Three-Digit z Boxes Head for History
by Hesh Wiener

In this case, Bulgaria and Romania were ahead of the United States. On December 19, 2006, customers in those two countries were told that from December 31 of that year they could no longer get z890 processors; if they wanted mainframes in that class, their only option would be a z9 BC. In the USA, and indeed the rest of the world, the end of the line for the z890 comes a year later. When 2008 arrives, it will come without the z890, according to an announcement IBM made on June 26, which also states that by the middle of next year z890 users won't even be able to get model conversions. If they need more (or fewer) MIPS, they will have to switch to a z9. READ MORE >

Top Mainframe Stories from Around the Web

(Baseline) Read how Air Canada, which relies on the mainframe as a back-end transaction engine, developed a way to interact with business partners and consumers by implementing XML, Web services, service oriented architecture, Linux, and the MySQL database. Don't overlook the part about saving money on licensing fees through the use of open source software. READ MORE >

(CNN Money) IT publications have been reporting on this with regularity for some time now. But it's a bit of surprise when something other than a trade pub reports on modernizing legacy applications. A recent survey on the importance of SOA and Web services by the analysts at Aberdeen Group apparently caught the eye of CNN. READ MORE >

(SearchStorage) In its latest round of storage product enhancements, IBM will soon introduce virtual tape libraries that will allow tape data to be shared among three sites and a tape drive allows systems to attach to a self-encrypting tape controller. Big Blue is also touting performance increases for its storage area network Volume Controller. READ MORE >

Chats, Webinars, Seminars, Shows, and Other Happenings

See our full calendar of events at
http://www.itjungle.com/big/big-calendar.html

August 12-17 -- San Diego, California - IBM technical training tailored for enterprise-class IT professionals will be featured at the SHARE user conference. More than 700 technical sessions and hands-on labs will be presented by industry experts, top developers, and experienced users. Session topics range from implementation of new software releases to in-depth views of the latest technologies. Session topics will include services-oriented architecture, Web services, ITIL, and mobile computing. A preconference workshop on DB2 for z/OS is also on the agenda. If you don't know about SHARE, you should. It has been educating IT professionals since 1955--the longest history of any IT user group. LEARN MORE >

September 17-21 San Antonio, Texas - The IBM System z Conference and Expo presents sessions on topics such as virtualization, security, resiliency, workload management, and integration. Morethan 350 in-depth elective sessions will highlight IBM System z9 and zSeries and Systems Storage. The sessions are divided into the following focus areas: General Interest and Management, z/OS, z/VM, z/VSE and Linux. LEARN MORE >

October 8-11 -- Orlando, Florida - The IBM WebSphere Portal Technical Conference will feature the latest product upgrades and platform extensions for the popular middleware. Among the highlights will be an emphasis on faster deployment of composite applications, enhanced Web 2.0 support, simplified portal-based solutions, and increased integration with business processes. IBM product architects and developers, business partners, and customers will provide training, case studies, and best practices information. Certification testing will be available and a vendor expo will be included. LEARN MORE >

December 2-7 -- San Diego, California - The 33rd annual Computer Measurement Group conference, CMG2007, brings together data processing professionals interested in system evaluation to maximize performance measured in terms of response time, throughput, and through capacity management. Sessions are geared toward making enhancements to existing systems or the designing new systems with the aim of providing adequate performance at a reasonable cost. The courses are divided into two groups. One group consists platform agnostic sessions and provides attendees with basic knowledge that is independent of any specific hardware or operating system. The second group is platform specific specializing in operating systems such as z/OS, Windows, Unix and Linux. LEARN MORE >