DataDirect Technologies announced availability this week of DataDirect Shadow version 7, for mainframe SOA environments. Version 7 incorporates technology to exploit IBM mainframe specialty engines that reduce mainframe costs of ownership and improve SOA, DataDirect said. These specialty engines include the System z9 Integration Information Processor (zIIP) and the System z Application Assist Processor (zAAP). S DataDirect Technologies announced availability this week of DataDirect Shadow version 7, for mainframe SOA environments.Version 7 incorporates technology to exploit IBM mainframe specialty engines that reduce mainframe costs of ownership and improve SOA, DataDirect said. These specialty engines include the System z9 Integration Information Processor (zIIP) and the System z Application Assist Processor (zAAP). Software currently run on the mainframe General Purpose Processor is redeployed to these specialty engines.Specifically, version 7 will open zIIP to additional workloads beyond DB2, including mainframe data queries to IMS, VSAM, Adabas and IDMS. Also supported is SOAP/XML parsing for transformation of business logic and screen logic into Web services. With Shadow, SOA integration processing and data queries will be diverted from the mainframe GPP and offloaded to zIIP and/or zAAP specialty engines. Also featured in version 7 are capabilities for expanded mainframe SOA initiatives that allow organizations to orchestrate Web services using BPEL 2.0 on the mainframe inside the zAAP engine, Integrated Facility for Linux or any standard Java Virtual Machine platform. Mainframe data connectivity in version 7 is boosted through high-performance client drivers. Technology Industry