This Week: The mainframe's past, present and future

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Published by Search390.com  July 26, 2004 >> Receive this e-mail as text  >> About this e-mail   In this Issue >> From the editor: Edward Hurley describes why IBM is like a Maine fishing lodge >> Featured Topic: Mainframe: Past, present and future >> Expert Technical Advice: Jim Schesvold, Midland Systems Integrators >> Site Highlights: Check out this DB2 Tip Discussion Question Featured White Paper  From the Editor: by Edward Hurley, Editor When you read this I will be in Maine, smallmouth bass fishing. It's become a tradition for me to go up every year to a decades-old fishing camp called Wheaton's Lodge. The place is out of a Norman Rockwell painting. The guides transport us around the water in extra long, hand-man canoes called Grand Lakers. Lunch is cooked over an open fire on the shore. The dining room, decorated with stuffed fish and antique fishing tackle, looks like it hasn't changed in 30 years. And maybe I take covering the mainframe too seriously, but I've been thinking lately about the parallels between this lodge and the mainframe. Both have a long and rich history. Wheaton's Lodge is very quick to embrace its heritage. So, too, is IBM and its mainframe. In today's culture, being perceived as old can be a bad thing. Reportedly, executives at MTV in 2001 were tempted not to celebrate the cable channel's 20th anniversary because they feared doing so would alienate its target demographic, teenagers who weren't even born when Music Television launched. IBM, to its credit, fully embarrassed the 40th anniversary of the System 360 last April. A big soiree featuring many of the people who built the System 360 was held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif. (See Industry toasts 40 years of mainframe technology.) Mainframe bashers could rightfully criticize the platform if its development stopped in the '70s but nothing can be farther from the truth. Few platforms have evolved as far as the zSeries. Earlier this month, IBM released zSeries Application Assist Processor or zAAP, which is "designed to enable businesses to deploy new Java technology-based workloads on the very same platform that is running their core applications and databases in a highly integrated and cost-effective manner." That doesn't sound like a platform that is standing still. Wheaton's Lodge is similar. It's not standing still. Improvements are made, which complement, not obliterate its history. Guides now use outboard motors on the canoes so traveling across the lake takes minutes rather than hours. Some even employ fish finders, which can pinpoint if fish are underneath. Just last year, the owners installed an extra phone line so guests can get a dial-up connection to the Internet. Progress is wonderful but it shouldn't be like an arrogant teenager who dismisses everything his parents say because they are old. To understand where something is going, it's good to look at where it's been. As Aristotle said "If you would understand anything, observe its beginning and its development." Well, you are in luck. We have collected a series of links highlighting the past, present and future of the mainframe. To check them out, click here.  Featured Topic: Mainframe: Past, present and future by the editors of Search390.com The report of the mainframe's death was an exaggeration. The future of the platform is very bright. Check out this set of links looking at the mainframes past, present and future. Read more about this topic  Expert Technical Advice: Featured Expert Jim Schesvold, Senior zSeries Engineer, Midland Systems Integrators Categories:z/OS Jim Schesvold is a Senior zSeries Engineer for Midland Systems Integrator and President and owner of Best Customer Solutions, Inc., a mainframe systems consulting firm. To see a description of the products Jim and his staff specialize in, visit http://www.mainframehelp.com/expertise.htm. Jim has seventeen years prior experience with IBM, specializing in technical support of database/data communications. Some other areas of Jim's expertise are CICS (S/390 and CICS e-business and Web servers; CICS/ESA; OS/390 and Netview to name a few). He is co-author of CICS Performance Guide and a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire (MBA U of Wisconsin Oshkosh). View all of Jim's answers This Week: In the forums >> A Search390.com user asked in our operating systems forum: Can someone tell me how to find out whether SRESTART or RESTART option for FTP is installed at my site which has z/OS? Do you have a response? Post it here. Tip of the Week: The editors of Search390.com have collected some of the best DB2 advice from Craig Mullins, our DB2 and database management expert. >> DB2 advice your daddy didn't give you  Site Highlights Check out this DB2 Tip Read "Consolidating DB2 dataset extents," by Nick Nur and find out how you can use SMS on the mainframe to consolidate dataset extents easily and quickly without recovering the tablespace. Go there Discussion Question MindGent asks "Can someone tell me everything they know about how RACF determines if a user is REVOKED?" Can you help? Respond now Featured White Paper Get it now Read "Attunity Change Data Capture," and learn more about Attunity Change Data Capture, which delivers up-to-the-minute data and dramatically reduced resource consumption when used as part of ETL and data synchronization processes. z/OS @ SHARE in NYC Attend the SHARE User Events August 15-20, 2004, in New York, NY and receive valuable IBM technical training tailored for enterprise-class IT professionals. Find out more, visit the site now. Go there Product/Vendor Guide Check out the Product & Vendor Guide for database consulting solutions. Or, search for the solutions that you need. Find research and compare products all in one place. Check it out Ask the Experts Sign up for the Ask the Expert newsletter and get the most recent questions and answers delivered to your inbox. 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