Hosing z/OS.e and Other Withdrawals
by Hesh Wiener

With each new release, IBM adds capabilities to z/OS. This is hardly surprising. IBM touts forthcoming features in its statements of direction and pre-announcements, and offers technical details at the official announcement, well ahead of the delivery date. The same cannot be said of the other side of this coin. New versions of z/OS don't just add capabilities; they also shed features, move functions around, and change how things work. So, while it was hard to miss IBM's decision to kill z/OS.e, less dramatic changes can be invisible--until some legacy workload fails in an updated environment. READ MORE >

Top Mainframe Stories from Around the Web

(InfoWorld) Virtualization at Nationwide Insurance is a double-edged sword. One side involves an IBM System z mainframe environment and the other deals with thousands of X64-based servers. Here's how the IT department handles issues pertaining to I/O requirements, server utilization rates, and the monitoring of servers and applications. READ MORE >

(Financial Times) Who would have thought that after Microsoft gets hit, IBM winces? That could prove to be true if Platform Solutions uses the European Union decision against Microsoft to crack open the door to IBM's mainframe business. READ MORE >

(Enterprise Systems) IBM may consider PSI (see above) as a gnat flying around its mainframe business, but some observers think this intruder into the mainframe world has value propositions that expose System z vulnerabilities and challenge its legendary strengths. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Most companies are past the realization that application accessibility depends on integration capability. That's a given in a multiplatform world. So the integration issue becomes all about the speed and the ease with which key functionality can be targeted for integration. If you have legacy green-screen apps, how do you make this work? READ MORE >

(BluePhoenix) One door closes and another opens. That's one way to look at IBM's withdrawal of support for older versions of COBOL, especially if you are the software vendor that can help companies migrate off those unsupported versions. READ MORE >

(eWeek) And under the category of what goes around comes around . . . William DiBella, the new president of AFCOM, said this about the resurgence of the mainframe: "Companies are finding out that they just can't keep buying cheaper server boxes and stacking them up in racks. The time eventually comes when you run out of space. Power supplies are becoming limited, and with every box, you add more power draw and cost." READ MORE >

Chats, Webinars, Seminars, Shows, and Other Happenings

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

September 17-19 -- Las Vegas, Nevada - The Gartner Portals, Content & Collaboration Summit puts the focus on building, implementing, and managing portals; leveraging social networking for collaboration; and the challenges and pitfalls of enterprise content management projects. There will be 30 sessions within four separate tracks, peer networking, product demonstrations, and distinguished keynote speakers. 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. More than 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 >

September 19 - Webinar - A session titled "Unlocking Legacy Applications" and hosted by Attachmate will emphasize the reusing of legacy assets by service enabling CICS applications. Customer experiences will be used to answer questions about the invasiveness of CICS services on the mainframe, MIPS usage, difficulties in integration, and the IT skillsets needed for managing these mainframe services. The session is being presented at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. EDT. LEARN MORE >

October 2 -- Irvine, California - Linking business process management and service oriented architecture to obtain long-term flexibility is the focus of this half-day session featuring IBM executives and industry analysts. Case studies describing how companies have achieved productivity gains and cost reductions will be highlighted along with advice on how to maximize return on investment. LEARN MORE >

October 4 -- Scottsdale, Arizona - Linking business process management and service oriented architecture to obtain long-term flexibility is the focus of this half-day session featuring IBM executives and industry analysts. Case studies describing how companies have achieved productivity gains and cost reductions will be highlighted along with advice on how to maximize return on investment. 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 >

October 15-18 -- Dallas, Texas - More than 140 educational sessions, plus networking opportunities with IT managers, storage architects, and infrastructure professionals, and a vendor expo are combined at Storage Networking World, an event hosted by ComputerWorld. Guest speakers include Frank Abagnale, fraud and identity theft expert; James Onalfo, CIO of the New York City Police Department; Steve Fastook, Vice President of Technical and Commercial Operations at CNBC; Brian Cobb, Senior Vice President of Enterprise Systems Management at Fannie Mae, Parker Mabry, Senior Vice President and Manager of Network Systems Engineering at Morgan Keegan; and Joe Lacik, Senior Vice President of Information Services at Aviall Services. LEARN MORE >

October 16 -- Cincinnati, Ohio - Linking business process management and service oriented architecture to obtain long-term flexibility is the focus of this half-day session featuring IBM executives and industry analysts. Case studies describing how companies have achieved productivity gains and cost reductions will be highlighted along with advice on how to maximize return on investment. 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 designing new systems with the aim of providing adequate performance at a reasonable cost. The courses are divided into two groups. One group consists of 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 >