Last short takes of 2011

You know I usually try to conclude the year on a lighter note, if possible with a couple of videos. Well this year won't be any different. First of all I'm still presenting you some reading material with these short notes, then I still owe you my year review and after that I'll come up with some videos, commercials etc. that will hopefully brighten up your last working days of 2011 a bit.

Sor for those who first still want to have some serious reading material . . .

• I just received the Winter issue of zJournal. You can download it over here. I think it's a great issue this time. It has a comprehensive article on the IDAA (IBM's DB2 Analytics Accelerator). Some personal columns like e.g. from Marcel den Hartog (IT Management) and Mark Lillycrop (Recession Pushes Mainframe prices up). Too much to mention of course but, VSE people, do take a look at the column of Pete Clark who's already listing all 2012 events. And there are quite some articles on CICS like e.g. on the scalability enhancements of CICS TS 4.2.

• Which brings me to the next reading material : the CICS Portfolio eNewsletter that starts off with a 2011 overview. It also gives an overview of 2011 product deliverables, gives you a lot of links to documentation, redbooks, demos, webcasts ... And there's also a preview of 2012 events. You can subscribe to this eNewsletter over here.
  

• Looking for more webcasts, here's a link to the upcoming January System z Software Webcasts and Teleconferences. And if you want to keep up with the next months, then just follow IBM System z events on Twitter.

Well, as I always say : just check them out !

Short takes

Sometimes I'm making a couple of bookmarks thinking 'I'm going to blog on this'. But then I forget about it or there are other things to talk about. So here's an excellent opportunity to catch up on some of those and to mention some new, short messages.

• Doing this presales job for quite a few years now, I think my actual experience with DB2 is getting a bit rusty. Did you know there are 16 (yes 16) Explain Tables in DB2 for z/OS. Of course you did. Or, if you didn't, take a look at Willie Favero's blog post about it : 'Explaining the history of EXPLAIN tables' clarifying (pun intentionally avoided) it all to you.

• There was a z/VSE GSE meeting in Brussels at the end of last year with the two most renowned speakers (at least that I know of) on the subject : Klaus Goebel and Wilhem Mild. Here are there presentations :

  z/VSE in an Elevator - Dr. K. Goebel

  Modernization solutions with z/VSE - Dr. W. Mild

  What's new in z/VM and Linux - Dr. K Goebel

  Modern Application development environments for z/VSE - Dr. W. Mild

  z/VSE Pricing options - Dr. K Goebel

  SOA for z/VSE, Disaster Recovery Scenarios and tools - Dr. W. Mild

• On February 26, 2010 at 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM CST (7:00 PM Brussels Time there's a technical webinar on XIV. You can register over here. As a matter a fact it's already a second presentation on the topic. The page also mentions the first one which you can download from IBM's ftp site. It's this one : 20091118XIV_pt_1.wmv. If, just like me, you might have problems with the G2M3 codec in Windows Media Player, you can download it from the Citrix site.

• Here's one I've mentioned before : the z/OS Platform evaluation test team. They run the final verification tests on a z/OS release before it becomes GA. But more interesting : they gather their experiences and publish them. The publication usually comes a couple of months after the product goes GA. So late december they published 'z/OS V1R11.0 System z Platform Test Report for z/OS and Linux Virtual Servers'. which you can find on the Library tab of the site.

• IBM VM Developer Home Pages : I accidentally stumbled across these pages from some VM Developers. Just take a look at them, some are quite interesting. I just take a couple of quick picks. Bill Bitner has some presentations but he also has a variation on the 'You must be a mainframer if ...' list, with his 'If ... you're probably not on VM'. Tung-Sing Chong has an example of 'Cloning Linux Images in z/VM' with install/setup instructions. And I also liked Steve Wilkins' 'VM-Linux on System z Storage Technologies' presentation.
  

• I also already mentioned the 'Myth vs Truth' System z page before. Well, I have the impression they added some 'myths' (or is it 'truths') about the mainframe. They also incorporated some videos that have been around on Youtube for a while like 'The IBM System z can babysit your kids'. But do take a look at the Myth vs Truth site as well. I like the ending of those clips.
  
  

As I always say, just check them out !

Short Takes

Here are some more short takes

• CA, Datacom and zIIP
  Last week, CA announced that the newest release of CA Datacom now also makes use of the zIIP engine. I must admit I have the feeling I lost a bit track of how many products now use specialty engines. But I guess that's a good thing : more and more ISVs use them because every one realizes it's a great way to help reduce cost for the clients ànd at the same time keep the mainframe alive and kicking. The counter for CA seems to be at 14 products now. Still recently, they gave an overview over here.

• zPrime
  Talking about saving money : a couple of weeks ago I received this mail from Neon Enterprise Software about zPrime. What is zPrime ? I don't know and they're not going to tell you straight away, so if you want to take a guess yourself, take a look at the zPrime Site. Here's the initial explanation in the mail : "zPrime is a radical new technology in mainframe computing. It cuts the cost of mainframe computing significantly and immediately. No new budgets, no complicated projects, no expensive consultants, no new equipment purchases. Want to know more? Go to www.zPrime.com and learn about zPrime -- and have some fun and maybe win some prizes at the same time". We'll just have to wait and see. Oh, you can also follow zPrime on Twitter !

• When will I use Solid State Drives ?
  I know I'm a bit late with this. One very interesting presentation on the System z Conference some weeks ago was the one of Pat Artis of Performance Associates on SSD. According to Pat Artis the question is not whether we will switch to SSD but when. He expects that very soon every one will only use SSD drives for production data. Interested ? You can now find the slides and the video if this presentation on their site.
  

Short Takes

As promised, here are some short takes on some publications, teleconferences ...

• Teleconference : Tivoli System z storage – Technical update on Tivoli storage family
  This teleconference is actually tonight at 17.00h Brussels Time (15.00h GMT). The contents : "This telecon is an overview of IBM’s strategy for managing z/OS® storage environments. We’ll discuss details about each layer of the z/OS storage management strategy, including process management, the IBM Service Management foundation and operational management. We’ll show how the strategic z/OS storage management product, OMEGAMON® XE for Storage, fits into the strategy and how the rest of the Tivoli® z/OS storage management portfolio works together to address common z/OS storage tasks and resolve problems. We’ll also give you a brief review of the new Tivoli Service Management Center for System z®."
  If you can't attend today, it will also be available for replay.
  

• z/Journal April/May Issue
  I know, it's been out for a couple of weeks now, but I only got to have a look at it now. Some topics are Java enhancements to CICS TS 3.2, Storage Resource Management and the reduction of energy consumption (green, you know), why the Linux operating system with the IBM System z makes an ideal virtualization platform, z/VSE 4.2 new features, how DB2 9 for z/OS can improve a Data Warehouse's Performance (including reduction in the amount of CPU DB2 9 uses versus DB2 v8) and many more.
  

• IBM Systems Magazine May/June 2009
  I actually owe these people an apology for what I wrote earlier about the online version of the magazine. I still don't like these online versions, but I didn't notice there is also a .pdf version of the magazine, which I like a lot better. To make it up, here's the .pdf version of the previous issue. Main topics : "In this issue’s cover story you can read how IBM continues to protect your virtual resources with z/VM offerings for mainframes. (...) Read how you can implement a Dynamic Infrastructure on your System z server. In this issue’s case study, you’ll see how the City and County of Honolulu used both Systems z and System p servers to create a dynamic IT environment".
  
  
• Tivoli Software demos
  I came across this page via a link to this video on IBM's Green data center management solutions. But there are lots of other videos (demos) on e.g. TPC, TPC for Replication, System Automation, Workload Automation, Provisioning Manager, Identity Manager etc.
  

• PC Tip van de Week
  OK, second and last time I'm making some shameless publicity for another blog of mine. Unfortunately, or luckily some might say, it's in Dutch and I have one post a week with all kinds of basic hints and tips on PC usage. If not for the tip, you might want to check out my musical choices I add each week. If this 'sounds' familiar it's actually an idea I took over from Willie Favero's blog.

More short takes

Here are some more short notes :

• Did you know there's a CICS e-newsletter telling you lots of interesting stuff about CICS communication, CICS highlights, CICS events, CICS resources, CICS people, Training and development. I didn't. That's why I mention it now. There are some previous editions over here and you can register over here.
  

• Talking about CICS information. I mentioned this before but Andrew Bates has a great newsletter/presentation with lots of CICS Links. The most recent version came out this week and you can find it over here. If you want to receive it personally, you can send Andrew a mail and ask for it.

• Talking about presentations. When you get a presentation in .pdf format, do you know how to play it as a presentation. Press CTRL+L. Just try it, you'll see.

• The March/April issue of IBM Systems Magazine is out. I assume the printed version (for US) is very nice, but I must say I just hate the kind of flashy (pun intended) digital version we get presented outside the US. The link's over here. And for those who want to share some mainframe memories, the last page is dedicated to mainframe memories from the good old days. I also liked the article on the 'Performance Toolkit for z/VM'.

• Will Windows really run on System z ? There's already a buzz on the net about it. Come and see next week, I'd say. Mark Fontecchio e.g. mentions the lecture from Mantissa taking place at Share in Austin where they will present z/VOS, a CMS application, which will support Windows on z/VM. I'll come back on this when we have the facts.

• For my Dutch speaking readers I would like to make some publicity for another blog I write in my free time. We must admit, though we're mainframe people, we all use PCs nowadays. And it often suprises me that people don't seem to know how to do very simple things with Word, Excel etc. So I'm writing one post a week, giving you all kinds of hints and tips I regulary share with others. Like the CTRL+L tip for .pdf documents I just mentioned. If you understand enough Dutch, just take a look at my 'PC Tip van de Week'.
  

Well, that's all for this week. Have a nice weekend !

Short Takes

Here some short messages on publications, events, podcasts . . .

• If you want to read some more on CICS TS 4.1, there will be a series of 4 articles about it in the zJournal CICS Spotlight. Here's the first one : 'Compete, Comply, and Control with CICS Transaction Server for z/OS v4.1'. If you want to subscribe to other zJournal Spotlights, just go over here.

• If it's not too late. Diane G. Johnson (IBM) reminds me of an event I forgot to mention earlier : The Total Solution Event for System z in Amsterdam next week from March 10, 2009 till March 12, 2009. This is a no charge event for mainframe customers with lots of parallel tracks on DB2, CICS, SOA, IMS, Linux on z, WAS with lots of well-known speakers. You can find more information and register over here. I know there's a program guide but I can't find it online. If you want more information on content, you can contact Patrick Bruinsma (IBM NL).

• Susan Visser (IBM) blogs about all sorts of publications regarding DB2. She now mentions a very interesting series of podcasts on 'DB2 9 for z/OS pureXML' by Guogen Zhang which you can find over here.

• Last week, there also was an new issue of zJournal itself with its February-March issue with a Q&A on IMS and SOA, the Exploitation of the Crypto Express2 Accelerator, Introducing Open Solaris for System z and 'How zIIP Processors are Changing the Rules'.

• Also out today : the z/OS Hot Topics Newsletter. I' ve only had the time to browse through it quickly and it looks like a very promising issue. It starts out with a series of 'memories of a mainframe' starting off with the punch cards. Did you know you still can buy new ones. Other articles 'z/OS support for Solid State Drives on the DS8000', FlashCopy V2, EAV free space information, zFavorites, cutting costs on z/OS with IMS. It closes with '10 Hot Tips for z'. In case you haven't noticed, I just try to lure you into downloading this newsletter. It' s really worth your time. And I just couldn't resist adding this picture :
  
  
• By the way : if you want to see more of these pictures : take a look over here in the IBM mainframe photo album.
  
  

Short Takes June 2008

It's been more than a week since my last post, but there's a good explanation for that : working for an IBM BP, end of Q2, need I say more ?
So, I've had little time to catch up on anything, but here are some short messages.

• You've all been warned : DB2 V7 is out of support next Monday. Willie Favero also mentions this and draws our attention to the fact that DB2 V8 is already on the market for more than 4 years. So, you really should be starting to think DB2 9 which also is already out there for more than a year now

• Up to now I failed to write anything on a great new initiative by Bob Thomas : Mainframe Executive. You might call it zJournal for CIOs and IT Managers. On the one hand, there are regular WebFlashes, which are accumulated in some kind of blog over here. Just browse through recent entries, there's some great stuff over there like e.g. '15 Reasons to stay on the mainframe'. On the other hand, there's the Mainframe Executive Magazine with lots of articles and columns. You can subscribe to both over here.

• By the way, there's a new issue of zJournal too, with an interesting article on 'Mainframe Tape Technology : Myths and Realities' and many others of course.

• I also found the time to update the Agenda of Upcoming Events in Belgium and I'd like to mention one event in particular : once again there's another 5-day Introduction to z/OS and the System z Mainframe Environment at the IBM Forum in Brussels. This free Proof of Technology gives a great introduction for people who are relatively new to the mainframe. If you're interested, you can find all information and subscribe over here.

Well, that's it for now. I guess it will turn a bit more quiet from now on and people will start going on holiday. I'm still around for a couple of weeks, though.