The Billing System transformation programme at National Grid was severely hampered by z/OS test environment unavailability across multiple systems.

Dev & Test z/OS environments were already close to capacity, so mainframe modernisation initiatives required acquiring expensive new hardware. One mainframe modernisation project (using z/OS Connect to improve z/OS access) could not proceed without additional environments.

National Grid’s cloud-first policy fuelled the desire to:

• create dev and test environments in the cloud
• offer self-service
• remove third-party dependency
• improve agility with on-demand access
• and reduce cost

The new self-service capability has transformed National Grid’s ability to deliver transformative change across billing systems. Using Delphixand PopUp running on Azure, National Grid accelerated their projects. The company is now planning to spin up new z/OS environments with the latest secured data using automation pipelines in minutes.

Delphix and PopUp on Azure empowered National Grid with autonomy over their Z systems and the ability to increase productivity. National Grid can now immediately innovate to solve business problems using ephemeral z/OS environments spun up on demand. They are planning to redevelop some of their legacy .NET processes using modern tooling.