I am guessing that the micr support has been moved over to the various
print products and is no longer a hardware requirement.

On Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 9:36 AM Eric Rossman <[email protected]> wrote:

> 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.
> >
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