August 6, 2025

Increase your S3 storage sales by adding BMC to your portfolio

As vendors exit the physical and virtual tape market, now is the time to help your mainframe customers rethink data on a larger scale. BMC AMI Cloud offers a powerful, cloud-first solution to replace legacy tape systems with secure, scalable and cost-effective on-prem and hybrid cloud storage — purpose-built for mainframe environments. 

Simplify mainframe data with a cloud-first approach

With BMC AMI Cloud data, your customers can eliminate costly tape systems, align their cloud strategy and optimize their mainframe data management with flexible, secure and scalable solutions. 

• Cost effective storage: Replace expensive Virtual Tape Libraries (VTL), physical tape hardware and related overhead like FICON licenses and power consumption.
• Flexible cloud integration: Adopt a cloud platform-agnostic approach, allowing you to work with any provider while avoiding vendor lock-in.
• Scalable infrastructure: Scale storage and processing on demand to adapt to changing business needs without infrastructure constraints. 
• Advanced data protection: Automate immutable backups and archives for better protection against cyber threats while reducing rack space usage. 

What is BMC AMI Cloud?

BMC AMI Cloud is a software-defined platform that modernizes mainframe data management by eliminating the need for physical and Virtual Tape Libraries (VTLs). BMC AMI Cloud enables backup, archive, disaster recovery and analytics using public, private, or hybrid cloud storage — all while maintaining mainframe z/OS compatibility and enterprise-grade security. BMC AMI Cloud leverages existing backup routines but moves data from physical tape and VTL to new storage targets — which you can then sell to your customers. 

Why should you care?

Value to you as a partner

You may be wondering — how can I turn the limitations and cost of legacy VTL systems into an opportunity for me? Here's how: do not lead with legacy messaging, talk to your customers about "mainframe data modernization"! When you re-frame the conversation, literally petabytes of potential storage deals will lie at your feet. 

What is an effortless way to reap this windfall? Partner with BMC AMI Cloud, we offer a tremendous opportunity in the world's biggest enterprise accounts. Capture new revenue opportunities by offering a modern, high-demand solution to customers affected by mainframe modernization challenges:

• Expand your services with cloud migration, compliance and cyber-resilience consulting.
• Differentiate your portfolio with a future-proof, software-based alternative that integrates seamlessly with hybrid IT strategies. 

Value to your customers

BMC AMI Cloud Data simplifies mainframe data management by enabling backup, archiving and recovering directly in the cloud-eliminating the need for VTL hardware and other expensive legacy solutions. 

• 16x faster data processing than traditional VTL solutions
• 12x cost savings over traditional VTL solutions
• 50% CPU savings over traditional tape solutions

Key benefits

• Reduce complexity: Complex and siloed data environments require significant time and resource commitments. 
• Leverage scalability and flexibility: Effortlessly and easily adjust and allocate resources to evolving organizational needs. 
• Enhance cyber resilience: Cybersecurity threats, including ransomware, are growing in sophistication and frequency. 
• Optimize cost: Both cloud and object storage are significantly less expensive than VTL hardware with either no hardware or a 5U rack mounted on-prem solution. 
• Enhance regulatory compliance: Meet new regulations such as DORA and support operational efficiency. 
• Harness AI and analytics: Hybrid cloud is a conduit to a smarter, more agile and analytics-driven future. 
• Increase workforce skills flexibility: Expertise required to manage tape-based and VTL systems is dwindling — shortage of new talent, leverage cloud first tools for mainframe. 

How does it work?

Eliminate tape and reduce costs

Reduce costs and unlock the flexibility of the cloud by moving from tape, VTL, VTS and other legacy solutions to a streamlined, scalable platform built for modern business needs. 

• Consolidate to save — Eliminate traditional backup software and tape management tools with all-in-one cloud-enabled platform. 
• Flexible storage options — Reduce expenses with dynamic storage capacity that scales up and down as needs change. 
• Automated transfer — Automate the transfer of large tape data sets to and from the cloud, simplifying operations and saving time. 
• Minimal disruption — Operate alongside existing tools during transition for a smooth path to the cloud. 

Accelerate backup and recovery

Modernize your storage strategy with faster data movement, seamlessly recovery and cost-efficient cloud back and archiving. 

• Lightning-fast data movement — Harness zIIP engines and high-speed TCP/IP transfers to accelerate mainframe data movement, achieving up to 4x faster speeds than traditional tape systems.
• Improved RPO and RTO — Protect your business with additional recovery points, malware-protected backups and rapid restores directly from the cloud.
• Cloud-enabled backup and recovery — Transition from tape-based systems to cloud backup and restore for cost-effective, high-performance disaster recovery and long-term archiving. 
• Parallel recovery — Restore data quickly and in parallel from the cloud to ensure seamless business operations. 

Simplify mainframe data operations

Reduce complexity, control costs and accommodate any skill level with cloud-first mainframe solutions designed for simplicity, flexibility and scalability. 

• Lower skill requirements — Reduce reliance on specialized storage administrators with a modern, intuitive UI that custos down on complex tasks and human error.
• Modernize without rewriting code — Write and read mainframe data sets directly to and from the cloud without modifying JCL or existing applications.
• Reduce infrastructure reliance — Bypass the need for DASD or interim storage, enabling cost-effective data management directly in the cloud.
• Stay flexible — BMC AMI's platform-agnostic solution ensures flexibility to work with any cloud provider, avoiding vendor lock-in.

See how BMC AMI Cloud Data enables VTL/tape to cloud conversion in our interactive demo. 

• A lightweight agents on z/OS transfers data directly to cloud object storage
• A management server (Docker-based) orchestrates policies, reporting and automation
• Data is encrypted, compressed and stored immutably — ready for fast recovery or analytics
• Supports ELT (Extract, Load, Transform) for faster, more cost-effective data movement than traditional ETL

Differentiation in the market

With only IBM, Dell/EMC, Luminex and Optima as the primary vendors supporting tape technology for mainframe data and those solutions aging in place, there are opportunities to sell new cloud-first storage solutions. Because of complexity and cost, some customers have limited the amount of mainframe data on tape so that only "critical" tape data sets are protected, thus broadening your discussion with them about all their data will be beneficial. 

While some solutions have lockouts which prevent backup data from being deleted or modified, thus satisfying new regulatory requirements for immutability, none of these solutions is affordable and practical for tape data. Using Cloud/Object storage for secondary storage is a more elegant and cost-effective solution for immutability, opening new possibilities for unlocking mainframe data and modernizing mainframe data management. 

BMC AMI Cloud vs. other mainframe backup solutions

How to position and sell 

• Lead with urgency: Legacy VTL is leaving your customers exposed to cyber threats, creating a clear need for a modern replacement
• Focus on cost and risk: Highlight savings from eliminating tape and the value of cyber resilient backups
• Emphasize modernization: Position BMC AMI Cloud as a bridge to hybrid cloud and data-driven transformation
• Bundle services: Offer migration, compliance and analytics services to increase deal size and stickiness

Key discovery questions

• When is your next tape refresh?
• What data management solution(s) do you use? Is it one of your top 10 consumer of MIPS on your system today?
• What requirements do you have in your industry to protect data from cyber threats?
• What is your immutable backup strategy?
• Do you have S3 object storage in use today, and/or with Cloud Provider(s) do you have contracts with and/or are you currently exploring?
• How many mainframe staff will retire in the next five years?

Ready to lead the transition?

• With BMC AMI Cloud and Arrow ECS, you can help customers modernize, secure and unlock the value of their mainframe data — while growing your own business in the process.

More information

About BMC AMI Cloud

eBook: Transforming Mainframe Operations with Cloud Data Sets (CDS) 

Podcast: From Tape to Cloud: Ensuring Compliance and Resilience in Hybrid Environments 

White paper: Goodbye, VTL. Here's where mainframe data is going now 

Customer success story: Nedbank Achieves Mainframe Innovation on the Cloud 

Contact your Arrow representative to get started with enablement, pricing and partner incentives. 

• BMC Arrow Supplier Manager: Nicholas Zebrowski
• Arrow Account Manager at BMC: Paul Miles
• Mainframe transformation: Ted Bakon