July 29, 2010
CHICAGO, July 28, 2010 - More than 30 sessions from SHARE in Boston, August 1-5 will be available virtually to SHARE members who cannot make the trip.
“In today’s tight economic conditions, we realize that many of our SHARE members may be precluded from attending the conference in person because of corporate belt-tightening,” said Al Williams, President of SHARE. “SHARE Online from Boston is a convenient, virtual venue that offers our members access to quality technical content from SHARE in Boston at manageable costs - all without leaving their desks.”
The virtual interaction with a wide range of subject matter experts will provide remote participants with access to the latest enterprise IT best practices. Remote subscribers will have access to two tracks over four days that will be streamed concurrently throughout the conference. The program includes:
. Keynote by Jeff Jonas, IBM Chief Scientist - Macro Trends and What To Do About It
. Keynote by Karl Freund, IBM Vice President of System z Marketing and Strategy - More Power to System z (highlighting the launch of the zEnterprise System)
. System z updates
. Breakout sessions on Linux, cloud computing, enterprise virtualization, network security, service oriented architecture (SOA), and enterprise architecture
Archived, on-demand access to recorded proceedings will also be available to subscribers for six months following the event. The virtual pass is $490 and SHARE members can register for the pass at the SHARE online store.
SHARE conferences provide enterprise IT professionals with the latest information and newest innovations in the marketplace. SHARE in Boston attendees at the Hynes Convention Center will meet enterprise IT experts, learn about the latest developments and solutions in the industry, and build relationships with peers experiencing similar challenges. Many of the more than 600 technical sessions are focused on the 2010 conference themes, Enterprise Virtualization, Cloud Computing and IT & the Bottom Line.
For more information on SHARE in Boston, visit Boston.SHARE.org.
About SHARE
SHARE is an independent, volunteer-run association providing IBM customers with user-focused education, professional networking and a forum to influence the information technology industry. Since 1955, SHARE has enabled IT professionals to achieve business results through a combination of credible, relevant programs and peer opportunities. SHARE currently counts more than 2,100 organizations among its active member ranks.
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July 28, 2010
via Application Development Trends
IBM grabbed headlines last week when it unveiled its new System zEnterprise 196 mainframe. Something of a hybrid, the new mainframe combines the POWER7 and System x servers into one box, and the servers share resources through a common, virtualized platform.
Cool as this new hunk of iron is (and it's way cool: 60 percent faster than the z10, which it replaces, holds 3 Terabytes of RAM, and processes at 50 BIPS), what caught my attention was the upgrade to Rational Developer for System z IDE. Better known as RDz, this multi-platform environment for building, testing, and deploying zEnterprise applications comes with a new System z Unit Test feature. Developers using RDz can run the zOS on their laptops, write code for the mainframe, and now test that code.
"For our mainframe customers whose development teams were working with 30-year-old ISPF tools that ship with the mainframe, Rational Developer for System z brought them a laptop-driven development environment that set them free," Scott Searle, IBM Rational's not-usually-so-poetic marketing program director, told me. "Instead of working late into the night when the mainframes had some downtime, they could work with code anywhere, anytime on their laptops."
July 27, 2010
via nytimes.com
BERLIN — The European Commission opened investigations Monday into whether I.B.M. had abused its dominant position in mainframe computers, signaling that the era of aggressive prosecution of American technology leaders in Europe did not end with the Microsoft antitrust case.
The commission said that it would examine whether I.B.M. had shut out rival mainframe software vendors and service providers. The investigation could lead to charges and potential fines against the company.
Joaquín Almunia, who took over in February as the European competition commissioner, “is making it clear that the Internet and the information technology sector will be an enforcement priority for him and for the commission,” said Alec Burnside, a competition lawyer in Brussels at the law firm, Linklaters. “It is clear that he is building on the precedent left him by his predecessor.”
Mr. Almunia’s predecessor, Neelie Kroes, oversaw the conclusion of a 10-year investigation against Microsoft, which eventually required the world’s largest software maker to pay 1.2 billion euros, or nearly $1.8 billion, in fines and to change its business practices in Europe.
In a statement Monday, the commission, the executive arm of the European Union, said it would investigate whether I.B.M. had illegally tied sales of its mainframe operating system to its mainframe hardware, responding to complaints by third-party sellers of hardware. The commission also said it was opening a second, separate investigation on “its own initiative into I.B.M.’s alleged discriminatory behavior towards competing suppliers of mainframe maintenance services.”
July 26, 2010
Leiden, The Netherlands, July 26th, 2010
IntelliMagic is announcing their software suite for Storage Performance Management (SPM) today.
IntelliMagic has been a worldwide leader of Storage Performance Management solutions for many years with its RMF Magic solution for z/OS environments and Disk Magic performance modeling solution for mainframe and distributed systems.
This announcement further extends the scope of the IntelliMagic solutions from mainframe platforms to also include distributed systems and it enhances the solutions with new areas of Storage Performance Management functionality.
“The performance of enterprise storage hardware is an area that large data centers are now addressing much more proactively”, said Dr. Gilbert Houtekamer, IntelliMagic’s Managing Director.
“This is because with today’s storage architectures it is very difficult to ensure that the required I/O service levels are met without significant overspending on hardware. Furthermore, even after overspending the risk of hot spots still exists due to the lack of visibility inside the storage system. The inefficient use of storage hardware due to limited visibility and poor balance of workloads across the storage hardware resources is costing large data centers millions of dollars and can be avoided, while at the same time reducing risk”, said Houtekamer.
The new version of RMF Magic is named IntelliMagic Vision and will be available for z/OS mainframe sites using RMF and SMF data sources, and for distributed systems environments using SMI-S performance data directly from the storage array or optionally data from IBM’s TotalStorage Productivity Center (TPC). IntelliMagic Vision provides full visibility inside the storage systems where performance bottlenecks occur. It also provides early warning of upcoming problems with the automated daily health check and intuitive drill down features to quickly identify root causes. IntelliMagic Vision is scheduled for release on September 30th 2010.
Disk Magic, the industry’s leading storage performance modeling solution, is renamed to IntelliMagic Direction and is available for mainframe and distributed systems environments. The third product in the IntelliMagic Suite, IntelliMagic Balance, increases the performance capacity of storage systems by balancing workloads over resources inside the storage system and is available today for mainframe sites.
On their web site www.IntelliMagic.net, IntelliMagic offers more information on their solutions as well as educational materials on Storage Performance Management.
IntelliMagic also offers a Storage Efficiency Report via their web site, which shows organizations the hidden throughput potential for their storage environment.
About IntelliMagic
IntelliMagic is a company specializing in Storage Performance Management (SPM) software for enterprise storage environments. IntelliMagic is based in the Netherlands and the USA, with partnerships across the world. The IntelliMagic SPM suite enables better performance with less risk on more cost efficient storage hardware configurations. For more information, visit www.intellimagic.net
Contact information
Désirée Huisman - van Diepen Brent Phillips
IntelliMagic BV, The Netherlands IntelliMagic Inc, USA
+31 (0)71 579 6000 +1 214 432 7920
desiree.huisman@intellimagic.net brent.phillips@intellimagic.net
www.intellimagic.net www.intellimagic.net
July 23, 2010
via WSJ.com
International Business Machines Corp. will roll out its new mainframe computers on Thursday, upgrading a key product line at a time when the technology giant is under pressure to show faster sales growth.
The death of the mainframe has been predicted for years, as companies opted to handle their heavy computing needs with strings of cheaper servers rather than pay a million dollars for one massive box.
The new machine, which will start shipping in September, attempts to address that challenge by letting companies use the massive computer to manage servers based on Intel Corp. or Unix technology. The software enabling the management of Unix machines will ship in the fourth quarter, and the Intel module will come out in the first half of next year.
It took three years and a $1.5 billion in investment to produce the new machine.
"The mainframe is taking a broader role in the data center," says Rodney C. Adkins, senior vice president of IBM's Systems and Technology Group.
Some people in the industry think IBM will have a hard time luring converts.
"I don't know if a lot of customers who don't have mainframes are going to get a mainframe," EMC Chief Executive Joe Tucci said in an interview.
