IBM Previews z/VSE V4.2, Releases DB2 Server V7.5
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

The bits are barely cool on z/VSE V4.1, which started shipping in March after a January launch this year, and IBM is already putting out a technology preview of its VSE V4.2 operating system. In general, technology previews mean Big Blue is getting ready to ship a product in six to nine months, but it is always helpful to remember that such timing is a general guide, not a hard and fast rule. READ MORE >

Top Mainframe Stories from Around the Web

(YouTube) If you haven't seen the short movies titled "The Art of the Sale," you are missing some funny stuff. These IBM mainframe parodies first appeared on YouTube about a year ago, but three new ones have been added in the past several weeks. Tune in. READ MORE >

(Network World) Taking a step beyond security products that are limited to reporting the who, what, and when of accessibility to applications, data, and systems, CA has upgraded its mainframe products to improve access control, better manage entitlements, and provide audits and reports pertaining to compliance. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) BluePhoenix Solutions, the vendor of legacy application modernization tools, is using a round of financing to pursue its growth strategy. The proceeds are earmarked to repay debts, create working capital, and potentially to make acquisitions. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Cloud computing, if you haven't heard IBM tell the story, has it all. And IBM has Blue Cloud, a system designed to handle the mountain of data requests that continue to grow each day. Big Blue is forecasting X64 and Power clouds by the spring of 2008 and a mainframe cloud later next year. READ MORE >

(QSGI) Mainframe hardware and data center maintenance vendor, QSGI, is getting out of the refurbished big iron hardware business and will no longer speculatively trade enterprise-class hardware. The company will focus on the data center maintenance segment of its business that handles distributed servers, storage, SANs, and other peripherals. 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 >