HoGent visits montpellier - young people do appreciate the mainframe

I came across this on LinkedIn, the new place to be :-), and I just couldn't resist posting this over here as well. Do have a look at it.

z13s - a new generation of z Systems built for cloud and mobile

General Introduction

A couple of weeks ago IBM announced its new version of the LinuxONE and especially of the smaller version, known as the Rockhopper. As a matter of fact, any one who follows the mainframe market a little bit could guess it was based on the new little brother of the z13. And it was of course. So today IBM announced the new z13s. Allthough LinuxONE was announced via Press Channels, it is now coupled with the z13s in the official announcement : "Expanding the IBM Systems' portfolio with additions to IBM z Systems and IBM LinuxONE (ZG16-0002)". I'm going to give you an introduction to the z13s, but I will also refer from time to time to the LinuxONE Rockhopper of course.

You know I largely concentrate on the technical aspects of the announcement rather than focusing on the strategic importance of the platform. Lots of other sources will give you plenty of information about this. Take e.g. a look at this IBM page covering z13s and its relation with Cloud, Security, Analytics and DevOps. And you can find quite some videos on Youtube as well.

I must immdiately say, I don't like the naming of this new system : z13s. This was my plural for two z13s, oops, I guess that will be two z13's and two z13s's. Any one a better suggestion ?

But let's get to the content of the announcement. I'll give you the usual survey of the new system starting with some technical specifications. Of course the Software Pricing is also always an interesting part. I'll conclude with some key dates and a couple of references to already available documentation. Here's an overview of the z13s.

Click on image for larger version

As usual, along with the announcement of the new 'Business Class' model there's also the GA2 for the 'Enterprise Class' model, the z13. No separate announcement as before though, it's all in the z13s announcement.

Technical specifications

The z13s has machine type 2965. Just like its predecessors it's also a one frame, air-cooled machine. Just like the z114 and the zBC12 it has top-exit I/O cabling and top exit power cabling. Unlike the z13, the processor is, with its 4.3 GHz, just a bit faster than its predecessor, the zBC12 (4.2 GHz). Of course it also has the new hardware features that were introduced with the z13 like Simultaneous Multi Threading (SMT) and Single Instruction Multiple Data (SIMD). Look for my post of the announcement of the z13 for more details about these. SMT is made available for IFLs and zIIPs, just like on the z13.

Again, we have two models : the N10 and the N20. The N10 has one drawer (13 PUs) and the N20 can have one or two drawers for its 26 PUs. As you can guess the N10 has 10 configurable engines, the N20 has, indeed, 20 of them. The N10 has 2 SAPs and one IFP (Integrated Firmware Processor) resulting in 10 configurable engines The N20 has an IFP, 3 SAPs and 2 spare engines. But what's different from the zBC12 is that the z13s N20 can be a one drawer or a two drawer model. The second drawer is added when more than 2TB of memory is needed. As you can see it has 52 PUs, but only 20, as with the 1-drawer model, are available to the customer. The second drawer is only there for the extra memory from 2TB up to 4TB. Later on I'll tell you more about the memory.

If you go through the announcement, you will notice there are two other models as well : the L10 and the L20. Well, that's the indication for the Rockhopper and it's the same story with the drawers as well as for the configurable engines. Except, you can of course only have IFLs here.

As I already indicated, both models (N10, N20) can have up to 6 traditional CPs ranging from A01 to Z06 giving us 156 capacity settings. The smallest model, the A01 has once again a higher capacity than its predecessor. On the z114 it was 25 mips, on the zBC12 it was 50 mips and now it's become 80 mips. Same story as with the zBC12, allthough it now has 10 MSUs, it still has zELC pricing and the software price for the A01 remains the same as for the zBC12 A01 with its 6 MSUs.

Here's an overview of how the z13s compares to its predecessors.

You know by now what PCI stands for, of course. so a uniprocessor goes up from 1064 PCI on a zBC12 to 1430 PCI on a z13s.

Memory - the first 64GB are for free

I rememeber when I wrote about the announcement of the z13, one of the subtitles was Memory Memory Memory. And I can say, you're in for the same treat on the z13s. The maximum memory is 8 times larger than what we had on the zBC12 resulting in 4TB. Model N10 will be limited to around 1TB. But what's perhaps even more interesting is the minimum capacity you get. The first 64GB are free, you can't start any lower. And as bizarre as it may sound, tripling your memory will cost you less than e.g. adding just some capacity. Let me give you an example. Say you have 48GB on a zBC12. If you ask no additional memory, you'll always start at 64 on the z13s. If you want to double your capacity to 96GB, you're actually better off with 152GB than with 120GB. Here's an overview for the one drawer N20 configurations.

If you're a bit confused about the strange numbers, it's because the capacity needed for HSA and for RAIM is not taken into account in the Client GB. Upgrades within one line are non-dsiruptive, upgrades to a following line are disruptive.

More memory really makes a difference nowadays. On the one hand with 'traditional' workloads like e.g. DB2 but on the other hand definitely with Linux workloads. There's a specific redbook covering this matter : 'Benefits of Configuring More Memory in the IBM z/OS Software Stack'.

Under the covers

Here you see an 'under the covers' illustration of a z13s one drawer N20 model.

As you can see this resembles the zBC12. With new z13s systems you can only have PCIe I/O drawers but you can still carry forward one traditional I/O drawer but then only for FICON Express8 cards. As with the zBC12, empty slots in this I/O drawer cannot be filled after or during the upgrade to the z13s.
As with the z13, you can now have a rack mounted 1U HMC, which is installed in a customer supplied rack. Also similar is the placement of the Support Elements at the top of the frame.

Upgrades are possible from any z114 or zBC12. Upgrades from an N10 to an N20 and from a 1 drawer N20 to a two drawer N20 are disruptive. Only the N20 allows an upgrade to the larger z13 N30.

Connectivity

Here's an overview of the current connectivity features.

As you can see this is all pretty straightforward. There are some improvements on FICON and OSA-Express functions, but do have a look at the announcement for all the details.

New features and z13 GA2

Now we'll have a look at a couple of new things and I can immediately say that these become also available on the z13 (GA2) now. So, an overview of z13 GA2 might be in place here

I'll pick out some of them. I will come back to other features in future posts like LPAR Group Absolute Capping, SMC-D . . .

zACI or z Appliance Container Infrastructure

zACI is a new framework to support new types of virtual software appliances. The goal of this new framework is to simplify the way IBM will install software 'appliances'. Here's the entire definition

"z Appliance Container Infrastructure (zACI) is a new partition type which, along with an appliance installer, enables the secure deployment of software and firmware appliances. zACI will shorten the deployment and implementation of firmware solutions or software solutions delivered as virtual software appliances. The zACI framework enforces a common set of standards and behaviors, and a new zACI partition mode for a virtual appliance -- requiring a new zACI LPAR type."

If that doesn't make sense to you, it kind of reminds me of the concept of containers such as used with Docker. You can read a good introduction on Docker by one of my colleages over here.
His definition of Docker is pretty similar to what IBM seems to be targetting to accomplish with zACI. Well, at least, that's what I think about it for the moment.

"Docker containers wrap up a piece of software in a complete filesystem that contains everything it needs to run: code, runtime, system tools, system libraries – anything you can install on a server. This guarantees that it will always run the same, regardless of the environment it is running in."

I think that an example will make this immediately a lot clearer. One of those virtual software appliances is IBM zAware. IBM zAware is a well-defined virtual appliance that can be installed in a separate LPAR. The zAware partition mode is replaced by the zACI LPAR mode.

One of those appliances that is planned is z/VSE Network Appliance that will also be installed via zACI. It will avoid using a TCP/IP stack of z/VSE and it's a way to directly communicate from a z/VSE LPAR to an external network just using this appliance. or as the announcement states it :

"The z/VSE Network Appliance builds on the z/VSE Linux Fast Path (LFP) function and provides TCP/IP network access without requiring a TCP/IP stack in z/VSE. The appliance utilizes the new z Appliance Container Infrastructure (zACI) introduced on z13 and z13s servers. Compared to a TCP/IP stack in z/VSE, this can support higher TCP/IP traffic throughput while reducing the processing resource consumption in z/VSE."

The first examples of zACI are announced today and more will follow later on.

Dynamic Partition Manager (DPM) for Linux and KVM

This is a new administrative mode for creating partitions for customers that are running Linux and KVM only. It's a way of helping out people who are not familiar with the traditional ways of creating, managing and monitoring LPARs. In other words, this mainly targets new LinuxONE customers that have no mainframe background whatsoever. This means that instead of IMLing a CPC in traditional PR/SM mode customers will be using Dynamic Partition Manager (DPM) Mode. Therefore it only supports Linux partitions. z/OS, z/VM, z/VSE and the likes are not supported. And, it supports FCP storage only. Or as the announcement puts it :

"The new mode, DPM, provides simplified, consumable, and enhanced partition lifecycle and dynamic I/O management capabilities via the Hardware Management Console (HMC) to:

• Create and provision an environment -- Creation of new partitions, assignment of processors and memory, and configuration of I/O adapters (network, FCP storage, crypto, and accelerators)
• Manage the environment -- Modification of system resources without disrupting running workloads
• Monitor and troubleshoot the environment -- Source identification of system failures, conditions, states, or events that may lead to workload degradation"

Software pricing

My story is pretty straightforward here. Similar to what happened with the zBC12 we don't see a new pricing mechanism but, again, a reduction to the AEWLC pricing. This means a reduction for standalone MLC pricing as indicated in this accompanying announcement : 'Technology Transition Offerings for the IBM z13s offer price-performance advantages (ZP16-0012)'. As the title of the announcement states, there are also transition offerings for migrations in a sysplex environment.

Mind you, however, when looking at those reductions : they talk about a reduction of 13% up to 30 MSUs, 10% up to 45 MSUs and 9% for higher MSUs. Keep in mind that this is the reduction as related to the original AEWLC pricing on the z114. As compared to the zBC12, you will have a reduction of approximately 5%.

This reduction does not apply to IPLA (OTC) softwares.

As I already mentioned the A01 has 4 extra MSUs but remains on zELC pricing. This means the price remains the same as on previous A01 models.

Operating Systems

z/OS

• z/OS V2.2 with PTFs
• z/OS V2.1 with PTFs (Exploitation)
• z/OS V1.13 with PTFs (Limited Exploitation) 
• z/OS V1.12 with PTFs : be aware that TSS Service Extension will be required

More info can be found in the z/OS support for the z13 and z13s chapter of the announcement.

z/VM

• z/VM V6.4 (preview, available 4Q2016)
• z/VM V6.3 with PTFs  - Exploitation support
• z/VM V6.2 with PTFs – Compatibility plus Crypto Express5S support
• z/VM V5.4 - Allthough still supported NOT compatible with z13s

z/VSE

• z/VSE 6.1 with PTFs
• z/VSE V5.2 with PTFs – Compatibility + Crypto Express5S
• z/VSE V5.1 with PTFs – Compatibility (EOS 30/6/2016)

Linux

• SLES 11 SP3+ and SLES 12 SP1+
• Red Hat RHEL 6.6+ and RHEL 7.1+
• Canonical Ubuntu 16.04 LTS – GA 2Q2016

KVM

• KVM for IBM z V1.1.1 – GA 18/3/2016
• KVM for IBM z V1.1.0

Physical planning

Nothing much to discuss here : the z13s has a similar footprint and weight compared to the zBC12. The differences

• it's ASHRAE Class A3 (40°C and 85% relative humidity operating limits
• Like the z13, it has door locks : both doors (front/rear) come with the lock installed
• As already said, you can have a separately rack installed 1U HMC. The rack is supplied by the customer.

Documentation

Apparantly, it's still a bit early to come with full documentation, but this is what is already available for the moment. I would recommand you have a look at the Publications chapter in the announcement.

Redbooks (drafts) :

• IBM z13 and IBM z13s Technical Introduction
  
• IBM z13s Technical Guide
• IBM z Systems Functional Matrix
  

Web :

• IBM z13s Web Page
• Datasheet
• FAQ
• z13s Virtual Tour (Link from z13s web page but at the moment of publication of this post not yet active)
• z13s Designed to Outcompete video on Youtube gives a good summary of the announcement

Some key dates for the z13s and z13 GA2

February 16, 2016

• Day of announcement
• First day for GA orders
• Resource Link support available

March 10, 2016

• Features and functions for the IBM z13s (Type number: 2965)
• IBM z13s Models N10, N20
• z114 and zBC12 upgrades to z13s Models N10 and N20

• Features and functions for the IBM LinuxONE Emperor, and Rockhopper
• IBM LinuxONE Emperor Models L30, L63, L96, LC9, and LE1 (5 models)
• IBM LinuxONE Rockhopper Models L10 and L20 (2 models)

June 30, 2016

• MES features for Models N10, N20
• z/VSE Network Appliance using the z Appliance Container Infrastructure (zACI) 

• MES features for LinuxONE Emperor Models L30, L63, L96, LC9, and LE1
• MES features for LinuxONE Rockhopper Models L10 and L20
• MES upgrades for IBM LinuxONE Emperor Lxx models to Lxx models
• MES upgrades for IBM LinuxONE Rockhopper Lxx models to Lxx models

September 26, 2016

• MES upgrades for IBM LinuxONE Emperor Lxx models to IBM z13 Nxx models
• MES upgrades for IBM LinuxONE Rockhopper Lxx models to IBM z13s Nxx models

As usual, I could only scratch the surface and touch upon the highlights of this new system.
There's much more to discover about it.
And along with this announcement, there were other announcements focusing on compilers, a preview of z/VM 6.4 and End Of Support Dates for zEC12 and zBC12.

So I can only say : Stay Tuned !

141 cores on a z13 ? Wrong ! It's actually 808 !

Sometimes you just have to hit the right slide in order to see things in perspective. We're always telling you about the PUs that are available in a system. E.g. the z13 has 141 PUs that can be used by the user. And actually we know that there are more. You have the SAPs that are taking care of all I/O between the PUs and the I/O cage, but there are more. That's why I've come to like this slide so much : it gives you some insight under the covers ànd it's great publicity for z Systems.

 

Just click on the picture for a larger version

I guess a picture says more than a thousand words. I let this one lingering about on my desk, it's a great conversation starter. Especially of course with non mainframe people. Just print it out on an A3 page, make some publicity for our platform and let me know what reactions you are getting !

The value of the mainframe - The IBM z Systems Conversation Hub

Already a couple of years ago I started to label some of my posts with 'Mainframe going strong'. The initial idea was (and still is) to give you the necessary arguments to advocate the mainframe to the non-believers or to those who really don't have a clue about the advantages of the mainframe. Well, the posts have gotten quite numerous over the years. Have a look by following this link.

And here's another great site that can help you promote the value of the mainframe within your own company : the IBM z Systems Conversation Hub. The starting point is the following

"You know that IBM z Systems can enable your company to make better-informed decisions, meet more robust business goals, build a single source of truth and design the most personalized customer experiences.

Now it's time to convince your business.

Explore the topics below for direct conversations you can use to build a business case for z Systems in your organization".

It's built around six topics and each time you get a quick view or you can 'read more' which gives you some sort of microsite about that specific topic. The topics are :

• The benefits of a system built for data
  
• Make your business mobile-enabled with z
  
• Point of impact analytics with z
  
• Why z is the best cloud platform
  
• Protect the business with z
  
• Open flexibility with z
  

Don't expect white papers, but I think this might actually be a good thing. Call it whiteboarding or elevator pitching but I've experienced that you are sometimes much better of with two or three well-prepared short messages than with elaborate argumentations. So e.g. for 'Mobile' these are the cliffhangers

• Our mobile apps need core data from z Systems
  
• Now we can handle a flood of mobile transactions and sensor data
  
• Mobile customers won’t wait
  
• We can increase mobile access without the risk
  
• Mobile apps integrate fast with z Systems
  

If you have some convincing to do, here's the place to get started !

New series of z13 videos on Youtube

I picked this up via the IBM-Main list (thanks to John McKnown) : it's a five video series on the new IBM z13 system by Jeff Frey, IBM Fellow and z Systems CTO. They are really worth a look and explain each time in about 4 minutes an aspect of the value of the new IBM z13. I really enjoyed them.

A teaser ?

"Some people have the perception that because the architectural routes of this platform are fifty-years-old that it's an old system. It has some of the most modern technology of any commercial server in the industry"

Or

"You know one of the best-kept secrets I think of the z system is its ability to process large amounts of sustained performance in terms of I/O both storage and network and I think it contributes greatly to the economic value of the platform"

The five videos treat :

• An IBM z13 introduction and technical overview (link) (This link starts the entire series)
• The IBM z13-a well-balanced system for I/O and processing (link)
• Efficient analytics on the IBM z13 (link)
• Workload efficiency on the IBM z13 (link)
• Linux, KVM and the Cloud on the IBM z13 (link)

 As I always say, just check them out !

#Mainframe50

"To boldly go where no man has gone before", I know I'm ripping this out of its context, but I think it's fitting for the mainframe as well. Many will say that this was definitely the case 50 years ago, by now some will argue that the mainframe is a thing of the past (remember the Mainframe is Dead saga) but I'm convinced (and lots of others with me of course) that it is still the case today. People have absolutely no idea how strongly our lives are intertangled with the mainframe. Have a look at this video.



And here's another one.



Well, you know why I'm writing about this : the mainframe is turning 50 and you're still going to hear and see A LOT about it. Just let me give you some places to go to when you want to celebrate with us.

IBM has created two new sites for the occasion. The first is over here. There also a tumblr site that you can find over here. It has weekly themes and this week's theme is mobile. There are also lots of interesting infographics. Further, you will see (on this site and others) a lot of attention for the IBM Master the Mainframe World Championship. It's "a first-of-its-kind, premiere enterprise computing competition. Students from over 20 countries around the world will compete in a series of challenges, which will culminate on April 7, 2014 at IBM in New York City". Check out it's own site over here.

If you want to follow everything on Twitter these are the hashtags to use : #mainframe50 and if you're in for it also #MainframeMemories. Of course, at an anniversary, we have to look forward but we can learn from our past and there will be lots of reminiscing about the good old times as well. Here's an example I came across today : the Mainframe Memories by Neale Ferguson (@NealeFerguson).

I can tell you one more thing : over the last years I regularly heard voices coming up to abandon the term 'mainframe'. "Call it a large enterprise server" or whatever, but I've always stuck to the mainframe terminology as such and so I'm still proud my blog is called the MAINFRAME Watch.

So, let's get started on those next 50 years !

The reliability of an IBM mainframe wins the heart of a Sicoob spouse

What did I tell you a couple of weeks ago : a post a day until Christmas. Well, that's about it, no ? I finish with a feelgood story from Sicoob, a Brazilian company that migrated to mainframe and some not so obvious consequences of this. Well, just have a look and . . . Merry Christmas.



If you want to know more about the actual implementation, the next video gives you some more insight.



And do come back after Christmas for my year review of 2013.

Volvo IT - Mainframe The First 50 Years - New way of working

Let's make this a birthday post. After all it's my birthday today and I'm in good company since I share it with Winston Churchill, Frank Sinatra and Sheila E. So, let me give you a present in the form of a very important message : take the mainframe seriously. But I'll wrap it in an agreeable form with two videos from Volvo IT. So all the credit actually goes to them of course. I really admire the way they position the mainframe, not as an old, large, costly box but as a new way of working. After all it's celebrating its 50th birthday next year.

Have a look at their evolution for the last 50 years.



But I promised two videos. So, the second one positions the mainframe at Volvo IT and also in general. The mainframe is at the heart of so many companies and people (employees, customers ...) don't even realize it. I recently came across the term 'the Alsop myth' and we all know the guy was completely wrong, but we also must admit : the myth lives on and is strong within many people (hey, Star Wars reference not intended). Well, this video from Volvo IT can only help us in countering it.

What System z Can do that Intel Systems Cannot !

Here's a presentation that I came across nearly by accident. A couple of days ago, I saw an item on the IBMVM ListServ list on Hillgang presentations. The only Hillgang I knew until now was the Sugarhill Gang, but apparantly that's something completely different.
The Hillgang is a Washington DC area mainframe user group focusing on z/VM and zLinux. So I took a look at some of the September presentations on z/VM 6.3 and zBC12. And I saw you can also page to previous presentations.

And so I found this one, which, of course, really caught my attention : 'What System z Can Do that Intel Systems Can't Do' by Bob Barnett from IBM.You can download it from this page. This is mandatory for every one who needs the right technical arguments for a comparison between System z and Intel. Bob Barnett focuses on six topics and I hope I don't spoil the fun too much by mentioning them over here : Transaction processing at scale, Perfect Workload Management, Greater Core Density, Spare Capacity for Growth, Comprehensive Disaster Recovery and Runs Longer without Stopping.
When I started googling this I found out there's also a version of this presentation by David Rhoderick (IBM) which you can find over here. David also adds Tougher Security to the list.

As I always say, do check it out !
And see you tomorrow for more !

CICS : 1.157.407 transactions per second

From time to time you have to have an eye catcher to draw the attention. Well, this was one at the bottom of the CICSbuzz - the IBM CICS Newsletter.

And there's also a short video that accompanies this. It puts the power of CICS into perspective, comparing it with e.g. Facebook and Twitter. Just have a look at it.

 

By the way, if you aren't subscribed to the CICSbuzz newsletter yet, just go over here to do it. You also find all previous issues over there.

8th Annual Global BMC Mainframe Survey

I was thinking about an introduction to this survey but the text at the BMC site is already the perfect introduction to make you read on. So here it goes.

 "With terms like Cloud, Big Data and The Internet of Things at the forefront of IT conversation, many might think that the mainframe is a historical artifact. But as BMC Software -- the global leader in IT management solutions -- found in its 8th annual Worldwide Survey of Mainframe Users, nothing could be further from the truth.

BMC revealed the results of the survey today. The key takeaway is that the mainframe will continue to play a critical role as a scalable platform delivering crucial computing power in a world where business users expect access anytime, anywhere, without regard to the data volume and velocity required behind the scenes. IT experts throughout the United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific reported that the mainframe is not only sticking around, it is evolving to play an increasingly important role in today’s enterprise IT environments".

They even provide the perfect summary of the report with an Infographic. You can find it over here. If you want to have all the details request the full results over here. Topics touched upon are perception of the mainframe, reasons for growing MIPS consumption, Top IT priorities, 4 Hour Rolling Average, Big Data Challenges and many more of course.

So, as I always say : just check it out !

New GSE Working Group in Belgium : GSE Young Professionals

We have a new GSE Working Group and it's one I really like to put the spotlights on : 'GSE Young Professionals' !

Allthough it's rather obvious, I'll let them explain themselves what it's all about.

Young Professionals is a new group inside GSE (Guide Share Europe) founded for young ICT professionals and students.

The objectives of the Young Professionals User Group :

• Creating a bridge between the students of the high schools/universities and the young professional s of the IT department of the (large) companies.
• Sharing of experiences of the start of an IT career 
• Learning about the possibilities within an IT career
• Exchanging information about the organization of the IT department within a company
• Exchanging information about the different roles within an IT department

In short, bridging the gap between school and professional life.

If you want to get into contact with them or follow their activities via the social media, they have a group site on LinkedIn, a Facebook page and a Twitter account.

Their first meeting is an all-day event on May 23, 2013 at Hogeschool Gent. The location is no coincidence as Hogeschool Gent has the most elaborate mainframe track for students here in Belgium.The focus for this event is on the banking sector. Participation is free and you find the full agenda over here. You can also register over there.

If you're a young professional or still a student, be sure to attend this meeting. And for every one else : here's a team of young professionals who really deserve our support. Be sure to do so via the social media I just mentioned . . . and IRL of course !

zEnterprise Newsletter

I talked about Millennial Mainframer before. They have a blog, a Facebook page and a Twitter account. I'm not sure what their relationship is with this 'Eastern US Region zEnterprise Newsletter', but they're always the first to talk about the new issue.
Well, as far as I can see because the new issue is the sixth, but I only know it since last quarter. It appears every first of the quarter and this episode contains the following topics :

• IBM EKMF (Enterprise Key Management Foundation)
• zPCR
  This is the sizing tool (also available for customers) for when you plan an upgrade to a new system.
• Advanced Analytics - : ILOG CPLEX on z/OS and Linux on System z
• PureSystems Update
  This is mainly about the PureData Systems for Transactions, Analytics and Operational Analytics
• WebSphere Compute Grid
  About its role in batch modernization : "With support for batch jobs alongside online transactions,  WebSphere Extended Deployment Compute Grid delivers a near real-time user experience while optimizing costs".
• Some dates for 'Wildfire Education' and 'Education' in the States
• Trivia Question !

You can read it over here. If you click on the 'Archive' button on the right hand side, you can also read the previous issue. It has a nice article on 'Why SAP on System z ?'. If you need some arguments, do take a look at it.

You can subscribe to it via a mail with zEnterprise Newsletter Mailing List as the subject to Hank Meetze (hmeetze@us.ibm.com).

As I always say, just check it out !

IBM Reports 2012 Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year Results

I used to write about the financial results of IBM from time to time, but it's been a while. Why now again ? Well, I must admit, with the economical crisis and all the pessimistic talk about the mainframe, I'm at least a bit surprised about the excellent results of System z. So, next time people tell you the mainframe is dead or is only bought by the largest banks, you can at least refer to this quote :

"Total systems revenues(...) increased 4 percent. Revenues from System z mainframe server products increased 56 percent compared with the year-ago period; revenue in the growth markets increased 68 percent. Total delivery of System z computing power, as measured in MIPS (millions of instructions per second), increased 66 percent versus the prior year and represented the largest MIPS shipment quarter in the company’s history. New workload specialty engines, including Linux, represented one-half of the MIPS shipped".

56 percent ? So, the new zEC12 has really been a success so far. And the growth is even larger in the growth markets, so this is even better news. That can only leave us curious about what 2013 will bring us . . .

Oh, by the way, you can find the full press release over here.

Your company's choice for virtualization : z/VM of course

If you're looking into virtualization and you still think the mainframe is too expensive or if you're eager to virtualize or continue to virtualize with z/VM, then take a look at this study from Solitaire Interglobal. It makes a comparison between z/VM and virtualization solutions on Unix and x86. it's based upon the input of almost 80,000 (mostly larger) customer sites. It takes two angles for looking into it : the business perspective on the one hand and the technical perspective on the other hand. If you want to build a case for z/VM, you might use this as a basis for structuring your arguments.

Let me walk you quickly through some of the topics that are covered. First of all there's the business perspective.

• Customer satisfaction : "The more complex or volatile the environment, the more all
  aspects of customers reported high satisfaction with z/VM".
• Total Cost of Ownership : this reminds me of this other document that unfortuately enough has not been updated since 2004, the Dinosaur Myth, that also proves that when you look at TCO instead of TCA you get a completely different picture.
• Staffing : "Staffing is far more effective with z/VM, the same number of people can support up to 3 times more VM images"
• Availability : "The more virtualized the environment, the more critical the availability becomes. z/VM requires fewer platform and VM reboots than competitive platforms with very little downtime, either planned or unplanned".
• Agility : "z/VM users are reporting faster deployment times by as much as 5 times".

The second part covers the comparison from a technical perspective.

• System Efficiency : "The z/VM platform allows more IT workload to be done with fewer overall resources".
• Security : "z/VM supports all forms of security control and isolation, including those required for highly secure implementations, separating resources for memory, network, I/O and access".

I didn't cover all topics but it gives you a pretty good idea where this study is heading at. If you follow the link, there's a 9-page management summary and of course also the 36-page full report.

As I always say, just check it out !

Why every IT architect should understand something about CICS

Sometimes you stumble across a topic or some documentation that's just too good not to post about (Is that a correct English sentence ?). Even if it has already been brought to your attention through several other resources. So, I read about the new 'Architect's Guide to IBM CICS on System z' in the new CICS Portfolio eNewsFlash which you can find over here. And there were also some links to some other sources about it. So, instead of writing my own post about it, I'm going to do a bit of stealing (yes, even my post title) and I'll give you the references.

Bottom line is : every IT architect should know about the value of CICS. That's why Martin Keen starts his post on the IBM Software blog like this :

How many times did you use CICS Transaction Server this year? This week? Today? Unless you're already familiar with IBM's 43 year-old transaction server, you might be scratching your head and thinking “I've never used it!”.

Think again.

Have you had lunch yet? If so, did you pay with a debit or credit card? Then you've used CICS. Did you pay for lunch with cash instead? CICS entered your life then too – when you went to the ATM to withdraw the money.

And you're not alone. CICS Transaction Server handles a dizzying number of transactions every day. More than 30 billion transactions a day in fact(...)

Go on over there and read about the value of CICS and why every IT architect should know about it.

The same introduction to the Redbook is found on Youtube.



Still not convinced ? Then take a look over here to find out what inspired the writers of the Redbook.

But of course, do go and read the 'Architect's Guide to IBM CICS on System z' over here. And don't think : 'Oh, it's definitely beginner's stuff' because Martin Keen concludes :This is an essential book for architects, and a lot of other people besides. Even people who consider themselves CICS experts will learn something from reading it. I highly recommend it".

Still not enough ? Here's another 10-pager on the 'CICS Transaction Server Application Architecture'.

So, as I always say, do check them out !

#mainframedebate, twitter, mainframe blog and Enterprise Virtualization with z/VM

Some three years ago I had my little say about Twitter over here and back then (ages ago) I referred to an article on 'The four stages of the average Twitter user' and I think the article is still relevant. The four stages are : Confusion and Indignation, The first "Aha!" Moment, Remembering to Tweet and Thinking in 140 characters. Three years ago I was definitely a stage one person. But things - and people - evolve. I've discovered that lots of information and links to interesting blogs comes a lot faster via Twitter. So, I'm tweeting a reference to my blog posts myself, I'm checking the tweets of people I follow at least twice a day, I'm re-tweeting interesting stuff and this all mostly via Tweetdeck. Am I hooked to it, not really : I'm only using it for professional purposes and I haven't gone mobile ... yet.

And so my post starts with the hashtag #mainframedebate. For those not familiar with the term, a hashtag is a kind of search argument you can add to a tweet. If people search on it, they get all tweets around this topic. And, if all people start using that hashtag at the same moment, you can start a debate. Well, yesterday I received an invite from Steven Dickens (@StevenDickens3) which went like this :

@mwambeke planning to join us? #mainframedebate 5th Dec | 4pm GMT | 11am EST

So tomorrow at 4pm GMT you can join this debate on twitter posing as many questions as you like about the mainframe. You need a twitter account to participate but you can follow the discussion over here as well.
If you want some more information, you can have a look at the Mainframe and Hybrid Computing blog from Steven who also organized the first debate and wrote about it in a couple of posts last September.

It's free association today, so this topic also brings me to Stevens blog. I didn't know it before but Steven writes quite some interesting stuff on mainframe and cloud computing. His latest post is about Cloud Computing and the Cult of x86. He refers to a white paper 'Comparing Virtualization Alternatives - What's best for your business?' which you can find via this link. "The purpose of this analysis was to examine the real-world  impact on businesses that deploy IBM’s z/VM virtualization product, compared to those using UNIX or x86 products". If you want to make a stand for z/VM as virtualization platform this is a very useful document with lots of arguments and graphs illustrating every aspect of the comparison.

And . . . don't forget to join the #mainframedebate tomorrow !

Proud to be a part of z and Millennial Mainframer

Remember I blogged about the System z poster you could be a part of. Well, it's been out for a couple of days now.

The poster was shared on Facebook on the IBM System z Mainframe page. It seems to be originally put up on the Millennial Mainframer page with the following comment : "Proud to be part of z.Together we stand for generation z - customers, business partners and IBMers from around the world. 156 z enthusiasts from 100 companies in 28 countries share their passion for IBM zEnterprise". 

In case you haven't come across Millennial Mainframer I'm sure you will soon. They want to offer "a fresh look at mainframes and associated Information Technology topics". They also have a site/blog which you can find over here. It's actually a group of young people or at least people at the beginning of their mainframe career who offer us a fresh look at our System z world. Do have a look at their site. It's surely worth it. And you can even join the experience or as the say it themselves :

"Get Involved
Millennial Mainframer is always looking for permanent or guest contributors interested in publishing articles on our blog community. While we welcome contributions from mainframers of all ages, we are particularly interested in hearing from students and mainframe professionals in the first ten years of their career. To get in touch with us please email us at  admin@millennialmainframer.com"

Free BMC mainframe of mind t-shirt

It do not always have to be super serious announcements. This is what I found on the twitter account of @BMCMainframe :

Did you get your free #Mainframe of Mind t-shirt? Check out our newsletter & request one here: http://bit.ly/SA8sz1

It's about this beauty :

I think it looks quite nice, so I've ordered one. But of course, before you go over there, I think you might want to start following @BMCMainframe on Twitter, no ?

z/VM turns 40 next month : some history and a new blog

IBM announced its first official VM product (then called VM/370) on August 2, 1972. As times changed, so did VM. You may have known it by one or more of its many flavors (VM/SP, VM/XA, VM/SP HPO, VM/IS, VM/ESA) that preceded today's z/VM. So, z/VM is turning 40 next month.

If you want to learn some more on the history of VM, there's already a VM History and Heritage Reference page over here.

This anniversary seems to have been a good reason for Bill Bitner to start a blog on this called : '40 Reflections for 40 Years of z/VM'. You can find it over here. The author's intentions ?

As the IBM z/VM product approaches its 40th Anniversary on August 2, 2012, the author takes time to reflect on the product and his experiences.

Go and have a look at it. One of the questions that, obviously, pops up is "What is a VM?". In another post Bill refers to Brian Wade's phrase saying it is z/VM's role to "faithfully replicate the architecture". He also comments on the z/VM community, the people behind the product (IBM, customers), influential people etc.
I think I'll pass the link along to my VMWare colleagues as well. After all they might be interested in how VMWare will evolve the next 30 years.

As I always say, just check it out !