What Velocity Software does

Velocity Software, Inc. is a privately held niche mainframe software vendor founded in 1988 and headquartered in Mountain View, California, with a wholly owned German subsidiary (Velocity Software GmbH) opened in Mannheim in February 2008. The company specializes in performance management, capacity planning, chargeback, alerting, and provisioning for IBM z/VM virtualization and the Linux, z/OS, VSE, z/TPF, and containerized workloads running on top of it. Its core platform is the Velocity Performance Suite (zVPS), backed by a proprietary Knowledge-based Intelligence (KI) engine developed over 35+ years, and complemented by zPRO for on-premises cloud provisioning and system management, zVRM for Linux and OpenShift workload optimization, zTUNE for tuning recommendations, and a portfolio of monitors and utilities (zVIEW, zALERT, zMAP, zOSMON, VSEMON, zOPERATOR, zTCP, zDIRECT, zSCHEDULE, zSPOOL).

Velocity sells primarily through annual subscription/lease agreements with included support, supplemented by professional services for instructor-led and self-study z/VM training and by a worldwide distribution agreement signed with CA Technologies (now Broadcom) in August 2011. Go-to-market combines direct enterprise field sales, an IBM Partner Plus relationship active since 1988, free trials and Proof-of-Concept evaluations, web-based demos for zPRO, zVIEW and zALERT, and active participation in IBM Z user groups and conferences. Documented customers span financial services, government (Supreme Court of Virginia), retail (Boscovs, a customer since 1997), hospitality, and education, with a self-reported customer retention above 95% over the past 35 years among z/VM customers. The company employs approximately 15 people, has raised no external capital, and remains founder-led by Barton Robinson.

Name

Velocity Software

Legal name

Velocity Software, Inc.

Website

https://velocitysoftware.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1988

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Mountain View

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Software Licensing and Subscription: Velocity Software products are licensed software solutions for IBM z/VM and Linux environments. The company offers lease agreements with standard support included, product upgrades at no additional charge for new hardware and operating system releases, and free trials and Proof of Concept (POCs).
2. Professional Services and Training: Revenue generated from instructor-led training classes and educational materials for z/VM environments. Training includes modules on z/VM administration, performance management, and system programming.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Velocity Software develops and sells performance management, provisioning, and system management software for IBM z/VM and Linux on IBM Z environments. The flagship Velocity Performance Suite (zVPS) provides full visibility into z/VM, Linux, VSE and z/OS workloads on a single pane of glass, while zPRO delivers on-premises cloud provisioning. Complementary offerings include zVRM (workload optimization for Linux/OpenShift), zTUNE (tuning recommendations), and training/education services.

Product overview

Velocity Software offers the Velocity Performance Suite (zVPS) as its core unified platform, complemented by specialized products and add-on modules. The portfolio centers on zVPS for comprehensive performance management of z/VM, Linux, VSE, and z/OS environments. zPRO serves as the primary provisioning and system management platform enabling on-premises cloud infrastructure. zVRM (Velocity Resource Manager) provides workload optimization for Linux and OpenShift as an add-on to zPRO. zTUNE delivers tuning recommendations. The suite includes zVIEW (web-based visibility dashboard), zALERT (incident reporting), zMAP (capacity reporting), zOPERATOR (operations console), and specialized monitors for VSE (VSEMON) and z/OS (zOSMON). Additional tools include zDIRECT (directory management), zSCHEDULE (scheduling), zSPOOL (spool visualization), zTCP (TCP/IP monitoring), and zVWS (web services layer).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• zVPS: Velocity Performance Suite - comprehensive performance management software for z/VM, Linux, z/VSE, and z/OS environments
• zPRO
• zVRM
• zVIEW
• zTUNE
• zALERT
• zLOV
• zDIRECT
• zSCHEDULE
• zSPOOL
• zMAP
• zMON
• zOSMON
• VSEMON
• zPORTAL
• zOPERATOR
• zTCP
• zWRITE
• zVWS
• VSIPUMP

Products and services

• zVPS (Velocity Performance Suite) Comprehensive performance management platform providing full visibility into z/VM, Linux, VSE and z/OS workloads on a single pane of glass, including performance analysis, capacity planning, chargeback, and operational alerting. Targets enterprises running IBM Z mainframes.
• zPRO Provisioning and system management product providing on-premises cloud infrastructure enablement, LPAR and z/VM cloning, Ansible integration with SMAPI-free APIs, and private PaaS capabilities. Targets z/VM system administrators and modernization initiatives.
• zVRM (Velocity Resource Manager) Automated workload optimization software for Linux and OpenShift environments, sold as an add-on to zPRO. Targets enterprise teams running containerized workloads on z/VM.
• zTUNE Subscription service providing tuning reports with recommended actions to help maintain z/VM, Linux and z/OS systems with confidence. Diagnoses configuration issues and provides optimization guidance.

Quantifiable outcome

• Installations run at 10-20% higher utilization reducing hardware and software expenditures accordingly
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• CA Technologies (now Broadcom)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 August 2011Worldwide licensing and distribution agreement signed August 2011. CA Technologies (now part of Broadcom) distributed Velocity Software products as part of their mainframe portfolio.
• IBMcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1988IBM Partner Plus member since 1988. Velocity Software products evolve with each new release of z/VM and IBM Z to take advantage of new features. Company contributes to Z-User Groups and IBM Z conferences worldwide to support the IBM Z ecosystem. Products are designed to help installations realize benefits of well-optimized IBM Z environments.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Direct peers

• BMC Software: Major mainframe management software vendor with BMC MainView, AMI Datastream, and AMI Ops products for z/OS and z/VM performance monitoring, capacity planning, and automation. BMC is the closest direct competitor to Velocity Software in the mainframe performance management space.
• Rocket Software: Mainframe software provider offering performance management, modernization, and DevOps tools for IBM Z environments. Rocket competes directly with Velocity in provisioning, automation, and modernization solutions for z/VM customers.

Broad incumbents

• IBM: Owner of the z/VM platform and IBM Z hardware, IBM offers native monitoring and management tools including OMEGAMON and IBM Z Performance and Capacity Analytics. IBM is the platform incumbent and a strategic partner, but also offers competing solutions as part of its broader portfolio.
• Broadcom: Acquired CA Technologies' mainframe software portfolio in 2018, now offers a broad suite of mainframe management tools including performance monitoring, workload automation, and database management. Broadcom is a broad incumbent with significant overlap but a much wider portfolio.

Emerging players

• DataKinetics: Provides mainframe performance optimization and database acceleration tools for IBM z/OS environments. DataKinetics addresses adjacent performance challenges with similar target customers to Velocity, though focused on database optimization rather than virtualization monitoring.
• Macro 4: Mainframe software vendor offering performance management, output management, and automation solutions for IBM Z environments. Macro 4 serves similar enterprise mainframe customers with overlapping but distinct capabilities from Velocity Software.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat7 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/velocity-software-inc
• Xx.com/velocitysoftw

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Velocity Software