance-annotated source code and views for program understanding. It includes support for analyzing time spent in “inlined functions” and it can show the results directly in the source view. It also allows users to compare two profiles of the application in order to easily detect regressions in performance across two builds.
Collaborative Lifecycle Management
So to IBM’s Collaborative Lifecycle Management news — IBM’s CLM is built on IBM’s open development platform, Jazz, and brings together IBM Rational Requirements Composer, IBM Rational Team Concert, and IBM Rational Quality Manager in one solution.
The new CLM software ensures that software design is integrated with the rest of the software application development lifecycle — development teams are then able to collaborate on the design and development of software with key stakeholders from across the business.
According to preliminary findings of an IBM Institute for Business Value Global Study on software delivery, more than three quarters of the participating organizations said they are underprepared for major technology trends that will impact their competitiveness. These trends include the proliferation of mobile devices; the ability to leverage cloud-based resources for flexibility and savings; and the growing percentage of smart products with embedded software. While 50% of organizations believe successful software delivery is crucial to their competitive advantage, only 25% currently leverage it.
“Today’s business dilemma is how to address both the need for rapid delivery and required control in the software development process,” said Dr. Kristof Kloeckner, general manager, IBM Rational. “We must balance the need for speed and agility with better governance to manage cost and quality, achieve regulatory compliance, ensure security, and have some level of financial predictability.”
IBM Rational CLM has also been extended to the IBM Mobile Foundation platform for centralized code sharing and distributed mobile application development.
