Mainframe observability: own the data, or read it by business domain
Your mainframe produces a constant stream of operational data — scattered, technical, hard to turn into a decision. Zetaly makes it usable two ways. Zetaly Data Platform (ZDP) collects, enriches, and manages that data at around 0.2% mainframe overhead, so you own it and can send it anywhere. Zetaly Service Intelligence (ZSI) turns it into dashboards and reports built for each business domain, so every team reads what matters to them without a mainframe specialist.
Own your mainframe data with ZDP
fYour engineers already know what they want from the mainframe; they just can't get it out of the system without heavy overhead or a specialist's time. ZDP collects any record your mainframe produces, enriches it, and manages it from collection to deletion — at around 0.2% overhead, so the visibility you add doesn't inflate your IBM bill. The data stays yours: expose it to your own business intelligence (BI), your APIs or your OpenTelemetry (OTel) ecosystem — or turn it into dashboards with ZSI.
Elaborate dashboards for every business domain with ZSI
You need to see what the mainframe is telling you and act on it — without standing up a data platform to do it. ZSI turns ZDP's data into dashboards and reports built per business domain and consolidated across all your entities, so each team and your management read what's relevant to them without a mainframe specialist. Start from pre-built dashboards or build your own — and because building one means knowing your business and how your systems are organized, Zetaly's services team helps set them up if you don't have the resources or the mainframe expertise in-house.
What Zetaly’s observability solves
No mainframe specialist to read it
Getting anything useful off the mainframe has always meant queuing for one of the few people who can. Zetaly breaks that dependency on the consumption side: your teams read and act on mainframe data through dashboards built for their domain, with no green-screen skills required. Building a dashboard still takes people who know your business and your systems. And if that expertise isn’t in-house, Zetaly’s services team sets them up with you.
Built for a hybrid world
Your IT environment includes more than just mainframes, so looking only at mainframe data leaves gaps. Zetaly works across different platforms and collects data from many sources, bringing everything together in one view. Since this data can feed your OpenTelemetry ecosystem, you get a single, unified way to handle telemetry across all your platforms, without having to piece together different tools.
Traceability for compliance and audit
When an auditor wants to know who did what, when, and on which system, saying “the mainframe knows” isn’t enough. Zetaly tracks, monitors, and reports the data you need for compliance, so handling an audit or regulatory request is as simple as running a query instead of starting a big project.
Fits your IT ecosystem — a modular observability platform
Your data doesn’t live in one place, so Zetaly doesn’t force it into one. Observability here is modular: you collect, store, analyze, and expose mainframe data across the platforms, sources, and storage you already run, and add only the pieces you need. It fits your ecosystem instead of asking you to rebuild around it.
Zetaly’s observability – a modular solution to fit your IT ecosystem
| Installation | Data source | Data storage | Solution (product) |
|---|---|---|---|
| zCX zLinux Linux AWS Cloud | Mainframe Other platforms (AS400…) | PostgreSQL | ZP - Collect, enrich and manage the data ZSI - dashboards by business domain |
Would rather not run it yourself? (SaaS option)
Not every team wants to operate a data platform or build its own dashboards. With Zetaly's SaaS option, Zetaly runs ZDP and ZSI for you — collecting and managing your mainframe data, and setting up the dashboards your teams need — so you get visibility without the operational load. It's one delivery mode among others: you can also run ZDP and ZSI in-house.
Resources
Ebook
OpenTelemetry ebook
How to expose mainframe data to an OpenTelemetry ecosystem.
Download the OTel ebookEbook
TFP ebook
AWLC vs Tailored Fit Pricing (TFP): lower your baseline before signing.
Download the TFP ebookFrequently Asked Questions
What is mainframe observability?
At Zetaly, mainframe observability is the ability to collect, understand and act on the operational data your mainframe produces. It covers two products: ZDP collects, enriches and manages the data at around 0.2% overhead, and ZSI turns it into dashboards by business domain that teams can read without a mainframe specialist.
Do I need ZDP, ZSI, or both?
If you want to own and manage your mainframe data and you already have your own reporting, ZDP on its own is enough. If you want dashboards by business domain without running a data platform, you add ZSI, which sits on top of ZDP.
Does adding observability increase my IBM bill?
No, ZDP incurs a mainframe overhead of about 0.2 per cent. When AWLC is in effect it does not fall within the Rolling 4-Hour Average (R4HA) billing peak; and with TFP (Tailored Fit Pricing) it does not appear in the 12-month SCRT (Sub-Capacity Reporting Tool) baseline, meaning the extra visibility you provide will not cause your bill to rise.
Do I need mainframe expertise to build ZSI dashboards?
Building a dashboard means knowing your business and how your systems are organized, which takes mainframe expertise. Your teams can build their own in ZSI; if you don’t have the resources or in-house expertise, Zetaly’s services team helps set them up.
Can Zetaly run ZDP and ZSI for me?
Yes. With Zetaly’s SaaS option, Zetaly operates ZDP and ZSI for you — collecting and managing your mainframe data and setting up your dashboards — so you get visibility without running the platform yourself. You can also run both products in-house.
Can Zetaly consolidate data across LPARs?
Yes. Legacy IBM tools work one logical partition (LPAR) at a time, which makes a cross-partition view hard. Zetaly consolidates data from all your entities into one view by default.
Does Zetaly’s observability work with OpenTelemetry?
Yes. ZDP data is standardized and enriched, so it can feed your OpenTelemetry ecosystem through the ZDP APIs — the enriched metrics you need, not raw records. Zetaly is not an OpenTelemetry collector.
Control your AWLC bill instead?
If your priority is controlling your AWLC (Advanced Workload License Charges) bill rather than mastering your data, see Mainframe FinOps, where Zetaly Automated Capacity (ZAC) manages your R4HA (Rolling 4-Hour Average) billing peak to bring that bill down.