Neuwing, IBM to Quantify and Monetize IT Energy Savings
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Server and storage maker IBM has partnered with New York-based Neuwing Energy Ventures, a specialist in renewable energy and related energy certifications that is owned by a large private equity firm with holdings in real estate and energy companies, to come up with a scheme that will allow companies to document and benefit from increasing the energy efficiency of their data centers. READ MORE >

Top Mainframe Stories from Around the Web

(ZaidaDiary) Some people are nothing short of hilarious in their blogs. Here's a blogger, with the pen name Kozzaida, who interviews Jim Stallings, but fears getting only scripted responses from the general manager of IBM's System z division. Not only does "Koz" fear scripted responses, but the greater fear is stale scripted responses. The blogger then goes on to mention the mainframe clips on YouTube, but fails to mention those clips are not exactly fresh baked. Geez, I wonder if Kozzaida knows those clips have been on the shelves for some time now. Big Iron readers were clued into these funny clips back in August. READ MORE >

(IT Director) Another wonderful example of the idea that something is new as long as you've never heard of it is virtualization. Many people in the X86 and X64 worlds are just recently becoming familiar with virtualization--the same technology that's been going on in the mainframe world for decades. But beware the marketing that is being done to sell virtualization. It is not only increasing awareness where there was none before. It is also adding confusion as to what virtualization is and what it can do. READ MORE >

(ComputerWorld) It's a cold, cruel world out there. And to put a number on how cold and how cruel it is, IBM let the world know it plans to spend $1.5 billion developing security products in 2008. Even the mainframes are getting an infusion of security product development funding. It's the price we pay for collaboration. READ MORE >

(Enterprise Systems) It wasn't that long ago when IT mangers were being admonished for hanging on to pre-relational databases. It was labeled an accessibility issue. It was limiting interoperability. Never mind the cost and the degree of difficulty. Well, things have changed slightly and those who remained in the pre-relational database camp are being rewarded (not financially, of course) for not sticking their necks out on this one. READ MORE >

(Post-Tribune) The mainframe computer in the Lake County (Indiana) Clerk's office is as reliable as can be, but that couldn't keep people out of hot water. In fact, the mainframe itself got in some hot water after a water heater broke at 2 a.m. and flooded the data center. And did you think you were having a bad day? READ MORE >

(ServerWatch) Hardly a week goes by when you can't find success stories about mainframe computers. Of course, the same can be said about stories that toot the horn of distributed systems and how they are passing the mainframe like it was standing still. Both sides never seem to run out of gas, even as they go around and around and around. Today's theme: the robust nature of the mainframe platform. READ MORE >

Chats, Webinars, Seminars, Shows, and Other Happenings

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

November 27 -- Webcast - The IBM Information Server for System z and information integration will be the focus of this online session. Topics of discussion will include publishing integration logic as consistent and reusable information services; performing information integration directly on the mainframe without added z/OS operational costs; moving to desired functions, with visuals that help users easily understand data and find anomalies; and designing data flows that extract information from multiple source systems, transform it, then deliver it to one or more target databases or applications. This event begins at 11 a.m. EST. LEARN MORE >

November 29 -- Detroit, Michigan - This one-day System z technical briefing will focus on topics such as increasing programmer productivity using new development technology; running WebSphere, Linux, and data warehouse workloads; leveraging CICS, which now supports native SOA capabilities, to build an On Demand business; gaining competitive pricing with new zIIP, zAAP, and IFL processors; and managing labor costs with the mainframe economies of scale. The event begins at 8:30 a.m. 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 >

December 2-4 -- Amelia Island, Florida - The second annual Gartner CIO Summit kicks off, with James Popkin, a research group vice president and author of a new book called IT and the East, will be delivering the keynote address to the CIOs in attendance, explaining how China and India will fundamentally change the IT environment. (Like they haven't already, right?) The event has lots of time to hob-nob and network with fellow CIOs. There's almost certainly some time to play a few rounds of golf, too. LEARN MORE >

February 24-29, 2008 -- Orlando, Florida - The SHARE mainframe user group will be hosting its spring event in sunny Florida, and will be focusing on two areas that are affecting mainframe shops in a big way these days: Services Oriented Architecture (SOA) application software design and server virtualization and consolidation. As usual, SHARE will also include the Technology Exchange Expo, where vendors can hawk their mainframe wares and attendees can try to find the tools to solve their IT woes. LEARN MORE >