That's a great question (for which I have no answer). I work closely with the HW folks, mostly on the crypto and communications side (HSMs, sysplex, and the like), but I don't know anyone from the OCR side.
I cannot say for sure, but my guess would be that IBM is seeing the number of customers reporting usage of the OCR and MICR devices has been dropping for many years. I know my local credit union still uses MICR but they have dedicated PCs doing that scanning. I also think the major decrease in check usage is contributing to this. Again, I'm not claiming that I have any knowledge of the details, but this would be my best guess using only public information. Eric Rossman --------------------------------- ICSF Security Architect z/OS Security --------------------------------- -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Phil Smith III Sent: Friday, July 31, 2026 9:06 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: IBM Statement of Direction Thanks, Eric! Pure curiosity question, I have no need for it: the removal of MICR support - does this mean MICR is no longer used, or is it that between the huge drop in check/cheque use and the availability of USB readers for squatty boxes, it's just that nobody needs it on Z any more? On July 31, 2026 8:32:15 AM Eric Rossman <[email protected]> wrote: > There is a blog in the IBM Community which was just updated with a > clarification in a comment that CTC does not include FICON CTC (as you > all > suspected): > > https://community.ibm.com/community/user/discussion/device-support > > Eric Rossman > --------------------------------- > ICSF Security Architect > z/OS Security > --------------------------------- > > -----Original Message----- > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> On > Behalf Of Phil Smith III > Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2026 12:20 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] Re: IBM Statement of Direction > > If only there was some sort of definitive way to tell, like IBM > specifying the device types and models for which they're dropping > support... /s > > Srsly, device type and model is the canonical way IBM describes > things; I'm gobsmacked that this SoD doesn't list them. Actually it's > even worse: it DOES say "Device Types" but then lists device *classes* (like > "CTC"). > > It seems like the old guard are all retiring and the mouse kids aren't > paying attention. I am sad. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send > email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send > email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
