PGP Goes 'Green' with New Encryption Solution for iSeries and zSeries
by Alex Woodie

Hardcore iSeries and zSeries admins who eschew the trend toward GUI-ization may want to check out the new greenscreen security tool announced by PGP last week. In the next month or so, PGP says it will roll out a version of PGP Command Line that supports IBM's midrange and mainframe servers, that will integrate well with these servers' batch processes and scripting environments, and--perhaps most importantly--will increase the security of backups. READ MORE >

Top Mainframe Stories and Vendor Announcements

(CIO Today) Jim Stallings, general manager of IBM's mainframe division, says IBM has positioned the z9 mainframe to a data hub for corporations. The big mainframes can centralize data from distributed applications such as ERP, CRM, and business intelligence applications thereby eliminating the need to duplicate and maintain multiple data stores associated with each business application. READ MORE >

(ZDNet) IBM's vice president of virtualization, Rich Lechner, claims "40 percent of [IBM's] mainframe customers are on Linux on zSeries" and says the use of Linux on IBM mainframes exceeds company expectations. The interest in virtualization is given much of the credit. In this interview, Lechner talks about the Linux/virtualization strategy. READ MORE >

(BMC) Mainframe diagnostics and monitoring technologies aimed at transactional data can reduce the cost of problem resolution, streamline IT workflow, and improve customer satisfaction. That's why BMC Software company has focused its latest product suite on measuring and optimizing business service delivery based on the quality of the end-user experience. READ MORE >

(Protegrity) A security software suite has been introduced to protect data at the application, database, file, and storage levels. It allows organizations to secure and control sensitive data across a wide range of computing platforms, including unique support for Teradata and z/OS environments. READ MORE >

Chats, Webinars, Seminars, Shows, and Other Happenings

February 22-23 -- Las Vegas, Nevada - The Unified Compliance Summit examines the role of technology in business governance and regulatory compliance. General topic areas include streamlining compliance activities, understanding how compliance efforts and options overlap, developing action plans, and offsetting the compliance burden. Educational tracks are available in the areas of leadership and design. LEARN MORE >

March 9-15 -- Hannover, Germany - With more than 6,000 exhibitors and nearly 500,000 attendees, CeBIT Hannover is one of the world's biggest forums for information technology, hardware, software, and services. A wide variety of educational sessions, keynote addresses, and panel discussions cover technology trends and market analysis. LEARN MORE >

March 27-29 -- Orlando, Florida - The Service Oriented Architecture and Web Services Best Practices conference is designed for organizations looking for ways to create an architecture for interoperability across disparate systems. It will focus on the key steps for implementation, the role of Web services, new models for building applications, and return on investment. Discounts on registration costs are in effect until January 27. LEARN MORE >

April 7-11 -- Chattanooga, Tennessee - The WAVV user group annual conference offers more than 100 educational sessions focusing on the use of VSE, VM, and Linux on IBM mainframe computers. The event also includes a vendor exposition. LEARN MORE >

May 7-11 -- Tampa, Florida - The IDUG 2006 North American Conference is an educational forum for database users across all platforms. The educational program consists of 11 technical tracks, each focused on a particular facet of DB2 usage. IDUG, the International DB2 Users Group, manages several DB2 technology conferences each year. The North American conference is the largest. A vendor expo is included in the event. LEARN MORE >

June 12-16 -- Atlanta, Georgia - The Transaction & Messaging Technical Conference features the most current information on the CICS TS V3.1 and WebSphere MQ family of products including tips, techniques, and business integration solutions. The agenda includes hundreds of sessions, a product expo, and certification testing. LEARN MORE >