As enterprises race to operationalize AI, analytics, and hybrid cloud strategies, a critical roadblock persists: mainframe storage. Traditional DASD and tape environments were never built for today’s AI-driven, cloud-integrated world. High costs, slow provisioning, and siloed data create major friction when businesses need fast, scalable access to their most valuable datasets. That’s why Zaac exists — to eliminate those barriers instantly and provide the fastest path to AI-ready mainframe storage.
The Limitations of Traditional Mainframe Storage
Legacy storage systems on IBM Z platforms pose serious challenges for organizations seeking to modernize:
| Today’s Challenges | With Zaac™ |
|---|---|
| AI adoption blocked by data access limits | Enables AI models with fast, secure data access |
| High cost of DASD and tape | Cloud-based, pay as you grow model |
| Manual, slow provisioning | Instant Provisioning on demand |
| Requires specialized skills | No-code, easy to manage |
| Cloud disconnected | Seamless hybrid cloud integration |
| Hard to access historical data | AI-ready access to long-term data |
The result? Innovation slows down, costs rise, and enterprises miss the full potential of AI and data-driven transformation.
Zaac: No-Code, AI-Ready Storage for the Mainframe
Zaac is VirtualZ’s patented solution that lets you spin cloud storage up or down on demand — and use it just like traditional DASD or tape — without touching your applications.
It installs in minutes, configures in hours, and operates with:
- No code
- No disruption
- No need for replication or re-platforming
With Zaac, your enterprise can:
- Feed AI and machine learning models with instant access to historical datasets
- Provision storage on-demand — right from your keyboard
- Replace expensive physical storage with pay-as-you-grow cloud models
- Unlock historical data for AI, analytics, and business continuity
- Enable seamless hybrid cloud integration, connecting IBM Z with cloud environments without risk
As Dale Vile, Co-founder of Freeform Dynamics, notes:
“Perhaps most challenging to conventional thinking is Zaac™, which allows mainframe applications to use cloud storage as if it were native DASD — without compromising on the mainframe’s renowned security and reliability.”
Zaac vs Other Methods
Before Zaac, modernizing mainframe storage meant choosing between complexity, cost, or compromise. Traditional methods — whether DASD, physical tape, or gateway-based solutions — struggle to keep up with the demands of AI, hybrid cloud, and data-driven innovation. These approaches often require specialized expertise, long provisioning cycles, or expensive infrastructure investments. Zaac was purpose-built to eliminate those tradeoffs. The chart below compares Zaac to legacy methods, highlighting why it’s the faster, simpler, and more scalable choice for today’s enterprise.
| Feature | Zaac | Other Methods |
|---|---|---|
| Product Positioning | On-demand hybrid cloud storage for IBM Z, replacing DASD and tape with real-time, read/write access to cloud or SAN | Cloud-managed data movement platform for backup, archive, and analytics use cases |
| Deployment | No-code, native to Z/OS; installs out-of-the-box in minutes and zero code in the cloud | Requires multi-step configuration, external servers, and proprietary components required on both mainframe and cloud |
| Target Audience | IBM Z teams seeking transparent storage modernization with no application changes | Mainframe teams focused on long-term offloading of backup or archive data to cloud |
| Cloud Compatibility | Fully cloud-agnostic — no code or infrastructure needed on cloud provider side | Requires cloud-specific components and integration services |
| Data Access | True read/write access — storage appears as DASD/tape to the mainframe | Write and recall pattern; typically used for backup/archive |
| Mainframe File Types Supported | Any mainframe data including sequential, VSAM (all types), PDS/PDSE, IMS, DB2, EXCP datasets | Primarily sequential (tape-like) datasets |
| Tape Catalog Integration | Integrates with existing tape catalog management solutions (CA-1, TLMS, RMM); no proprietary system required | Requires migration to, and use of, a proprietary catalog for tracking and lookup |
| Duplexing / Redundancy | Supports multi-cloud duplexing for high availability | Single cloud target; multi-target support may require custom configuration |
| Security & Compliance | Seamless integration with native IBM Z security (RACF, ACF2, Top Secret) | External identity and access management required; less native integration |
| Performance & Cost Efficiency | Only solution that utilizes high-performing iSCSI and NFS storage solution as well as object storage | Limited to S3 object storage |
Ideal Use Cases
Zaac isn’t just a storage replacement — it’s a strategic enabler for high-impact initiatives across your enterprise. Whether you’re scaling AI, modernizing data architecture, or strengthening resilience, Zaac brings the speed and flexibility your teams need — without replatforming, rewriting, or disrupting what already works. Below are some of the most common and powerful ways organizations are using Zaac today:
- AI and Machine Learning: Enable faster model training by unlocking critical historical data
- Data Analytics and Reporting: Fuel real-time insights without slow data extraction
- Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery: Extend protected data storage flexibly across hybrid environments
- Storage Modernization: Migrate from expensive, rigid DASD and tape to dynamic cloud storage — without disruption
Your Data, Flowing Fast — Guaranteed
Zaac brings the simplicity, flexibility, and speed of the cloud to your mainframe environment — without sacrificing security or reliability.
We stand behind our promise: No-code. No delay. No invoice until your data flows. Just fast, secure, AI-ready storage — on demand.
Ready to unleash your mainframe data for AI and the cloud? Schedule your POC planning call today.
Learn More
- Watch a demo of Zaac.
- Try Zaac.
- Review all VirtualZ Use Cases, Thought Leadership papers, and Solution Briefs.
- Explore our YouTube channel, podcasts, and blog.
- Still have questions? Contact us.