Trevor Eddolls - IBM Champion 2012

The e-mail arrived this past week confirming that I’d been recognized as an IBM Champion 2012. I’ve been an IBM Champion since 2009, although the name has changed from IBM Data Champion, through IBM Information Champion, to just IBM Champion over the years.

But what does it mean? According to IBM: “An IBM Champion is someone who makes exceptional contributions to the technical community. Contributions can come in a variety of forms, and popular contributions include blogging, speaking at conferences or events, moderating forums, leading user groups, and authoring books or magazines. Educators can also become IBM Champions; for example, academic faculty may become IBM Champions by including IBM products and technologies in course curricula and encouraging students to build skills and expertise in these areas.

“An IBM Champion is not an IBMer, and can live in any country. IBM Champions share their accomplishments and activities in their public profiles on IBM developerWorks, making it easy for the IT professional community to learn more about them and their contributions, and engage with them.”

So why am I an IBM Champion? Well, I don't work for IBM, but I do write about mainframe hardware and software. I blog at mainframeupdate.blogspot.com and it.toolbox.com/blogs/mainframe-world. I also blog once a month on the Destination z Web site (www.destinationz.org). I’m Editorial Director for the well-respected Arcati Mainframe Yearbook (www.arcati.com/newyearbook12). I’ve also written technical articles that have been published in a variety of journals including z/Journal (www.mainframezone.com/it-management/the-z114-delivering-game-changing-opportunities). And I chair the Virtual IMS user group (www.fundi.com/virtualims) and the Virtual CICS user group (www.fundi.com/virtualcics). I also look after their social networking – you can find information about the groups on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

IBM Champions receive the title for one year, during which they can enjoy the benefits associated with the program – rather than any direct payment from IBM. Existing Champions are eligible to renew their status for the following year, as long as they can demonstrate that they have made significant contributions to the community over the past 12 months.

Are IBM Champions compensated for their role? Sadly (from my point of view) the answer is no. Do IBM Champions have any obligations to IBM? Again the answer is no. IBM Champions have no obligations to IBM. 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.

The e-mail did say that as a 2012 Champion I will receive ‘IBM Champion merchandise’ including a shirt, travel umbrella, messenger bag, framed certificate, lanyard, leather luggage tag, assorted paper products, and pin. So, that’ll be nice.

There may not be a financial benefit to being an IBM Champion, but I think it’s a nice way for IBM to recognize people around the world who are helping to promote IBM products and help share information about the products amongst their users.

You can see my profile at http://tinyurl.com/IBMchampion.

On a completely different note... If you get a chance, can you ‘Like’ iTech-Ed Ltd on Facebook. You can find it here. Thanks.

The Arcati Mainframe Yearbook 2012 has been published

Every year, about this time, mainframe users are excited to get their hands on the latest edition of the Arcati Mainframe Yearbook. What makes the Yearbook stand out is that it’s an excellent reference work for all IBM mainframe professionals – no matter how many years of experience they have.

What makes this annual publication so important? The answer is that it provides a one-stop shop for everything a mainframer needs to know. For example, the technical specification section includes model numbers, MIPS, and MSUs for zEnterprise processors (z196s and z114s). There’s also a hardware timeline, and a display of mainframe operating system evolution.

In addition, there’s the glossary of terminology section explaining simply what all those acronyms stand for, but in a way that means you can understand them.

One section provides a media guide for IBM mainframers. This includes information on newsletters, magazines, user groups, blogs, and social networking information resources for the z/OS environment. Amongst the things it highlights are zJournal, INSIGHT-SPECTRA, IBM Listservs, SHARE’s Five Minute Briefing on the Data Center, Facebook fan pages, and LinkedIn discussions. As well as user groups such as SHARE and IDUG.

The vendor directory section contains an up-to-date list of vendors, consultants, and service providers working in the z/OS environment. There’s a summary of the products they supply and contact information. There are a number of new organizations in the list this year, and, sadly, a few familiar names have ceased trading.

The mainframe strategy section contains articles by industry gurus and vendors on topics such as: Why incremental process-driven IT modernization is relevant for your business; Network management for the modern data centre; Next-generation mainframe management; Best practices for application release management; Peeling the onion of SFTP: options for securing file transfer to and from z/OS.

For many people the highlight each year is the mainframe user survey. This illustrates just what’s been happening at users’ sites. It’s a good way for mainframers to compare what they are planning to do with what other sites have done. I will be looking at some of the survey highlights in my next blog.

The other great thing about the Yearbook – as far as many of the 15,000 people who download it are concerned – is that it is completely FREE.

It can only be free because some organizations have been prepared to sponsor it or advertise in it. This year’s sponsors were: CA Technologies, Serena Software, Software AG, Software Diversified Services (SDS), Type80 Security Software, and William Data Systems.

To see this year's Arcati Mainframe Yearbook, click on www.arcati.com/newyearbook12. If you don't want to download a large PDF, again this year, each section is available as a separate PDF file.

Don't miss out on this excellent publication.