Preston Rominger, Director for Year Round Education at SHARE: By the end of the year, many of us make resolutions to improve something in our lives, such as drinking more water or sticking to a healthier diet.
Posted January 23, 2023
Data privacy regulations, the continuing onslaught of data breaches, and the desire to protect sensitive data all work together to expand the requirements on organizations to protect their sensitive data. One technique for better protecting sensitive data is data masking.
Posted January 09, 2023
The demand for skilled mainframe technologists is high in government, enterprises, and other organizations. Although colleges and universities offer computer engineering and computer science programs, many of these programs leave gaps in students' education. For members of minority groups and veterans, this gap is wider.
Posted December 12, 2022
Mainframers are no strangers to hard work, dedication, and persistence, nor are they unfamiliar with how to work as part of a larger team. Hispanics in technology embody many of these traits and are pushing for stronger organizations and teams in an industry where they are in the minority.
Posted November 21, 2022
SHARE'd Intelligence, the content hub for SHARE, an independent, volunteer-run information technology association, now seeks authors and contributors passionate about educating others on the enterprise technology ecosystem.
Posted November 07, 2022
Everyone has a story, and not everyone comes to the mainframe environment in exactly the same way. At SHARE Columbus, attendees were blown away by high school student Enzo D'Amato's passion and perseverance in acquiring his own mainframe, which he put together in his parents' garage.
Posted October 31, 2022
More than 1,000 delegates attended SHARE Columbus Aug. 21-26. From modernizing a mainframe to sightings of mainframes in pop culture, some of the most-attended sessions focused on mainframe culture and how the technology can be improved through containers, hybrid cloud, and more.
Posted October 17, 2022
Enterprises are taking the lead on mainframe training. Optum Technology and others are engaged in a movement to disseminate not only legacy knowledge to the next generation of mainframers, but to provide a scaffolding on which those mentees can stand and grow their careers.
Posted October 03, 2022
When was the last time you thought about your career? We work in a world that constantly demands our time and attention, so it's easy to forget about career advancement.
Posted September 19, 2022
The 2022 IDUG North American Db2 Tech Conference was held in Boston the week of July 11, 2022. For those who do not know, IDUG is the International Db2 User Group and it has been supporting Db2 users and conducting conferences across the world since 1988.
Posted September 06, 2022
IBM's z16 platform has a suite of compiler products to help customers modernize their business- critical applications to accelerate digital transformation. At SHARE Columbus (Aug. 21-26), Roland Koo, program director of product management and strategy, compilation technologies, and enterprise products at IBM, will talk about the new language portfolio on z/OS in his session.
Posted August 22, 2022
Mainframers are familiar with the myth that their systems are outdated, expensive, and in need of replacement. Other common refrains include COBOL being outdated and hard to learn, or that modernization means moving everything onto the cloud.
Posted August 08, 2022
Research shows that inclusive workforces provide a competitive advantage. But how do you address diversities that can't be seen? We spoke with Cynthia Coupé, co-founder and CEO of Outreach Advocacy Resources and Services (OARS), to learn how companies can build a stronger workspace for neurodivergent employees.
Posted July 25, 2022
Mainframers are familiar with the myth that their systems are outdated, expensive, and in need of replacement. Other common refrains include COBOL being outdated and hard to learn, or that modernization means moving everything onto the cloud.
Posted July 11, 2022
Creating a curriculum and materials to make the mainframe visible to students is the driver behind the textbook "Introduction to Enterprise Systems." In this interview with authors Dr. Cameron Seay, Reg Harbeck, Karl-Erik Stenfors, and David Boyes, we explore mainframe misconceptions, how history informs the future, and the importance of mainframe culture.
Posted June 27, 2022
Ransomware has proven to be a problem for financial firms, but also for health care, education, and other industries. These attacks also impact supply chains, the environment, and the economy.
Posted June 13, 2022
IBM Fellow Rosalind Radcliffe, IBM's DevSecOps chief technology officer, is the latest technologist to be recognized for her contributions. In this article, she shares some of her goals, advice, and what being an IBM Fellow means to her.
Posted May 31, 2022
After SHARE Dallas, several DevOps experts offer their thoughts on DevOps culture, mainframe modernization and the future of the discipline.
Posted May 16, 2022
IBM's Jacob Emery sits down with SHARE'd Intelligence to discuss how Ansible can help enterprises save staff time while maintaining customizability in cluster provisioning, as well as how it can help transfer the skills necessary for the computing environments of tomorrow.
Posted May 02, 2022
Cryptocurrency continues to capture headlines, with many regulators warning about potential scams and data breaches and is just one of the applications for blockchain technology in the financial markets.
Posted April 18, 2022
Dallas, Texas, is the perfect place to bring SHARE members together to talk about what's new in mainframe and enterprise IT. It's where the integrated circuit computer chip (which became the microchip) was invented more than six decades ago.
Posted March 21, 2022
The "Great Resignation" has many industries examining how best to attract and retain employees, and some have turned to offering higher wages, better benefits or training programs. This shift in the workforce has left a number of industries with hundreds, if not thousands, of job openings. Programs, such as IBM Z Xplore, are part of the equation for enterprises, as these programs are adept at providing training to students and other potential job candidates who are seeking real-world employment.
Posted March 07, 2022
Today, IBM Z users have many different options for tools to automate their mainframe processes. JCL, REXX, z/OSMF Workflows and Zowe CLI are all such options and all specifically designed for IBM Z, and therefore resulted in the need for specialized skills, for which current education is lacking.
Posted February 22, 2022
SHARE President and CEO, James Erdahl, shares his thoughts, excitement and association updates for the year ahead. As part of his message, James says, "As we look forward to, and anticipate, ‘what's next' for SHARE, all signs point to in-person."
Posted February 07, 2022
Start the year off strong! Reg Harbeck goes into detail on how to effectively use social media as means of interaction, networking, and career building for all enterprise IT professionals.
Posted January 24, 2022
In the six-and-a-half decades since SHARE began, mainframe computing has evolved and grown into the stable, secure platform that many enterprises rely on today. From the first meetings in the basement of the RAND Corp. headquarters building to its twice-yearly events today, SHARE has become the go-to place for mainframers and developers alike to share their knowledge and build their networks.
Posted January 10, 2022
The year 2020 marked the 16th annual Master the Mainframe (now IBM Z Xplore) competition. IBM reported that there were more than 25,000 registered learners from 129 countries around the globe.
Posted December 13, 2021
As the mainframe platform evolves with new capabilities — and even as it moves to the hybrid cloud environment — enterprises will need all the skilled workers they can find. Part of that pipeline-building process is ensuring that the next generation of workers are engaged in science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM).
Posted November 29, 2021
Ian Coldwater, a leading expert on containers and container security, and Chad Rikansrud, a leading expert on mainframes and mainframe security, revealed they were the first to accomplish a mainframe container breakout — when a malicious or legitimate user is able to escape the container isolation and access resources on the host machine, such as file systems — at DEF CON 29 this year.
Posted November 15, 2021
As you know, with the General Availability of z/OS V2.5 on September 30, 2021, all the IBM Shopz product catalog is now fully available to install with z/OSMF. However, that brings up another point.
Posted November 01, 2021
Like coffee energizes workers, the Java programming language can invigorate enterprises by ensuring employees can easily modernize their organizations' applications, bolstering their resiliency and updating them as marketplace needs change.
Posted October 18, 2021
The Z Ambassadors play a key role in their local student community in advocating for IBM Z technologies and enterprise computing. Each Z Ambassador not only builds the IBM Z Global Student Hub community but also spreads the word about Hour of Z and other learning opportunities.
Posted October 04, 2021
Women hold just 28% of leadership positions in the technology field, according to a recent study. Nearly a quarter of those women believe their advanced technical skills are the most important factor in their career advancement, compared to just 13% of men.
Posted September 20, 2021
Mainframe testing continues to be essential to the continued success of the platform. Petr Vacula, mainframe product manager at Broadcom, and Josh Dorfman, a UX research strategist at Broadcom, explored manual and automated testing in their session, "Breaking the Habit of Manual Testing," during the SHARE Virtual Experience 2021 (August 9-13).
Posted September 07, 2021
I remember my first few weeks working on MVS. The syprogs around me used JCL, assembler, and what seemed to be an arcane set of CLISTS to manage the system. Lucky for me, there was this new language on the scene called Rexx that allowed me to use skills I already had to build management routines. Like it did for many others in the industry, Rexx allowed me to grow my MVS skills and manage my environment without having to learn everything all at once.
Posted August 23, 2021
The Open Mainframe Project brings together academics and mainframe business experts to collaborate and advance the deployment of Linux and open source in a mainframe computing environment to leverage business technology and infrastructure for a competitive advantage.
Posted August 09, 2021
Building upon our previous look at z/OS Container Extensions (zCX), we spoke with Kershaw Mehta, chief architect at IBM, about the potential capabilities of containers for organizations, including those moving to the cloud.
Posted July 26, 2021
Job markets evolve and the skills needed in the workplace change. Analysts have recently asked whether colleges are up to the task of keeping up with the skills necessary for students to flourish in their chosen careers.
Posted July 12, 2021
Cultivating community is a top priority in the mainframe space. IBM Z Ambassadors, or ZAmbassadors for short, represent just one program aimed at growing the mainframe community, with ambassadors in at least 17 countries.
Posted June 28, 2021
"Packed Decimal Pachyderms" — that's us. Mainframe Elephants — long memories, very versatile, and — until recently — mostly grey. But if the pachyderm reference is obscure, the packed decimal part probably qualifies as obfuscation if used beyond the scope of mainframe technical insiders.
Posted June 14, 2021
Like all conferences over the last year, SHARE events have shifted to a virtual platform in 2021 so we can best continue to serve our attendees by providing high-quality enterprise technology education while also striving to include peer networking and industry influence.
Posted June 01, 2021
Cloud computing has evolved into serverless computing, an application architecture that includes more client-side code, a reliance on managed services, and the removal of direct server interaction.
Posted May 17, 2021
The refreshed website is complete and was officially released to the world on April 15, 2021. When you first arrive at the new website, you'll find easy and intuitive navigation plus more information at your fingertips from the home page.
Posted May 03, 2021
One could spend numerous pages—books—trying to catalog all the mainframe pop culture errors and correct them, and a small number of people might even read such a massive collection.
Posted April 19, 2021
It's been quite a year for working women, and it wouldn't be right to close out Women's History Month 2021 without recognizing the women of SHARE. That's why, for this month's Message From SHARE, I'm turning the tables and asking some of our SHARE Virtual Summit Women in IT panelists a few questions.
Posted April 05, 2021
Enterprises rely on add-on security software products, such as External Security Managers (ESMs), to provide security on the mainframe, enabling them to meet compliance and customer expectations. But there are additional considerations enterprises need to take into account.
Posted March 22, 2021
Brian Kithcart, SHARE's vice president, currently serves as systems engineer manager at Rocket Software. Over the last decade, Brian has held positions at SHARE such as project manager and deputy director, which is why, today, we're sitting down with Brian to chat all about his new role with SHARE.
Posted March 08, 2021
We will soon be joining together for SHARE Virtual Summit 2021. The Conference Operations team and the Program Council have prepared a slate of presentations, panel discussions, and various other opportunities to interact with partners and peers for updates on the latest developments.
Posted February 22, 2021
Mainframes are at the core of our digital economy. In fact, recent research from Key Resources, Inc. (KRI) reported that 86% of IT and security managers agreed that mainframes are essential for scaling workloads, with 75% stating they're critical for business continuity.
Posted February 08, 2021
Mainframers are aware that the Interactive System Productivity Facility (ISPF) editor, introduced in the 1970s, is easy to learn and helps with basic editing.
Posted January 25, 2021