Enterprise-Grade AI Inference, Driven Natively from z/OS — Where Your Data Lives
Your mainframe contains your most valuable business data and decades of proven logic. Moving it off-platform introduces risk, cost, and complexity.
Connect/AI is Data 21’s complete AI integration layer for z/OS — scheduled batch inference inside your existing JCL, and a browser-based agentic workspace for real-time work, against any model: mainframe-resident, your own local model, or a cloud provider like Claude, OpenAI, or Grok. It’s built on Connect/Web’s native z/OS HTTP foundation, and reaches into Connect/3270 to mine and act on live 3270 screen data — all without leaving the mainframe. Built on high-performance, z/OSMF-compatible access with no JVM layer, Connect/AI delivers a smaller footprint and lower overhead — all while fully leveraging native System-SSL and SAF security.
Connect/Web and Connect/3270 already ship with MCP API access and AI chat on their own — Connect/AI is what turns that connectivity into a full agentic stack: tool-use workspace and native batch agentic inference, from day one.
Connect/AI’s Complete AI Stack
Connect/AI reaches z/OS resources through Connect/Web’s native infrastructure, and mines live CICS, VTAM, and z/OS 3270 screen data through Connect/3270 — turning both into inference, agentic automation, and real-time decision support. With Connect/AI, you can:
All processing can remain securely on the mainframe, protected by native System-SSL encryption and SAF security controls — fully respecting data sovereignty and data gravity.
Supported Languages & Integration
Faster claims processing and exception handling
Intelligent operations and performance analysis
Automated policy reviews and customer service workflows
Compare Your Options
Connect/MP is designed to complement and extend IBM’s mainframe AI and modernization stack. While IBM provides powerful models, governance, and core services, Connect/MP delivers specialized native capabilities that help organizations operationalize AI more efficiently on z/OS.
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| Aspect | Connect/AI | IBM watsonx Assistant for Z | IBM watsonx Code Assistant for Z | z/OSMF + Zowe, including open-source MCP | Cloud AI or custom build |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary purpose | Connects z/OS to the AI model of your choice, in two modes: conversational chat only, or agentic with a Reason/Act/Observe loop and 3270 automation | Conversational and agentic assistant for IBM Z operations | AI for application development and modernization, such as COBOL | APIs and CLI for z/OS; an open-source MCP server lets AI agents work with jobs and datasets | Varies |
| Modes and agentic capability | AI chat mode for questions and analysis, plus an agentic mode that can act. READ permits inference; UPDATE permits agentic actions. 3270 writes are approval-gated. | Chat interface, plus an agentic framework and agent builder that lets agents reason, plan and act | Unified agentic workflow for modernization | Agent supplied by the AI client; the server provides tools | Varies |
| Where the chat or agent runtime runs | WebUI and JCL invocation on z/OS | An OpenShift cluster, built on the watsonx Orchestrate platform; also available on Linux on Z (s390x) | Developer IDE (such as VS Code) connected to a watsonx.ai service, deployed on-premises or in a hybrid cloud; analysis and refactoring components run in Windows and Linux VMs | On the client or a container, connecting to z/OS over REST | Cloud or your own infrastructure |
| Supported platforms | z/OS; the Connect/MP suite is also supported on Linux x86, Windows and macOS | OpenShift on x86 or Linux on Z (s390x); reaches z/OS through skills and services | IDE on the developer workstation; supporting components on Windows and Linux VMs; works with z/OS source code | z/OSMF on z/OS; Zowe CLI runs from Linux, macOS or Windows clients | Cloud or your own infrastructure; the z/OS side varies |
| JVM or application server on z/OS | None required, for Connect/AI, the REST APIs (including the z/OSMF-compatible ones) or any other Connect/MP component | Token exchange for authorized access runs as a Liberty application | No z/OS component identified in the architecture reviewed | z/OSMF dependency (Liberty-based) | Varies |
| Model choice | Any: mainframe-resident (for example, Granite via vLLM on your own LPAR), local, or cloud (Claude, OpenAI, Grok) | IBM Granite-based models; third-party model support | IBM-tuned models | Whatever the connected AI client uses | Provider-specific, or your choice |
| Hardware | IBM mainframe running z/OS; no accelerator or other new hardware required; model hosting is your choice | IBM mainframe plus a separate OpenShift cluster (x86 or Linux on Z), or on-platform with the Spyre Accelerator, supported since 12 December 2025 | IBM mainframe for the z/OS applications, plus developer workstations, Windows and Linux VMs for supporting components, and infrastructure for the watsonx.ai service | IBM mainframe running z/OS with z/OSMF, plus a client machine | IBM mainframe plus cloud services or your own infrastructure for the model |
| Agentic 3270 | Yes, included with Connect/AI: mines 3270 screen data for AI inference and automates 3270 applications, with approval-gated writes | Not identified in IBM material reviewed | Not identified | Not identified in the tool lists reviewed | Custom screen scraping |
| MCP support | MCP-compatible and z/OSMF-compatible REST APIs for Files, JES and 3270 | Integration layer required | MCP-based toolset | Open-source Zowe MCP server, at an early stage | Client-dependent |
| Security and authorization | SAF-based, with FACILITY-class READ and UPDATE | SAF-based access using token exchange and PassTickets | None identified | z/OSMF and SAF permissions; guardrails vary by MCP server | Depends on the build |
| Access methods | Chat or agentic sessions in the WebUI, JCL step, shell, REST APIs (MCP- and z/OSMF-compatible), CLI | Chat interface in watsonx Orchestrate | Likely IDE-based | AI client, such as an IDE or desktop assistant | Varies |
| Pricing basis | MIPS-tiered; OTC or subscription options | Quote required | Request pricing from IBM or resellers; as-a-service is per user | Open source; infrastructure cost | Consumption or infrastructure |
| Best for | Connecting any model to z/OS data, jobs and 3270 applications under existing SAF controls, from read-only chat through to approval-gated agentic actions | Conversational operations support within IBM’s ecosystem | Application modernization and code understanding | Developers and teams building their own agent workflows | Maximum custom control, or cloud-first strategies |
Based on publicly available product information as of October 2026. Features and pricing change; confirm details with each vendor. Results vary by environment and configuration.
Connect/AI · Complete AI Stack · Data 21
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Data Sovereignty by Design. Built for the Mainframe.
