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IBM i Security in the Hybrid Workplace

According to a recent AT&T work survey, “Hybrid work will be the foremost working model by 2024, with 56% of work done offsite.” Many companies that deployed remote work solutions during the pandemic found that employees working remotely can be as productive as being in the office. In addition, employees are demanding the flexibility to […]

Cloud, IBM Support, AIX History and More

Rob McNelly on cloud technology, expanded IBM Support options, IBM requiring encryption for fix downloads and AIX history

Scott Forstie on SQL Services and IBM i 7.5 Capabilities

Spotlight for the B side: IBM’s Scott Forstie on SQL services, geospatial functions and IBM i 7.5 capabilities

Peter Fandel on DevOps and Open System Collaboration

Reg Harbeck: Hi, this is Reg Harbeck and today I’m here with Peter Fandel, who is the director of product management at Rocket Software. Peter, welcome. How did you end up in the world of mainframe? Peter Fandel: Ah, well thank you for having me today. How did I end up in the world of […]

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Leveraging AI in the DevOps Process

Through the DevOps process, organizations can deliver value and innovation to meet business and customer demands. However, a flawed development project can have a disastrous effect on a brand’s reliability and revenue. Quality assurance (QA) teams are tasked with ensuring the quality, completeness and accuracy of a project before it’s distributed. But with rapidly changing […]

Moving Mainframe Apps to the Cloud: Should You Stay or Should You Go?

Over the last few years there’s been a noticeable push from the big public cloud data center providers to encourage enterprises to move their zSystems mainframe applications to the cloud. Cloud providers are offering a mix of support to entice companies, including development and runtime environments, systems integration tools and expertise—plus assurances that moving to […]

Ways to Work With Your JVMs in Navigator for i

One of my very first i Can blogs was “Work With Your JVMs,” written when the JVM CL commands (WRKJVMJOB, DSPJVMJOB, PRTJVMJOB, and GENJVMDMP) were added in the 6.1 release. Since that time, IBM added additional ways to work with your JVMs. This post provides updated information on the features available in Navigator for i […]

Sudharsana Srinivasan on Mainframe Advocacy and Education

Reg Harbeck: Hi, I’m Reg Harbeck and today I’m here with Sudharsana Srinivasan, who is the IBM zSystems Advocacy program manager. Sudharsana, welcome. Great to have you on the podcast.   Sudharsana Srinivasan: Thank you so much Reg. It’s great to be here, looking forward to our conversation.   Reg: Yeah, so you and I […]

IBM Diamondback Tape Library: Storage for the Future

In an age when data capacity is growing rapidly, the need for smart, sustainable, resilient storage solutions is growing just as quickly. Enter: IBM Diamondback Tape Storage. Released in October 2022, Diamondback is a next-generation, sustainable, ultra-high-density storage solution designed to protect against the constant threat of ransomware and data breaches in hybrid cloud environments. […]

Building for Successful Modernization and Operationalization

As IT environments evolve, so do security and modernization strategies. And while no “one-size-fits-all” modernization solutions exist, there are certainly ways to position your organization for a successful IT environment modernization plan poised to meet business needs.   According to Ensono’s Oliver Presland, for example, successfully laying out your modernization plan begins with asking yourself […]

Java at 25: Celebrating Milestones, Mainframe Interoperability and More

It can be said that one sign of a healthy long-term relationship is that there’s still room for small, pleasant surprises. Such is the case with the IBM mainframe and Java. Even though Java’s availability on the mainframe predates the introduction of z/Architecture, IBM’s Skyla Loomis continues to encounter application developers who don’t realize that […]

How to Position Your Organization for Successful IT Modernization

As IT environments evolve, so do security and modernization strategies. And while there are not any “one-size-fits-all” modernization solutions, there are certainly ways to position your organization for a successful IT environment modernization plan poised to meet business needs.   According to Ensono’s Oliver Presland, for example, successfully laying out your modernization plan begins with […]

A New Resource for Open-Source Communities

It’s estimated that around 70% of the world’s Fortune 500 companies use IBM mainframes. Of course this comes as no surprise to mainframers who have long been exposed to these factoids. But for the mainframe to continue to grow—and specifically, to attract the next generation of technologists to the platform—its presence must expand beyond the […]

Ciara Mejia Recounts Her IT Development Learning Experiences

Charlie Guarino: Hi everybody. This is Charlie Guarino. Welcome to another edition of TechTalk SMB. In today’s podcast, I’m very happy to be sitting here with Ciara Mejia. Ciara is a young developer on the IBM i platform. She’s been a software engineer for over seven years, working at King III Solutions [K3S], which is […]

Enable Rapid Ransomware Recovery With IM Software

Many people work on the principle that their mainframe is safe from catastrophic attacks because it is different from Linux and Windows platforms. Hackers don’t understand how it works—what they used to call security by obscurity. Unfortunately, mainframes are generally high-value targets with plenty of critical data residing on them. That makes them an enticing […]

Women of COBOL Episode 5: COBOL Is for Anyone – Transitioning to IT From Alternate Career Paths

Misty Decker: Hi and welcome to Episode 5 of of Women of COBOL. I’m delighted to have this conversation. Today we’re going to chat with two young women who have just launched their COBOL careers, about two years each, and we’re going to compare notes of what it’s like learning COBOL and launching a COBOL […]

The Evolution of Mainframe Education

The average age of a mainframer is 58 years old. Yes, most of us have gray hair and wear Aerosmith tee shirts to work. The task at hand is how do we pass the baton of mainframe knowledge to the next class of mainframers that will support the massive mainframe ecosystem that runs our world […]

Mainframe Security and Pervasive Encryption With John Connors and Milt Rosberg

Reg Harbeck: Hi, I’m Reg Harbeck, and today I’m here with John Connors and Milt Rosberg of Vanguard for the second in a series of podcasts that is about the Vanguard people, the team, the context, the company and what they’ve been up to. There has been some interesting events and activities since the last podcast […]

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Navigator Tidbits: Exploring New Features

I spent some time exploring new features of Navigator for i and this post reviews just a few cool things I found. Security Configuration Information Under the Security tasks, there is a new task called Security Configuration Info. This returns all the information available from the QSYS2.SECURITY_INFO service, which is a really nice way to […]

IBM Announces Diamondback Tape Library

Today, IBM announced its latest archival storage solution: IBM Diamondback Tape Library. An extension of IBM’s comprehensive portfolio of data resilience solutions, IBM Diamondback is designed for organizations seeking to store hundreds of petabytes (PB) of data both securely and sustainably. This cost-effective storage solution enhances sustainability with its energy-efficient infrastructure and reduced environmental impact. […]

Rob McNelly on ‘Lights-Out Data Center’ Issues, the Latest IBM Announcements and More

Have you heard of “lights-out data centers?” Rob McNelly explains what they are along with their pitfalls, and explores the latest IBM announcements here.

Making the Mainframe More Accessible to New Technologists

When high schooler Enzo Damato had the chance to buy a used mainframe for $100 in 2020, his parents weren’t exactly ready to set up an electric substation at their house and give up their garage. But fast-forward to 2022: Damato has gotten his wish—the garage is home to a z114 mainframe. Starting the Mainframe […]

Identifying Top Cloud Security Issues

Trevor Eddolls highlights key takeaways from four industry-leading research reports on the current state of cloud security

The VM Workshop Celebrates VM’s 50th Anniversary

This year’s VM Workshop was special in several ways. First, this is the first face-to-face workshop since the world went virtual due to COVID-19 in 2020. And second, we were able to celebrate VM’s 50th anniversary in Binghamton, New York—the home of IBM’s VM development team, and where I had the pleasure of working with […]

Meet the 2022 TechChannel Mainframe Rising Stars

TechChannel is pleased to acknowledge our class of 2022 Rising Stars in the mainframe community–recognizing those who have worked on the platform for five years or less, but are already pushing the boundaries of what is possible. Our Rising Stars initiative is designed to recognize and bring visibility to the next generation of aspiring innovators […]