Abstract

As enterprises pursue digital transformation and sustainability goals in tandem, optimizing the energy
efficiency of legacy systems such as IBM mainframes becomes a key strategy for reducing carbon emissions.
This paper examines how Critical Path Software (CPS) contributes to data center sustainability through its
AI-driven optimization platforms, TurboTune VSAM and TTSQL for DB2. These solutions enable rapid,
low-effort reductions in CPU usage across mainframe environments, reducing both energy consumption and
the associated carbon footprint. We explore the alignment of CPS’s offerings with global trends in green IT,
highlight the measurable impact of CPS tools in enterprise deployments, and connect this to broader
initiatives for carbon-aware computing.

Mainframe Optimization and Carbon Reduction
Reducing CPU usage in mainframe environments is directly correlated with reductions in energy use, thermal
load, and ultimately greenhouse gas emissions. CPS’s TurboTune platform addresses this through intelligent
tuning of VSAM datasets and SQL workloads. By analyzing access patterns and recommending configuration
changes, TurboTune achieves meaningful performance gains without requiring invasive application changes.

TTSQL and Carbon-Aware Workload Tuning
TTSQL enables high-impact SQL workload optimization, particularly in production environments where even
small gains scale across millions of transactions. This supports carbon-aware computing models, where CPU
reduction becomes a lever for reducing a data center’s total CO2 emissions. TTSQL also benefits legacy
systems tied to transaction processing subsystems such as IMS.

Alignment with Sustainability Trends
Organizations such as Google, Meta, and HPE are aligning digital operations with renewable energy
availability. CPS’s solutions parallel these efforts by reducing workload resource draw and improving
efficiency without disrupting business-critical systems.

Estimated CPU Reduction vs. Energy Savings

How TurboTune Fits Into a Mainframe Environment

Conclusion
Solutions like those offered by CPS will play an increasingly important role in sustainable IT. By enabling
enterprises to reduce mainframe CPU usage rapidly and at scale, CPS supports operational efficiency and
progress toward carbon footprint reduction. Their tools align with green IT goals and help bridge the gap
between legacy systems and future sustainability benchmarks.

References
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International Energy Agency (IEA). (2022). Data Centres and Data Transmission Networks. Retrieved from
Critical Path Software: Carbon Footprint Reduction through Mainframe Optimization
https://www.iea.org/reports/data-centres-and-data-transmission-networks

Radovanovic, A., Koningstein, R., Schneider, I., Chen, B., Duarte, A., Roy, B., Xiao, D., Haridasan, M., Hung, P., Care,
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Sarkar, S., Naug, A., Luna, R., Guillen, A., Gundecha, V., Ghorbanpour, S., Mousavi, S., Markovikj, D., & Ramesh Babu,
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Carbon Footprint Reduction for Sustainable Data Centers in Real-Time. Proceedings of the Thirty-Eighth
AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-24).