Yet again, I could only get to the first day of this year’s Guide Share Europe conference on the 13 and 14 November – which was shame. I hoped I could arrange my meetings to take place at the conference, but there we are. So, I thought that, for those people who were unable to make even the first day, I’d give you a flavour of what you missed.
As usual, the conference was at Whittlebury Hall – which is near Silverstone, but just into Northamptonshire. The location is stunning, so a walk outside to get a breath of air is always worthwhile.
The exhibition hall is big, and busy, and its where lunch and coffees are served, making it easy to chat to the vendors and other attendees. I always find it’s a great opportunity to put faces to people I usually talk to by e-mail, to catch up with old colleagues, and make new friends. The quality of the food is always good, particularly the conference dinner.
With 14 streams and pretty much 10 sessions in each stream, it can be hard to decide which sessions to attend. I chair the Virtual IMS user group and the Virtual CICS user group, so I split my time between the CICS and IMS streams.
The first session I went to, I saw IBM’s Steve Foley and the new CICS Director, Danny Mace, talk about CICS TS Version 5.1. They highlighted improvements in CICS capacity and scalability suggesting users could have two or three times more workloads per region. They spoke about new autonomic policy-based management, and increased availability including being able to refresh SSL certificates without a CICS restart. They also spent some time clarifying the concepts of what an ‘application’ is and what a ‘platform’ is. You may think you already know, but this way, it becomes easier to move an application to a different platform. Steve also ran over some of the portfolio updates too. And the session ended with an interesting conversation about pricing.
Next I headed for a presentation about IMS 13 by Paul Fletcher (also from IBM). He said that the new version came with improvements in performance, reductions in storage usage, and reduced TCO (Total Cost of Ownership). The HALDB ALTER and the DEDB ALTER commands allow changes to be made without needing a database outage. You can have multiple views of a physical database in the IMS catalog. And he talked about IMS Connect enhancements.
After lunch it was back to the CICS stream to see IBM’s Inderpal Singh talk about CICS and cloud computing. He said that an ‘application’ contained a collection of CICS bundles. It seemed that no-one in the room was using CICS bundles at this time. He also spoke about the life-cycle of an application – install, enable, disable, and discard. It’s that final stage that doesn’t seem to happen at most installations, where things are left in-place, just in case they’re needed in the future. You can create a CICS bundle in CICS Explorer using the new-look Cloud Explorer interface for CICS.
Next up in the IMS stream was IBM’s Dougie Lawson. Dougie is another fantastically knowledgeable IBMer, who you may have come across when you’ve had an IMS problem. He talked about DRD and the IMS repository – and tried to break the record for the most slides you can show in an hour!. He explained that the repository is a data store of resource information and the repository catalog is points to repository and is quite different from the IMS Catalog.
The final technical session of the afternoon was an old friend of the Virtual IMS user group, GT Software’s Dusty Rivers, talking about IMS modernization. The main thrust of his presentation was about making data and applications available on other platforms. He suggested that mainframe modernization means different things to different people and he grouped these into adding a Web look-and-feel, getting access to mainframe data, getting to mainframe business logic, the need to consolidate logic, the need to reduce MIPS, and the need to integrate with new technologies (such as cloud and smartphones).
After a day full of so many technical presentations, you might think people would give an extra session a miss. But it was standing room only for the always-excellent Resli Costabell, who talked about dealing with ‘difficult’ people. Her definition of difficult people, is that they are just people that you’ve run out of skills to deal with! And she said that the power in such a situation is with the person being difficult – so we should accept them as they are and stay calm. She even gave us a strategy. You talk as if you’re talking to a friend and say: “I know you’re only [insert positive intention], and [insert negative effect], so [and here you ask for what you want them to do]”. She also suggested that whatever someone does, they do with the best intentions, and they are doing the best that they know how. Resli explained to the group that some people look for similarities between what you’re telling them and their experience, and some look for differences. In the latter case, again she had a strategy. Tell them that they won’t like what you have to say and that there are only a few situations where they can use it. Your difficult person will immediately find lots of ways that they can use it (which is really what you wanted all along!). A really great session – and I haven’t even mentioned Mark Wilson’s contribution!!
Over drinks in the exhibition hall sponsored by Vanguard, Attachmate, and Suse, and an excellent dinner sponsored by Computacenter and PKWARE, I chatted more informally with vendors and real mainframe users. As usual, I was encouraging vendors to complete their entry in the Arcati Mainframe Yearbook, and explaining the benefits of sponsoring it. And I was asking mainframe users to complete the user survey.
My overall impression of the conference was that it was excellent. Mark Wilson (the GSE technical coordinator) and his colleagues made sure everything worked well. I picked up loads of information, and had a really good day.
Well done everyone who organized it and spoke at it. And if you missed it, go next year.
Sunday, 18 November 2012
Saturday, 10 November 2012
How important is e-mail?
As the bulk of the mainframe population gets older, you can expect that some of them will retire. You can also expect, in any job, that people will get promotions or transfer to other organizations. And so it comes as no surprise to me when I e-mail my list of members of the CICS or IMS virtual user groups each month that perhaps one or two will be undeliverable – like Elvis, they’ve left the building. And each year when I e-mail people about the Arcati Mainframe Yearbook user survey, I’m even less surprised to find their e-mails are bouncing.
It seems a pretty fair assumption to make – if an e-mail address stops working, then the person is no longer working for that company. And in my case, I tend to delete them off my list. I guess it’s what most people do in order to keep their e-mail lists up-to-date. Just delete the bounce-back/undeliverable e-mail addresses.
And that strategy seemed to make sense up until late last Friday night – that’s over a week ago!
I never give e-mail a thought these days. I’ve been using it forever. I’ve been using the Internet since the days of Bulletin Boards. I can access my e-mail on my phone. E-mail has always been just there. It’s like electricity and running water – I know there’s an infrastructure that delivers it to my home, but, most of time, I just take it for granted. It’s there, I use it, and I don’t give it a second thought!
I have a personal e-mail address and a company account. I use Yahoo and Gmail. I can get to my e-mail on anyone’s laptop, on my tablet, and, like I said, on my phone. I can choose to check my e-mail during the day, wherever I am. I can check it last thing at night and first thing in the morning. I get Listserv e-mails from CICS and IMS sites. I get newsletters and other consolidation information. I get Google alerts about mainframe news. And, of course, I get lots of spam. Or, at least, I did, up until last Friday evening.
I tend to keep my e-mail open all day and I answer e-mails during a break from whatever else I’m working on. It acts like a refresher – unless the e-mail is causing more work, in which case I flag it and come back to deal with it later. I keep abreast of what’s going on and what people are saying. I can then answer press or client inquiries as they come in. I use e-mail to send articles to various publishers.
So, that’s not very different from hundreds of other people. I use e-mail a lot. I get around 50 e-mails every hour (plus spam). Some are just trying to sell me something, but a lot are work-related and useful.
But, late last Friday evening, my e-mail stopped working. Or, to be more precise (and sound less like a typical end-user!), my e-mail forwarding stopped. All the people writing to trevor, admin, virtualims, virtualcics, arcati, and lots of other addresses @itech-ed.com had their e-mails flagged as undeliverable. As far as they were concerned my company had disappeared. I, along with everyone else here, had probably retired, resigned, or just left!
It was all to do with my IT provider being taken over. The new company ‘updated’ my service – and took away all my e-mail forwarding. By Monday, I was concerned. By Tuesday, I was very concerned. All these bouncebacks meant people would be thinking not only that I didn’t exist, but my whole company had disappeared. By Wednesday my frantic back-and-forth with my provider was leaving me tearing my hair out. And here we are now. Over a week of frantic messaging and tweeting by me still hasn’t made a difference. Come on Dotster – I need my e-mail working. I need people to know that iTech-Ed Ltd is still in business.
I now have a much greater appreciation of e-mail and its importance to any business. And how a glitch can cause no end of problems. It’s as if the water and electricity to my office had been turned off!
If you have any suggestions about what I can do next, I’d love to hear from you.
It seems a pretty fair assumption to make – if an e-mail address stops working, then the person is no longer working for that company. And in my case, I tend to delete them off my list. I guess it’s what most people do in order to keep their e-mail lists up-to-date. Just delete the bounce-back/undeliverable e-mail addresses.
And that strategy seemed to make sense up until late last Friday night – that’s over a week ago!
I never give e-mail a thought these days. I’ve been using it forever. I’ve been using the Internet since the days of Bulletin Boards. I can access my e-mail on my phone. E-mail has always been just there. It’s like electricity and running water – I know there’s an infrastructure that delivers it to my home, but, most of time, I just take it for granted. It’s there, I use it, and I don’t give it a second thought!
I have a personal e-mail address and a company account. I use Yahoo and Gmail. I can get to my e-mail on anyone’s laptop, on my tablet, and, like I said, on my phone. I can choose to check my e-mail during the day, wherever I am. I can check it last thing at night and first thing in the morning. I get Listserv e-mails from CICS and IMS sites. I get newsletters and other consolidation information. I get Google alerts about mainframe news. And, of course, I get lots of spam. Or, at least, I did, up until last Friday evening.
I tend to keep my e-mail open all day and I answer e-mails during a break from whatever else I’m working on. It acts like a refresher – unless the e-mail is causing more work, in which case I flag it and come back to deal with it later. I keep abreast of what’s going on and what people are saying. I can then answer press or client inquiries as they come in. I use e-mail to send articles to various publishers.
So, that’s not very different from hundreds of other people. I use e-mail a lot. I get around 50 e-mails every hour (plus spam). Some are just trying to sell me something, but a lot are work-related and useful.
But, late last Friday evening, my e-mail stopped working. Or, to be more precise (and sound less like a typical end-user!), my e-mail forwarding stopped. All the people writing to trevor, admin, virtualims, virtualcics, arcati, and lots of other addresses @itech-ed.com had their e-mails flagged as undeliverable. As far as they were concerned my company had disappeared. I, along with everyone else here, had probably retired, resigned, or just left!
It was all to do with my IT provider being taken over. The new company ‘updated’ my service – and took away all my e-mail forwarding. By Monday, I was concerned. By Tuesday, I was very concerned. All these bouncebacks meant people would be thinking not only that I didn’t exist, but my whole company had disappeared. By Wednesday my frantic back-and-forth with my provider was leaving me tearing my hair out. And here we are now. Over a week of frantic messaging and tweeting by me still hasn’t made a difference. Come on Dotster – I need my e-mail working. I need people to know that iTech-Ed Ltd is still in business.
I now have a much greater appreciation of e-mail and its importance to any business. And how a glitch can cause no end of problems. It’s as if the water and electricity to my office had been turned off!
If you have any suggestions about what I can do next, I’d love to hear from you.
Sunday, 4 November 2012
What’s really going on?
One of the problems with being a mainframer these days is finding out what’s going on at other sites and being able to compare your experiences with other people’s. There used to be rooms full of mainframe staff, and regular turnover meant that new ideas were easily examined. Apart from Google, nowadays you can keep in the loop by joining a user group (like the Virtual IMS and Virtual CICS user groups that don’t require you to be out of the office to attend meetings), going to conferences (you’ve just missed IOD, but Guide Share Europe takes place next week), or you can read survey results.
Or there’s survey results. And as we’re coming to the end of another year, surveys seem to be happening more frequently.
BMC Software recently published a survey from their AsiaPacific area. They found there was a growth in processor engines, which was driven by transaction processing requirements. And driving that is users wanting to have data available to them at any time and anywhere – particularly users with mobile devices. BMC also found that some of the growth could be attributed to legacy application development and some to newer applications where the mainframe provides the back-end delivery of that application.
Respondents liked mainframes for security and data integrity reasons, as well as its centralized manageability. One result that won’t surprise anyone who’s investigated the option was that the cost of moving away from the mainframe is very high!
CA Technologies has published a survey of 800 IT and business leaders. They found that IT and business leaders often have two different views on innovation, with IT respondents suggesting that they are more likely to position themselves as driving innovation, being an expert on innovation, and having the required skills to foster innovation. Business executives identified IT’s shortcomings in regard to its ability to support and drive innovation and gave themselves credit for innovation.
With results that could have been published any time up to the 1990s, the survey found large gaps can be found in rating IT’s knowledge of the business, IT’s business and communications skills, and overall speed and agility. I thought this division had healed over many years ago, but maybe the pendulum is swinging back the other way? Perhaps the paucity of IT staff makes it harder for them to get to meetings and interact with other execs? Or maybe the CIO (Chief Information Officer) is disappearing from organizations and IT is being relegated into a silo all over again?
Not surprisingly, the survey found common frustrations such as organizations’ lack of agility, and budget and staff resource shortages. Interestingly, new IT initiatives include mobile and business intelligence/analytics. Organizations reporting high levels of innovation are also planning investments in cloud, security management, business analytics, service management, and virtualization.
If you want to have your say about what’s happening at your site, the Arcati Mainframe Yearbook is conducting a user survey now. You can find the survey at www.arcati.com/usersurvey13.
If you’re interested in the Virtual IMS or CICS user groups, you can find them at www.fundi.com/virtualims/ and www.fundi.com/virtualcics/ respectively. More information about the GSE conference is at www.gse.org.uk/tyc/.
Or there’s survey results. And as we’re coming to the end of another year, surveys seem to be happening more frequently.
BMC Software recently published a survey from their AsiaPacific area. They found there was a growth in processor engines, which was driven by transaction processing requirements. And driving that is users wanting to have data available to them at any time and anywhere – particularly users with mobile devices. BMC also found that some of the growth could be attributed to legacy application development and some to newer applications where the mainframe provides the back-end delivery of that application.
Respondents liked mainframes for security and data integrity reasons, as well as its centralized manageability. One result that won’t surprise anyone who’s investigated the option was that the cost of moving away from the mainframe is very high!
CA Technologies has published a survey of 800 IT and business leaders. They found that IT and business leaders often have two different views on innovation, with IT respondents suggesting that they are more likely to position themselves as driving innovation, being an expert on innovation, and having the required skills to foster innovation. Business executives identified IT’s shortcomings in regard to its ability to support and drive innovation and gave themselves credit for innovation.
With results that could have been published any time up to the 1990s, the survey found large gaps can be found in rating IT’s knowledge of the business, IT’s business and communications skills, and overall speed and agility. I thought this division had healed over many years ago, but maybe the pendulum is swinging back the other way? Perhaps the paucity of IT staff makes it harder for them to get to meetings and interact with other execs? Or maybe the CIO (Chief Information Officer) is disappearing from organizations and IT is being relegated into a silo all over again?
Not surprisingly, the survey found common frustrations such as organizations’ lack of agility, and budget and staff resource shortages. Interestingly, new IT initiatives include mobile and business intelligence/analytics. Organizations reporting high levels of innovation are also planning investments in cloud, security management, business analytics, service management, and virtualization.
If you want to have your say about what’s happening at your site, the Arcati Mainframe Yearbook is conducting a user survey now. You can find the survey at www.arcati.com/usersurvey13.
If you’re interested in the Virtual IMS or CICS user groups, you can find them at www.fundi.com/virtualims/ and www.fundi.com/virtualcics/ respectively. More information about the GSE conference is at www.gse.org.uk/tyc/.
Sunday, 28 October 2012
IOD news
In a week that saw Windows 8 and that funny iPad mini being announced, the really hot news was coming out of IBM’s Information On Demand (IOD) conference in Vegas.
Running under the ‘Think Big’ tag we saw IBM announce IBM PureData System, InfoSphere Guardium V9.0, InfoSphere Information Server V9.1, InfoSphere Master Data Management V10.1, IBM Cognos Insight Personal Edition, IBM Cognos 10.2, IBM Cognos TM1.1.1, IBM Cognos Disclosure Management, IBM Analytical Decision Management, IBM SPSS Statistics, IBM SPSS Modeler, Intelligent Investigation Manager, Patient Care and Insights, Datacap Taskmaster Capture, and Content Manager OnDemand for Multiplatforms.
The third member in IBM’s PureSystems family is the PureData System, which is designed for big data cloud appliances by providing data services to various applications. This new PureData System family comprises: PureData System for Transactions, which is aimed at improving data management costs; and PureData System for Analytics, which is designed to analyse large volumes of data.
InfoSphere Guardium V9.0: introduces Hadoop Activity Monitoring to protect sensitive data in Big Data environments; enhances data security for System z with improved performance, resiliency and scalability; further reduces TCO and provides simplified scalability with Guardium grid/load balancing; introduces Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP) reporting in Vulnerability Assessment; and extends in-depth data security with new security solutions integrations, such as Security Intelligence with QRadar, and IDS (Intrusion Detection System) insight with F5.
InfoSphere Information Server V9.1 provides a scalable, secure, and robust data integration platform. V9.1 offers new features to help rationalize increasingly complex environment and address evolving data integration requirements, so that data is accessible, authoritative, consistent, timely, and in context for analysis and reporting.
InfoSphere Master Data Management V10.1 builds on the unification of InfoSphere Master Data Management Server, Initiate Master Data Service, and InfoSphere Master Data Management Collaboration Server. New features include: Master Data Policy Management; enhanced Business Process Management (BPM) integration capabilities and sample workflows; enhanced probabilistic matching and searching; enhancements to the InfoSphere MDM Application Toolkit; advanced Rules Management; and advanced Catalog Management.
Cognos Insight Personal Edition, IBM’s personal analytics solution enables business users and analysts to access business information and share it with others. IBM Cognos 10.2 lets users import personal or business data from spreadsheets or csv files, select visualizations of the data, drill-down for trends, and more. They can use drag-and-drop data visualization, what-if scenario modelling, and dashboard style delivery.
IBM Cognos TM1.1.1 delivers capabilities in personal desktop analysis for data exploration, prototyping, and results sharing for personal, workgroup, and enterprise levels. Users get: easier modelling for planning and analysis solutions; improved server performance with the new IBM Cognos TM1 Operations Console; and advances in distributed architecture for increased scale and interactivity.
The IBM Analytical Decision Management integrates predictive analytics, local rules, scoring, and optimization techniques into an organization’s systems, and then delivers real-time recommendations at the point of impact so organization can consistently drive better outcomes.
IBM SPSS Modeler is a high-performance predictive and text analytics workbench that enables organizations to gain insight from their data and deliver a positive return on investment by embedding predictive analytics into business processes.
Intelligent Investigation Manager optimizes fraud investigation and analysis for insurance, banking, healthcare, and other customers, and public safety programmes for government and law enforcement organizations. It dynamically coordinates and reports on cases, provides analysis and visualization, and enables more efficient and effective investigations.
Patient Care and Insights is an integrated and configurable set of solutions that brings together advanced analytics and care management capabilities to help healthcare organizations maximize the value of information for treating patients.
Content Manager OnDemand for Multiplatforms delivers instant access to bills, statements, and other print archive information. This helps them quickly respond to customer inquiries and manage access to electronic reports used to communicate activities and performance across an organization Content Manager OnDemand helps organizations reduce print, storage and distribution costs in support of a greener content delivery solution.
Obviously, much more detail can be found on IBM’s Web site.
Running under the ‘Think Big’ tag we saw IBM announce IBM PureData System, InfoSphere Guardium V9.0, InfoSphere Information Server V9.1, InfoSphere Master Data Management V10.1, IBM Cognos Insight Personal Edition, IBM Cognos 10.2, IBM Cognos TM1.1.1, IBM Cognos Disclosure Management, IBM Analytical Decision Management, IBM SPSS Statistics, IBM SPSS Modeler, Intelligent Investigation Manager, Patient Care and Insights, Datacap Taskmaster Capture, and Content Manager OnDemand for Multiplatforms.
The third member in IBM’s PureSystems family is the PureData System, which is designed for big data cloud appliances by providing data services to various applications. This new PureData System family comprises: PureData System for Transactions, which is aimed at improving data management costs; and PureData System for Analytics, which is designed to analyse large volumes of data.
InfoSphere Guardium V9.0: introduces Hadoop Activity Monitoring to protect sensitive data in Big Data environments; enhances data security for System z with improved performance, resiliency and scalability; further reduces TCO and provides simplified scalability with Guardium grid/load balancing; introduces Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP) reporting in Vulnerability Assessment; and extends in-depth data security with new security solutions integrations, such as Security Intelligence with QRadar, and IDS (Intrusion Detection System) insight with F5.
InfoSphere Information Server V9.1 provides a scalable, secure, and robust data integration platform. V9.1 offers new features to help rationalize increasingly complex environment and address evolving data integration requirements, so that data is accessible, authoritative, consistent, timely, and in context for analysis and reporting.
InfoSphere Master Data Management V10.1 builds on the unification of InfoSphere Master Data Management Server, Initiate Master Data Service, and InfoSphere Master Data Management Collaboration Server. New features include: Master Data Policy Management; enhanced Business Process Management (BPM) integration capabilities and sample workflows; enhanced probabilistic matching and searching; enhancements to the InfoSphere MDM Application Toolkit; advanced Rules Management; and advanced Catalog Management.
Cognos Insight Personal Edition, IBM’s personal analytics solution enables business users and analysts to access business information and share it with others. IBM Cognos 10.2 lets users import personal or business data from spreadsheets or csv files, select visualizations of the data, drill-down for trends, and more. They can use drag-and-drop data visualization, what-if scenario modelling, and dashboard style delivery.
IBM Cognos TM1.1.1 delivers capabilities in personal desktop analysis for data exploration, prototyping, and results sharing for personal, workgroup, and enterprise levels. Users get: easier modelling for planning and analysis solutions; improved server performance with the new IBM Cognos TM1 Operations Console; and advances in distributed architecture for increased scale and interactivity.
The IBM Analytical Decision Management integrates predictive analytics, local rules, scoring, and optimization techniques into an organization’s systems, and then delivers real-time recommendations at the point of impact so organization can consistently drive better outcomes.
IBM SPSS Modeler is a high-performance predictive and text analytics workbench that enables organizations to gain insight from their data and deliver a positive return on investment by embedding predictive analytics into business processes.
Intelligent Investigation Manager optimizes fraud investigation and analysis for insurance, banking, healthcare, and other customers, and public safety programmes for government and law enforcement organizations. It dynamically coordinates and reports on cases, provides analysis and visualization, and enables more efficient and effective investigations.
Patient Care and Insights is an integrated and configurable set of solutions that brings together advanced analytics and care management capabilities to help healthcare organizations maximize the value of information for treating patients.
Content Manager OnDemand for Multiplatforms delivers instant access to bills, statements, and other print archive information. This helps them quickly respond to customer inquiries and manage access to electronic reports used to communicate activities and performance across an organization Content Manager OnDemand helps organizations reduce print, storage and distribution costs in support of a greener content delivery solution.
Obviously, much more detail can be found on IBM’s Web site.
Sunday, 21 October 2012
Guide Share Europe annual conference
The Guide Share Europe (GSE) UK Annual Conference is taking place on 13-14 November at Whittlebury Hall, Whittlebury, Near Towcester, Northamptonshire NN12 8QH, UK.
Sponsors this year include IBM, Computacenter, PKWARE, CA Technologies, Attachmate Suse, Vanguard, Compuware, GT Software, RSM Partners, Blenheim Software, Sett, and Red Hat. And there will be over 30 vendors in the associated exhibition.
There’s the usual amazing range of streams – and, to be honest, there are a number of occasions when I would like to be in two or more places at once over the two days. The streams are: CICS, IMS, DB2, Enterprise Security, Large Systems Working Group, Network Management Working Group, zLinux, Storage Management, TWS (Tivoli Workload Schedular), Automation, New Technologies, Software Asset Management, MQ, Application Development, and Assembler Training.
There are also keynotes from Mark Anzani, VP and CTO for System z at IBM. And there’s the not-to-be-missed “Dealing with difficult people” session from Resli Costabell.
That means that at this year’s conference there will be well over 140 hours of education covering most aspects of mainframe technology – more than last year. This year, there will be 14 streams of ten sessions over the two days, plus Assembler Training, plus four keynotes.
There is still time to register, and the organizers are expecting the daily total of delegates to exceed 300 – as it did last year.
A number of the streams have 101 sessions at different times during the two days to give newcomers and those unfamiliar with parts of the mainframe infrastructure a basic understanding of the that mainframe technology and how it works.
You can find out more details about the conference at www.gse.org.uk/tyc/.
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. If you are going, I look forward to seeing you there.
Sponsors this year include IBM, Computacenter, PKWARE, CA Technologies, Attachmate Suse, Vanguard, Compuware, GT Software, RSM Partners, Blenheim Software, Sett, and Red Hat. And there will be over 30 vendors in the associated exhibition.
There’s the usual amazing range of streams – and, to be honest, there are a number of occasions when I would like to be in two or more places at once over the two days. The streams are: CICS, IMS, DB2, Enterprise Security, Large Systems Working Group, Network Management Working Group, zLinux, Storage Management, TWS (Tivoli Workload Schedular), Automation, New Technologies, Software Asset Management, MQ, Application Development, and Assembler Training.
There are also keynotes from Mark Anzani, VP and CTO for System z at IBM. And there’s the not-to-be-missed “Dealing with difficult people” session from Resli Costabell.
That means that at this year’s conference there will be well over 140 hours of education covering most aspects of mainframe technology – more than last year. This year, there will be 14 streams of ten sessions over the two days, plus Assembler Training, plus four keynotes.
There is still time to register, and the organizers are expecting the daily total of delegates to exceed 300 – as it did last year.
A number of the streams have 101 sessions at different times during the two days to give newcomers and those unfamiliar with parts of the mainframe infrastructure a basic understanding of the that mainframe technology and how it works.
You can find out more details about the conference at www.gse.org.uk/tyc/.
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. If you are going, I look forward to seeing you there.
Sunday, 14 October 2012
IOD – so near yet so far away!
The IBM Information On Demand 2012 global conference is one of those conferences that you just don’t want to miss. And yet, like me, when you’re based in the UK, that’s just what’s going to happen. I won’t be rubbing shoulders with the people attending, listening to the speakers, or visiting the exhibitors stands. But I will be keeping up-to-date with what’s going on!
IOD 2012 runs from this coming Sunday, 21 October, to Thursday 25 at Mandalay Bay resort Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. This year, the old IBM slogan, “Think”, has been turned into “Think BIG”. And the whole conference is billed as the largest System z software event in the world. The Web site at www-01.ibm.com/software/os/systemz/conference/iod/ goes on to say that it delivers “the know-how you need to optimize business performance, drive more value from existing business analytics deployments, and get the latest innovations and success strategies from IBM experts, analysts, and customers.”
I chair the Virtual IMS user group – you can find us at www.fundi.com/virtualims – so I’m very interested in the IMS stream at IOD, particularly Betty J Patterson’s (a Distinguished Engineer with IBM) session, “Taking IMS to New Heights: What the Future Holds for IMS” and Dinesh Nirmal’s (IMS Director, IBM) “IMS Futures Roadmap” keynote seminar. But there is so much more of interest. You can see the session details at www-01.ibm.com/software/os/systemz/conference/iod/ims.html.
It’s not just IMS that’s featured, there are DB2 sessions, business analytics/data warehousing sessions, and tools and utilities sessions, totalling, they say, 180 executive, business leadership, and technical sessions in all.
And while it might seem unfair to highlight any of the many sessions going on at IOD, I guess that’s what everyone has to do in order to set a personal agenda for the four days. I’d like to attend some of the client-led sessions and see what real users are doing with their mainframes. What problems they’ve been experiencing and learn how they’ve overcome them. And I’d like to get my hands dirty in the hands-on labs and workshops. Perhaps dig a little deeper than I’ve ever had the chance to do with a production system.
Going to IOD lets you chat to other users. To find out that perhaps you’re not alone dealing with the pressures of fewer staff and tightening budgets, and listening to what tools and techniques other people have used to overcome these issues – and perhaps get an early warning about issues that haven’t come your way yet!
I can’t be there in person, but as an IBM Champion for the past four years, you may see my picture on display. I will definitely be using my laptop and tablet to keep up-to-date with the news and information already coming from the IOD 2012 Web site. I’ll be reading press releases and the blogs (www.ibmiodblog.com/), and I’ll be watching out for people tweeting and reading with interest what they have to say. And I’m hoping that my friends, who are there, will keep me in the loop with regular and frequent e-mails.
And to those of you who are lucky enough to attend – enjoy!
IOD 2012 runs from this coming Sunday, 21 October, to Thursday 25 at Mandalay Bay resort Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. This year, the old IBM slogan, “Think”, has been turned into “Think BIG”. And the whole conference is billed as the largest System z software event in the world. The Web site at www-01.ibm.com/software/os/systemz/conference/iod/ goes on to say that it delivers “the know-how you need to optimize business performance, drive more value from existing business analytics deployments, and get the latest innovations and success strategies from IBM experts, analysts, and customers.”
I chair the Virtual IMS user group – you can find us at www.fundi.com/virtualims – so I’m very interested in the IMS stream at IOD, particularly Betty J Patterson’s (a Distinguished Engineer with IBM) session, “Taking IMS to New Heights: What the Future Holds for IMS” and Dinesh Nirmal’s (IMS Director, IBM) “IMS Futures Roadmap” keynote seminar. But there is so much more of interest. You can see the session details at www-01.ibm.com/software/os/systemz/conference/iod/ims.html.
It’s not just IMS that’s featured, there are DB2 sessions, business analytics/data warehousing sessions, and tools and utilities sessions, totalling, they say, 180 executive, business leadership, and technical sessions in all.
And while it might seem unfair to highlight any of the many sessions going on at IOD, I guess that’s what everyone has to do in order to set a personal agenda for the four days. I’d like to attend some of the client-led sessions and see what real users are doing with their mainframes. What problems they’ve been experiencing and learn how they’ve overcome them. And I’d like to get my hands dirty in the hands-on labs and workshops. Perhaps dig a little deeper than I’ve ever had the chance to do with a production system.
Going to IOD lets you chat to other users. To find out that perhaps you’re not alone dealing with the pressures of fewer staff and tightening budgets, and listening to what tools and techniques other people have used to overcome these issues – and perhaps get an early warning about issues that haven’t come your way yet!
I can’t be there in person, but as an IBM Champion for the past four years, you may see my picture on display. I will definitely be using my laptop and tablet to keep up-to-date with the news and information already coming from the IOD 2012 Web site. I’ll be reading press releases and the blogs (www.ibmiodblog.com/), and I’ll be watching out for people tweeting and reading with interest what they have to say. And I’m hoping that my friends, who are there, will keep me in the loop with regular and frequent e-mails.
And to those of you who are lucky enough to attend – enjoy!
Sunday, 7 October 2012
The Arcati Mainframe Yearbook 2013
The Arcati Mainframe Yearbook has been the de facto reference work for IT professionals working with z/OS (and its forerunner) systems since 2005. It includes an annual user survey, an up-to-date directory of vendors and consultants, a media guide, a strategy section with papers on mainframe trends and directions, a glossary of terminology, and a technical specification section. Each year, the Yearbook is downloaded by around 15,000 mainframe professionals. The current issue is still available at www.arcati.com/newyearbook12.
Very shortly, many mainframe professionals will receive an e-mail telling them that Mark Lillycrop and I have started work on the 2013 edition of the Arcati Mainframe Yearbook. If you don’t hear from us, then e-mail trevor@itech-ed.com and I will add you to our mailing list.
As in previous years, we’re inviting mainframe professionals to complete the annual user survey, which will shortly be up and running at www.arcati.com/usersurvey13. The more users who complete the survey, the more accurate and therefore useful the survey report will be. All respondents before Friday 7 December will receive a free PDF copy of the survey results on publication. The identity and company information of all respondents is treated in confidence and will never be divulged to third parties. And any comments made by respondents will be anonymized before publication. If you go to user group meetings, IOD, GCE Europe, etc, or just hang out with mainframers from other sites, please pass on the word about this survey. We’re hoping that this year’s user survey will be the most comprehensive survey ever. Current estimates suggest that there are somewhere between 6,000 and 8,000 companies using mainframes spread over 10,000 sites worldwide.
Anyone reading this who works for a vendor, consultant, or service provider, can ensure their company gets a free entry in the vendor directory section by completing the form, which will be at www.arcati.com/vendorentry. This form can also be used to amend last year’s entry.
Also, as in previous years, there is an opportunity for organizations to sponsor the Yearbook or take out a half-page advertisement. Half-page adverts (5.5in x 8.5in max landscape) cost $750 (UK£460). Sponsors get a full-page advert (11in x 8.5in) in the Yearbook; inclusion of a corporate paper in the Mainframe Strategy section of the Yearbook; a logo/link on the Yearbook download page on the Arcati Web site; and a brief text ad in the Yearbook publicity e-mails sent to users. All this for just $2200 (UK£1300).
To put that cost into perspective: for every dollar you spend on an advert, you reach around 20 mainframe professionals.
The Arcati Mainframe Yearbook 2013 will be freely available for download early in January next year.
Very shortly, many mainframe professionals will receive an e-mail telling them that Mark Lillycrop and I have started work on the 2013 edition of the Arcati Mainframe Yearbook. If you don’t hear from us, then e-mail trevor@itech-ed.com and I will add you to our mailing list.
As in previous years, we’re inviting mainframe professionals to complete the annual user survey, which will shortly be up and running at www.arcati.com/usersurvey13. The more users who complete the survey, the more accurate and therefore useful the survey report will be. All respondents before Friday 7 December will receive a free PDF copy of the survey results on publication. The identity and company information of all respondents is treated in confidence and will never be divulged to third parties. And any comments made by respondents will be anonymized before publication. If you go to user group meetings, IOD, GCE Europe, etc, or just hang out with mainframers from other sites, please pass on the word about this survey. We’re hoping that this year’s user survey will be the most comprehensive survey ever. Current estimates suggest that there are somewhere between 6,000 and 8,000 companies using mainframes spread over 10,000 sites worldwide.
Anyone reading this who works for a vendor, consultant, or service provider, can ensure their company gets a free entry in the vendor directory section by completing the form, which will be at www.arcati.com/vendorentry. This form can also be used to amend last year’s entry.
Also, as in previous years, there is an opportunity for organizations to sponsor the Yearbook or take out a half-page advertisement. Half-page adverts (5.5in x 8.5in max landscape) cost $750 (UK£460). Sponsors get a full-page advert (11in x 8.5in) in the Yearbook; inclusion of a corporate paper in the Mainframe Strategy section of the Yearbook; a logo/link on the Yearbook download page on the Arcati Web site; and a brief text ad in the Yearbook publicity e-mails sent to users. All this for just $2200 (UK£1300).
To put that cost into perspective: for every dollar you spend on an advert, you reach around 20 mainframe professionals.
The Arcati Mainframe Yearbook 2013 will be freely available for download early in January next year.
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