The business outcomes from scaling AI are clear. Companies at the forefront of generative AI and data-led innovation are seeing 72% greater annual net profits and 17% more annual revenue growth than their peers. A key step toward unlocking these gains is the adoption of purpose-built AI assistants that are tailored to your use case.

IBM watsonx™ Code Assistant for Z is an AI-based coding assistant designed to accelerate the application lifecycle for mainframe applications, leveraging generative AI and automation capabilities to drive modernization techniques.

Earlier this year, IBM watsonx Code Assistant for Z delivered a unified, common experience for its generative AI and automation capabilities within Visual Studio Code (VS Code). This offers the ability to streamline and generate tests, and also comes with an interactive demo that allows you to see these features in action, using a real-world use case.

Building on that momentum, we are excited to announce a new product capability, code explanation, available as an add-on to watsonx Code Assistant for Z. Additionally, the code transformation capability in IBM watsonx Code Assistant for Z can also be deployed on-premises, with general availability for clients expected in June 2024.

IBM watsonx Code Assistant for Z: code explanation

With IBM watsonx Code Assistant for Z, developers can use the power of generative AI to create natural language explanations of COBOL code. This can help developers more easily understand their existing, mission-critical applications and identify the right modernization strategy. This is especially important for development teams working with complex, monolithic applications that aren’t well documented and require specialized skill sets.

To support the modernization phases of understanding, refactoring and transforming code, watsonx Code Assistant for Z leverages generative AI to help developers understand their selected application This offers the ability to create natural language explanations of an application’s COBOL code and enable clearer comprehension. This also helps to simplify the process of maintaining and renewing documentation by reducing the manual effort required to produce up-to-date code explanations, which can be saved or inserted as comments directly into the application code.

Code explanation is engineered to help facilitate learning for developers unfamiliar with specific applications, bridging knowledge gaps and accelerating development or modernization efforts. With code explanation capabilities, organizations can help address knowledge bottlenecks and potentially free up senior experts for advanced modernization tasks. This also enables more informed decisions during the understand and refactor phases of modernization projects.

On-premises availability: A solution for your hybrid cloud environment

Data security and privacy are paramount concerns for many organizations. The option for customers to deploy the capability for COBOL-to-Java transformation on-premises will enable users to leverage generative AI and help enhance application modernization, with control and customization to meet their unique requirements. With this add-on GA in June, organizations will have the ability to deploy IBM watsonx Code Assistant for Z’s understand, refactor, transform and validate capabilities on-premises.

How to get started with IBM watsonx Code Assistant for Z

Ready to accelerate mainframe application modernization with generative AI? See what watsonx Code Assistant for Z can do when you schedule a live demo or explore the interactive demo.