The Server Market Struggles for Growth in Q2, Says IDC
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

The second quarter is never a particularly good one for the server business, and according to the latest statistics from IDC, server makers are having a hard time making up their revenues in volume. In the second quarter of 2006, worldwide server revenues across all types of servers rose by only six-tenths of a percent to $12.3 billion, and server volumes decelerated to a mere 8.3 percent growth, with just over 1.8 million units shipped. This is the third straight quarter of single-digit server shipment growth, and the eighth quarter of slowing shipments. READ MORE >

Top Mainframe Stories and Vendor Announcements

(Internet News) Jim Stallings is hitting the bricks. Although he is not known for being a hoofer, the GM of IBM's System z mainframe business is making the rounds with the media in hopes of getting a few stories published in the so-called mainstream trade publications. Mainstream being those that write about the IT industry in general, but typically ignore the mainframe. READ MORE >

(CNET) You've read all this "news" in Big Iron during the past several months, but the mere fact that CNET is graciously giving some space to the topic of mainframe computing is news in and of itself. We're not going to make fun of the fact that their reporting is something less than timely; we're just going to congratulate them on recognizing the existence of mainframe computing. Kudos, CNET. READ MORE >

(InfoWorld) The modern data centers in financial institutions are the IT equivalent of Formula One auto racing. It's the crucible that mixes huge budgets with fresh from the laboratory technology in search of the competitive edge. Mainframes provide the power in some, but not all, instances. There's more than one way to take the lead in this race. READ MORE >

(YouTube) If you haven't seen these videos titled Mainframe -- The Art of the Sale, Lessons One & Two, stop what you're doing (Month end? Who cares?) and lighten up your day. The mainframe: It's like a barn. Pass it on. READ MORE >

Chats, Webinars, Seminars, Shows, and Other Happenings

September 11-14 -- Baltimore, Maryland - The WebSphere Portal Technical Conference is set up to provide IBM's technically oriented product details and hands-on training, along with presentations of customer case studies and best practices from Big Blue's product architects and developers, IBM Business Partners, and customers. Sessions will be organized according to the following tracks: new features in WebSphere Portal, Portal basics, Portal development, and Portal administration. LEARN MORE >

September 12 -- Ottawa, Canada - IBM is hosting a WebSphere seminar designed for System z technical professionals, including application development management, application developers, and application architects. These seminars provide in-depth knowledge of WebSphere and the tools to implement a service oriented architecture. Topics include defining business models that reduce inefficiencies, integrating core application assets for reuse, running mixed application types and workload patterns, and generating advanced user interfaces for core applications. LEARN MORE >

September 14 -- Columbus, Ohio - IBM is hosting a WebSphere seminar designed for System z technical professionals, including application development management, application developers, and application architects. These seminars provide in-depth knowledge of WebSphere and the tools to implement a service oriented architecture. Topics include defining business models that reduce inefficiencies, integrating core application assets for reuse, running mixed application types and workload patterns, and generating advanced user interfaces for core applications. LEARN MORE >

September 19 -- Dallas - IBM is hosting a WebSphere seminar designed for System z technical professionals, including application development management, application developers, and application architects. These seminars provide in-depth knowledge of WebSphere and the tools to implement a service oriented architecture. Topics include defining business models that reduce inefficiencies, integrating core application assets for reuse, running mixed application types and workload patterns, and generating advanced user interfaces for core applications. LEARN MORE >

September 21 -- Chicago - IBM is hosting a WebSphere seminar designed for System z technical professionals, including application development management, application developers, and application architects. These seminars provide in-depth knowledge of WebSphere and the tools to implement a service oriented architecture. Topics include defining business models that reduce inefficiencies, integrating core application assets for reuse, running mixed application types and workload patterns, and generating advanced user interfaces for core applications. LEARN MORE >

September 26 -- Atlanta - IBM is hosting a WebSphere seminar designed for System z technical professionals, including application development management, application developers, and application architects. These seminars provide in-depth knowledge of WebSphere and the tools to implement a service oriented architecture. Topics include defining business models that reduce inefficiencies, integrating core application assets for reuse, running mixed application types and workload patterns, and generating advanced user interfaces for core applications. LEARN MORE >

October 10 -- Webinar - Putting CICS in the heart of your SOA implementation means assessing applications and optimizing performance. This session will cover CICS TS 3.1 migration considerations and tools featuring products such as CICS Configuration Manager, CICS Interdependency Analyzer , CICS Performance Analyzer and CICS VSAM Transparency. The presentation begins at 11 a.m. EDT. LEARN MORE >

October 20 & 21 -- Chicago, Illinois - The Network and Systems Professionals Association annual conference, NaSTEC, features educational tracks on large systems/mainframes, distributed systems, and professional development and includes 24 total sessions. Topics include IT compliance, TCP/IP network health checks, and security, as well as others. LEARN MORE >