Many of my jobs at Compuware (since 1984) have involved interacting with development teams for many different product lines. About 1 ½ years ago, after working with newer distributed technologies for 12 years, I made a somewhat impulsive decision to return to our Mainframe Solutions business unit…

My technology roots are deep within the IBM mainframe.  For that reason, I'm never at a loss for words when someone asks me why it maintains such a significant presence in the data center. Of course, there's the overall value of centralized computing; and there are the financial, business, operational and quality-of-service gains that are among its extraordinary rewards.  But over time, the IBM mainframe and its software have evolved to deliver even greater value…

Talk about your provocative Blog titles, this one's a doozy. But I've thought this same way for many years; long before Stewart Alsop made his infamous prediction that "The last mainframe will be unplugged on March 15, 1996". Well along comes highly respected technology analyst Rob Enderle and he has made the boldest of all predictions: "Mainframe Death Rate Assures it Will Be Around When World Ends." Wow; and I couldn't agree more with him…

Everyone gets excited by a new piece of hardware, but it is the software that enables the new machine to work its magic. This certainly is the case with the zEC12. On Oct. 3 IBM announced  upgrades to zEnterprise workhorse software like CICS, Omegamon, Cognos, and zSecure intended to better tap the capabilities of zEC12. Even IMS and Sterling are getting a refresh…

In Marcel den Hartog’s excellent article in Enterprise Executive, “Not Upgrading to DB2 10 for z/OS? Can You Really Afford the Waste?”, he makes a strong case for upgrading to DB2 10; even though 75% of DB2 customers have yet to make the move. At first glance it seems like an obvious no-brainer since a 5-10%  savings is possible instantly…

Here is a maxim I’ve long espoused: ―Vendors that make their own platforms and related software have a distinct performance/tuning advantage over vendors that don’t. The reason that I believe this is the case is related to intercompany communications. In successful cases, hardware engineers closely collaborate with software engineers when designing new systems environments and developing product roadmaps. And through this deep collaboration, both groups are able to contribute to the design of high performance systems environments that can be optimized to execute certain tasks…

The long-term outlook for the IBM mainframe is stronger than ever, according to BMC Software’s Annual Worldwide Survey of Mainframe Users.  This is the seventh year the survey was conducted and 1,300 mainframe users responded. They reiterated that the mainframe continues to be a critical business tool in their organization…

Hybrid computing promises to boost IT flexibility and efficiency in a significant way. The zEnterprise EC12 (zEC12) continues IBM’s hybrid computing initiative by connecting to it through a new zBX, the model 003. The zBX, a robust blade cabinet, is where the multiplatform blades reside…

Today IBM has announced its most powerful and technologically advanced mainframe ever, the zEnterprise EC12…

ESIX (Enterprise Systems Information Exchange) is a new conference that will be held in Dallas in the Spring of 2013.  At this time we are in the early planning stage but I want to take this opportunity to announce our intentions…