One sure thing in the current market is that insurers--and all companies--are looking for ways to cut costs and to be more efficient. For IT, this may mean attempting to do more with existing hardware, or it might mean replacing inefficient systems with more modern ones that can drive down expenses. In the case of the System z specialty engines, it might be a combination of both.

By adding a zIIP, zAAP, or IFL to an existing System z, an insurer may be able to quickly cut down mainframe processing costs with little effort. For an insurer that already relies heavily on the System z in its infrastructure, some research into the specialty engines is definitely in order. Specialty engines are not guaranteed to reduce mainframe costs, but a host of vendor solutions in the marketplace exist to help companies determine what course is best for their bottom line.

Any insurer using the System z should ask the following questions:

• Has mainframe utilization been capped because of processing costs?
• Does the organization want to move more onto the mainframe?
• Does the organization want the mainframe to play a larger role in the distributed infrastructure?
• Have any new applications been placed on a distributed server because the mainframe solution appeared too costly?