EXEC I/O Mainframe Blog

The Mainframe Madness Returns

Reg Harbeck — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:36:00 GMT

Mark your calendar! May is coming! And CA is continuing our tradition of May Mainframe Madness (aka MMM). I blogged about our first annual MMM last year at http://community.ca.com/blogs/execio/archive/2009/05/01/let-the-mainframe-madness-begin.aspx. It was a great experience, and we've had lots of great feedback about it. This year is going to be even better, with more new innovations,...

Getting Ready for SHARE

Reg Harbeck — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 01:19:00 GMT

Wow, how time flies. We were just in Denver, it seems. Now, it's already time to put the finishing touches on the presentations, make sure the trip's booked and the registration's taken care of, and get ready for SHARE in Seattle. Over the past few months, I've gained new insights into SHARE, and a new level of appreciation for how the SHARE organization works. After all, SHARE...

Complexity...

Marcel Hartog — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:27:00 GMT

I recently ran a number of seminars in EMEA. This gave me an opportunity to talk to many large mainframe users. And as always, it gives me a pretty good idea about the current state of IT. Even more than previous years, two issues are mentioned almost every time: Cost & Complexity. And it's especially the latter that keeps coming back. Funny isn't it? We live in an economy where...

The Mainframe's Back and not Dissed!

Reg Harbeck — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 16:36:00 GMT

I remember, 15 or more years ago, seeing a photocopy in one of my colleagues' cubicles, with a picture of a dinosaur running rampant eating little PC-like creatures. A few years later, I saw a similar graphic on some mainframe services buttons that were being given out. The message on both? Mainframes: We're Back and We're... (insert word suggesting "in a mean mood"). In...

Modernizing, for modernizing’s sake?

Marcel Hartog — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 08:44:00 GMT

Many moons ago, most Mainframe applications went through an audit to see if they could be re-hosted on a platform that was cheaper, more flexible and more powerful. It was a business decision because (on paper) the cost of running the migrated systems was looking great. Most IT people know what happened. We managed to "re-host" the applications that could be re-hosted, but at what...