SHARE Pittsburgh Best of the Best Session Winner, Dusty Rivers, director of z Systems Software: IMS & CICS at GT Software and SHARE program manager for IMGT, says implementing application programmable interfaces (APIs) at IMS installations can be as simple as knowing what issues you'll run into before you run into them.
Posted April 20, 2020
Mainframe systems are the backbone of finance, health care, and many other industries, which is why the reliability of those systems is paramount.
Posted April 06, 2020
More than 1,300 attendees convened last month in Cowtown for SHARE Fort Worth (Feb. 23-28). Attendees heard the latest scoop on IBM z15 and a variety of other hot topics in enterprise IT.
Posted March 23, 2020
In the session, Transforming Z Applications with APIs, CI/CD and Modern Languages, SHARE Phoenix Best Session winner Keith Wilson, technical architect at USAA, laid out USAA's journey in transforming its critical enterprise applications running on the Z platform to participate in its API ecosystem.
Posted March 09, 2020
At SHARE Fort Worth (Feb. 23-28, 2020), Illinois State University Distinguished Professor Dr. Anu Gokhale's session, Creative Strategies for Fostering an Inclusive Workplace, will help attendees identify talent gaps in the workplace and foster a more diverse and inclusive workforce.
Posted February 24, 2020
Kris Paronto, a former Army Ranger from 2nd Battalion 75th Ranger Regiment and private security contractor, is an American hero who knows the value of a strong, reliable team.
Posted February 10, 2020
With the rise of cloud computing and the entrance of major technology companies like IBM into the container market, IBM Z installations need to understand how the mainframe can participate in these ecosystems. At SHARE Fort Worth 2020, there will be several sessions on the new industry standard footprint z15 system, designed for enhanced modularity.
Posted January 27, 2020
Like the cowboys of the 19th century, SHARE Fort Worth (Feb. 23-28, 2020) continues the tradition of cattle trading in Cowtown, with a twist: exchanging knowledge through technical education sessions and networking.
Posted January 13, 2020
As security breaches continue to make headlines, it's clear that businesses need to rethink their cybersecurity strategies. Security-conscious industries strive to keep abreast of the latest tools and research.
Posted December 09, 2019
I've always said, it's never been a better time to be on the mainframe. At SHARE Pittsburgh, I could feel the excitement of attendees who are motivated now more than ever to be part of this platform and ecosystem. Since then a lot has been happening.
Posted November 25, 2019
With her mom and uncle working at Honeywell and a slight nudge from her mom to take college courses in computing, Jeanne Glass, founder and CEO of VirtualZ Computing, began her exploration of technology early on.
Posted November 11, 2019
Maria Boonie, vice president of offering management for IBM Z and LinuxONE at IBM, loves to tinker, just like her father, an engineer at United Technologies. Her family, which includes three brothers, often spent time together taking things apart and putting them back together.
Posted October 28, 2019
COBOL is a technology that at times has seemed stale to some misguided analysts, but actually has a track record of improvement and resilience. The first standard for the COmmon Business-Oriented Language was approved and released by the Conference On Data Systems Languages (CODASYL) Committee in September 1959.
Posted October 14, 2019
As current mainframe professionals begin to retire, the industry faces a skills gap. But there is hope: IBM partnered with the Consumer Technology Association earlier this year to launch the CTA Apprenticeship Coalition to create thousands of new apprenticeships in 20 states.
Posted September 30, 2019
Lisa Wood, chief marketing officer at VirtualZ Computing, fell into technology when her financial services employer told her that the entire management training program and staff would need to learn how to use new software and a computer. "The box landed on my desk, and my boss said, ‘Looks like we need to learn how to use these things,'" she recalls. "There was no IT department, training class, tech support, or YouTube videos. I taught myself everything I could about the software and computer; I took it apart and put it back together with tools I brought to work." Wood adds, "That experience kicked off a career-long love affair with IT."
Posted September 16, 2019
Security risk has in the past few years gained attention by organizations around the world regardless of size. Some, obviously, give it more importance than others, but all recognize that addressing security should be part of their risk strategy.
Posted September 03, 2019
Watson & Walker, Inc. CEO and co-founder Cheryl Watson has been an IBM mainframe enthusiast since she discovered her love of computers at Portland State University in 1965. Upon graduation, Watson began her career as a trainee programmer at Consolidated Freightways using 1401/7010 Autocoder, then assembler and COBOL. She was on the system programming team when their first IBM System/360 was installed, and has followed the mainframe's evolution.
Posted August 19, 2019
SHARE events offer a variety of sessions with experts eager to share their knowledge, ranging from the latest software updates to applications and mainframe hardware. Mainframe hardware is the backbone of the industry, but often new tracks at SHARE events highlight new trends in technology.
Posted August 05, 2019
This year at SHARE Pittsburgh (Aug. 4-9), the CICS Project will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its namesake. This anniversary is just one milestone in the long history of the CICS, including its use at the Montreal Olympics in 1976, the addition of web support in 1999, and the introduction of continuous delivery in 2015.
Posted July 22, 2019
Pittsburgh is known as ‘The City of Bridges' because it has so many of them. This makes it an appropriate location for the upcoming SHARE event: an organization that connects people and builds bridges across the industry.
Posted July 08, 2019
Many people believe that seven is a magic number, perhaps the world's favorite number. Leanne Wilson is one to agree, as she's been a security consultant with RSM Partners for seven years. However, a magic number can only carry you so far.
Posted June 24, 2019
Across the United States, colleges and schools are renewing efforts to encourage women of all ages to enter science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. As companies look to fill their technology-based job openings, many have embarked on diversity initiatives to expand their employee base and talent pipelines.
Posted June 10, 2019
SHARE launched the Women in IT initiative at this year's event in Phoenix, which SHARE Vice President Martha McConaghy previously introduced in the February message from SHARE. She explained that the track would develop a more permanent community for the women in the mainframe industry.
Posted May 28, 2019
The Government Accountability Office's (GAO) 2018 report, "Information Technology: IRS Needs to Take Additional Actions to Address Significant Risks to Tax Processing," calls into question the viability of the mainframe as the system of record for governmental systems. It also cites a shortage of human resources with critical skills.
Posted May 13, 2019
What did the "father of HLASM" and one of the great supporters of SHARE indicate was a key ingredient of success in the mainframe ecosystem? The fun of the mainframe! As anyone who knew Dr. John Ehrman realized, not only did he care deeply about everything he was committed to, he also had fun with it.
Posted April 29, 2019
The SHARE Phoenix event drew a record 380 first-time attendees. First-time attendance has risen steadily, from 214 at the 2017 San Jose meeting to 320 in St. Louis in 2018. Before their arrival, first-time attendees received a dedicated email to help them navigate the Phoenix event, and a "roadmap" with suggested sessions, such as "Early Professionals Pursuing Mainframe Careers? Absolutely!" and "Hybrid Cloud for IBM Z Systems with Live Demo."
Posted April 15, 2019
Blockchain strives to eliminate the need for middlemen by building trust between business parties, automating certain transaction processes, securing transaction data, and reducing costs across the board by creating an immutable ledger or log of transactions or data. Blockchain can simplify the way business is conducted, but it is not a replacement for the database systems in place today.
Posted April 01, 2019
SHARE Past President Anne Caluori is working to collect and catalog important documents from SHARE's more-than-60 years of history. Many of SHARE's long-standing member organizations participated in key working groups, producing white papers, cooperating in technical task forces, and developing presentations that, in retrospect, have influenced the complex computing industry from the 1960's to today.
Posted March 18, 2019
Since the 1950s, open access to source code has been used to create or adapt software for use on the mainframe to meet the needs of individual businesses. Sam Golob, maintainer of the CBT Tape (a collection of donated open source software for z/OS), says there are components of the z/OS operating system that are over 40 years old, but over time the code has changed and improvements were made either through updates from IBM or open access to the source code.
Posted March 04, 2019
Mainframes are the backbone of many systems across the globe. Nearly everyone comes into contact with the mainframe at some point, whether depositing or withdrawing money from their bank or booking an airplane ticket. Reg Harbeck, SHARE member and chief strategist at Mainframe Analytics Ltd., says mainframes are similar to the mythical phoenix.
Posted February 19, 2019
Every once in a while we meet someone exemplary, who is passionate about their area of expertise and yet very humble in that passion. In our IBM mainframe world, one of those people was the late Dr. John Ehrman.
Posted February 04, 2019
Machine learning is a hot topic for businesses that want to offer their customers a unique, personalized experience. To create these interactions in real time, businesses need to access large and diverse data sets, which is why many of them are now looking for ways to bring machine learning capabilities to their biggest source of transactional and customer data: the mainframe.
Posted January 22, 2019
Since the advent of computing machines, one requirement has been the ability to record instructions and present them again to the machine to perform the same process, to either repeat the same output or act on a different set of data. However, this isn't a 20th-century problem. In fact, the first working example of this predates the first electronic computer by over 200 years.
Posted January 07, 2019
Highlights Include Keynote by Captain Mark Kelly and 500+ Technical Sessions on Industry Hot Topics. SHARE Association has just announced its opening keynote, Captain Mark Kelly, and the availability of the online technical agenda for SHARE® Phoenix, March 10-15, 2019, at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Ariz.
Posted December 17, 2018
The mainframe is at the core of technology strategy in many industries, but critics often question whether it is still relevant. In this "Mainframe Matters" series, we're examining some of the industries where the mainframe plays a critical role, and answering the question: Why does the IBM Z matter today?
Posted December 03, 2018
Businesses today have the opportunity to introduce a mix of digital engagement and commerce technologies to transform their organizational activities, processes, competencies and models. At the center of this, the mainframe remains a key player.
Posted November 19, 2018
The mainframe is at the core of technology strategy in many industries, but critics often question whether it is still relevant. In this "Mainframe Matters" series, we're examining some of the industries where the mainframe plays a critical role, and answering the question: Why does the IBM Z matter today?
Posted November 05, 2018
We need to talk about the possibility of your mainframe being hacked. Not talking about it won't make the problem go away. In fact, ignoring the issue has the potential to make things even worse.
Posted October 22, 2018
Earlier this year at SHARE St. Louis, representatives from the Open Mainframe Project, IBM, Rocket, and CA got on stage at the Tuesday keynote to announce the launch of Zowe, the first-ever open source project launched on z/OS. Zowe was created to make it easier to access the mainframe environment, lowering barriers for younger professionals just starting with z/OS.
Posted October 08, 2018
Database reorganization has always been about improving database performance and reclaiming free space. However, as Rocket Software software engineer Ka-Chun Ng explained in a recent SHARE presentation, the new capabilities of database management software have changed the "how" and "why" when it comes to reorganization strategy.
Posted September 24, 2018
It's hard to believe the last SHARE event of 2018, held recently in St. Louis, has come and gone. I look forward to these events twice a year, which have played a significant role in shaping my career.
Posted September 10, 2018
At SHARE Academic Student Career Days, held recently in St. Louis, students gathered for an immersive, two-day experience of all things mainframe. From hands-on learning activities, to networking opportunities, interview practice and a panel with recently hired mainframe professionals, there was no shortage of learning and exchange of information taking place.
Posted August 27, 2018
Each day, mainframes are powering the world's banks, healthcare systems, government institutions, and more, processing millions of transactions a day. It's no wonder, then, that security remains a hot topic not only for the industry, but for SHARE events, as well.
Posted August 13, 2018
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has been in the making for a few years. It was put together by the European Union to enhance data protection rights for EU citizens and harmonizes data protection laws across all 28 EU member states
Posted July 30, 2018
Classroom education is important for learning new technologies, but when it comes to learning a complex field like mainframe technology, there's no replacement for the value of on-the-job training. With its Mainframer in Training (MIT) program, U.K.-based service provider RSM Partners aims to add structure to this process, addressing the industry's skills gap by developing future mainframe specialists from the ground up.
Posted July 16, 2018
I was recently in Sacramento attending the SHARE mainframe conference. It's always a pleasure to see customers, colleagues and other people interested in all things mainframe. It was especially nice to see all the first-time attendees from hundreds of different companies.
Posted July 02, 2018
For many organizations, data is as much a terrifying liability as it is a valuable asset. In his new SHARE'd Intelligence article, Mark Wilson of RSM Partners asks, "My question is this: are we, as an industry, looking at data the wrong way? Are we missing a trick when it comes to understanding, managing and securing our data?"
Posted June 18, 2018
According to a recent report by research firm International Data Corporation (IDC), global spending on blockchain solutions is expected to reach $2.1 billion this year. However, there's a void of blockchain expertise in enterprises. A Gartner Research survey shows that around 60 percent of IT leaders find blockchain interesting, but aren't clear on what exactly they should do with it. Enterprises want to hire developers with blockchain experience, although candidates for those roles are few and far between.
Posted June 04, 2018
Twelve years ago a friend and mentor of mine, who also happened to be the head of infrastructure at my employer at the time, said something to me that would change my life. He said, "You think the mainframe is going away? I'm not going to try to convince you otherwise, you go do your own homework.
Posted May 21, 2018
Talk to any young mainframe professional and you will hear a familiar story: The biggest barrier preventing college graduates from pursuing a career in mainframe is simply awareness. Misty Decker would agree.
Posted May 07, 2018