tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87502971407503680212024-03-17T08:58:06.464+00:00Mainframe UpdateTrevor Eddollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01503760088127669481noreply@blogger.comBlogger839125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8750297140750368021.post-64699944393235460182024-03-17T08:57:00.003+00:002024-03-17T08:57:22.006+00:00Making life easier for new mainframers<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The big news is
that IBM has launched the Mainframe Skills Council, and they did it at the SHARE
conference in Orlando. So, I hear you ask, what’s a skills council? The idea is
to provide a forum where global organizations will foster a skilled, diverse,
sustainable workforce for the mainframe platform. The council includes
organizations that are IBM clients, IBM partners, academia, user groups,
non-profits, and open communities. They will collaborate to implement mainframe
skills development solutions. The initial membership includes: Academic
Mainframe Consortium, Albany State University, Broadcom, DNB Bank, HOGENT,
M&T Bank, Northern Illinois University, Rocket Software, SHARE, and 21CS.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Meredith
Stowell, Vice President, IBM Z Ecosystem, is quoted as saying: “The mainframe
community has been working to close the mainframe generational skills gap and
we’ve seen substantial progress. The Mainframe Skills Council represents an
exciting opportunity to build on these advancements and ignite the community to
share experiences and create mainframe talent solutions that can grow with the
platform.”</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In addition to
IBM offering training, industry-recognized digital badging, academic community
support, and non-traditional pathway programs, the broader IBM Z global
community of universities, clients, user groups, and partners also provide
mainframe skills solutions and insights. The Mainframe Skills Council brings
together organizations to share experiences and collaboratively implement
solutions to build a strong global workforce for the mainframe platform. Importantly,
the council will include working groups focused on career awareness, competency
frameworks, learning paths, as well as professional development. Council goals
include:</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span>Showcase
a vibrant mainframe talent pool.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span>Align
on common industry competency frameworks.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span>Share
ideas and practices to enhance professional development.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span>Share
education, training tools, and related resources to optimize overall mainframe
career experience for professionals and leaders.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span>Increase
mainframe employer adoption of proven skill initiatives and practices.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">IBM is also introducing
the IBM Z Mainframe Skills Depot, which is a comprehensive platform for
accessing mainframe skills training. Learners can choose from specialized
tracks tailored to roles such as System Administrator, Application Developer,
or Modernization Architect, and access over a thousand hours of self-paced,
no-charge, hands-on learning to earn industry-recognized digital badges.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">IBM currently
offers the IBM Z Global Skills Accelerator and Apprenticeship program. With
over 300 hours of learning, success coaching, on the job training, and
mentorship, this program has enabled 83 global employers to skill up over 440
mainframe system administrators and application developers across 13 countries.
In addition, the IBM Z Student Ambassador program provides leadership
opportunities for students and supports mainframe student clubs on campuses at
more than 95 universities worldwide.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In order for
those talented newcomers to the world of mainframes to get jobs, IBM sponsors
IBM Z Virtual Career Fairs around the world to bring together IBM clients,
partners, and badged mainframe talent. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">With the
increasing concern about experienced mainframers retiring and the huge skills
gap this will leave for so many organizations, this initiative from IBM and its
collaborators is an important step in filling that gap and ensuring a steady
stream of newcomers to the wonderful world of mainframe working. And it really
will make life easier for those potential new mainframers.</span></span></p>
Trevor Eddollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01503760088127669481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8750297140750368021.post-39617388314152527062024-02-18T08:34:00.003+00:002024-02-18T08:34:45.856+00:00Small, cheap, and powerful!<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The birth of a
new baby is always exciting, and on 6 February, IBM announced a new mainframe.
It’s the IBM LinuxOne 4 Express, so it’s using Linux as its operating system
rather than z/OS, and inside the pre-configured rack system is a 5.2GHz Telum
processor – the same as runs in the Z16 mainframes.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">All those sites
that are running multiple Linux servers with multiple staff looking after them,
might want to think again about what they are doing because, as I said, the new
mainframe isn’t some massive box that needs lots of floor space to house, it’s
rack-mounted. And the cost of one of these small but powerful boxes starts at
$135,000, which is a very reasonable price in the world of mainframes.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And for those
sites that are currently running multiple Linux boxes, IBM is suggesting that
moving their Linux workloads from <i>x</i>86 servers to an IBM LinuxONE 4
Express box can save them over 52% on their total cost of ownership over five
years. Consolidating the workloads on the new mainframe and off distributed
systems gives users the benefits of a highly reliable environment with very
small amounts of downtime. It also helps customers to simplify their IT
environments. Customers also gain the ability to process large amounts of data
using the two levels of physical and two levels of virtual cache, and it does
that in an energy-efficient way.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The new
mainframe can support hybrid cloud working and sites ramping up their AI usage.
It also comes with mainframe-level security. It comes with up to 16 Integrated
Facility for Linux (IFL) cores, and supports up to 864GB of memory. Of course,
the Telum chips provide on-chip AI acceleration, which provides in-transaction
inferencing needed for fraud detection, medical imaging, and insurance claims
processing. For example, health insurance companies could analyse large volumes
of medical records in near real time to validate process claims, increasing the
speed of business decision making.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In terms of
security, the IBM LinuxOne 4 Express comes with the IBM Secure Execution for
Linux capability – a hardware-based security technology that is now built into
IBM LinuxONE 4 Express. This scalable isolation protects workload data within
virtual machine guests from unauthorized access or modification. In
multi-workload environments where data in use could be vulnerable to insider
attacks or credential compromise, this is definitely a must-have. And,
obviously the workloads are protected from external attacks.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In these days
when costs and security can mean the difference between a company staying in
business or disappearing from the marketplace, the new IBM LinuxOne 4 Express
gives small and medium-sized organizations a good option to choose. Hybrid
cloud working is what most companies are doing or working towards, the new
machine can handle that. Making greater use of generative and other AI modes of
working is similarly on everyone’s radar these days. The new box can do that
too. And it has mainframe security levels at its core. So, that means choosing
the new box offers future facilities and security. In terms of cost, moving
from any number of Linux boxes to a single centralized box will, as mentioned
above, realize cost savings for a company. It will also give them better
insight into what exactly is going on. Although the cost may seem steep to
people unused to mainframe environments, taking a slightly longer look at the
accounts should definitely lead to cost savings for any organization.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The IBM
LinuxOne 4 Express is an exciting and interesting step for IBM to bring in new
customers that previously might have ignored the mainframe world completely and
believed the old myths about dinosaurs etc. It's small, it's cheap (relatively), and it's powerful, and I wish it every success.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The new IBM
LinuxONE 4 Express will be generally available from IBM and certified business
partners on 20 February.</span></span></p>
Trevor Eddollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01503760088127669481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8750297140750368021.post-50891657756179295842024-02-04T09:03:00.005+00:002024-02-04T09:29:58.101+00:0020 years of iTech-Ed Ltd<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">2024 is a bit
of a special year here at iTech-Ed Ltd. It was our 20th anniversary on 1
February. I thought you might be interested in some of the changes that have
taken place in that time.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Before we set
up iTech-Ed Ltd, I had worked for Xephon for 18 years. Xephon ran briefings on
mainframe topics, ran surveys on mainframe topics, and created user guides to
things like databases. In 1986, they decided to try a small publication by CICS
professionals for CICS professionals. They called it <i>CICS Update</i>. It
sold very well – remember there was no Google or Internet in those days, and it
was difficult to easily get your hands on working bits of code and alternative
solutions to common problems. <i>VM Update</i> followed in 1987, and then a
whole range of mainframe-based publications. I was there at the very beginning
and over the next 18 years edited most of them.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In 2004, Xephon
sold the name and the publications to TCI publications. We set up iTech-Ed Ltd,
and we got the contract to edit around five or six of these Updates each month.
My first activity, at one minute after midnight on 1 February 2004, was to upload
the new issues to the Web site.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Over the next
three and half years, iTech-Ed was responsible for encouraging technical people
to write articles, editing and checking them to produce each edition every
month, paying contributors, and sending the publications to the printers and
putting them on the Web site. A small team of experts checked the text for
punctuation and grammar as well as technical accuracy.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">At the same
time, iTech-Ed was carrying out consultancy work and producing technical
documentation that was used in-house by a number of well-known companies. And
we also started blogging at <a href="http://mainframeupdate.blogspot.co.uk/">Mainframe
Update</a> using Blogger and Mainframe World on IT Toolbox.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Towards the end
of 2007, the Updates ceased publication, and the very first Virtual IMS user
group meeting was held using Webex. The user group was immediately very popular
and was sponsored by NEON Enterprise Software. That year also saw a growth in
number of companies using our Web design and development services.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In 2008 the
company took its first steps in offering advice on social media and how
organizations could use it both to get their message out there and also to
interact with customers in a positive way. I also qualified as a Microsoft
Office Specialist Master Instructor – MOS MI – and ran a number of on-site
training courses. And in 2010 I attended Microsoft SharePoint Administrator and
Developer training.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">iTech-Ed Ltd
also started publishing the Arcati Mainframe Yearbook – the de facto reference
work for mainframers. In 2024, Planet Mainframe took over the production and
publication of the Yearbook, and the current edition is available <a href="https://planetmainframe.com/arcati/">here</a>.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I was first
made an IBM Champion in 2009 and have been a champion every year since. I have
had numerous articles published in a variety of Web-based and printed
publications, such as <i>Enterprise Tech Journal</i>, <i>zJournal</i>, <i>Mainframe
Executive</i>, <i>Technical Support</i>, and others. I started blogging
regularly on Destination z in July 2011, and now writes for <a href="https://techchannel.com/">TechChannel</a>. He has also been a regular
writer <a href="https://planetmainframe.com/">Planet Mainframe</a>.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In 2011, Fundi
Software took over as sponsor of the <a href="https://www.virtualusergroups.com/">Virtual IMS user group</a> and we
then launched the <a href="https://www.virtualusergroups.com/">Virtual CICS
user group</a>. Both of them enjoy regular meetings and newsletters and have
over 600 members. In 2023, the <a href="https://www.virtualusergroups.com/">Virtual
Db2 user group</a> was launched. I chaired and organized all three of these
user groups until Planet Mainframe took over most of the heavy lifting.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Over recent
years, we’ve published guest blogs, I’ve ghost written blogs for many other
blog sites, and I’ve written articles for other sites including <a href="https://www.experfy.com/">Experfy</a> and the <a href="https://community.ibm.com/community/user/ibmz-and-linuxone/blogs/trevor-eddolls1/2022/11/16/cobol-past-present-and-future">AIOps
on IBM Z</a> site. I also wrote for <a href="https://www.spiceworks.com/">Spiceworks
</a>(which was Toolbox) for a number of years. And I’ve created podcasts for a
number of different companies.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I’ve spoken at
the <a href="https://www.gse.org.uk/">Guide Share Europe (GSE) UK</a>
conference for a number of years, speaking about mainframe security and, more
recently, artificial intelligence (AI). I’ve been awarded the IBM Z and
LinuxOne Influencer badge over the past few years.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">So, here we are
– 2024. 20 years in business. If you want to get in contact with us, our
website is <a href="http://www.itech-ed.com/">itech-ed.com</a> or you can email
<a href="mailto:trevor@itech-ed.com">mailto:trevor@itech-ed.com</a>. You can
Like us on Facebook at <a href="http://www.facebook.com/itech-ed">fb.com/itech-ed</a>,
follow me on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/t_eddolls">@t_eddolls</a>
or Instagram at<a href="mailto:@t_eddolls"> @t_eddolls</a>, and Threads <a href="https://www.threads.net/@t_eddolls">@t_eddolls</a>. You can also connect
on LinkedIn at <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/teddolls">linkedin.com/in/teddolls</a>.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p>
Trevor Eddollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01503760088127669481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8750297140750368021.post-53742139837246917782024-01-21T09:22:00.002+00:002024-01-21T09:52:55.995+00:00Trevor Eddolls – IBM Champion 2024<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">iTech-Ed Ltd is pleased to announce that Trevor
Eddolls, its CEO, has been recognized by IBM as an IBM Champion for 2024.
Trevor was first awarded IBM Champion status in 2009.</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMJgyFITEBPXFH1q2Lo4rw-b6HtElREFlq8LiAx0hoz_JqGhlYY5I4Kpecm_xg0b5tq4UijDXbDKxg9SRuQOIN3WuAD8JI_rr-vV-O_qIBFFj-yehoETB-oZPshL9W3_xc3BUsIBbA0grCEKBFxJkSc8LrSzVFKlNFl-RI2tvEWPKFF42t8cFhRqxe79w/s200/IBMchamp24.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMJgyFITEBPXFH1q2Lo4rw-b6HtElREFlq8LiAx0hoz_JqGhlYY5I4Kpecm_xg0b5tq4UijDXbDKxg9SRuQOIN3WuAD8JI_rr-vV-O_qIBFFj-yehoETB-oZPshL9W3_xc3BUsIBbA0grCEKBFxJkSc8LrSzVFKlNFl-RI2tvEWPKFF42t8cFhRqxe79w/s1600/IBMchamp24.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><br /> </span>
<p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">IBM said: “On behalf of IBM, it is my great
pleasure to recognize you as a returning IBM Champion in 2024. Congratulations!</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">“We would like to thank you for your continued
leadership and contributions to the IBM technology community. This recognition
is awarded based on your contributions for the 2023 calendar year. The IBM
Champion designation is for a 1-year term, and may be renewed by IBM annually,
provided you demonstrate continued community engagement and contributions. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Your IBM Champion status begins now and
will run through December 2024.</b>”</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Trevor Eddolls, CEO of iTech-Ed Ltd said: “I think
it's really important in these days of multiple computing platforms being
available that people share information with others about the positive
contributions mainframes make to the world of IT. And I'm proud that my efforts
have been recognized again this year by IBM. I think the Champion programme is
a very positive way for IBM to recognize people around the world who help to
promote its products and share their skills in using them."</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">According to IBM: “The IBM Champion program
recognizes these innovative thought leaders in the technical community and
rewards these contributions by amplifying their voice and increasing their
sphere of influence. IBM Champions are enthusiasts and advocates: IT
professionals, business leaders, developers, executives, educators, and
influencers who support and mentor others to help them get the most out of IBM
software, solutions, and services.”</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">So why is iTech-Ed Ltd’s Trevor Eddolls an IBM
Champion? Well, he doesn’t work for IBM, but he does write about mainframe
hardware and software. You can read his articles </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="http://mainframeupdate.blogspot.com/">here</a>. He also writes articles for
the <a href="https://techchannel.com/">TechChannel </a>website,
and often blogs on the <a href="http://www.planetmainframe.com/blog/" target="_blank" title="Planet Mainframe">Planet Mainframe</a> website. Trevor has spoken at the GSE UK regional conference for the
past few years. In 2023, he was talking about the brain, intelligence, ad AI. He
has been Editorial Director for the well-respected <a href="https://itech-ed.com/arcati/" target="_blank" title="Arcati Mainframe Yearbook">Arcati Mainframe Yearbook</a>. And Trevor Eddolls was the chair of the Virtual IMS, the Virtual CICS, and the Virtual Db2 user
groups. Their new website can be found at <a href="https://www.virtualusergroups.com/">virtualusergroups.com</a>. And this work has earned Trevor Eddolls the IBM Champion accolade for
the past sixteen years.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Are IBM Champions compensated for their role? No.
Do IBM Champions have any obligations to IBM? Again, the answer is no. The
title recognizes their past contributions to the community only over the
previous 12 months. Do IBM Champions have any formal relationship with IBM? No.
IBM Champions don’t formally represent IBM, nor do they speak on behalf of IBM.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">But it’s not all one-sided! There are regular IBM
Champions calls, where IBM and Champions share relevant information on a range
of topics. IBM Champions also receive merchandise customized with the IBM
Champion logo. And IBM Champions receive visibility, recognition, and
networking opportunities at IBM events and conferences; and special access to
product development teams, and invitations and discounts to events and
conference.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">You can find more information about the Trevor and
his work on </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://twitter.com/t_eddolls" target="_blank" title="@t_eddolls">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/iTechEd/" target="_blank" title="iTech-Ed Ltd">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/t_eddolls/" target="_blank" title="@t_eddolls">Instagram</a>, and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/teddolls/" target="_blank" title="Trevor Eddolls">LinkedIn</a>. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">You can find out more about iTech-Ed </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://itech-ed.com/" target="_blank" title="iTech-Ed Ltd">here</a>.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p>
Trevor Eddollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01503760088127669481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8750297140750368021.post-6857953257772774562024-01-14T09:43:00.002+00:002024-01-14T10:41:28.741+00:00iTech-Ed Ltd and Planet Mainframe merge mainframe channels<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">iTech-Ed Ltd
and Planet Mainframe are thrilled to announce a transformative merger,
consolidating their assets to propel mainframe education and community support
to new heights. </span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">This strategic
integration is the realization of the two companies’ recent marketing
partnership that demonstrated such an amazing synergy of goal and purpose that
the natural evolution was to take it to the next level and provide a more
comprehensive and strategic integration of these mainframe channels with Planet
Mainframe taking the lead where appropriate.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">From now on,
iTech-Ed Ltd’s three user groups – the Virtual CICS user group, the Virtual Db2
user group, and the Virtual IMS user group – will continue to champion the
promotion and amplification of educational resources and tools tailored for
CICS, Db2, and IMS users while now being hosted on their own unique website (</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.virtualusergroups.com"><span>www.virtualusergroups.com</span></a><span>) and benefiting from
the linkage to, and expanded visibility from, Planet Mainframe. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">iTech-Ed Ltd’s
Arcati Mainframe Yearbook and well-known and respected annual Mainframe Survey
will also now be hosted on the Planet Mainframe site at </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.planetmainframe.com"><span>www.planetmainframe.com</span></a><span> – benefiting from the
significant exposure the online publication receives every single month.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The CICS, Db2,
and IMS user groups and the Yearbook stand as vibrant communities and assets
by, and for, mainframe professionals committed to knowledge sharing and best
practices within each specific mainframe technology or about the mainframe in
general. Through their surveys, webinars, training sessions, and networking
events, they have become an environment where members can remain at the
forefront of industry developments and explore interconnected mainframe
technologies.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Planet
Mainframe, recognized as the premier online resource for mainframe
professionals, offers a rich repository of articles, tutorials, opinion pieces,
and other educational materials designed to keep users abreast of the latest
trends and technologies in the industry. The platform serves as a dynamic forum
for global networking and collaboration among mainframe professionals.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Amanda
Hendley, Managing Editor of Planet Mainframe, expressed enthusiasm about the
merger: “We are very excited to elevate mainframe education and community
support for the industry with this merger. Our shared goals have
converged in a way that amplifies the impact of our combined assets.
Together, we will provide users with more opportunities to access the tools and
resources needed to stay abreast of the latest developments in this
dynamic field.”</span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Trevor
Eddolls, CEO of iTech-Ed Ltd and an IBM Champion for 2024, highlighted the
significance of the merger: “This news represents a substantial step in our
ongoing efforts to support the CICS, Db2, and IMS communities as well as
mainframe education in general. We look forward to providing an even more
enriched community containing a pool of valuable resources and opportunities
for our members under the respected stewardship of Planet Mainframe.”</span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span>About
iTech-Ed Ltd.</span></b><span>
iTech-Ed Ltd is a mainframe IT consultancy business specializing in consulting,
writing, and editing services. In addition to running the Virtual CICS user
group, the Virtual Db2 user group, and the Virtual IMS user group. It also
produces their respective bi-monthly newsletters, iTech-Ed Ltd. also produces
the annual Arcati Mainframe Yearbook and provides the industry with technical
education and training services.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span>About
Planet Mainframe.</span></b><span> Planet Mainframe is a leading online resource for
mainframe professionals, offering a wide range of articles, tutorials, and
other resources to help users stay current on the latest trends and
technologies. The platform also provides a forum for networking and
collaboration among mainframe professionals worldwide. </span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p>
Trevor Eddollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01503760088127669481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8750297140750368021.post-89136073192696743052024-01-07T09:40:00.004+00:002024-01-23T10:03:35.457+00:002023 at iTech-Ed Ltd<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">As
usual at this time of year, I thought I’d take a look at the previous year,
with the spotlight on what was happening at iTech-Ed Ltd.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The exciting
news in January was that Trevor Eddolls, CEO of iTech-Ed Ltd, was recognized by
IBM as a 2023 IBM Champion. IBM said: “On behalf of IBM, it is my great
pleasure to recognize you as a returning IBM Champion in 2023. Congratulations!
We would like to thank you for your continued leadership and contributions to
the IBM technology community. This recognition is awarded based on your
contributions for the 2022 calendar year.”</span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmFIcTnFF3RwfLln5BsMjWvdb_iFsgJN36gHvSWw5paIqQ89WADSckFCzqTpVt1iuQoAo7hi0P15EFlebd3LoKPhzTa2qYGAwLdJWrz6SY19iGOmwOK6PIX2NHGHfCR62oCx-28hOpR49I6_qbepr5vokjDoqsNEyWVKI536MNRHkCY7q43BTwSg5mRyI/s200/IBMchamp23.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmFIcTnFF3RwfLln5BsMjWvdb_iFsgJN36gHvSWw5paIqQ89WADSckFCzqTpVt1iuQoAo7hi0P15EFlebd3LoKPhzTa2qYGAwLdJWrz6SY19iGOmwOK6PIX2NHGHfCR62oCx-28hOpR49I6_qbepr5vokjDoqsNEyWVKI536MNRHkCY7q43BTwSg5mRyI/s1600/IBMchamp23.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span><p></p><p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">On 10 January,
the </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://itech-ed.com/virtualcics" target="_blank"><span>Virtual CICS user group</span></a><span> had a fact-packed
presentation from Todd Havekost, Senior z/OS Performance Consultant at
IntelliMagic. He was discussing, “New Ways to Analyze CICS Transaction and
Statistics Data”.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">On 17 January,
the </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://itech-ed.com/virtualdb2/" target="_blank"><span>Virtual Db2 user group</span></a><span> enjoyed a really
interesting presentation from Craig S Mullins, President & Principal
Consultant at Mullins Consulting Inc. He was discussing “Understanding Your
Rolling 4 Hour Average to Tune Db2 and Lower Mainframe Costs”.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In addition,
Trevor’s article, </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://techchannel.com/Enterprise/01/2023/mainframe-security-2023" target="_blank" title="Mainframe, Security and More: A Review of 2022 and a Look at 2023"><span>“Mainframe, Security
and More: A Review of 2022 and a Look at 2023”</span></a><span>, was published on the
TechChannel website in January. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Also, January
saw the publication of the always popular Arcati Mainframe Yearbook 2023. You
can download a copy </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://itech-ed.com/arcati" target="_blank" title="The Arcati Mainframe Yearbook 2023"><b><span style="text-decoration: none;">here</span></b></a><span> – it’s FREE. Last year’s edition was
downloaded around 21,000 times during the course of the year, and Trevor is
Editorial Director for this highly-respected annual source of mainframe
information. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">On 7 February,
the </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://itech-ed.com/virtualims" target="_blank"><span>Virtual IMS user group</span></a><span> had a fascinating
presentation from Scott Quillicy, Senior Director for Precisely. He was
discussing, “Lessons Learned – IMS Application Modernization to the Cloud”.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">At the
beginning of March, Trevor’s article, </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.openmainframeproject.org/blog/2023/03/01/how-successful-is-zowe" target="_blank" title="How Successful is Zowe?"><span>“How Successful is Zowe?”</span></a><span>, was published on the
Open Mainframe Project website. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">On 7 March,
there was an in-depth presentation to the </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://itech-ed.com/virtualcics" target="_blank"><span>Virtual CICS user group</span></a><span> from Larry Strickland,
Chief Product Officer at DataKinetics, who was discussing, “Making the case for
developers to use In-Memory tables”.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Also in March,
Trevor’s article, </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://planetmainframe.com/2023/03/all-you-need-to-know-about-mainframes/" target="_blank" title="All You Need To Know About Mainframes"><span>“All You Need To Know
About Mainframes”</span></a><span>,
was published on the Planet Mainframe website. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">On 28 March,
the </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://itech-ed.com/virtualdb2/" target="_blank"><span>Virtual Db2 user group</span></a><span> enjoyed an informative
and entertaining presentation today from BMC Software’s Chad Reiber, Principal
Software Consultant. He was discussing “Db2 z/OS Recovery – How Best Practices
Have Changed to Address New Threats”.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Dusty Rivers,
Senior Director, US Systems Z at Mainline Information Systems, was on top form
on 18 April, when he presented to the </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://itech-ed.com/virtualims" target="_blank"><span>Virtual IMS user group</span></a><span>. He was discussing,
“Mainframe Systems (IMS, CICS, etc) As Clients in the New World”.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Colin Pearce
gave a great technical nitty-gritty presentation to the </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://itech-ed.com/virtualcics" target="_blank"><span>Virtual CICS user group</span></a><span> on 9 May. He was
discussing “How to define CICS Maintained Data Tables to the Coupling Facility
Resource Manager”.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">On 23 May,
Tori Felt, Associate Technical Enablement Specialist in the IBM Z Washington
Systems Center, and Keziah Knopp, Db2 for z/OS Specialist at the IBM Z
Washington Systems Center, were discussing “Db2 for z/OS and REST Services”
with the </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://itech-ed.com/virtualdb2/" target="_blank"><span>Virtual Db2 user group</span></a><span>.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Also in May,
Trevor’s article, </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://techchannel.com/Enterprise/05/2023/well-being-of-mainframers" target="_blank" title="Looking Out for the Well-Being of Mainframers"><span>“Looking Out for the
Well-Being of Mainframers”</span></a><span>, was published on the TechChannel website. And his article
</span><a href="https://planetmainframe.com/2023/05/explaining-mainframe-pricing-to-the-cloud-guys/" target="_blank" title="Explaining Mainframe Pricing to the Cloud Guys"><span>“Explaining Mainframe
Pricing to the Cloud Guys”</span></a><span> was published on the Planet Mainframe website.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Lastly, in May, Trevor
Eddolls was awarded an IBM Z and LinuxONE Community Contributor - 2023 (Level
1) badge, an IBM Z and LinuxONE Community Advocate - 2023 (Level 2) badge, and
an IBM Z and LinuxONE Community Influencer - 2023 (Level 3) badge. It says,
“The IBM Z and LinuxONE Community Influencer badge earner is an active and
passionate member of the IBM Z and LinuxONE Community. They are a thought
leader and viewed as a technical expert by their peers. This individual
contributes to the community regularly.”</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl6aaMqE7QhIyBdaSXQersmDM5Izea676IykMHdjtYI6wAeTq6-0l5jYErZOdP24CnG9kH93pwzzl3XgTPF4cBcgcBIVlW2H5t_Kcg5xNwM4Q4h_FLaMhijx4DA3aMtHXIyVh5fQshaVKF4A9pdpyr7ex4D7pXgO1wlHwvZTS5s9_pD0cc_4cbisy32fo/s600/2023.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="600" height="107" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl6aaMqE7QhIyBdaSXQersmDM5Izea676IykMHdjtYI6wAeTq6-0l5jYErZOdP24CnG9kH93pwzzl3XgTPF4cBcgcBIVlW2H5t_Kcg5xNwM4Q4h_FLaMhijx4DA3aMtHXIyVh5fQshaVKF4A9pdpyr7ex4D7pXgO1wlHwvZTS5s9_pD0cc_4cbisy32fo/s320/2023.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"></span><p></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">On 13 June,
James Martin, Senior Solutions Advisor, Rocket Software was discussing
“Simplifying IMS performance problem identification and determination” with the
</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://itech-ed.com/virtualims" target="_blank"><span>Virtual IMS user group</span></a><span>. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Also in June,
Trevor’s article, </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://techchannel.com/Enterprise/06/2023/defining-data-security-posture-management" target="_blank" title="Defining Data Security Posture Management"><span>“Defining Data Security
Posture Management”</span></a><span>,
was published on the TechChannel website. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In July,
Trevor’s article, </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://techchannel.com/Enterprise/07/2023/top-api-security-risks-2023" target="_blank" title="Top API Security Risks in 2023"><span>“Top API Security Risks in 2023”</span></a><span>, was published on the
TechChannel website. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">On 11 July,
Ezriel Gross, Principal Solutions Advisor, Rocket Software, was discussing
"Problem Analysis and Performance Tuning for CICS" with the </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://itech-ed.com/virtualcics" target="_blank"><span>Virtual CICS user group</span></a><span>. And on 18 July, Susan
Lawson, Db2 z/OS Specialist, YL&A, was discussing “Db2 12+ and 13 for z/OS
Database Design and Application Performance: Features and Usage” with the </span><a href="https://itech-ed.com/virtualdb2" target="_blank"><span>Virtual Db2 user group</span></a><span>. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">On 8 August,
Tracy Dean, Product Manager, IMS Tools and z/VM Tools, IBM, was discussing
“What does IBM Z Cyber Vault mean for an IMS environment” with the </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://itech-ed.com/virtualims" target="_blank"><span>Virtual IMS user group</span></a><span>. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Also in
August, Trevor’s article, </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://techchannel.com/Trends/08/2023/mainframe-security-in-age-of-ai" target="_blank" title="Mainframe Security in the Age of AI"><span>“Mainframe Security in
the Age of AI”</span></a><span>,
was published on the TechChannel website. And his article </span><a href="https://planetmainframe.com/2023/08/the-problem-of-orphaned-data/" target="_blank" title="The problem of orphaned data"><span>“The problem of orphaned data”</span></a><span>, was published on the
Planet Mainframe website.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">At the </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://itech-ed.com/virtualcics" target="_blank"><span>Virtual CICS user group</span></a><span> meeting, on 12
September, James Alexander, Software Engineer, Broadcom, discussed “Using CICS
Artifacts to Build Web Service APIs”. On the 26<sup>th</sup>, Leila Hosseini,
Senior DBA for Db2 on z/OS, discussed “Db2 Level Up” with the </span><a href="https://itech-ed.com/virtualdb2" target="_blank"><span>Virtual Db2 user group</span></a><span>.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Also in
September, Trevor’s article, </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://techchannel.com/Enterprise/09/2023/mainframe-ransom-attack-warning-system" target="_blank" title="An Early Warning System for Ransom Attacks and Mainframe Breaches"><span>“An Early Warning
System for Ransom Attacks and Mainframe Breaches”</span></a><span>, was published on the
TechChannel website.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In October,
Trevor’s article </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://techchannel.com/Enterprise/10/2023/hacking-mainframe-beginners-guide/" target="_blank" title="Mainframe security—Early Warning needed to beat back hackers"><span>“Mainframe
security—Early Warning needed to beat back hackers”</span></a><span>, was published on the
Planet Mainframe website, and his article, </span><a href="https://techchannel.com/Enterprise/09/2023/mainframe-ransom-attack-warning-system" target="_blank" title="The Complete Beginners’ Guide to Hacking a Mainframe"><span>“The Complete
Beginners’ Guide to Hacking a Mainframe”</span></a><span>, was published on the TechChannel website.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">On 10 October,
Stan Muse, Consulting Services Account Manager, Edge Solutions and Consulting,
was discussing “System z (Mainframe) as the Enterprise Information Server” with
the </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://itech-ed.com/virtualims" target="_blank"><span>Virtual IMS user group</span></a><span>. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Trevor started
November by speaking to the new AI stream at the </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://conferences.gse.org.uk/2023/agenda" target="_blank" title="GSE Conference 2023"><span>GSE
conference</span></a><span>
in the UK. His presentation was called “A look at human intelligence and how
the human brain works”, and looked at the hardware (the brain) and ideas in
psychology about what intelligence was, This was intended to give a greater
understanding of what artificial intelligence was trying to emulate.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Also in
November, Trevor’s article, </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://techchannel.com/Enterprise/11/2023/open-source-mainframe-software" target="_blank" title="The Value of Open-Source Software on the Mainframe"><span>“The Value of
Open-Source Software on the Mainframe”</span></a><span>, was published on the TechChannel website.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">On 14
November, Andy Wright, IBM Master Inventor, discussed CICS and recovery with
the </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://itech-ed.com/virtualcics" target="_blank"><span>Virtual CICS user group</span></a><span>. Then, on the 21<sup>st</sup>,
Todd Havekost, Senior z/OS Performance Consultant at IntelliMagic, discussed
“Gaining Insights from Db2 Statistics and Accounting Data” with the </span><a href="https://itech-ed.com/virtualdb2" target="_blank"><span>Virtual Db2 user group</span></a><span>.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">At the start
of December, Trevor’s article, </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://techchannel.com/Enterprise/11/2023/mainframe-open-source-tools" target="_blank" title="More on Mainframes and Open-Source Tools"><span>“More on Mainframes and
Open-Source Tools”</span></a><span>,
was published on the TechChannel website.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In December, Trevor
Eddolls was awarded a GSE-UK23 speaker badge. They said: “As a speaker at
"Where Technology and Talent meet Tomorrow", you showcased profound
expertise and in-depth knowledge. Your engaging presentation style and ability
to foster interactive discussions left a lasting impression on the
participants, making your session a valuable and enriching experience to our
conference.”</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwGX4EmQDNHO8m4kQvhGr5JNIOo3cgRwAlXiPw-VuVz8dkApHTnSgjgE_V0HuwOYVgTRxpAZMTNbPJPR7G0vN-UHjfT2W3hrS3qNAPmXLR4e72rRHvEiy4sQqHe_rTCqHuZdMHnniK-_IuAFXsGuovxCpRIwo77Z4bvtjfBgK3-XlAgB0Ao1NcvxHkR_U/s200/gsespeaker.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwGX4EmQDNHO8m4kQvhGr5JNIOo3cgRwAlXiPw-VuVz8dkApHTnSgjgE_V0HuwOYVgTRxpAZMTNbPJPR7G0vN-UHjfT2W3hrS3qNAPmXLR4e72rRHvEiy4sQqHe_rTCqHuZdMHnniK-_IuAFXsGuovxCpRIwo77Z4bvtjfBgK3-XlAgB0Ao1NcvxHkR_U/s1600/gsespeaker.png" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"></span><p></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://itech-ed.com/virtualims" target="_blank"><span>Virtual IMS user group</span></a><span> met on 12 December,
when Santosh Dorge, Lead Product Developer, BMC Software, discussed “IMS
Connect Reimagined: Leveraging SQL to Access IMS Data in Today's Digital
Ecosystem”</span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia; line-height: 115%;">Looking forward to this year, the
Arcati Mainframe Yearbook 2024 will be published in January. The Virtual IMS,
Virtual CICS, and Virtual Db2 user groups will continue to meet six times a
year. We’re very grateful to the synergy that has developed over the past year
with Planet Mainframe, and the fact that they have handled much of the heavy
lifting recently. And look forward to working more closely with them in the
future.</span><span style="font-family: georgia; line-height: 115%;"></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p>
Trevor Eddollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01503760088127669481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8750297140750368021.post-17380323433575055562023-12-10T12:03:00.001+00:002023-12-10T12:03:55.125+00:00GSE Conference – what I learned on Wednesday<p><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><a href="https://mainframeupdate.blogspot.com/2023/12/gse-conference-what-i-learned-on-tuesday.html" target="_blank">Last time</a>, I
was talking about the sessions I attended on the Tuesday at the excellent GSE
UK Conference in the first week of November. This time, I want to tell you what
I learned from the sessions I attended on the Wednesday.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">At the 10:15
session, I was speaking in the AI stream, looking at the brain and what we mean
by ordinary intelligence, before people start talking about artificial
intelligence. The session was well-received, and I was asked to give it again
at lunch time to some people who were unable to attend.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">After the
coffee break, I saw IBM’s Lih M Wang’s presentation entitled, “AI for IT
Resiliency Use Cases”. She started by suggesting that we are in a new era of
computing. The challenges facing IT Operations include:</span></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Digital
transformation with exponential business growth / cost. There are billions of
transactions per day with unpredictable resource demands. And there are
millions of Log and SMF records per day, but which indicators shouldn’t be
missed?</span></li><li>
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Complexity
of business applications across hybrid cloud. There are multiple components
across platforms making it difficult to isolate problems. And there’s the
impact of any changes, eg hardware / software / application changes.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Knowledge
and skills gap for IBM zSystems. There’s limited cross-domain SME compared with
number of systems managed. Plus, people need to know about the topology,
inter-relationships, and dependencies.</span></li></ul><div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Lih said that customers
are asking: “Can AI-ML help?” They are looking for early warnings or sick
symptoms. They also need to identify anomalous behaviour. Anomaly Analytics on
IBM zSystems can: transform unstructured (SYSLOG) data into insights; turn
performance metric (SMF) data into operational dashboards; and accelerate
problem prevention by leveraging Machine Learning. IBM’s maxim is: Proactive,
Prevent, Optimize.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Lih explained
the difference between threshold monitoring and a Machine Learning (ML) baseline
model. Basically, threshold monitoring is static, whereas ML can recognize
what’s significant at much lower levels of activity. Using IBM Z Anomaly
Analytics with Watson (ZAA), Machine Learning, and Enterprise Data Warehouse
(EDW), data can be collected. Then, running typical workloads, the model can be
trained. Thirdly, it can be scored by comparing models of expected behaviour
with metrics. Visualization of the metrics shows how well the model runs on its
own. Lih then showed how this worked with various scorecards for CICS, Db2,
IMS, and MQ. Using colours, it becomes very easy to see where anomalies are
occurring.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Real-time
insights mean that the system will generate events when specified metrics
exceed an anomaly threshold. Events will be shown in the main Problem Insights
panel along with other events such as key single message events. Customer can
select which of the KPIs to monitor for events and the threshold to use. Events
can be forwarded to event monitors such as Watson AIOps. Selecting the Evidence
column will take you to the scorecard with that KPI and time period open. Lih
went on to give some customer examples.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">I wanted to see
BMC Software's Dave McCain's presentation called, "How can we use AI and
user behaviour for better security monitoring". Unfortunately, I had a
meeting. I hope to catch it another time.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">The last AI
stream session of the day was IBM Champion’s Henri Kuiper’s Jeopardy game.
Jeopardy is a game that gives you the answer and you have to come up with the
right question. For example, “This British mathematician and computer scientist
is often considered the father of theoretical computer science and artificial
intelligence. The answer is Alan Turing. Or, how about, “The 1956 workshop held
at Dartmouth College which is often considered the birth of AI as a field”. The
answer is, “What is the Dartmouth Workshop?”. Try this one, “This type of
Machine Learning algorithm is inspired by the structure and function of the
human brain and is used for tasks like image and speech recognition”. The
answer is, “What is a neural network?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">There were
other questions about unsupervised learning, GPT3, transfer learning, OpenAI,
and so much more about AI and its history.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">All-in-all, the
GSE conference provided great education, brilliant company, and isn’t to be
missed. I heartily recommend it to everyone who has an interest in mainframes.
See you at the next one!</span></p>
</div>Trevor Eddollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01503760088127669481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8750297140750368021.post-79784081857130040252023-12-03T10:00:00.001+00:002023-12-03T10:00:05.228+00:00GSE Conference – what I learned on Tuesday<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">With 278
sessions across 18 streams, there was a lot of education and training going on
across the three and a half days of the GSE UK conference this year. I thought
that I’d share some of what I learned while I was there.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The first session I attended on the Tuesday was IBM Champion Henri Kuiper’s session to
the AI stream entitled, “AI AI AI What Has Turing Started?”. Henri started by
looking at the computers he had owned and how they had developed over the
years, and then moved on to mainframe developments. He explained how the Turing
test worked, and quoted John McCarthy from the 1950s saying, “Artificial
intelligence is the science of making machines do things that would require
intelligence if done by humans”. IBM’s Arthur Lee Samuel in 1959 said, “Programming
computers to learn from experience should eventually eliminate the need for
much of this detailed programming effort”. Henri talked about Eliza, your
personal therapy computer, and much more as Artificial Intelligence (AI)
developed. Alain Calmerauer in 1972 developed the Prolog programming language.
Henri went on to discuss how AIs work and how they can be trained. He discussed
deep learning and reinforcement learning, and Generative Large Language Models
(GLLMs). He also explained how transfer learning could be used to avoid training
a model from scratch and how it helps to improve the model’s performance on the
target task (or domain) by leveraging already existing knowledge. And ended up
with Gollems (GLLMs).</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">After that, I
watched Elpida Tzortzatos, an IBM Fellow and CTO AI for IBM zSystems, discuss “AI
for Business with Trust and Transparency”.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">After lunch I
went to a security session with Al Saurette from MainTegrity, who was
discussing “Early warning of cyber attacks. Ways to stay ahead of the bad guys”.
He highlighted how problems can occur even at sites with the best firewalls and
access control because the bad guys can get their hands on stolen credential,
trusted staff can go rogue, and people just sometimes make mistakes. He
explained that hacking is a business. If the bad actors find a way in, they'll
leave multiple backdoors so that they and others can get back whenever they
want. They may install timebombs in case they get caught at this early stage.
They'll compromise backups to prevent recovery of files. They'll take a copy of
your data (exfiltration) to sell. And then encrypt your data and send a ransom
demand. That, he explained, was why it was so important to always monitor what
was going on and quickly identify anything that might damage your data. He
called it integrity monitoring and alerting. You could then tell what files
were affected, the time interval during which the attack took place, which
userid or job was responsible, and check whether that change had been
authorized (to avoid any false positives). The people alerted could also check
the files line by line using before and after copies of the data. Because the
bad actors can encrypt your data. The software needs to identify in the first
seconds if unauthorized encryption activity is taking place and suspend the
task. If later, it’s found that everything is OK, then the task can carry on
from where it left off. If it’s not OK, you’ve just been saved from a mass
encryption activity, and you won’t be sent a ransom demand. Al Saurette also
described other early warning capabilities available and how important their
use was. The other benefit of using the tools available was compliance with PCI
DSS, NIST, GDPR and other regulations.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Lastly on the
Tuesday, I watched “Jekyll and Hyde of Generative AI”, presented by Venkat
Balabhadrapatruni, a Distinguished Engineer with Broadcom MSD. He started by
saying that understanding the use case or business need should drive the right
approach – whether that's using Artificial Intelligence, machine learning, deep
learning, or generative AI. He explained that generative AI is a branch of
artificial intelligence (AI) that focuses on creating content, data, or
outputs, based on patterns learned from large volumes of training data.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There's a
booming and evolving generative AI ecosystem. He suggested that generative AI
will transform how organizations work over the next five years. IP, security,
privacy, and ethical concerns will drive a vast majority of large Enterprise
customers to adopt well-governed on-prem large language models (LLMs).
Organizations will need assistance (LLM selection, in-house training,
integration, etc) to fully capitalize on Gen AI value proposition. He then ran
through a number of uses of AI.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Venkat
Balabhadrapatruni suggested that the positive aspects of Gen AI were: creativity
and Innovation; efficiency and automation; content summarization; language
translation, and medical and scientific advancements. He then moved on to some challenges
and ethical concerns, such as: privacy concerns; hallucinations; resource intensive,
regulatory challenges; and lack of transparency. Lastly, he listed the
potential dangers and misuses, eg: deepfakes and manipulation; intentional
misuse; and bias, misinformation, and fairness. The key takeaways from his
presentation were to start with the business need, not with the technology;
recognize that generative AI is not the only AI; understand the data and
algorithms; the onus is on the user to validate the responses from any
generative AI technology; and that the responses from generative AI are only as
good as the training data and the specificity of the prompt.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I’ll look at
some of the sessions from Wednesday next time.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p>
Trevor Eddollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01503760088127669481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8750297140750368021.post-50990513782408295802023-11-19T09:24:00.004+00:002023-11-19T09:34:33.966+00:00IBM’s solution to AI storage problems<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">With everyone
talking about AI these days, IBM announced, at the end of October, a storage solution
to the problem of where to put your data intensive and AI workload demands.
Drum roll please, we have the new IBM Storage Scale System 6000, a cloud-scale
global data platform.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The product has
an enhanced high-performance parallel file system designed for data intensive
use-cases. It provides up to 7M Input/output operations per second (IOPs) and
up to 256GB/s throughput for read-only workloads per system in a 4U (four rack
units) footprint.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Denis Kennelly,
general manager, IBM Storage, is quoted in the press release as saying, “The
potential of today’s new era of AI can only be fully realized, in my opinion,
if organizations have a strategy to unify data from multiple sources in near
real-time without creating numerous copies of data and going through constant
iterations of data ingest. IBM Storage Scale System 6000 gives clients the
ability to do just that – brings together data from core, edge, and cloud into
a single platform with optimized performance for GPU (graphics processing unit)
workloads.”</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">We’re told that
the IBM Storage Scale System 6000 is optimized for storing semi-structured and
unstructured data including video, imagery, text, instrumentation data, etc,
that is generated daily and accelerates an organization’s digital footprint
across hybrid environments. With the IBM Storage Scale System clients can expect
greater data efficiencies and economies of scale with the addition of IBM
FlashCore Modules (FCM), to be incorporated in the first half of 2024:</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span>New
maximum capacity <span class="hgkelc"><span lang="EN">nonvolatile memory express (</span></span>NVMe) FCM will provide capacity
efficiency with 70% lower cost and 53% less energy per TB compared with IBM’s
previous maximum capacity flash drives for IBM Storage Scale System. This can
help clients realize the full performance of NVMe with the cost advantages of
Quad-level Cell (QLC).</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span>Powerful
inline hardware-accelerated data compression and encryption to help keep client
data secured even in multi-user, multi-tenant environments.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span>Storage
Scale System 6000 with FCM will support 2.5 times the amount of data in the
same floor space than the previous generation system.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In addition,
clients can accelerate the adoption and operationalization (is there such a
word?) of AI workloads with IBM watsonx: </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span>Engineered
with a new <span class="hgkelc"><span lang="EN">NVMe over Fabrics</span></span> (NVMeoF) turbo tier, new parallel multi-tenant data
isolation and IBM patented computational storage drives, this is designed to
provide more performance security and efficiency for AI workloads.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span>Storage
Scale software, the global data platform for unstructured data that powers the
Scale System 6000, connects data with an open ecosystem of multi-vendor storage
options including AWS, Azure, IBM Cloud, and other public clouds, in addition
to IBM Storage Tape.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Lastly, they
say, clients can gain faster access to data with over 2.5 times the GB/s
throughput and double IOPs performance of market leading competitors. It
provides high-processing throughput and access speed with multiple concurrent
AI and data-intensive workloads that can be run to meet a range of use cases.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">IBM certainly
seems to have set the bar quite high for its competitors to try to beat, while
at the same time offering a product that is going to be useful to organizations
looking to increase their use of AI and needing the capacity and speed to do
so.</span></span></p>
Trevor Eddollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01503760088127669481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8750297140750368021.post-25915530844103900452023-11-12T09:15:00.005+00:002023-11-19T09:40:18.884+00:00GSE UK Conference 2023 – from my point of view<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Guide Share
Europe (GSE) UK Annual Conference ran from lunch time Monday 30 October until
late afternoon on Thursday 2 November. It was held at Whittlebury Hall,
Whittlebury, Near Towcester, Northamptonshire NN12 8QH, UK. This year’s
strapline was “Where Technology and Talent meet Tomorrow”. And it was
brilliant.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There were over 610 delegates, which must have been a record. And there
were 278 sessions across 18 streams including the new Artificial Intelligence
(AI) stream, as well as: 101
New to Mainframe, 102 New’ish to Mainframe, AppDev Application Development, CICS
Transaction Processing, Db2 Relational Database, IMS, WIT Women in IT, Large
Systems z/OS, z/VM, Linux on z, Mainframe Skills & Learning, MQ Messaging, Networks
Communications, New Technologies, Security Securing Mainframes, Storage
Management Disks, Tapes, Systems Management Tools for managing systems, zP&C
zSystems Performance & Capacity Management, Systems Management Tools for
managing systems, Code-a-Thon Event.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I arrived
slightly later than planned due to an accident and later roadworks on the A34
into Oxford. And, just before registering, I spoke to Mark Wilson, who is the
GSE UK Region Manager, and also Technical Director at Vertali. After that, I
just had time to look round some of the exhibitors before dashing off to the
first session I was attending. A quick break was followed by another session.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Lunch was nice,
and gave more time to chat to exhibitors. I spoke to IBM Champion Matt Nation, Managing
Director at Verhoef Training Ltd, which turned into a putting-the-world-to-rights session. I moved on to Fitz Software’s stand. Michael FitzGerald, MD at
Fitz Software, quite rightly, wouldn’t let me start the whiskey tasting session
because I was still eating. I agreed to come back later. I also stopped by the
Action Software stand for a chat with Hugo Prittie, the CEO.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">After lunch I
went to a Security stream presentation. And, after that, I had a meeting – yes
it was in the bar – with MainTegrity. That was followed by another session in
the AI stream.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There were a
number of exhibitors giving away T-shirts, and some giving away, socks, or
caps. Interestingly, the PopUp Mainframe stand was giving away pants! It was
there that I bumped into the always wonderful Resli Costabell, the award-winning
international speaker, trainer, and coach. She was leading the Women in IT
stream. It’s always a pleasure to chat to her.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">At dinner,
there were a few people in Halloween costumes. One person who came over to chat
wearing their costume and face paint was Atul Bhovan, DevOps Solution Adviser
with BMC Software. We agreed to meet the following day. I had dinner with IBM’s
Anna Dawson, who chairs the system management streams. Tracey Dean, IBM
Offering Manager: IMS and z/VM Management Software, came to join us for a chat.
Tracey has spoken at a <a href="https://itech-ed.com/virtualims/">Virtual IMS user group</a> meeting.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Wednesday
started with me giving a presentation about the brain and what psychologists
think intelligence is to the AI stream. It was well-received, and a number of
people came up and said so afterwards. I was also asked to present it again at
lunchtime to some people who couldn’t attend.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I then watched
the next AI presentation before lunch. I bumped into IBM’s Joe Winchester on
the stairs and chatted briefly. I also bumped into him in the bar – again a
brief chat. Unfortunately, we never got to have a proper conversation about
Zowe, open-source software, and anything else. Next time!</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">At lunchtime, I
made sure to catch up with Andy McCandless, Presales Consultant with Beta
Systems and am IBM Champion. He does a great mainframe-based newsletter, which
is available on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/mainframerz-meetup-6903005290644795392/">LinkedIn</a>.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">After lunch, I
had a meeting with the Planet Mainframe people. There were lots of ideas
bounced around by Andrew Armstrong and Amanda Hendley (whom people will know
from the Virtual <a href="https://itech-ed.com/virtualims/">IMS</a>, <a href="https://itech-ed.com/virtualcics/">CICS</a>, and <a href="https://itech-ed.com/virtualdb2/">Db2</a> user group meetings).</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Then it was
back to the AI stream for a game of Jeopardy led by IBM Champion Henri Kuiper.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Here’s photo of
me enjoying the session.<br /><br /></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJG717KxjzInfWe6hZA9mctJ-IY8O3o9vzy3GnWAQ55UXWC_KdNW1mHHI02DnO1cpI8JKFHaF0F7P1k1sh5xPwdKrBhRGq3LxY8KsQZHniStv8spPgg1o6qt3u97u0en2cbVleWQCgOzLgOh5Przy-gJxTHk4mnGJJR8laAjbGsLz84d9KqmRecSQwFYI/s400/blog830-1b.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="400" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJG717KxjzInfWe6hZA9mctJ-IY8O3o9vzy3GnWAQ55UXWC_KdNW1mHHI02DnO1cpI8JKFHaF0F7P1k1sh5xPwdKrBhRGq3LxY8KsQZHniStv8spPgg1o6qt3u97u0en2cbVleWQCgOzLgOh5Przy-gJxTHk4mnGJJR8laAjbGsLz84d9KqmRecSQwFYI/s320/blog830-1b.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I missed the
final keynote and joined everyone for pre-dinner drinks. There I chatted to Herb
Daly, Senior Lecturer in Computer Science at University of Wolverhampton and
IBM Champion. He brought a number of students along to the conference. I also
caught up with Tony Amies, Software Technical Director at Vertali. I’d missed
his lunch-and-learn session.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I chatted to
Darren Surch, CEO at Interskill Learning and a Lifetime IBM Champion. This is
his photo. He said, “<span class="break-words">Honoured to spend time with the
industry legend </span><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ACoAAAA2FgcBezPpw38np21JsOH7lz_QciiSoIQ">Trevor Eddolls</a><span class="break-words">. Priceless!”</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="break-words"></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2AwP16VQPdaQeW-nezwv2eetIqjIMr60Rmz4v-qZB1Ms0hRV-l0TtVDtruA_rIt5Ld2VAmLdWcsSqPzS9nhBKEtk_ZCACHbD1zfYQW_fU2Dn8WtJKoVQlNVZPvYMJHtHNDIvxxR87Zhi4tsF99WT6u2BSadm1-f2ZbPhZ-WX_TyWJ4rMVVjWH2eT7P6M/s400/blog830-2b.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="328" data-original-width="400" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2AwP16VQPdaQeW-nezwv2eetIqjIMr60Rmz4v-qZB1Ms0hRV-l0TtVDtruA_rIt5Ld2VAmLdWcsSqPzS9nhBKEtk_ZCACHbD1zfYQW_fU2Dn8WtJKoVQlNVZPvYMJHtHNDIvxxR87Zhi4tsF99WT6u2BSadm1-f2ZbPhZ-WX_TyWJ4rMVVjWH2eT7P6M/s320/blog830-2b.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Mention"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Smart Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hashtag"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Unresolved Mention"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It was a
pleasure to meet Shari Chiara, Program Manager, IBM Champions and Community
Advocacy – IBM Z and LinuxONE. All the IBM Champions that were around at that
time had their photograph taken by a racing car.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9ECl6XxzJrmOPReivEntwgynHYXD14Iem_IQm_UEC8gRaMb9BDtt8T8Z1PDrNWsbAgCt6yBcicH-606q4RA88sTv1jpBu43zkZReQTiXyGz1YqzfqqXHAdBvVax7WWSO93kV5xiMEVAxT3BNcfQNerYMwMvhLUbJ-OTvLs9D0WSLP7l6I96ih9txJWys/s400/blog830-3b.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="244" data-original-width="400" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9ECl6XxzJrmOPReivEntwgynHYXD14Iem_IQm_UEC8gRaMb9BDtt8T8Z1PDrNWsbAgCt6yBcicH-606q4RA88sTv1jpBu43zkZReQTiXyGz1YqzfqqXHAdBvVax7WWSO93kV5xiMEVAxT3BNcfQNerYMwMvhLUbJ-OTvLs9D0WSLP7l6I96ih9txJWys/s320/blog830-3b.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Champions in
the photo with Shari are: Mark Wilson, Henri Kuiper, Darren Surch, Trevor
Eddolls, Matt Nation, Max Stern Dahl, Steven Perva, Larry Strickland, Andy
McCandless, Tom Crocker, Wolfram Greis, Leendert Blondeel, Colin Knight, Philip
Nelson, and Neale Ferguson.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">My apologies to
all the other people chatted to that I haven’t mentioned. And my thanks to all
the people who took these photos that I have shamelessly stolen from LinkedIn
and used.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">IBM brought
their Lego model of a mainframe. Here’s my photo with that.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir-9FYKA_KdW7MrBlD29_HNNvJAgriGMoWi2rTkVV1Ij42ATI97t6L01uMpFy961J8CJa6WHz8HSL47gAgGkL47viFKg-kOy1-X-qW0E5RcG4XkNlMd4rjp6H4j8oKsqIoHjmBG-J_ot9n2oGXXmOPbP6IEsFNy0jyDzlg1QdN8Mp6yc4IBsp7kY-3t2g/s474/blog830-4b.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="474" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir-9FYKA_KdW7MrBlD29_HNNvJAgriGMoWi2rTkVV1Ij42ATI97t6L01uMpFy961J8CJa6WHz8HSL47gAgGkL47viFKg-kOy1-X-qW0E5RcG4XkNlMd4rjp6H4j8oKsqIoHjmBG-J_ot9n2oGXXmOPbP6IEsFNy0jyDzlg1QdN8Mp6yc4IBsp7kY-3t2g/s320/blog830-4b.jpg" width="270" /></a><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And here I am
standing by the real thing. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span class="break-words" style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8GDnwCj8foQUCg0k7oUnYTYcnPDgs1hWOINPSO9NrkyLnk8_1w3qEKT1bKgwyls9jMG9dTtD-ced6qJGS4RPtl2J2gfBwNvDPTAkMIpNLEdD8GaaXuIVZYS3Shl7yhgHKZ8EhNtyhoypUqwnUNsBWhoecUoP8krYkxUl08nNloMJSBAsY5fbAcbYLQv4/s725/blog830-5b.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="725" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8GDnwCj8foQUCg0k7oUnYTYcnPDgs1hWOINPSO9NrkyLnk8_1w3qEKT1bKgwyls9jMG9dTtD-ced6qJGS4RPtl2J2gfBwNvDPTAkMIpNLEdD8GaaXuIVZYS3Shl7yhgHKZ8EhNtyhoypUqwnUNsBWhoecUoP8krYkxUl08nNloMJSBAsY5fbAcbYLQv4/s320/blog830-5b.jpg" width="177" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><br /> </span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span class="break-words" style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p>
Trevor Eddollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01503760088127669481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8750297140750368021.post-16050492989985979972023-11-05T12:42:00.008+00:002023-11-05T13:21:31.761+00:00Ideas from philosophy and good AI<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">One of the
ancient questions in philosophy is, “what do you have to do to be a good man,
or to live a good life?”. At the moment, there are a number of meetings going
on all over the world trying to decide about the ‘goodness’ of artificial
intelligence (AI), and, much like the parents of a slightly wayward teenager,
how AI can be kept on the straight and narrow until their teenager grows up.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The question we
should really be asking is, “what makes something good?” But the answer to that
is much more complex than it at first seems. To a child, a good parent is
someone who lets them eat sweets, lets them stay up late, and lets them watch
TV or play computer games all day. A ‘bad’ parent is someone who places limits
on those activities and makes them learn their spellings, recite their tables,
and read books. However, the adult version of that child may clearly disagree
with the view of their younger self because they have failed to achieve all
that they were capable of, and they are unhappy with how their life has turned
out.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Another
question to ask is whether the same decision or activity is always the right
one in order to be a good person or to achieve a good outcome? You can add to
that whether the same right or wrong decisions apply to all cultures at all
times? Here’s an example. A man walks into a crowded room and starts firing a
gun at the other people in the room. Is that a good thing to do? Hopefully,
most people feel the answer is ‘no’, but want to know more information. How
about if the room is full of people who are about to destroy the world –
including you. Does that make the murders acceptable? In how many films or TV
shows has murder been made acceptable because a ‘bad’ person has been stopped
from doing harm. If I were writing an algorithm about when my AI could kill
people, it would have to be quite a complicated one. The point I’m trying to
make is that the rules we live by are quite complex and often unstated.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Let’s go back
to the fourth century BCE. Socrates said that a good man does not concern
himself with petty personal wants but only whether his actions are good and
just. Although, of course, that hasn’t told us what is meant by good or just. However,
it gives us a starting point for our AI.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Aristotle in
the third century BCE suggested that a good man is the man who acts and lives
virtuously and derives happiness from that virtue. He introduced the idea of
virtue. I’ve not yet heard anyone talk about virtue in association with an AI.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Plato, who came
between Socrates and Aristotle suggested four virtues, which were: prudence, fortitude,
temperance, and justice. Aristotle muddied the waters a little by suggesting
that a virtue can be defined as a point between a deficiency and an excess of a
trait. The point of greatest virtue lies not in the exact middle, but at a
golden mean sometimes closer to one extreme than the other. I say “muddied the
waters” because that gets harder to code an algorithm or train an AI (or human)
on.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Marcus Aurelius,
the Stoic philosopher in the first century CE said, “Waste no more time arguing
what a good man should be. Be one.” What he’s suggesting is that we’re all
wasting our time discussing being good, we should lead by example and live a
good life. I like the idea of just getting on and doing it. However, having
done stuff all day, how can I know at the end of it whether I have been doing
good or not?</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Thomas
Babington Macaulay in the 19<sup>th</sup> century came up with a quote that
seems to apply to much AI research across the world, “The measure of a man's
character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.” Or maybe
I’m just a little cynical about people who are training Ais to hack mainframes?
Perhaps people working on Ai are like the parents of teenagers and helping them
to understand the need for kindness, honesty, courage, generosity, and
integrity. These virtues can help to make the AI ‘good’. By cultivating virtues
within the AI, we could, hopefully, shape its decisions.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Bertrand
Russell, who died in 1970, said that the good life is one inspired by love and
guided by knowledge. Clearly Ais are being fed lots of information – and, again
hopefully, not too many alternative facts, but I have not sat through an AI
presentation where someone mentioned the word ‘love’. It’s suggested that
someone following Russell’s ideas will lead a good life with a deep sense of
fulfilment. Ais don’t do feelings – unless you know better? No-one expects an
AI to feel happy at the end of a day’s work.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Those working
on Ais might do well to remember the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson in the 18<sup>th</sup>
century. He said: “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful,
to be honourable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you
have lived and lived well.” Again, I don’t know whether the word ‘honourable’
is in the mind of people training Ais, but hopefully the AI is making some
difference, in a positive way.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">My thinking at
the moment is that AI is neither good nor bad, it is only the use that people
put it to that will make it seem either one or the other. Like every other
invention, it will lead to change, but it will also lead to new jobs being
created. I am sure that there will be an arms race as bad actors use Ai to
attack mainframes and the good guys us AI to protect them. I am also uncertain
whether legislation is going to be the most successful way to control AI. Large
western governments will try this route because it’s the way they try to
control everything else, but offshore development will continue whatever. What
I am suggesting is that AI developers should look back at over 2000 years of
philosophical thinking to decide what the right thing is to do when training
the AI they are working on.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p>
Trevor Eddollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01503760088127669481noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8750297140750368021.post-6838964839531539382023-10-29T08:12:00.007+00:002023-10-31T07:47:49.566+00:00The 2024 Arcati Mainframe Yearbook <p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The 2024 <i>Arcati
Mainframe Yearbook</i> is underway! This publication has been the <i>de facto</i> reference work
for IT professionals working with z/OS (and its forerunner) systems since 2005.
The <i>Yearbook</i>’s highlights include a comprehensive annual user survey and an
up-to-date directory of vendors, consultants, and service providers. It serves
as a guide to useful sources of mainframe-related information with its
mainframe strategy section containing papers on mainframe trends and
directions; its glossary of terminology; and its mainframe evolution section.
The 2024 release is in partnership with Planet Mainframe who will be creating a
new digital experience with the <i>Yearbook</i> and promoting its release.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Mainframe
User Survey is the real deal. With an unbiased focus on all mainframe
technologies and software, the annual mainframe users’ survey delivers a
strategic advantage. For example, the 2023 survey explored what percentage of
the total IT budget is absorbed by mainframe-related costs and cloud computing.
67 percent of sites say that the bulk of their IT budget is spent on cloud (up
from 56% in 2022), leaving 33 percent of sites where most of their expenditure
is on the mainframe side. It will be interesting to see how that figure changes
since last year.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Respondents
were also asked what makes them consider a change of vendor for their mainframe
tools and utilities. The results showed clearly that cost is by far the biggest
driver, (70 percent of respondents) even though cheaper tools often provide
less functionality – it may be the case that some customers feel the
higher-priced software is filled with bloatware that they have to pay for but
will never use. ISVs may be pleased to know that 20 percent of sites said they
rarely if ever change their software. </span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">More than
20,000 mainframe professionals downloaded the <i>Yearbook</i> this year and
that number is expected to grow to over 30,000 in 2024 thanks to a new
partnership with Planet Mainframe. </span></span></p>
<h2><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">How can you stay in the loop?</span></b><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></h2>
<h3><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">Take the annual user survey</span></i></b><i><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></i></span></span></h3>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">As in previous
years, all mainframe professionals are invited to complete the 10-minute
survey. </span></span><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]--><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;">You can find the survey <a href="https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/JJK8L69">here</a>.</span><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span>All respondents
completing the anonymous survey before Friday 27 November will receive early
access to the survey results. </span></span></span>
</p><h3><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">Get in the Vendor Directory</span></i></b><i><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></i></span></span></h3>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Vendors,
consultants, and service providers can apply for a FREE entry in the vendor
directory section by completing </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://itech-ed.com/arcati/application.html"><span>this form</span></a><span>.</span></span></span></p>
<h3><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">Purchase an Ad, publish a Paper, or become a Sponsor</span></i></b><i><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></i></span></span></h3>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Also, as in
previous years, there is an opportunity for organizations to sponsor the
<i>Yearbook</i>, take out a full-page or half-page advert, or contribute an article.
Click </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://itech-ed.com/arcati/"><span>here</span></a><span> for more information. You can also
reach out to </span><a href="mailto:ahendley@planetmainframe.com?subject=Sign%20Up%20for%20the%20Yearbook"><span>Amanda Hendley</span></a><span> to sign up. You also
get your logo and link on the website landing page, <i>Yearbook</i> cover, and
in the vendor directory. New this year is the opportunity for sponsors to
provide an embedded video (mp4) of up to 2 minutes in length of a company
representative talking about your included paper or your solution/services.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><b style="font-family: georgia;"><span>Don’t be
left out</span></b></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">More than
20,000 mainframe professionals downloaded the <i>Yearbook</i> this year and
that number is expected to grow to over 30,000 in 2024 thanks to a new
partnership with </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://planetmainframe.com/"><span>Planet Mainframe</span></a><span>.</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p>
Trevor Eddollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01503760088127669481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8750297140750368021.post-17587273669398966932023-10-22T08:19:00.008+01:002023-11-05T16:43:13.956+00:00GSE UK Conference 30 October to 2 November<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;">For people who
work on mainframes and are based in the UK or Europe, this year’s Guide Share
Europe (GSE) UK Annual Conference starts on Monday 30 October until Thursday 2
November. It really is not to be missed. If you’ve not been before, it’s held
at Whittlebury Hall, Whittlebury, Near Towcester, Northamptonshire NN12 8QH, UK.
This year’s strapline is “Where Technology and Talent meet Tomorrow”.</span></span><!--[if !mso]>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Because it’s an
in-person meeting, it not only provides excellent education for attendees, but
also gives them the opportunity to speak to the exhibitors about where they are
focusing their attention, and to catch up – and argue – with other mainframers
during the day and in the bar in the evening!</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Because the
conference starts at the end of the month, there’s not a lot of time left to
register to attend. So, I would recommend that people do so straight away. My
experience is that the conferences have always been great value for money, full
of the latest greatest information, and as I just said, great for connecting
with new and old friends.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">This year, the
Diamond sponsor is Broadcom. The Platinum Sponsors are BMC, Vanguard Rocket
Software, and IBM. The Gold Sponsors are Opentext, and Vertali. The Silver
Sponsors are MainTegrity, Ensono, DataKinetics, Beta Systems, Veracode, SEA
Software Engineering of America, and SCC. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">This year’s
exhibitors are Enterprise Performance Strategies, Velocity Software, Trident
Services, Macro4, Planet Mainframe, Fitz Software, TSG, </mooody cow>,
Interskill, Red Hat, Dell Technologies, Action Software, Verhoef Training, Real
Time Defrag (RTD), PopUp Mainframe, Precisely Software, Altair, IntelliMagic,
and IBA Group.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There are two
keynote presentations on Monday.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">IBM’s Mark
Nelson is talking about “Risk Assessment: We’re Only Human” at 5:15pm. Vertali’s
Mark Wilson is then discussing the “Journey into Mainframes & Cybersecurity”
at 6:15pm.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">On Tuesday Mark
Wilson is opening the conference proper at 9am followed by Rocket Software’s
Phil Buckellew looking at “Modernization. Without Disruption” at 9:15. At 6pm,
Vanguard’s Brian Marshall discusses “Cyber resilience: an organization’s DNA”.
On Wednesday at 8am there’s “The Mark & Steve Show” with Steven Dickens from
Futurum Group and Mark Wilson. At 9am, there’s Greg Lotko, SVP and General
Manager for Broadcom’s Mainframe Software Division speaking about “Racing
Towards Resiliency”. At 5:45 in the evening, IBM Fellow, Elpida Tzortzatos,
will discuss “Why AI for business”. On Thursday, at 9am, BMC’s April Hickel
starts the day with a session entitled “Mainframe Strong: Dancing into the
Future”.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There are some
lunch-and learn sessions too. On Tuesday at 1pm, IBM’s Michael Zagorski leads “Lunch
& Learn IBM”. On Tuesday at 1pm, Broadcom’s Earl Dixon leads “New
Mainframers Talk Candidly (continued)”. On Wednesday at 1pm its BMC Software’s
Tim Ceradsky discussing “Redefining Data Storage: Unearth the Urgent
Imperatives Driving Cloud Object Storage Adoption!”. Also on Wednesday at
12:45pm, Vertali’s Tony Amies talks about “Discover, Detect, Protect: Vertali
zTrust for Networks”.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">With up to 18
streams on some days, the streams include: 101 New to Mainframe, 102 New'ish to
Mainframe, AI Artificial Intelligence, AppDev Application Development, CICS Transaction
Processing, Db2 Relational Database, IMS, WIT Women in IT, Large
Systems z/OS, z/VM, Linux on z, Mainframe Skills & Learning, MQ Messaging, Networks
Communications, New Technologies, Security Securing Mainframes, Storage
Management Disks, Tapes,, Systems Management Tools for managing systems, zP&C
zSystems Performance & Capacity Management, Systems Management Tools for
managing systems, Code-a-Thon Event</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">You can find
out more details about the conference at <a href="https://conferences.gse.org.uk/2023/">https://conferences.gse.org.uk/2023/</a>.
And, if you’re on social media, the hashtags are #gseconf2023 and #gseukc.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It’s also worth
adding that there’s usually 500 or more people there. It would be a shame for
you to miss it.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">As a final
incentive, you may be interested in a session at 10:15 am on the Wednesday.
It’s called “A look at human intelligence and how the human brain works”, it’s
in the AI stream, and it will be presented by me in the Wellington A room.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I’ll see you
there.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
Trevor Eddollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01503760088127669481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8750297140750368021.post-23000977658698466662023-10-15T09:25:00.007+01:002023-10-15T09:25:43.793+01:00Mainframes and disruptive technology<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">We all know
what a mainframe is, but what do people mean when they describe something as a
disruptive technology? Well, basically, a disruptive technology is something
that changes the way we do things and changes people’s behaviour. An example
might be the mobile phone – or, more particularly, the arrival of the smart
phone. If you look at films or TV programmes made before 2010, people are just
walking around looking where they are going and talking to their companions. If
you look at current films and TV programmes, everyone seems to be looking at
their phone. They are sending text messages or using apps to check their bank
accounts or get discounts at supermarkets, or they are keeping up with social
media, and, very rarely, they are making phone calls. There’s an obvious
difference in their behaviour.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">A disruptive
technology typically comes with new tools or devices that change people’s
lives. And, importantly, it creates new jobs and new markets, and new ways of
doing things. Again, if you look at older films and TV programmes, we see the
boss with his (and it usually is a man’s) secretary working in the outer
office. She takes dictation from her boss and types up letters and memos. With
the introduction of the laptop, the boss – and now it could be a man or woman –
will write their own emails. There’s no need for that outer office or that job
role.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In many ways,
you might think of Zoom and Teams as being disruptive technologies because they
have enabled so many people to work from home and still maintain contact with
their colleagues and customers from wherever they are. I’ve known people go
into their company office in recent times and been disappointed at how few
staff are actually there. Completely gone is the buzz that there used to be
when everyone was in work and sharing their views and experiences.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Although
disruptive technologies may be based on better ways of doing something that can
be already done some other way, and although they may have been around for a
while, it’s their emergence into popular culture that seems to suddenly happen.
One minute no-one knows anything about them, the next minute even your gran is
talking about it! Sometimes it’s a bit like bands, who become overnight
successes – although they may have been working under the radar for a number of
years. Mainframers may remember how Linux suddenly became a thing on mainframes
everywhere, even though it had been around for a while.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The other
characteristics of disruptive technologies is that they need to be affordable,
they need to be easily accessible, and they need to be fairly simple to use. If
they are clunky, although some people will have bought them, they will end up
on a shelf unused. People may remember the Sinclair C5, a small one-person
battery electric vehicle that was launched in 1985. It was basically an electrically-assisted
tricycle. It was a great idea – electric cars are everywhere nearly 40 years
later. However, it was launched in the UK in January, when the weather is never
great. It had no roof to keep the rain off, and battery technology in 1985 was
not as good as it is today. This attempt at disruptive technology failed, but
many people still have fond memories of the concept.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Not all
attempts at disruptive technology actually turn out to be disruptive. There are
plenty of research and development teams who have worked on ideas that have
never reached their intended market or have disappeared without trace shortly
afterwards. Usually, disruptive technologies will co-exist with the older
technologies before they catch on and eventually replace them. It takes a while
for die-hard conservatives to make a change to new ways of working or living.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Organizations
that are early adopters of new technologies that work for them often find that
they are able to save money, which means they can offer products or services at
a cheaper rate than more traditional businesses. And that means they can make
more money. It also gives those companies the ability to respond more quickly
to changing market places or enter new market places.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">So, what
disruptive technologies are mainframe-using organizations facing? There are
probably two big ones at the moment. They are cloud computing and Artificial
Intelligence (AI). IBM and other companies are using AI to help organizations
to do more, faster. I talked about watsonx, for example, <a href="https://mainframeupdate.blogspot.com/2023/09/what-can-i-use-mainframe-based-ai-for.html">here</a>. Perhaps one of the biggest challenges facing mainframers
is the use of AI by hackers looking for easy ways to steal corporate data and
encrypt that data in order to send a ransom demand for money in exchange for
the key to decrypt the data.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Cloud computing
has been around for a while, and, clearly, some applications work brilliantly
using the cloud. I’m thinking of analysing big data here. However, there are
other applications that clearly work best if they are kept on the mainframe.
This might be because the data they use can be kept encrypted or because the
data can be accessed more speedily than in the cloud. So, some kind of hybrid
working is probably the best way forward with this technology.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Other
technologies that might have been transformative, but have sort of been
absorbed into the mainstream include blockchain and NFTs, as well as IoT
devices. But, you never know what disruptive technologies might be coming next
that will make working on a mainframe different and better. And it’s important
to keep in mind that new technologies come with new job opportunities.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p>
Trevor Eddollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01503760088127669481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8750297140750368021.post-25042976275543616992023-10-08T08:46:00.000+01:002023-10-08T08:46:02.648+01:00Beginner’s guide to using ChatGPT<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There’s lots of
talk about AI and how it can be used – and that includes politicians and Bob
down the pub! It’s definitely no longer restricted to academia and IT
conferences. Earlier this year, it seemed like everyone was using ChatGPT to
see what it can do, and, of course, there have been worries that students would
use it to write essays, and studios would use it to write scripts for TV shows.
Having said that, more recently, I have found quite a few people who have been
keeping up with the conversation, but haven’t actually had a go yet. So, for
them, I thought I’d put together this beginner’s guide to using ChatGPT.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">ChatGPT is an
advanced natural language processing model developed by OpenAI. It is designed
to generate human-like responses to prompts or questions. Whether you’re a
beginner or an experienced user, this guide will help you navigate the ChatGPT
interface and make the most out of your conversational interactions. Here’s a
step-by-step approach to get you started.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b style="font-family: georgia;">Step 1:
Accessing ChatGPT</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">To access
ChatGPT, visit the OpenAI website (<a href="https://www.openai.com">https://www.openai.com</a>) and locate the “GPT-3 Playground”.
Once you’re on the playground, you’ll see a text box where you can interact
with the model.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b style="font-family: georgia;">Step 2:
Prompt generation</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Begin by
entering a prompt in the text box to start a conversation. The system will
generate a response based on the context and information provided. The prompt
can be a question, a sentence, or a statement that guides the conversation.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">For example,
you can start with a simple prompt like: “Tell me a joke”. ChatGPT will then
generate a response with a joke. You can build on this conversation by asking
further questions or statements related to the generated response.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b style="font-family: georgia;">Step 3:
Iterative conversation</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">One key feature
of ChatGPT is its ability to maintain continuity across multiple messages. To
achieve this, precede your input with a user or system name followed by a colon
(“:”). For example, “User: What’s your favourite colour?” or “Assistant: How
tall are you?”</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">By maintaining
the user and assistant distinction, the model can better understand and respond
to the conversation’s context. Iterative conversation allows you to engage in
extended interactions and improves the model’s understanding of the intended
conversation flow.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b style="font-family: georgia;">Step 4:
System-level instructions</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">To guide the
model’s behaviour, you can provide high-level instructions. These instructions
help shape the response based on the desired outcome. For example, you can specify,
“Assistant: Answer the question as if you’re a Shakespearean character”.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">By giving
system instructions, you can explore creative responses from the model.
Experiment with these instructions to see how they impact the flavour or style
of the generated text.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b style="font-family: georgia;">Step 5:
Managing response length</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">You can control
the length of the generated response using the ‘Max tokens’ setting. The more
tokens you allow, the longer and more detailed the response will be. However,
increasing the token limit also affects the model’s response time. Adjust this
setting based on your preference and the desired level of detail.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b style="font-family: georgia;">Step 6:
Learning from examples</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Training the
model to generate precise responses requires providing it with clear
instructions. If a response is not satisfactory, you can use examples to
illustrate how you want it to be improved.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">For instance,
you can mention previous correct or desired responses during conversation. This
helps ChatGPT understand the desired output, leading to better performance and
more accurate replies.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b style="font-family: georgia;">Step 7:
Experimentation and refinement</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Using ChatGPT
is an iterative process. Experimentation and refining the prompts or
instructions will improve the quality of generated responses. You can try
different prompts, lengths, system instructions, or even restructuring your
conversation to achieve better outcomes.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Remember,
refining prompts and iterating through conversations will help you discover the
best approaches to obtain the desired results.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b style="font-family: georgia;">Step 8:
Ethical use and monitoring</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">While ChatGPT offers
exciting possibilities, it is crucial to use it responsibly. OpenAI encourages
users to follow their usage guidelines to ensure ethical and appropriate use of
the model. Stay vigilant and monitor the system-generated content to prevent
any misuse or biased outcomes.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b style="font-family: georgia;">Conclusion</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">ChatGPT is a
powerful tool for generating human-like responses to prompts and holding
natural conversations. By following this beginner’s guide, you can get started
with ease and explore the capabilities of this remarkable language model.
Remember to experiment, iterate, and use it ethically as you delve into the
world of conversational AI.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">You’ll not be
surprised to learn that I asked ChatGPT to write the article. In the past, I
have asked it to write a sonnet about mainframes, which I posted on LinkedIn,
and which PJ (Pasquale) Catalano, IBM Z & LinuxONE Test Architect, recorded
and also posted on LinkedIn.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">What would I
have added? I may have stressed that prompts really need to be specific to get
a good response. You can ask ChatGPT to act in a particular role (eg customer
support or HR manager), and you can ask it to perform a task (eg writing a job
description of responding to a complaint). You can specify the format (eg
bullet points or a flow chart), and you can get it to use a particular tone (eg
engaging or serious). Also, you need to specify the objective.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">ChatGPT
integrates with business tools, it’s useful for data analysis and computations,
and it can handle large numbers of queries at the same time, making it
scalable. If you haven’t used it yet, then definitely take a look and see what
all the hype has been about. <br /></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It’s worth
noting that OpenAI recently launched ChatGPT Enterprise, which is meant to be a
more secure version because it can be compliant with corporate privacy
regulation, ie it supports features like SSO and usage insights.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p>Trevor Eddollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01503760088127669481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8750297140750368021.post-41847384876738998902023-10-01T09:22:00.005+01:002023-10-01T09:37:51.490+01:00Is my mainframe under attack at the moment?<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Cardinal
Richelieu became a cardinal in 1622 and chief minister to King Louis XIII of
France in 1624. And, as we know from Alexandre Dumas' book, <i>The Three
Musketeers</i>, used a network of spies to ensure that he knew exactly what was
going on in France and its neighbouring countries. Many mainframe sites could
take a leaf out of Richelieu’s book (but, perhaps not too many!) to ensure that
they know exactly what is going on inside their mainframe.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There are a
number of people telling us that just because we haven’t spotted an attack on
our mainframe yet, that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been one. And the reason they
give for their message is simply that mainframes don’t have an early warning
system to alert the security team that the early stages of an attack are taking
place. All too often, it is only the arrival of a ransom demand that alerts
anyone that a breach has taken place.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The latest <a href="https://www.ibm.com/reports/data-breach">Cost
of a Data Breach Report</a>
from IBM Security found that the length of time it takes to identify a breach
is, on average, 204 days, and the length of time to recover is, on average, a
further 73 days. For the IT team, that must be a big concern. For the CFO, the
big worry must be that the average cost of a breach is US$4.45 million.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Another cause
for concern is that the report found that only 1 in 3 sites that experienced a
breach had the breach identified by their own security teams or tools. The
remaining 67% of breaches were reported by a benign third party or by the
attackers themselves!</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The big
question that mainframe sites should be asking themselves is whether there is
any way they could get some kind of early warning that the bad actors are
already inside their mainframe. Well, is there?</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The good news
is that there is.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In a recent
upgrade, <a href="https://maintegrity.com/">MainTegrity’s FIM+ product</a> not only provides an early warning of
tampering at the various stages of an attack, but it can now stop the
encryption stage as soon as it starts.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Just picking up
on that point first, typically, mainframers realize that they are under attack
when normal work on the mainframe stops. And it stops because the attackers
have encrypted pretty much all the files. The ransom demand arrives shortly
after, and they offer the key to unencrypt your files for a large quantity of
bitcoins.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Obviously,
encryption is going on all the time, you don’t want alerts being sent all the
time because people would simply ignore them. FIM+ uses a whitelist for all the
encryption activities it can ignore. It also doesn’t send a message to a human
because we know how many files could be encrypted in the time it takes to read
a message, put down your coffee cup and actually press a button. The software
will suspend the job or TSO user immediately. That way, checks can be made at
human speed in the certain knowledge that no more hostile encryption is taking
place. If it really is OK to encrypt those files by that job or person, then
everything can carry on from the point it was suspended. Otherwise, the job can
be cancelled, and steps taken to recover the very few files affected. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">That is a
fantastic piece of software for saving your bacon at the last minute. It’s like
those old cowboy movies where the 7<sup>th</sup> cavalry appears over the
hills. But wouldn’t it be even better if you could be alerted to the fact that
bad actors where inside your mainframe doing their nefarious worse earlier on?</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Again, FIM+ can
help. In the early stages of an attack, hackers are looking around your files
to see what you’ve got and where the ‘good’ stuff is stored. FIM+ can identify
unusual activity on configuration datasets (PARMLIBs, PROCLIBs, VTAMLST,
TCPPARMS, etc) during this reconnaissance phase, and alert staff.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The software
can also identify unusual number of read operations. If the number exceeds a
customer-determined threshold, the early warning system can raise an alert.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Hackers may
decide to bulk delete your files as a way of crippling your operations. Again,
FIM+ can send alerts, or, if the number exceeds a predetermined threshold, it
can suspend the job or TSO user.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Similarly, rather
than delete a file, hackers may overwrite them with zeros, which can be
difficult to detect. Again, if more than a preset number of files are being
updated, FIM+ can send alerts or the job can be suspended.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Put these
together, and you now have an early warning system installed on your mainframe
to let you know that your mainframe is under attack. No need to wait 204 days
before you become aware of what’s going on. Hacking gangs are no longer
disgruntled teens waiting to say, “I’m in”, like they do in all the movies and
TV shows. Now there is a mixture of criminal gangs, nation-states, and unhappy
employees and ex-employees out there. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">They don’t even
need to know very much about hacking, they can buy so much as-a-Service (aaS).
There’s Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS), Crypter-as-a-Service (CaaS), and
Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS). You can buy access to a network using initial
access brokers (IABs). There’s a whole industry out there making hacking your
mainframe as easy as it can possibly be.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Doesn’t it make
sense to have an early warning system in place already so you really know
what’s going on?</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p>
Trevor Eddollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01503760088127669481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8750297140750368021.post-60417603493461474682023-09-24T09:03:00.000+01:002023-09-24T09:03:07.817+01:00What can I use mainframe-based AI for?<span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It’s a funny
old world. On the one hand you have people talking about AI replacing just
about everyone and doing their jobs faster and more accurately. And, on the
other hand, you have people talking about how just about everyone over 50 is
leaving full-time employment and taking up more fulfilling occupations. Or else
they are talking about just how boring their job is. It seems to me that the
initial focus of AI should be on being able to do the work that no-one really
wants to do – don’t you think?</span></span>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The good news,
in that respect, is that IBM’s much publicized watsonx enterprise AI platform
is doing just that. Now available is the watsonx Code Assistant for Z. It’s
built on a 20 billion parameter foundation AI model, and was trained on 1.5
trillion tokens of data, and is aware of 115 coding languages.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The problem
that is being addressed is the fact that the majority of business applications
running on a mainframe were written in COBOL, whereas the majority of programs
running on cloud-based platforms are written in some other, more modern
language, eg Java. For those mainframe sites seduced by the term modernization
(who said mainframes aren’t modern?) and wanting to move their business
applications into the cloud, they want to rewrite those existing COBOL
applications. The problem is that very very few programmers view rewriting
large pieces of COBOL applications in Java as anything more than a poisoned
chalice. It’s not something they would view as an interesting or pleasurable
way to spend their time. Things are made even worse by the fact the original
program code – with any original documentation – has probably long ago
disappeared.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">That’s where Code
Assistant for Z comes in. It’s a generative AI product built on the watsonx
enterprise AI platform, which can help developers translate mainframe COBOL
applications into Java. IBM's selling point is that the AI tool offers improved
testing, faster re-writing of functionality into Java, and lower costs
associated with updating the old COBOL code. Code Assistant provides automated
testing processes as well, and can be used in each step of the ‘modernization’
process, converting the existing COBOL code to Java.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In addition to
watsonx Code Assistant for Z, IBM previously announced Code Assistant for Red
Hat Ansible Lightspeed, and plans to launch new product-focused versions to
address other languages and improve time-to-value for modernization. IBM is
also saying that the products will address the shortage of skilled developers
that currently exists.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I talked about
the<a name="_Hlk142315056"> latest </a><span></span><a href="https://www.ibm.com/reports/data-breach"><span>Cost of a Data Breach
Report</span></a><span> </span>from IBM Security back in August. I thought I’d just
highlight what that report said about AI. Before we look at that, just a
reminder that the survey found that the length of time it takes to identify a
breach is 204 days, and once a breach has been identified it takes an organization,
on average, 73 days to recover. The worldwide average cost of a data breach is
US$4.45 million.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The report
makes a strong case for the use of security AI, saying that organizations with
extensive use of security AI and automation identified and contained a data
breach 108 days faster than organizations that didn’t use AI or automation.
What falls into that category includes the use of AI, machine learning,
automation, and orchestration to augment or replace human intervention in
detection and investigation of threats as well as the response and containment
process. On the opposite end of the spectrum are processes driven by manual
inputs, often across dozens of tools and complex, non-integrated systems,
without data shared between them.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In addition,
there were cost savings with AI and automation. The report found a US$1.76
million lower data breach costs compared to organizations that didn’t use
security AI and automation capabilities.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There’s a lot
of talk about the downside of AI, in fact, I’ve even written about it, but like
all technologies that revolutionize the way people work and live, it has a
positive side and a negative side. All organizations need to have an AI policy
in place to ensure that employees are not using AI in any way that could harm
the company. And, there is the possibility that AI could take away people’s
jobs. I like to think, like the introduction of PCs into organizations which
took away the typing pool and many office secretary jobs, it will also create
new types of job, and the overall number of jobs available will actually
increase.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Also looking on
the positive side, things like Code Assistant are able to do jobs where there
is a shortage of people who would otherwise be available to do it (ie
developers), and it will do work that most programmers would rather not have to
do (ie rewrite COBOL programs in Java).</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The whole Code
Assistant for Z approach by IBM seems a great step forward in the use of safe
AI.</span></span></p>
Trevor Eddollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01503760088127669481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8750297140750368021.post-53194621359036090342023-09-17T09:09:00.007+01:002023-09-17T09:09:44.690+01:00I think I know about AI, but what is actual intelligence?<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">So many people
are talking about Artificial Intelligence, I thought it would be useful to see
what psychologists think about natural intelligence. It’s a term that we all
think we know the meaning of, but what is it that those people working in that
field would be able to identify or recognize as intelligence?</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Like all good
philosophy essays, let’s start with a definition of intelligence. Intelligence
is: “the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills”. Or: “the ability
to solve complex problems or make decisions with outcomes benefiting the actor”.
Or: “the capacity or ability to acquire, apprehend, and apply knowledge in a
behavioural context”. So, we’re looking at acquiring information and applying
that information.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It’s also been
suggested that intelligence gives humans the cognitive abilities to learn, form
concepts, understand, and reason, including the capacities to recognize
patterns, innovate, plan, solve problems, and employ language to communicate.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In psychology,
there have been various theories about what intelligence actually is and
attempts to measure it.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Psychometric
theories treat intelligence as a composite of abilities measured by mental
tests that measure reasoning ability and memory. Tests can be given to people
and a numerical result can be produced.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Spearman found
that people who do well on one type of test generally do well on other types.
Using factor analysis, he suggested there were two kinds of factor underlying
all differences in test scores. Firstly, there was a general factor, which he
labelled ‘g’, and a second factor specifically related to the type of task. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">On the other
hand, Thurstone proposed seven ‘primary mental abilities’. They were: verbal
comprehension; verbal fluency; number; spatial visualization; inductive
reasoning; memory; and perceptual speed.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Vernon and
Cattell modelled intellectual abilities as hierarchical, with g (general
ability) at the top, and specific abilities below. Cattell also suggested that
general ability can be subdivided into ‘fluid’ and ‘crystallized’, where fluid
abilities are the reasoning and problem-solving abilities measured by tests,
and crystallized abilities include vocabulary, general information, and knowledge
about specific fields.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Cognitive
psychologists didn’t go along with these ideas, they thought that it was
important to understand the processes underlying intelligence. They assumed
that intelligence comprises mental representations (such as propositions or
images) of information and processes that can operate on such representations. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Hunt, Frost,
and Lunneborg suggested that basic cognitive processes are the building blocks
of intelligence.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Many of the
experiments assumed that humans processed information sequentially or serially.
However, they may well process information in chunks and in parallel. And there
may be cultural differences.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Cognitive-contextual
theories looked at how cognitive processes operate in various settings. Gardner
proposed a theory of ‘multiple intelligences’, including linguistic,
logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinaesthetic, interpersonal, and
intrapersonal intelligence.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Sternberg
proposed a ‘triarchic’ theory. He thought that musical and bodily-kinaesthetic
abilities were talents rather than intelligences. Sternberg’s three integrated
and interdependent aspects of intelligence were: practical (the ability to get
along in different contexts), creative (the ability to come up with new ideas),
and analytical (the ability to evaluate information and solve problems).</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Biological
theories of intelligence suggest that understanding intelligence is only
possible by identifying its biological basis. It’s looking at neurons.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There have been
studies of different areas of the brain. For example, Levy and others found
that the left hemisphere is superior in analytical tasks, such as are involved
in the use of language, while the right hemisphere is superior in many forms of
visual and spatial tasks. Overall, the right hemisphere tends to be more
synthetic and holistic in its functioning than the left. Remember that the
corpus callosum links the two halves of the brain, so work was done on patients
whose corpus callosum had been severed. Levy and Sperry found that the left
hemisphere of the brain functioned better with patterns that are readily
described in words but are difficult to discriminate visually. Whereas the
right hemisphere was more adept with patterns requiring visual discrimination.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Eysenck and
others looked at brain waves and speed of response in people taking
intelligence tests.<span> </span>Some researchers
found a relationship between brain waves, and scores on a standard psychometric
test of intelligence.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Others have
looked at blood flow in the brain, which indicates which areas of the brain are
being used. Haier found that people who perform better on conventional
intelligence tests often show less activation in relevant portions of the brain
than do those who perform less well.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There have been
a number of studies of children showing how intelligence develops. The
outstanding researcher in this area is Piaget. His four stages of cognitive
development were: sensorimotor intelligence; preoperational thinking; concrete
operational thinking; and formal operational thinking.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">You might ask
what impact environment has on intelligence? It does seem that intelligence
runs in families, and according to Plomin, “recent genome-wide association
studies have successfully identified inherited genome sequence differences that
account for 20% of the 50% heritability of intelligence”. However, there is no
single gene for intelligence. And, we know from epigenetics that through a
process called methylation, genes can be turned on or off. DNA methylation is
influenced by diet, exercise, stress, relationships, thoughts, nutritional
status, toxins, sleep, infections, etc. So, yes, environment can affect a
person’s intelligence.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">What do
intelligence (IQ) tests measure? Because there is no complete definition of
intelligence, it would seem that IQ tests simply measure what IQ tests measure!</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It’s worth
noting that people also talk about Emotional Intelligence (EI), and there are
EQ tests to measure how emotionally intelligent a person is. Emotional
Intelligence is usually described as a person’s ability to perceive, use,
understand, manage, and handle emotions. The name most associated with EI is
Daniel Goleman. Some research has found that people with high EI have greater
mental health, job performance, and leadership skills. There are debates about
whether EI is really a form of intelligence or something else.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">What can AI
developers learn from natural human intelligence? That’s difficult to answer.
Clearly people like Thurstone, Cattell, and Gardner (and many others) came up
with lists of things that make up human intelligence and these lists might be
helpful for AI developers. However, like in all things, there have been many
different approaches to the question of what is intelligence? What might be of
interest is an idea from Carol Dweck in her book called <i>Mindset: The New
Psychology of Success</i>. The book suggests that some people believe their
success is based on innate ability; these people are said to have a ‘fixed’
theory of intelligence (ie a fixed mindset). Other people believe their success
is based on hard work, learning, training, and doggedness; these are said to
have a ‘growth’ or an ‘incremental’ theory of intelligence (growth mindset).
And everyone else is meant to be somewhere on a continuum between the two
extremes. Perhaps the one thing to takeaway is that a successful AI needs to
have a growth mindset.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p>
Trevor Eddollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01503760088127669481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8750297140750368021.post-38192169568432581932023-09-10T07:50:00.006+01:002023-09-10T07:50:34.321+01:00Mainframes and the world of cyber-crime<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Mainframe
security is a concern for all mainframe-using organizations. However, many
people working with mainframes are unaware of just how professional hacker
groups are. Some people still have the idea that a hacker is some kind of
disaffected teenager who plays at accessing corporate data. The truth is that
hacker gangs are using the same tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) as
legitimate businesses. Plus, they are able to offer various hacking techniques
as-a-Service. This means almost anyone can use them to hack your mainframe.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Cyber-crime
allows criminal gangs to make huge profits, which means that there has been a
massive growth in their activity and the underground marketplace where products
and services can be bought and sold. Most IT people are familiar with the idea
of Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS), but not all bad actors are looking to steal
sensitive data, which they can sell, or extort money through ransomware
attacks. Some bad actors are looking to steal processing power in order to mine
cryptocurrency. Some simply gain access to a corporate network and sell that
access to others. These are called initial access brokers (IABs). You can also
find Crypter-as-a-Service (CaaS) and Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS) available to
purchase.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Any IT security
team has to be prepared for hackers, or more likely hacking gangs, to use
encrypted anonymous routing tools (eg tor and I2P). When the gangs extract
money from an organization, it can be hard to trace because of the use of
cryptocurrency. On top of that, there are state-sponsored actors, who are not
necessarily in business for the money, but are politically motivated in their
attacks.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">With the Ransomware-as-a-Service
model, a hacker gang will create ransomware tools, infrastructure, and
operating procedures or playbooks. Other people or gangs can then pay to access
these tools etc and then carry out a ransomware attack. It’s a bit like
shopping. The purchasers may use RaaS tools from multiple gangs, and what they
do with them can vary. This makes identification harder because the users will
have different TTPs. The benefit of this model for the users is that they have
a tried and tested way to make money from legitimate organizations. The benefit
for the gang that created the RaaS is that they can be making money without
getting out of bed in the morning!</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">One of the
first thing that hacker gangs do, is create backdoors into the network that
they have just hacked. That means they can easily get back into that network in
the future. It also means that they could sell this access to other people.
Initial access brokers (IABs) make their money by selling access to victim
networks on the dark web. They will have spent time gaining access in the first
place, whereas the purchasers don’t need to spend any time before they start to
attack their chosen target. Preferred methods of gaining access to an
organization include: compromised emails; cloud misconfigurations; and software
supply chain attacks.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Before we look
at Crypter-as-a-Service, it’s useful to understand the three stages in a
typical malware attack. Stage 1 is the dropper. This is the initial malicious
file/command that retrieves the crypter. In stage 2, the crypter, which is a
tool or process, obfuscates the malware payload so it can bypass the defences
on the network. Stage 3 is the malware that supplies the functionality required
by the attacker. This is typically some kind of remote administration.
Antivirus and antimalware software is used to prevent crypters getting on to a
network, and both sides are regularly updating their software in an unending
battle.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Crypter-as-a-Service
(CaaS) provides the latest generation of software tools and services would-be hackers
can include in their workflows, without them needing to be completely up to
date with the latest requirements. These bad actors may also, at the same time,
purchase Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS).</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Malware needs
to be kept up to date to avoid detection, which makes Malware-as-a-Service such
a popular purchase for less technically adept hackers. They may also purchase
support contracts, access to updates, and affiliated services. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Obviously,
these techniques are used on non-mainframe platforms. The reason that
mainframers need to be aware of them is that mainframes are no longer separate
islands of computing. They are increasingly being connected to the cloud, and
the<a name="_Hlk142315056"> latest </a><span></span><a href="https://www.ibm.com/reports/data-breach"><span>Cost of a Data Breach Report</span></a><span>
</span>from IBM Security
found that 82% of breaches involved data stored in the cloud – public, private,
or multiple environments. Mainframe sites that have projects that embrace cloud
computing may well wish to review their security policy for the cloud. The
report goes on to say that 39% of breaches spanned multiple environments. In
addition, mainframe APIs are often connected to mobile devices and the web. It
makes reviewing the potential attack surface an important job.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">What I’m
suggesting is that mainframe breaches could be started from a different
platform within an organization and then moved onto the mainframe. Criminal
gangs, state sponsored actors, and even disgruntled staff could now be taking
steps (if they haven’t already) to access your mainframe data.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">You can read
more in <a href="https://www.withsecure.com/en/expertise/research-and-innovation/research/the-professionalization-of-cyber-crime"><i>The Professionalization of Cyber Crime</i></a> whitepaper from <a href="https://www.withsecure.com">WithSecure</a>.</span></span></p>
Trevor Eddollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01503760088127669481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8750297140750368021.post-82963930231671329852023-09-03T14:28:00.008+01:002023-09-03T14:28:52.019+01:00Using AI for business success<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;">Let’s jump
forward in time, say five years, where AI is everywhere. What does our
mainframe world look like? Let’s start with programming. Working programs are
being completed by the next day! A programmer simply says to the programming AI
what the program needs to achieve and what language the program should be
written in, and within minutes (seconds for simpler programs) the program is
written and compiled. The programmer then tests it and deploys it.</span></span><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Reports still
need to be produced. You simply tell the AI what it needs to report on, and the
AI writes it for you. A quick check on the content is all that’s needed before
it’s distributed.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Rather than
needing a security team to monitor the mainframe, cloud, and other platforms,
the AI can do that. It can keep an eye on who is making any changes. It can
send an alert if someone is working from an unusual IP address to make changes.
It might even take action such as locking out the user or suspending a job. It
can check whether people are accessing files that are not associated with their
job role. And it can identify if user-ids and passwords suddenly become active
after a period of dormancy. It will protect your platforms against attempts to
breach security.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It will make
life so much simpler – or, in many ways, deskill the work that is being done.
So, should we start working towards this computing nirvana now? As with most
things, the dream and the reality are not the same.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">While there are
plenty of AI projects out there at the moment, and I’ve written about IBM’s AI
work previously, it’s probably ChatGPT that most people are familiar with.
ChatGPT is an example of a Large Language Model (LLM). It’s a bit like the
predictive text you use when messaging someone on your phone. ChatGPT has been
trained on a massive amount of data. It can then summarize what it knows and
generate text (including poetry!). You may see the term generative AI to
describe the ability to generate text.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">While ChatGPT
is very clever and very useful, and, I must say, quite fun to use,
organizations may find that it’s not quite as clever as they thought. Rather
than doing their own research, some people may, for reasons of speed, rely on
LLMs to give them an answer to a problem they are facing. However, because of
the size of the dataset that the LLM was trained on, it may contain conflicting
information. It may also not contain the most recent information available. As
a consequence, the seemingly all-knowing LLM may not be quite giving you the
best advice. In addition, depending on the question, there may be factors that
the LLM can’t take into account.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Another issue
faced at some organizations is when some members of staff are using ChatGPT to get
information or solve problems etc. Sometimes, the information that they are
giving the LLM may be covered by non-disclosure agreements, or be proprietary
(eg getting the LLM to debug some code), or company confidential. They consider
talking to the AI from their laptop is a bit like talking to a doctor or
lawyer, and the information they give goes no further. What usually happens is
that the data entered become part of the LLM’s training data. And that means it
may appear in the answers given to your organization’s competitors. With GDPR, CCPA,
and similar regulations, if someone were to enter personally identifiable information
(PII), that might lead to quite hefty fines.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Three things
immediately come out of this. Firstly, all staff at an organization need to be
made aware of the dangers of entering company confidential information into an
LLM or violating privacy laws. The second thing is the need for companies to
draft an LLM use policy and implement it.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Thirdly, there
is the ongoing issue of shadow IT. With a mainframe, you pretty much know what
applications people are using. The issue comes with groups withing an organization
making use of applications available in the cloud or using apps on their phones
that IT hasn’t checked for security. For any organization, there may well be
individual members of staff or whole teams that are using ChatGPT or similar
LLMs for their work. Because of the issues mentioned above, this can lead to loss
of data or fines, etc.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Highlighting
the concerns that people have with AI, just recently, following the publication
of the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-risk-register-2023">National Risk Register (NRR) 2023</a>, AI has been officially classed as a
security threat. The document details the various threats that could
significantly impact the UK’s safety, security, or critical systems at a
national level. AI is now described as a ‘chronic risk’, highlighting the
long-term threat that it poses.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">AI is already
with us. It is really useful, and my IT nirvana prediction is probably true. It’s
just getting there from here is going to be a bumpy road. If you like
metaphors, we’re in the situation where we’ve just given our teenager the car
keys to our new vehicle.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p>
Trevor Eddollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01503760088127669481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8750297140750368021.post-21841052270333193592023-08-20T09:16:00.003+01:002023-08-20T09:16:20.625+01:00Security breach – it’ll never happen! Part 2<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>This time we
continue our look at IBM Security’s latest </i><a href="https://www.ibm.com/reports/data-breach"><i>Cost of a Data Breach Report</i></a><i>.</i></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I thought that
it would be useful to see what recommendations the report had for busy IT security
teams.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">37% of
ransomware victims opted not to involve law enforcement to help contain a
ransomware breach, but those that did experienced a less costly ransomware breach
overall. The average cost of a ransomware breach was US$5.11 million when law
enforcement wasn’t involved and US$4.64 million when law enforcement was
involved – a 9.6% difference.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The total amount
of time to identify and contain a ransomware breach was 33 days shorter with
law enforcement involvement, at 273 days in total compared to 306 days (a
saving of 11.4%). The mean time to contain a ransomware breach was 63 days or
23.8% shorter with law enforcement involvement compared to 80 days without.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">For organizations
that experienced a ransomware attack, those that used automated response
playbooks or workflows designed specifically for ransomware attacks were able
to contain them in 68 days compared to the average of 80 days for organizations
without automated response playbooks or workflows (16% less).</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Does paying the
ransom actually save your organization any money? The report suggests that the
savings are minimal. Their findings were that the cost of a ransomware attack
for an organization that paid the ransom was US$5.06 million. If the
organization didn’t pay the ransom, the cost was US$5.17 million – a difference
of 2.2%. However, the figures don’t include the cost of the ransom itself. The report
suggests that paying the ransom is probably not a cost-effective strategy
overall.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The report
strongly makes the case for the use of security AI, saying that organizations
with extensive use of security AI and automation identified and contained a
data breach 108 days faster than organizations that didn’t use AI or automation.
What falls into that category includes the use of AI, machine learning,
automation, and orchestration to augment or replace human intervention in
detection and investigation of threats as well as the response and containment
process. On the opposite end of the spectrum are processes driven by manual
inputs, often across dozens of tools and complex, non-integrated systems, without
data shared between them.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In addition,
there were cost savings with AI and automation. The report found a US$1.76
million lower data breach costs compared to organizations that didn’t use security
AI and automation capabilities.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Perhaps not
surprisingly, the report found that 51% of organizations are planning to
increase their security investments as a result of a breach – although one must
worry about the other 49%. For those who are planning to invest, the top areas
identified included incident response (IR) planning and testing, employee training,
and threat detection and response technologies.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The report
recommends that organizations take a DevSecOps approach tin order to build
security into any tools or platforms an organization depends on to engage its workforce
or its customers. Organizations of all types, the report says, should look to ensure
that security is at the forefront of the software they’re developing as well as
commercial off-the-shelf software that they’re deploying. Application
developers must continue to accelerate the adoption of the principles of secure
by design and secure by default to ensure that security is a core requirement
that’s considered during the initial design phase of digital transformation
projects and not simply addressed after the fact. The same principles must be
applied to cloud environments to support cloud-native app development in order
to makes a serious effort to protect user privacy and minimize attack surfaces.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The report
recommends application testing or penetration testing from the perspective of
an attacker in order to give organizations the opportunity to identify and
patch vulnerabilities before they turn into breaches. No technology or
application will ever be fully secure, and adding more features introduces new risks.
Ongoing application testing can help organizations identify new vulnerabilities.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The report
suggests that organizations should strengthen their resiliency by knowing their
attack surface and practicing their Incident Response (IR). Various tools can
help organizations gain an attacker-informed perspective into their unique risk
profile and vulnerabilities, including which vulnerabilities are readily
exploitable.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Secondly,
having a team in place that’s versed in the right protocols and tools to
respond to an incident has been shown to significantly reduce costs and the
time to identify and contain a breach. Organizations with high levels of these countermeasures
in place incurred US$1.49 million lower data breach costs compared to
organizations with low levels or none.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Another
recommendation is for organizations to implement network segmentation practices
to limit the spread of attacks and the extent of damage they can cause, strengthening
overall resiliency and reducing recovery efforts.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The report also
recommends that organizations modernize data protection across hybrid cloud. 82%
of data breaches in the report involved data stored in cloud environments, and
39% of breaches included data that spanned multiple types of environments. The
report recommends gaining visibility and control of data spread across hybrid
cloud as a top priority for organizations, and should include a focus on strong
encryption, data security, and data access policies.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Newer
technologies such as data security posture management can help find unknown and
sensitive data across the cloud, including structured and unstructured assets
within cloud service providers, software as a service (SaaS) properties, and
data lakes. This can help identify and mitigate vulnerabilities in underlying data
store configurations, entitlements, and data flows.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Organizations
also need to deploy strong identity and access management (IAM) strategies that
include technologies such as multifactor authentication (MFA), with particular
focus on managing privileged user accounts that have an elevated access level.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There are
plenty of evidence-based suggestions in the <a href="https://www.ibm.com/reports/data-breach">Cost
of a Data Breach Report</a>
that most sites would be wise to implement before a data breach happens to them
(again) because they need to realize that a breach can definitely happen to
them.</span></span></p>
Trevor Eddollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01503760088127669481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8750297140750368021.post-23894028826743210632023-08-13T09:05:00.001+01:002023-08-13T09:18:48.389+01:00Security breach – it’ll never happen! Part 1<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; mso-bookmark: _Hlk142315003;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">We all know from the press that security
breaches have been causing serious problems to </span></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">computing infrastructure for a number of
years now. And yet, there are still too many mainframe sites that are hoping it
won’t happen to them. I thought, by way of a wake-up call, it would be useful
to take a look at the findings of the<a name="_Hlk142315056"> latest </a></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.ibm.com/reports/data-breach"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk142315056;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">Cost of a Data Breach Report</span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk142315056;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">
</span></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">from IBM Security.</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The first thing
your CFO will want to know is how much a data breach is likely to cost. The
report found that it is US$4.45 million, which is 2.3% higher than the 2022 report’s
findings. Worryingly, only 1 in 3 sites that experienced a breach had the
breach identified by their own security teams or tools. The remaining 67% of
breaches were reported by a benign third party or by the attackers themselves.
When the attackers disclosed a breach, it cost organizations nearly US$1
million more compared to internal detection.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The cost of a ransomware
attack increased by 13% from 2022, now costing on average US$ 5.13 million. Ransomware
attacks made up 24% of all data breaches recorded in the survey. Destructive
attacks that left systems inoperable accounted for 25% of attacks. Business
partner and software supply chain attacks accounted for 15% and 12% of attacks,
respectively.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">There’s always
a big debate about whether an organization should disclose that it has been
hacked and call in law enforcement. After all, the hackers are often based
abroad, and a prosecution is unlikely. In addition, the news of the breach may
reach the press and the company is very likely will lose customer confidence
and is likely to lose money over the next couple of years. The report found
that organizations that didn’t inform law enforcement faced an additional cost
of US$ 470,000. 63% of sites in the survey had involved law enforcement, the
37% that didn’t also paid 9.6% more and experienced a 33-day longer breach
lifecycle.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">If you work in
healthcare, the report found that since 2020, healthcare data breach costs have
increased by 53.3%. For the 13th year in a row, the healthcare industry
reported the most expensive data breaches, at an average cost of US$10.93
million.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The big
question worrying many sites is are they currently being hacked, and they
haven’t realized yet? The survey found that the length of time it takes to
identify a breach is 204 days, which, although it might be cold comfort, is
better than last year’s figure of 207 days. Once a breach has been identified,
how long does it take to recover? The survey found that on average it takes
organizations 73 days. That’s three days longer than the 2022 results.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">One small
comfort for traditional mainframers is that 82% of breaches involved data
stored in the cloud – public, private, or multiple environments Mainframe sites
that have projects that embrace cloud computing may well wish to review their
security policy for the cloud. The report goes on to say that attackers often gained
access to multiple environments, with 39% of breaches spanning multiple environments
and incurring a higher-than average cost of US$4.75 million.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The location of
an organization has big impact on the cost of a data breach. The most expensive
place for a data breach is the USA, costing US$9.48 million. The Middle East is
the second most expensive at US$8.07 million. Next is Canada, costing US$5.13
million. Fourth is Germany, costing US$4.67 million. And fifth is Japan costing
US$4.52 million. The United Kingdom has dropped out of the top five this year.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We said
Healthcare was the most expensive. The rest of the top five industries are: Financial
costing US$5.90 million; Pharmaceuticals costing US$4.82 million; Energy
costing US$4.78 million; and Industrial costing US$4.73 million. Technology has
dropped out of this top five list.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Detection and escalation
costs are still very expensive. This year the figure rose by 9.7% to US$1.58 million.
These costs include activities that enable a company to reasonably detect a
breach and can include forensic and investigative activities, assessment and
audit services, crisis management, and communications to executives and boards.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">When it comes
to lost business costs, the figure dropped 8.5% to US$1.30 million. This figure
includes activities such as business disruptions and revenue losses from system
downtime, the cost of lost customers and acquiring new customers, and reputation
losses and diminished goodwill.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">This year’s
report is its 18<sup>th</sup> consecutive edition. The research is conducted
independently by Ponemon Institute, and sponsored, analysed, and published by
IBM Security. Responses were from 553 organizations impacted by data breaches
that occurred between March 2022 and March 2023.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><i style="font-family: georgia;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">Next time
will look at more from the report.</span></i></span></p>
Trevor Eddollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01503760088127669481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8750297140750368021.post-19444691509585710132023-07-23T09:46:00.002+01:002023-07-23T10:00:46.737+01:00Apple – the evil empire?<p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There’s a
moment in one of those films about the early days of Apple where Steve Wozniak
comes up to Steve Jobs and says that he has built a new computer with umpteen
holes in the back so that you can plug in just about every device that was then
available. It would have made those early Apple devices the dream machine for
most people. However, Steve Jobs, without any thought about the feelings of his
company’s co-founder, says ‘no’. And so started the locked in, world of its
own, Apple empire.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Let’s be clear,
I’ve used Apple devices since the days of the Apple IIGS, through those
wonderful luggable Macs, right up until a few years ago. Apple was first with a
commercially-viable WIMPS (Windows, Icons, Menus, and Pointers) interface, and
they created the look and feel of a modern phone. I also love the idea of a
magnetic connector, so that if you trip over the wire, it simply disconnects
and doesn’t pull your laptop onto the floor.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">But if Apple
are so good, what percentage of the worldwide PC marketplace does it have?
According to IDC data in April, Apple has 7.2 percent of the worldwide PC
market. According to Statista, it has 14.2% of the US PC marketplace. What
about Apple phones? Firstly, I’m told, you’re not allowed to hold them like a
normal phone, you have to hold them sideways, just in case not everyone in the
world realizes that you’re using an Apple device. Statcounter tells us that
worldwide, Apple phones have 31.5% market share, with Android phones having
67.56%. (The tiny percentage left must be people using two tin cans and a piece
of string!) However, if we look at the US marketplace, 62.13% of phones sold
are from Apple, with Android having just 37.47%. A huge discontinuity between
the USA and the rest of the world.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://medium.com/macoclock/8-psychology-tricks-apple-uses-to-keep-you-hooked-to-its-products-18e741e2621f">Medium </a>published an interesting story about the
psychology tricks (cognitive biases) Apple use to keep punters hooked on its products. Here are
the tricks listed in the article:</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Using gamification
to improve user engagement – this is the process of turning something dull and
mundane into a game – you might do it with your three-year-old to tidy up their
toys. For example, the Apple Card in your digital wallet changes colour as you
spend more money. This encourages people to spend more. Apple Arcade offers
games that aren’t available on any other platform, which creates a sense of
exclusivity (or social isolation!). Apple rings on the Apple watch motivates
people to be healthier and offers rewards as people hit milestones.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Integrating behavioural
economics with product design – an example is bringing out new products with
updates (often minimal). This appears to make older models obsolete. The sunk
cost fallacy is where a person has spent time and money not only buying a
product, but also learning how to use it. So, changing to a different product
doesn’t seem worth the effort. So, once an Apple user, always an Apple user.
Habits or defaults use less brain power and seem easier at the time. So, if you
chose Apple last time, you’re very likely to choose an Apple product for your
next purchase.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The psychology
of notifications – alerts help us feel that we’re keeping up to date with
what’s going on. A red number next to your email icon makes it seem urgent that
you check your emails. Allowing users to tailor their notifications gives them
the illusion of control.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The mere exposure
effect – as anyone finding themselves humming the tune of an advert knows, familiarity
makes us choose a product (or tune). So, product placement means that only the
good guys in films and TV wear or use Apple products. And we’re the good guys
in our life story, aren’t we?</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Dopamine-driven
feedback loops – this neurotransmitter motivates and rewards us. When you check
your email (or anything else) and find a new email, you get a small dopamine
reward. So, you repeat the activity to get another reward.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Peak-end rule –
mums looking after toddlers don’t remember every dirty nappy or the floods of
tears, they remember the best bits – that quite cuddle reading a book together
– and the end – the child finally fast asleep. Apparently, Apple product
launches have high-intensity peak moments, when a new product or feature gets
announced.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Paradox of choice
– it’s very hard for people to choose what jam they want if there are more than
six choices available. There are too many variables to weigh up. So, Apple
restricts the number of product choices it makes available.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Reduction of
cognitive dissonance – if you hold contradictory views about something, you are
meant to feel cognitive dissonance, which is unpleasant. So, Apple turns off
comments on all its social media platforms. There’s nothing negative for customers
and potential customers to see. So, there are no potentially conflicting views.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Is Apple
deliberately using psychological techniques to suck in people and keep them as
customers? Are all big organizations doing the same only not so well? You
decide. But on the plus side, Apple has pushed forward computing on PCs,
tablets, and phones. On the downside, they may well be exploiting their
customers in ways that Microsoft, Google, and PC and phone manufacturers can only
dream of!</span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p>Trevor Eddollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01503760088127669481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8750297140750368021.post-22256019402682322402023-07-16T08:33:00.006+01:002023-07-16T08:33:47.233+01:00Guide Share Europe Annual Conference 2023<span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">If you work on
mainframes and you live in the UK or western Europe, you won’t want to miss out
on the UK’s premier mainframe conference and exhibition. It is, of course, The
Guide Share Europe (GSE) UK Annual Conference. And it is taking place from
Monday 30 October until Thursday 2 November at its regular home in Whittlebury
Hall, Whittlebury, Near Towcester, Northamptonshire NN12 8QH, UK. After last
year’s successful face-to-face conference, this one should be even better. And
this year’s strapline is “Where Technology and Talent meet Tomorrow”.</span></span>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In-person
meetings like this not only provide excellent education for attendees, but also
the opportunity to speak to the exhibitors about where they are focusing their
attention and to catch up – and argue – with other mainframers during the day
and in the bar in the evening!</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And,
importantly, the GSE conference has just opened up registration this month. So,
if you were hoping to get a room in the hotel where the conference is taking
place, I would advise that you book straight away.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">This year, the Diamond
sponsor is Broadcom. The Platinum Sponsors are BMC, Vanguard Integrity
Professionals, Rocket Software, and IBM. The Gold Sponsors are Opentext, and
Vertali. The Silver Sponsors are MainTegrity, Ensono, DataKinetics, Beta
Systems, Veracode, and SEA Software Engineering of America. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">This year’s
exhibitors are Enterprise Performance Strategies, Velocity Software, Trident
Services, Macro4, Planet Mainframe, SCC, Fitz Software, TSG, </mooody
cow>, Interskill, Red Hat, Dell Technologies, Action Software, and Verhoef
Training.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Although there
are now a number of sessions on the Monday afternoon. The conference proper
kicks off on Tuesday morning with a brief keynote from Mark Wilson, followed by
HSBC Bank’s Paul Hopson.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">That is
followed by three days of excellent presentations from various experts. There
are typically 16 streams running covering all aspects of mainframe life, from
101 sessions for people who are new to the mainframe world. To sessions on
CICS, IMS, Db2, security, application development, women in IT, new
technologies, storage, system management, and much more. And there are keynote
presentations on the other days. That gives nearly 200 sessions across the
three and a half days of the conference.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And if you’re
still debating whether to go, let me recommend it to you. The quality of
presentations is always excellent. And the networking opportunities are
brilliant. There’s usually 500 or more people there. It would be a shame for
you to miss it.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">See you there.</span></span></p>
Trevor Eddollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01503760088127669481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8750297140750368021.post-85181789532545349002023-07-09T09:22:00.006+01:002023-07-09T09:22:48.344+01:00Why do mainframers feel the way they do? Part 2<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><i><span style="line-height: 120%;">This week, we
continue our look at what can affect the mental health of mainframers. Having
discussed genetics, a person’s history, and the effects of adrenalin, we start
looking at how a person’s GI tract affects their mind, and vice versa.</span></i></span></span><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<p class="text"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia; line-height: 120%;">Intestinal
permeability (ie leaky gut) occurs with chronic low-grade inflammation, which
happens more often in disorders such as anxiety or depression.</span></span></p>
<p class="text"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia; line-height: 120%;">It is estimated
that 90 percent of the body’s serotonin is made in the digestive tract. In
fact, altered levels of gut serotonin have been linked to diseases such as
irritable bowel syndrome, cardiovascular disease, and osteoporosis.</span></span></p>
<p class="text"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia; line-height: 120%;">Stress can affect
the composition of, and the total amount of, biome (bacteria etc) in a person’s
gut. The biome can be directly affected by neurons, immune cells, and
enterochromaffin cells (neuroendocrine cells found in the gastric glands, that
aid in the production of gastric acid through the release of histamine).</span></span></p>
<p class="text"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia; line-height: 120%;">The brain also
modulates gut functions such as: motility; the secretion of acid, bicarbonates,
and mucus; intestinal fluid handling; and mucosal immune response. These
maintain the mucus layer and biofilm where individual groups of bacteria grow.</span></span></p>
<p class="text"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia; line-height: 120%;">Plus, the brain
may affect the biome composition and function by changing intestinal
permeability, allowing bacterial antigens to penetrate the epithelium and
stimulate an immune response in the mucosa (mucous membrane). So, through the
autonomic nervous system, the brain modulates immune function, which can
increase epithelial permeability to bacteria, which facilitates their access to
immune cells.</span></span></p>
<p class="text"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia; line-height: 120%;">Changes in the
composition of the gut flora due to diet, drugs, or disease correlate with
changes in levels of circulating cytokines, some of which can affect brain
function. Cytokines are small proteins that affect the behaviour of cells
around them. They are especially important in the immune system.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The brain and
the gut are connected by the vagus nerve, which wanders (its name comes from the same source as the word
vagabond) round the body and contains nerves sending messages from the brain,
and nerves sending messages to the brain. It affects how the gut behaves
(trying to keep everything well – a homeostatic role), but it’s also part of
the Gut-Brain Axis, sending messages from the gut to the brain, which then
impact on mood. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The gut is also
closely linked to the body’s immune system. Most of the body’s immune system
works on the gut! When our immune system identifies an invader, it releases
cytokines, and the body is protected by inflammation as white cells attack the
invading organisms. However, some people have low levels of inflammation all
the time. </span></span></p>
<p class="text"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia; line-height: 120%;">It’s worth noting
that the brain and the immune system have two-way links.</span></span></p>
<p class="text"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia; line-height: 120%;">Stress can cause
inflammation. Stressful events include bereavement, poverty, debt, social
isolation, and maltreatment as a child. Being overweight causes inflammation.
Even public speaking can increase inflammation! </span></span></p>
<p class="text"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia; line-height: 120%;">Most inflammation
occurs on the inside of the body, which people can’t see. One of the ways that
the body naturally keeps the levels of inflammation down is through the vagus
nerve. It controls the inflammatory reflex. </span></span></p>
<p class="text"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia; line-height: 120%;">The inflammatory
reflex is a neural circuit that regulates the immune response to injury and
invasion. If cytokine levels in the body rise, the vagus nerve will detect the
change and send a message to the brain. A signal is then sent down the vagus
nerve to the spleen, acting on macrophages (white blood cells) to reduce the
cytokine level. Cytokines can cause collateral damage to the body’s cells near
them. Interestingly, vagal nerve stimulation can reduce inflammation. Increased
vagal signalling inhibits inflammation and prevents organ damage.</span></span></p>
<p class="text"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia; line-height: 120%;">The health and
fitness of the vagus nerve is called vagal tone. A high vagal tone equates to a
better capacity to keep inflammation down. </span></span></p>
<p class="text"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia; line-height: 120%;">Other factors
associated with increased inflammation include: obesity; sedentary lifestyle;
disordered sleep; emotional and physical trauma; medical illnesses such as
cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and autoimmune; infections (including
exposure to unsanitary living conditions and poor hygiene); medical treatment
such as surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation; and antidepressant treatment
resistance.</span></span></p>
<p class="text"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia; line-height: 120%;">The body’s
natural immune response can trigger oxidative stress temporarily. This type of
oxidative stress causes mild inflammation that goes away after the immune
system fights off an infection or repairs an injury. Oxidative stress refers to
an imbalance of free radicals and antioxidants in the body, which can lead to
cell and tissue damage. Free radicals are molecules with one or more unpaired
electron that are very reactive. Antioxidants are substances that neutralize or
remove free radicals by donating an electron. The neutralizing effect of
antioxidants helps protect the body from oxidative stress. Examples of
antioxidants include vitamins A, C, and E. </span></span></p>
<p class="text"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia; line-height: 120%;">The blood-brain
barrier protects the brain. We used to think it was impenetrable. </span></span></p>
<p class="text"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia; line-height: 120%;">The neuroimmune
system is composed primarily of glial cells and mast cells (a type of white
blood cell). During a neuroimmune response, cytokines send inflammatory signals
across the blood-brain barrier, which activates microglial cells in the brain,
which then release more cytokines. As a consequence, this can kill neurons or
shrink them, reduce the number of synaptic connections, and the synaptic supply
of neurotransmitters can be disrupted. And it can block the regenerative
process that would create new cells. Tryptophan is a serotonin precursor.
Microglial cells can instruct nerve cells to make other end products such as
kynurenine. This makes less serotonin available in the brain and kynurenine
(and other alternative end products) are toxic. So, inflammation in the body can
have a negative impact on the brain – perhaps, leading to depression.</span></span></p>
<p class="text"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia; line-height: 120%;">There’s lots of
research evidence linking inflammation in the body with depression.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">What I’m
suggesting here is that the mental health of mainframers and others can’t be
taken in isolation and needs to be looked at along with the physical health of
their body.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">But even that
isn’t enough. The mental health of a person depends on a much bigger picture. George
Engel in 1977 first came up with the idea of a biopsychosocial model. He
suggested that in order to understand a person's medical condition more than
just biological factors had to be considered. It’s also important to look at
psychological and social factors. And these three types of factors are
interlinked. In 2017, Wade and Halligan said, it is generally accepted that
“illness and health are the result of an interaction between biological,
psychological, and social factors”. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Psychological
factors include: stress management; positive thought; resilience; mental discipline;
and giving and receiving love. Social factors include: support from social
groups; and access to medical and health education. Lastly, biological factors
include: healthy diet; exercise; freedom from addiction; time to relax; and no
genetic predisposition to disease.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And, maybe, we
can take that a stage further. How a person feels depends very much on their
employer’s attitude towards their staff, and politics – how keen national and
local government are to ensure a person feels safe and has somewhere to live;
whether they have access to education and health services; whether there are
shops and places of entertainment nearby; and whether there are affordable and
green transport links for business. And so much more.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p>
Trevor Eddollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01503760088127669481noreply@blogger.com0