IBM and RIM

There was a time when getting out your BlackBerry was synonymous with being a cool young executive. You can remember people who had phones that beeped every time they received an e-mail, and they would act like they were the Fonz. But then a different fruit became king of the hill – Apple. You weren’t anyone without an iPhone. And now it’s probably Android for the really cool kids because you can control it – without needing to jail break it!

BlackBerry had a second wind. Lots of youngsters used BlackBerries because of the messaging facility. They could chat to their friends – using BBM – for free.

Research In Motion (RIM) – the company that makes BlackBerry phones – is based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. In January this year, Thorsten Heins took charge as CEO. He must be wondering what he can do to re-invigorate the firm. But there’s more to RIM than just the BlackBerry phone. There’s meant to be a new BlackBerry 10 operating system coming out next year, but, perhaps more importantly, RIM has a BlackBerry Enterprise Services (BES) unit, which operates a network of secure servers used to support BlackBerry devices.

The rumour mill suggests that this is what IBM has its eye on. And this is the reason that RIM stock jumped up by 9 percent. Although, at this stage, it is only a rumour. Both companies are saying the usual thing about not commenting on rumours – instead of looking blankly at the questioner and going, “what!!”.

Were IBM to buy the whole of RIM, that would be a very bold decision. As I said, the BlackBerry 10 operating system doesn’t come out until early next year. It might be possible to licence the OS to third parties, or they could sell off RIM’s Network Operations Centre (NOC). The NOC transmits all BlackBerry data for both enterprise and consumers. If IBM were to keep the handset division, they would need to encourage developers to write apps for them. At the moment there are apps for iPhones, Android, and, when the new Surface tablet comes out with Windows 8, there’s likely to be a lot of development enthusiasm there. But I’m not sure there’s any real excitement to develop apps for the BlackBerry.

So, it’s more likely that IBM has its sights set on the enterprise services unit, which has pretty good security software that it uses to give IT departments control over corporate information. The encryption algorithms its uses make it very difficult for anyone to intercept e-mails or instant messages (BBM). This makes it very popular with people in banking and other financial services. According to RIM, there are 250,000 BlackBerry Enterprise Services (BES) servers installed worldwide.

However, if IBM doesn’t buy the NOC part of the business, they’ll need to come to some sort of working agreement with RIM (or whoever owns that part) over who has control over IBM’s customers’ traffic using it.

From a BlackBerry customer perspective, knowing IBM was looking after enterprise services would seem like a good thing. From IBM’s perspective, they would get access to a way of transmitting secure data from a platform that they don’t currently include in their portfolio – mobile computing. And IBM could add the software into (probably) WebSphere.

But whether IBM should do it or not depends on how much it’s going to cost them. RIM may well claim that they are making pots of money from the fees they charge mobile carriers for subscriber access to their network. They may say that the new operating system will see a resurgence of their popularity. If that were the case, then I would advise IBM to walk away now. If, on the other hand, IBM can get access to the security algorithms and the servers in use at financial institutions for a reasonable sum, then why not? Or if IBM thinks Oracle might be interested – then perhaps they should snap it up.

But, who knows? After all, it’s only a rumour!

Blending mainframe technology with Apple, Blackberry, and Android – makes you think!

I don’t know whether you’re going to be at the SHARE conference in Anaheim (California) from 27 February to 4 March, but one of the interesting things to see is the William Data Systems stand (booth 211).

They are showing how their ZEN z/OS network management suite of product integrates with popular smart phone technology – Apple, Blackberry, and Android. What you’ll see is ZEN monitoring z/OS networks and then reporting the results to a mobile device. The user can then evaluate what’s happening on the mainframe and take appropriate action immediately. As a consequence, z/OS support staff can get on with their lives and be out and about, but still be able to monitor their mainframes and react to alerts.

The company say that this mobile technology extends ZEN’s whistle-blower ability to monitor SyslogD, filter the results by many criteria, launch automation commands or REXX procedures, and transmit the important alerts to mobile devices, all in real-time. I think this sounds pretty impressive and I was lucky enough to have a demonstration of the technology a few ago.

Originally the technology was restricted to iPhone and iPad users, but now it’s extended to the other ‘smart’ technologies that organizations use.

Their press release mentions SyslogD. In fact, this is probably the most useful resource that many IT departments ignore or only refer to long after they should. Having this kind of information on your phone seems almost futuristic.

Anyway, if you are at Anaheim, take a look.

On a completely different topic… I was pleased to receive the following e-mail during the week:

“On behalf of IBM, it is with great pleasure to recognize you as a 2011 IBM Information Champion. We would like to thank you for your leadership and contributions to the Data Management community. You continue to be among a very small group to be chosen for this recognition. Congratulations.”

This makes three years in a row.

If you’re interested, you can find out more about the Information Champion programme here (www-01.ibm.com/software/data/champion/)

Android rules OK!

There’s nothing I hate more than being cornered at a party (or conference or anything else) by an iPhone user who wants to explain to me in excruciating detail how clever his phone is. I tend to liken these iPhone worshipers to members of the Young Communist League in the 1950s, who would not just happily forgive anything said or done in Moscow but describe it as a good thing. There’s just no reasoning with them, and they’re very very boring! But now, I have a secret weapon. I have an android phone. And I can bore them back by showing them my apps – until they go away like Mormons on a Sunday afternoon and knock on the door of the next house down.

I’ve recently acquired a Samsung Galaxy Apollo, which is a slightly cut-down version of their top-of-the-range Galaxy S. It seems to do everything I want and, of course, being an android phone, it has access to the thousands of free apps.

Now, it’s confession time, I think the iPhone is better at photography than my phone. I don’t have a flash with the camera, I can’t move the focus point round on the screen, and it doesn’t create composite photos to allow for lighting, so what would have been a shaded area becomes clearly visible. I’m also waiting for Android 2.2 (FroYo), which will offer more facilities.

But, and for me this was a deal breaker, it doesn’t need iTunes. Oh how restrictive iTunes is to its users! Now, again, I have listened to hours (or perhaps it just seemed that way) of explanation of why iTunes is a good thing – and my mind pictures dutiful Young Communists... With my android, I have downloaded apps to my phone, and downloaded them to my computer and copied them across to my SD card and installed them that way. Yes, iPhone fanatics, android phones (like almost every other type) allow you to add memory to your phone. I used the 4GB SD card I bought for my previous phone.

I installed XandPlayer so I can watch AVI files. I have video of my younger daughter getting her degree last year on my old SD card that I can watch. I’m sure I will put other AVI files onto the card soon to watch at a later time. It’s got loads of music already. Up until last week, I couldn’t watch an AVI on an iPhone. Obviously, I could have converted all my AVIs using their precious iTunes, but why should I? VLC player has just become available on an iPhone without needing to Jailbreak it. So iPhones can now play AVI files – welcome to the 21st century.

I installed Skyfire, which is a browser that allows you watch Flash files on Web sites. Apple takes the position that Flash will disappear when HTML5 becomes widely adopted and so iPhones don’t need the facility. I’m sure that Apple is correct. However, until that day in some distant future, and to ensure backward compatibility with all those Flash files out there, users need a flash player.

I could tell you about all the fun apps I have installed – Google Sky Map, Kindle, AroundMe, and many others, but I’m sure something similar is probably available for the iPhone.

Now, I know we’ve got the new Nokia phones with Symbian, the new Windows 7 phones, and Blackberry as the other big players in the market. But it strikes me that Apple set the bar very high with its iPhone and has shot itself in the foot with the restrictions placed on it. If iPhone Version 5 doesn’t offer something that no other company has thought of, or some degree of openness, then I believe that, like the Apple computer, the iPhone will be the phone-of-choice for die-hard Apple supporters only, while the rest of the phone-producing community steal all their best ideas, add more of their own, and sell more phones to very willing customers.

Now don’t go away with the idea that I am now some kind of android worshipper, I’m just someone who’s happy with his new phone. End of.

PS: don't forget it's Guide Share Europe at Whittlebury Hall on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. More details at www.gse.org.uk/tyc/invite.html.

PPS: don't forget to complete your mainframe user survey for the Arcati Mainframe Yearbook at www.arcati.com/usersurvey11.

Managing mainframes from your phone

William Data Systems has come up with a clever way of managing your mainframe network from an iPhone. Now as soon as you see the word iPhone, you probably think it’s an app and you’re going to have to get all your users synchronizing with iTunes before they can use it or update it. The truth is, it’s a much cleverer idea than that!

Let’s start at the beginning, WDS (William Data Systems) has a z/OS network management suite called ZEN, which has a number of really useful components that you can find out more about from their Web site (www.willdata.com). Their customers wanted an easy way to keep up-to-date with what was happening with their networks. And one thing everyone has these days is a mobile (cell) phone – so why not come up with a way of monitoring the network from your phone?

What WDS did, was to utilize the browser on iPhones – Safari, the same one that comes as standard on Macs – and allow users to monitor and manage their mainframe networks from there.

Now because Safari is an integral part of the iPhone, the technology works for all iPhone users. As I said at the beginning, there’s no problem of resynchronizing every user by getting them to plug their phones into iTunes. There’s no fuss about accessing the App Store. It’s all there on the browser.

As more-and-more companies are asking for z/OS network monitoring and management to be done remotely when needed using a single mobile device that support people would be carrying with them, this solution seems to tick all the boxes. If a problem is found, then the techie can find a laptop and fix it, or use the phone to call the service centre and get someone there to fix it. Either way, the problem is solved, perhaps before users have begun to notice. Interestingly, the solution can be used from an iPad. In that case, the screen is big enough for a techie to actually use instead of a laptop – and solve the problem immediately.

What if your organization doesn’t use iPhones? What if you’ve rolled out Blackberrys? Well in that case, WDS has a solution available. If your organization uses Symbian or Android (or anything else), then WDS are developing a solution for your smart phone right now.

It may all seems like something from a 1990s sci fi film, but monitoring your z/OS network from your mobile phone is a solution that’s available now.

And finally, as a mainframe professional, I am hoping that you will be willing to complete the annual user survey at www.arcati.com/usersurvey11. If the company you work for is a vendor, consultant, or service provider, then please ensure their information is included in the vendor information form at www.arcati.com/vendorentry.