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.
The exciting news in January was that Trevor Eddolls was recognized
by IBM as a 2024 IBM Champion. IBM said: “On behalf of IBM, it is my great pleasure
to recognize you as a returning IBM Champion in 2024. 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 2023
calendar year.”
On 16 January, the Virtual
Db2 user group saw a presentation from Marcus Davage, Lead Product
Developer at BMC Software. He was discussing how “Driving Down Database Development
Dollars”. Then on 23 January, Todd Havekost, Senior z/OS Performance Consultant
at IntelliMagic discussed “Enhanced Analysis Through Integrating CICS and Other
Types of SMF Data” with the Virtual
CICS user group.
February saw the publication of the always popular Arcati Mainframe
Yearbook 2024. You can download a copy here – it’s
FREE. Last year’s edition of this highly-respected annual source of mainframe information
was downloaded around 21,000 times during the course of the year.
Also in February, Trevor’s article, “The Comprehensive Beginners’
Guide to AI”, was published on the TechChannel website. And
his article “Ransomware
Attacks and your Health” was published on the Planet Mainframe
website.
On 13 February, the Virtual
IMS user group had a presentation from Dr Daniela Schilling, CEO
of Delta Software Technology, entitled “Replacing IBM IMS DB – Fully Automated and
with Highest Security”.
On 12 March, Jenny He PhD, IBM Master Inventor, CICS Development
at IBM Hursley Park, gave a presentation to the Virtual
CICS user group entitled, “CICS Event processing and CICS policies”.
And on 19 March, Toine Michielse, Solutions Architect at Broadcom, discussed “A
day in the life of a Db2 for z/OS Schema” with the Virtual
DB2 user group.
In April, Trevor Eddolls was awarded an IBM Z and LinuxONE Community
Contributor – 2024 (Level 1) badge. The badge earner is an external community member
who is passionate about IBM zSystems and LinuxONE and wants to make a positive difference.
This individual has expressed interest in contributing to the community in their
own unique way.
Also in April, Trevor’s article, “Why Today’s AI Is Failing”, was published
on the TechChannel website.
On 9 April, the Virtual
IMS user group had a presentation from IBM’s Stephen P Nathan
entitled “How to Help IBM AND YOU Quickly Resolve IMS Problems”.
Towards the end of April, Trevor was listed as a 2024 Influential Mainframers
on the Planet Mainframe website.
In July, Trevor Eddolls was awarded an IBM Z and LinuxONE Community
Advocate – 2024 (Level 2) badge. The badge earner has actively contributed to the
IBM Z and LinuxONE community and has expressed interest in continuing to do so.
This individual is in good standing with their IBM Z and LinuxONE peers and is passionate
about taking their advocacy to the next level. The badge earner has expert skills
in IBM Z and LinuxONE and can be expected to regularly contribute technical knowledge
to the community.
Also in July, Trevor Eddolls was awarded an IBM Z and LinuxONE
Community Influencer – 2024 (Level 3) badge. The badge earner is an active and passionate
member of the IBM Z and LinuxONE Community. He is a thought leader and viewed as
a technical expert by his peers. This individual contributes to the community regularly.
iTech-Ed Ltd was shortlisted in the seventh annual Southern
Enterprise Awards. The team at SME News nominated iTech-Ed Ltd, recognizing its
exceptional contributions and achievements.
In August, Trevor’s article, “Get ready for DORA”, was published
on the Planet Mainframe website.
Also in August, iTech-Ed Ltd was awarded, "Best Specialist
IT Consultancy 2024 - Wiltshire" in the Southern Enterprise Awards 2024, hosted
by SME news. Also,
C Level
Focus emailed to say, "You've been named one of the 'Top 10
Inspiring CEOs of 2024' by the CLF Magazine editorial team".
Thirdly in August, Mainframerz Meetup on LInkedIn said...
Perhaps not the best way to deal with a data leak
For many years Trevor Eddolls has written many great posts and
I couldn't think of a better way to lead into the IBM Cost of a Data Breach
report that follows than the story by Trevor of a data breach at NTT.
If you would like to read a 'how to guide' of how not to respond to a Data Breach
then the article from Trevor is 'the guide you are looking for' – (you need
to read the quote in a Star Wars voice).
I genuinely think you may take an in-take of breath in how this was responded to,
I don't want to give the best bits away and it's all very juicy. I will leave one
teaser which is one of the statements shared, which the politest way of saying this
would be that this is not full disclosure of the facts.
Additional measures to mitigate any further risk and protect the data of our
customers were also activated. At this time, there is no visibility that client
data has been affected.
If there was to be a scoop of the year I vote for this article Trevor has shared
as it is eye opening and a must read recommendation. You can read the full shenanigans
that Trevor has reported on here.
In October, Trevor’s article, “Ransomware
isn’t really a problem, is it?”, was published on the Planet Mainframe
website.
Also in October, Trevor Eddolls was awarded the IBM Contributor,
Advocate, and Influencer – 2024 badges.
At the end of October, Trevor’s article, “Defense
against the dark arts — mainframe security”, was published
on the Planet Mainframe website.
On 5 November, Trevor presented to the AI stream at the GSE
conference in the UK. His presentation was called “How to create Artificial Generalized
Intelligence”, and looked at how the human brain has solved the problem of a generalized
intelligence and how this can be applied to AI.
In December Trevor Eddolls was awarded a speaker badge. The
award says, at "Mainframe@60: The Diamond Anniversary of Digital Dominance",
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.”
Looking forward to the coming year, the Arcati Mainframe
Yearbook 2025 will be published under its new title of the Arcati Mainframe
Navigator. The Virtual IMS, Virtual CICS, and Virtual Db2 user groups will
continue to meet six times a year. All of those are now curated by the great
team at Planet Mainframe. And who knows what else we have to look forward to.
