Mainframe Connectivity: What’s Missing?
June 21, 2021
We can, perhaps, all remember a time when a simple 3270 terminal emulator was all we needed to access the mainframe without needing a directly-connected terminal. And we were really pleased that we could work from anywhere using this simple solution to our communication problem. It worked and our expectations were not very high. Next, […]
ArticlesHow the Software World and Programming Practices Have Evolved
June 3, 2021
Programming, or writing software as it is commonly known today, has been my profession for 51 years, and for fun for 10 years before that. Like most things, it has changed dramatically as I have grown up with it. Starting out in 1960, we had only one manual of about 50 pages, a principles of […]
ArticlesAn Introduction to IBM IMS OTMA
January 29, 2021
IMS Open Transaction Manager Access (OTMA) is a component of IMS TM and is a transaction-based, connectionless client/server protocol
ArticlesUnderstanding IMS OTMA Commit Mode and Synchronization Level
January 25, 2021
The IMS OTMA client communicates information to IMS and receives information from IMS in a prefix passed in front of the message (or command). Among several information present in the prefix are COMMIT MODE and SYNCHRONIZATION (SYNC) LEVEL. OTMA SYNC Level The OTMA client specifies the sync level on each input message. The OTMA sync […]
ArticlesUnderstanding How a ‘CM0 SL1’ Input Message Sent to IMS Connect Works in the Case of a Client NAK
January 15, 2021
IMS Connect (ICON) is the TCP/IP gateway for IMS. So, besides running the traditional IMS transactions on z/OS, an IMS programmer/database administrator (DBA) can now leverage applications running on the distributed side of the world (a Java web application, for example) to be able to easily talk to IMS databases. The Java web application would […]
Valuable Application and Integration Middleware
August 30, 2020
WebSphere Application Server has grown and changed over the years. In this IT Trendz post, Joseph Gulla explores IBM Websphere software.
ArticlesWebSphere Is a Foundation With Useful Tools
September 10, 2019
Joseph Gulla continues his series on WebSphere, writing about extensions to the different product foundations in the form of developer tools.
ArticlesWhen the Phone Rings in the Middle of the Night
August 16, 2019
It’s been decades since I had a 9:00 to 5:00 job, only the earliest weeks of my IT career. Training kept me out of town a lot, and becoming a participating project member took a few months to attain, but once I’d become an accountable project member, my working hours extended into evenings because of […]
ArticlesIT Change and Renewal
April 30, 2018
Approaches and tactics to address challenges like breathing new life into applications.
ArticlesConnect z/OS Applications and Data to the Hybrid Cloud With APIs
November 1, 2017
Clients can successfully drive digital transformation by optimizing their mainframe using APIs to achieve a compelling ROI.