News
The November 2007 Transaction & Messaging Technical Conference (T&M) included more than 100 technical sessions covering the latest IBM products, technologies, best practices and solutions.
The event was a great opportunity for attendees to find out about the latest CICS technological advances and to gain an insight into future directions.
The conference contained 5 tracks covering the following: Transaction and Messaging Architecture, CICS , Enterprise Connectivity, Messaging and Security and Management.
The show also provided attendees with a wonderful opportunity to gain practical experience, network with IBM technical experts and fellow attendees, and even obtain IBM certification.
A key highlight during the event was the announcement of the latest CICS Interdependency Analyzer tool. CICS IA makes life simpler for CICS system developers by automatically identifying runtime relationships between CICS resources, recording the data in a DB2 database and analyzing information that can be used in daily processing.
Dave Andrews,
Director, CICS Development
CICS Scene – Rick Thomas
In early October 2007, IBM introduced Smart SOA - a set of guiding principles derived from the company’s experience with more than 5,700 customers worldwide who are using IBM Service Oriented Architecture offerings.
Smart SOA defines the different ways in which customers can adopt SOA (from the basic infrastructure to more advanced implementations). The goal of Smart SOA is to address customer business and IT requirements whilst at the same time ensuring that customers get more value from their SOA deployments.
Smart SOA recognizes that the needs of IBM customers evolve as they progress from establishing an SOA strategy and implementing basic projects to focusing on end-to-end business processes and more advanced, transformational projects.
IBM’s Smart SOA offerings at the basic stage include enhancements to the SOA Entry Points, new hardware configurations and a free SOA Sandbox play area for customers to experiment and explore different SOA ideas. The sandbox is accessible from a link on the IBM developerWorks page.
IBM also intends to provide access to full-version software products for experimentation plus online hosted environments where customer developers can work through tutorials and get architectural guidance.
To find out more about smart SOA, read the press release.
Richard Thomas,
Program Director, CICS Marketing
CICS highlights
CICS Transaction Gateway gets 'pinged'
A simple 'ping' tool for CICS Transaction Gateway is now available as a SupportPac. This handy tool is designed for testing network connectivity and response times to a CICS Transaction Gateway and the associated CICS systems it is configured to use. More...
The editor asks...
This month we hear from Dermot Flaherty, Lead Architect IBM WebSphere MQ about the advantages of connecting business applications in a highly available, scalable and secure way with WebSphere MQ middleware technology.
Dermot explains how WebSphere MQ enables CICS applications (and other core applications hosted on System z) to interoperate with other applications running either on System z or on distributed platforms. Dermot also looks at why many organizations are under increasing pressure to implement such connectivity solutions. More... (56KB)
"Did you say mainframe?!" – a great new podcast series on developerWorks!
Yes we did! The mainframe is being reinvigorated. To complement this, a new series of podcasts on mainframe-related subjects is now hosted on IBM developerWorks. Listen to the experts and discover how IBM, with the help of a great product range, is revitalizing the mainframe as the platform of choice for modern, secure, services-based infrastructures, such as Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). Listen to these recent additions to the series and watch out for more in future:
- 'What's new in WebSphere Process Server for z/OS V6.1’ with Sherrie Abshire. Listen...
- 'Threadsafety and CICS File Control Applications’ with John Tillling. Listen...
- 'CICS Tools and IT Service Management’ with John Knutson. Listen...
- 'Connectivity and Business Process Orchestration on System z’ with Elena Wood. Listen...
- 'CICS and Web services’ with Will Yates. Listen...
New Wiki for the CICS community!
A new CICS Wiki is now available. The site runs the same software as Wikipedia and provides a knowledge base aimed specifically at the CICS community. More...
CICS Transaction Server for z/OS V3.2 offers improved performance and enhanced features
In an interesting article in IBM Systems Magazine, John Burgess and Trevor Clarke from the CICS Transaction Server Performance Group at IBM Hursley Laboratory look at how the latest release shapes up. Learn more...
Events
Register for these great SOA, CICS and System z teleconferences
These teleconferences cover a wide range of SOA, CICS and System z topics and can help you make the most of your systems. Click the link to find out more. More... (33KB)
Extend the value of your CICS applications with WebSphere MQ for z/OS
It is no secret that mainframes contain significant core assets in business data and applications, Organizations rely on IBM CICS Transaction Server to handle transactions valued at more than US$1 trillion per week, and IBM IMS systems to handle more that 50 billion transaction per day. The ability to continue deriving extra value from existing IBM System z assets by reusing enterprise data, applications and skills is one of the key considerations in hundreds of organizations. Connectivity problems can create barriers to value, for example:
- Mainframe applications (such as CICS) run core business processes, but they are isolated from other applications.
- Interfaces between applications are often built in-house; with thousands of interfaces needing to be maintained – this makes every change costly and risky.
- It is difficult to reuse existing applications; this contributes to the high cost of new application development.
- Connectivity problems make it difficult to achieve regulatory compliance and maintain necessary levels of security.
Large heterogeneous environments have to be connected in a way which makes the most of the enterprise assets. WebSphere MQ for z/OS is designed just for that. It also lays the foundation for other projects, such as SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) or file transfer. IBM WebSphere® MQ can increase the processing capability of IBM CICS Transaction Server, by extending the reach of CICS from a wide range of computing platforms both inside and outside the enterprise to enable access to all types of business data (for example files and databases).
To help you learn more, IBM is offering a free one day seminar for your technical professionals, including IT architects, application development technical management and application developers. The seminar can be conducted at your preferred business location, or at the IBM Hursley Laboratory Briefing Center. The event will be specifically tailored to the connectivity needs of your organisation. You will hear about the latest enhancements in WebSphere MQ for z/OS technology from the subject matter experts, and you can discuss related technologies which can help meet your connectivity, SOA or file transfer requirements. This is an opportunity to discuss your unique requirements and to find answers to the architectural questions you might have.
For more information please contact Elena Wood.
If you are ready to evaluate WebSphere MQ for z/OS, you can request a free trial by completing the request form.
To understand more about how WebSphere MQ for z/OS can help your organization make the best use of its existing assets in an SOA, go to the WebSphere MQ for z/OS web page.
Are you ready for Impact 2008?
In April 2008, more than 6000 IBM Customers and Business Partners will come together to reset the pace for innovation. Be among the first to get the hottest information on new technologies from business and technical experts from IBM, analysts, and companies like yours who have implemented SOA solutions. This annual conference on SOA and WebSphere offers unparalled technical education about SOA and IBM thought leadership for LOBs, CIOs and practical application for users. From IT practitioners to senior business leaders, you'll get more value from the one conference that brings it all together. Click the link to register. More...
UK Student Mainframe Contest, October 16 - December 31
Today's new mainframe computers are growing in popularity in the industry and require a new generation of mainframe experts. IBM is looking for UK college and university students to take part in the Autumn Student Mainframe Contest with the chance to boost their CVs and win stunning prizes including T-shirts, Sony PSPs (PlayStation Portables) and Lenovo Thinkpads. Pass the word around to any student and university contacts you have. Students who are interested in entering should read the article about the contest which also ran earlier this year, and can register by clicking the link below. Learn more...
Teleconference: 'Discover, reuse and govern your mainframe services’, 5 December 2007
Find out how WebSphere Service Registry and Repository (WSRR) promotes reuse and eliminates redundancies by increasing visibility of services, applications and processes. Discover how WSRR enables governance and life-cycle management of high-value applications, such as WebSphere MQ and CICS. Click the link and register. More...
Teleconference: 'WebSphere Message Broker for z/OS: What it is and how to use it as an ESB’, 28 November 2007
Discover how Message Broker has evolved to become a comprehensive Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) that can connect just about any application or service to any other application or service. Explore broker concepts and the solution components that allow you to connect all the applications in an enterprise in innovative and dynamic ways. This teleconference is available for replay after the event. Learn more...
Resources
New white paper: 'IBM System z tools for CICS SOA development’
In this excellent new white paper, Michelle Cordes and John Knutson look at how the combination of formal processes plus the System z tools portfolio help users achieve the goal of implementing effective service oriented architectures (SOA) for their CICS systems. More... (359KB)
New Redbook: 'Threadsafe Considerations for CICS’
This Redbook is a comprehensive guide to threadsafe concepts and implementation in the context of CICS. The book also explains how to implement threadsafety in your own environment. Learn more...
Business Partners: join PartnerWorld and put the power of IBM behind your business!
Get access to the best solutions and offerings, and the skills to help you win in the marketplace. Gain quick and easy Web access to valuable IBM benefits and resources. Realize competitive advantage in industries, services and solutions. Enjoy increased opportunities to generate awareness and leads. IBM PartnerWorld: 'Teaming for success to deliver the expertise to meet client needs’. Learn more!
Training and development
Workshops and seminars
- CICS On Demand Seminars: have CICS developers visit your location to help you get the best out of CICS and help modernize your systems to exploit SOA. Click the link to send an email request for a seminar at your location. More...
- CICS and Web Services workshops: through a combination of lectures and labs, learn how to use the Web services support provided in CICS Transaction Server for z/OS V3.1 to expose CICS application programs as Web services and to invoke other Web services. More...
- IBM business partner workshops: the 'Process Integration for Service Oriented Architecture’ workshop can help you learn how to jumpstart your software development of open standards and cross platform applications using IBM business process integration middleware and tools. More...
- Application Development for e-business training: gain the skills you need to build e-business applications. Learn about the core technologies, processes and tools skills that can improve your productivity. More...
- CICS Skills workshops: work alongside CICS Redbook authors to develop useful new CICS skills. These courses are delivered in partnership with IBM IT Education Services. More...
Partner newsletters
- IBM Training News brings you the latest information on technical training. Get late-breaking news on technical training offerings tailored to the interest areas you select in the subscription form. More...
- CCR2 is for the IBM System z and software community and is the leading source of information on best practices, tips for exploiting features in the latest IBM releases and trends. More...
- Mainstream is for the IBM System z and S390 software community. Read the latest System z and S390 news, events, success stories and related information. More...
- IBM SOA Newsletter brings you the latest news on the exciting world of SOA. More...
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