IBM Announcement : IMS Version 11

I started out my programming career in a production environment where we were using IBM COPICS ... back in the late eighties. COPICS was one of the first IBM ERP products. Ididn't even know the phrase back then. If I remember correctly we were using VM, VSE, CICS, COBOL, VSAM and DL/I. At a certain moment there was a study to convert the database to DB2 as DB2 was the future and DL/I already seemed to have become a thing of the past. Still, the conversion never took place.

And look now : about a year ago IBM made a pre-announcement of IMS Version 11. Now here's the announcement itself : 'IBM IMS V11 easier than ever (ZP09-0352)'. And IMS is going as strong as ever with lots of companies still heavily relying on it. I'll just give you the highlights and some extra reading materials.

The highlights :

IMS™ V11 Database Manager enhancements

• IMS Open Database support offers direct distributed TCP/IP access to IMS data, providing cost efficiency, enabling application growth, and improving resilience.
• Broadened Java™ and XML support and tools can ease IMS development and access to IMS data.
• IMS Fast Path Buffer Manager, Application Control Block library, and Local System Queue Area storage reduction utilize 64-bit storage to improve availability and overall system performance.
• Enhanced commands and user exits simplify operations and improve availability.

IMS V11 Transaction Manager enhancements

• IMS Connect (the TCP/IP gateway to IMS transactions, operations, and now data) enhancements offer improved IMS flexibility, availability, resilience, and security.
• Broadened Java and XML tooling eases IMS application development and connectivity, and enhances IMS Web services to assist developers with business transformation.
• Enhanced commands and user exits simplify operations and improve availability.
• IMS Application Control Block library and Local System Queue Area reduction utilize 64-bit storage to improve availability and system performance

Some extra resources :

• The IBM IMS page
• Announcement summary
• There's a teleconference on November 10, 2009 by Rich Lewis (IBM) at 4.00 p.m. GMT. The technical level is 'basic'.
• IMS V11 presentation in .pdf or .ppt format.
• There's an interesting post at Mainframe Update on recent enhancements to IMS related software.
• If you're into IMS, don't forget to check out the Virtual IMS Connection site on a regular basis. They also have a newsletter and regular virtual meetings (webconferences). All earlier newsletters and presentations can be found on the Resources page.
  

Planned availability date : October 30, 2009