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Business From the Cloud
May 4, 2020
Almost a decade ago, some vendors implored users to get “to the cloud.” As sloganeering goes, it was catchy, but if anything, it oversimplified and undersold the potential of this transformational technology. These days, cloud is a ubiquitous presence in IT. In a 2019 survey of 800 companies, Flexera Software, a provider of IT assessment […]
ArticlesArvind Krishna Elected IBM CEO, James Whitehurst Elected President
May 4, 2020
Arvind Krishna™ has been elected IBM CEO and a member of the board of directors, effective April 6, 2020. Prior to his new role as CEO, Krishna served as IBM senior vice president for Cloud and Cognitive Software, where he led the IBM business unit that provides the cloud and data platform for IBM clients. […]
ArticlesEzriel Gross on the Importance of CICS
May 1, 2020
Reg Harbeck talks with Ezriel Gross about his history with CICS and its continued importance in the mainframe community
ArticlesCOBOL Isn’t Slowing Anything Down
April 28, 2020
There are several misperceptions and assumptions with respect to COBOL and the latest difficulties several government entities have been experiencing due to COVID-19. COBOL and the IBM Z® platform were leading-edge technologies 40 years ago and they both still are today. They’re increasingly innovative with each release. Both are quite modern and expertly designed tools. […]
ArticlesCodeTheCurve Hackathon Teams Announced
April 23, 2020
On April 20, the UNESCO-organized CodeTheCurve announced the 40 teams selected to compete in the virtual hackathon created to combat COVID-19 through technological innovation. Nearly 200 teams from across the world submitted videos to participate in the competition, and 40 teams from approximately 30 countries will compete for the grand prize. The teams, made up […]
ArticlesTake Advantage of the Job Log Server
April 14, 2020
IBM i expert Dawn May explains why you should change the default behavior of the server
ArticlesMeet the New IBM z15 and IBM LinuxONE III Models
April 14, 2020
Every client’s cloud journey is unique—there’s no one-size-fits-all. But most organizations are or will soon be operating in a hybrid multicloud environment. In this environment, you are challenged to keep data secured, systems available and costs manageable. Meeting these challenges requires the right IT infrastructure. Enter the New IBM Z and IBM LinuxONE Models New […]
ArticlesIBM TechU Talks Deliver Free, Technical Training Webcasts
April 9, 2020
During this unprecedented challenge, our dependency on IT professionals and technology is higher than ever. As face-to-face events continue to be postponed, IBM TechU is offering a free 12-week training series, IBM TechU Talks, to accelerate essential recovery and transformation of global businesses. The series provides technical insight on key topics ranging from cloud, security […]
ArticlesJoin UNESCO’s CodeTheCurve Hackathon: Apply by April 15
April 8, 2020
The learning and working processes have both changed irrevocably as more schools and workplaces move to digital platforms. The quick switch to online learning means that there is a need for new, innovative ways to ensure that people across the world can learn digitally. UNESCO, in its continuing mission to foster digital skills and professional […]
ArticlesTheresa Hans on IBM Champions and New to Z
April 1, 2020
Reg Harbeck: Hi, this is Reg Harbeck and today I'm here with Theresa Hans who is the key person for a whole bunch of different mainframe and new mainframer and IBM Champion things. Well rather than introducing her myself, Theresa tell us what's your role at IBM and how did you end up in such […]
ArticlesDeveloping an Audit Process for Data Set Encryption
March 30, 2020
Two of the challenges of planning and implementing data set encryption under z/OS is how to determine whether data sets targeted for encryption are eligible and (during rollout) which have actually ended up encrypted. Because pervasive encryption can be a large project taking on many phases, those involved with implementation will want to have the […]
ArticlesImprove Workload Resilience With z/OS Workload Interaction Correlator and z/OS Workload Interaction Navigator
March 24, 2020
IBM has two new contributions to the IBM Z family: A data infrastructure provided by z/OS Workload Interaction Correlator and a visualization engine driven by z/OS Workload Interaction Navigator.
ArticlesModernization Carries Varied Meanings for Different People
March 23, 2020
When the IBM z15 was announced I couldn’t wait to read the information about the advancements and changes that we would all see. I quickly read about System Recovery Boost, integrated zEDC compression, standard rack space frame, double cache density on each chip, etc. The modern mainframe; the fastest, most resilient and high availability, commercially-available […]
ArticlesThe Many Faces of Application Creation: Part 2
March 16, 2020
This is a continuation of last month’s article, which chronicled application tools and options in context of development projects I’ve worked in and programming alternatives used, including design, coding, and validation. I’ve used various programming facilities, along with their strengths and weaknesses. My experiences start in the early 1970s, and the evolution I’ve experienced spans […]
ArticlesHow Crypto Revolutions in the Financial Industry Link to Modern-Day Conceptions of Fintech
March 16, 2020
The financial sector experienced turmoil in the past decade. We don’t have to hand cash or credit cards to our taxi drivers anymore as we can use an app instead. Furthermore, we can easily send money to our friends and family via Payoneer and Paypal, never leaving the comfort of our homes. What’s more, today […]
ArticlesHomer Ahr Reflects on Working Mission Control for the NASA Apollo Space Program
March 2, 2020
Growing up in the midst of Sputnik and the Cuban Missile Crisis, Homer Ahr’s interests in the space program were piqued early. Ahr became a computer operator for a construction company in his early college years. Inspired to further his career, he taught himself how to program in FORTRAN. Ahr was later asked to work […]
Podcasts‘Mainframe Mike Myers’ on IBM Z System Programming
February 27, 2020
Reg Harbeck: Hi, this is Reg Harbeck and today I'm here with Mike Myers, the mainframe Mike Myers, who has been involved with the mainframe basically since the very beginning. Mike, maybe if you could introduce yourself to us and tell us, how did you end up on the mainframe? Mike Myers: Well it's […]
ArticlesThe Many Faces of Application Creation: Part 1
February 20, 2020
While my career has mostly been consulting, marketing, systems programming and management, I’ve also had numerous engagements in application programming and design. A class in COBOL was my first IT experience, and in my MBA program, I learned Fortran and General Purpose Simulation System (GPSS) in Operations Research classes. In 1975, I rewrote a broken […]
ArticlesLaticia Carrow on Community and Completing the Master the Mainframe Contest
February 3, 2020
Reg Harbeck: Hi this is Reg Harbeck and today I’m here with Laticia Carrow who is a brand new mainframer who has basically had an amazing journey getting to the mainframe, doing the Master the Mainframe, doing an apprenticeship. Well before I tell you all about her, Laticia tell us about yourself. How did you […]
ArticlesMobile Applications for IBM i Enable Business Continuity
February 3, 2020
Cellphones and mobile devices, long a part of our daily lives, have also become essential in the world of business. That’s certainly the case for Alan Seiden. As head of Seiden Group, a consulting firm specializing in application development and modernization on the IBM i platform, Seiden manages his business from his phone. When traveling […]
ArticlesHow Millennial Mainframers Can Solve Technology Problems
January 23, 2020
In the book “Stop Guessing: The 9 Behaviors of Great Problem Solvers,” author Nat Greene asserts that poor problem-solving skills cost individuals and society incalculable amounts of time and money. “We waste so much time, money and frustration on bad solutions,” Greene said during a 2017 interview. “I hate that good people have to put up […]
ArticlesLower Levels of IT Managers Should Have IT Experience
January 20, 2020
In my roles as IBM senior systems engineer, and later, IT consultant and project manager, I’ve worked with a wide variety of IT managers, especially first and second level managers. That’s where most of the work is done, where pieces are connected and enabled, yet I found in many projects or development efforts—especially situations involving […]
ArticlesClassical Computing and Quantum Computing Can Work Together
January 3, 2020
Breathless ‘end of the classical computer’ articles, quantum supremacy and ‘broken security’ hysterics to the contrary, pitting classical versus quantum computing is not the issue. What is at issue is determining how to most effectively exploit each architecture. Quantum computing’s major strength doesn’t lie in simply analyzing Big Data. While the speed of quantum is […]
ArticlesBringing New Talent to the Mainframe Workforce
January 2, 2020
IBM Z Champion Marc I. Smith on how to engage next-generation mainframers
ArticlesPowerAI Vision Democratizes the Development of Visual AI Models
January 2, 2020
It used to be that only programmers actually programmed—that was their area of expertise. End users simply worked within the parameters set before them. But then something happened that began to alter that relationship. Tools like spreadsheets allowed average employees to essentially do their own programming, building smart columns, rows and cells that could predictably […]