CICS Month
The Curious History of CICS Pronunciation
From Brazil's "six" to Italy's "chicks" and Britain's "kicks," one of the mainframe's most famous technologies has inspired decades of linguistic creativity.They Call It "Six" in Brazil The Portuguese word for "six" is seis in Brazil and Portugal. According to...
❓Everything CICS Trivia
While most people you know probably haven’t even heard of CICS, anyone that banks, travels, or does business in the modern world has benefited from this cornerstone of enterprise transaction processing. Evolving alongside changes in hardware, operating systems,...
From Flow Analysis to Data Recovery: Highlights from the CICS Virtual User Group
The latest Planet Mainframe CICS Virtual User Group, sponsored by Broadcom Mainframe Software and DataKinetics, delivered exactly what the title promised — a double feature that moved from intelligent region analysis all the way through to full vSAM data recovery....
5 Practical Steps for Integrating AI into CICS Applications on VSEn
If you want to use AI with VSEn, you do not have to replace your OLTP/CICS applications first. You have to make it accessible. That is exactly where VSEn Connectors become strategic: they connect proven host transactions with REST, SOAP, MQ, Java, database access, and...
Five Steps to Add AI-Powered Decision Making to CICS
Organizations increasingly want faster, more intelligent business decisions. For enterprises running critical workloads on CICS, artificial intelligence (AI) offers a practical way to improve transaction processing, automate decisions, and uncover patterns hidden...
Sharing VSAM Between CICS and Batch: How the Routing Model Works
A look at how some z/OS shops have closed their batch windows by pushing batch I/O through the owning CICS region.Most CICS shops I have worked in carry the same operational habit: keep a nightly window open so that batch can update VSAM files without colliding with...
An Undocumented CICS Fix That Boosts Throughput and Cuts CPU
IBM has an undocumented fix to the CICS WEB interface that can optimize throughput and response time while also saving CPU. This article explains how to make it work for you. In the course of my current project, I had the pleasure of working with Ole Olsen at JN Data...
CICS. Db2. IPL. The Latest Cheryl Watson’s Tuning Letter
The Latest Tuning Letter issue is out now! Subscribers to Cheryl Watson’s Tuning Letter will find the newest issue, 2026 No.1, on our Tuning Letter website. If you are not a current subscriber yet, sign up today! This subscription-only resource is available to both...
Latest
Modernize Security with ACF2 and Top Secret Version17.0
In the world of security, many things have changed since the last release of ACF2 and Top Secret. Credential-based attacks are up - compromised credential-based attacks cost organizations $4.67m annually, while being the initial attack vector 10% of the time¹....
The Need for Effective Change Management
Introduction Over the last few years there has been an ever-increasing number of widely publicised problems involving notable corporate organisations and the failings of their IT systems. Incidents of ransomware, hacking and phishing are becoming worryingly...
Extending the Security Stack: Red Teaming, Scenarios, Risks, and Reality
Mainframes hold the heart of the most critical business processes in finance, healthcare, and government. Yet many security programmes still draw a neat line around them, treating z/OS as out of scope for red teaming, scenarios, and cyber risk quantification. This...
The Open Mainframe Project Has a Trust Problem — And the Mainframe Can’t Afford It
Open Mainframe Project Security Concerns I was chatting with a mainframer buddy the other day, and he expressed some concerns about the overall code security of the Open Mainframe Project (OMP), particularly around member vetting. So, I spent a bit of time digging...
IBM z17 NTS Enhancements: Securing Time Synchronization
In October 2025, Planet Mainframe published the first article of this two-part series on IBM z17 Time Synchronization Enhancements. That article focused on time synchronization resiliency and accuracy enhancements introduced on IBM z17. This article continues with a...
z/OS Security Assessments: What We Missed in 2015 vs. Today
My career has, over the nearly four years of working in this field, predominantly been comprised of RACF Administration and Engineering, interspersed with other opportunities that I foolishly volunteered myself for. Such opportunities have included writing articles,...
PowerTerm End-of-Life: Why Organizations Must Act Now – And Why the December 10 Webinar Is Critical
In March 2025, Ericom PowerTerm, a terminal emulator still used by thousands of organizations to access mainframes, IBM i systems, Unix hosts, VMS machines, and other mission-critical environments, officially entered End-of-Life (EOL). For decades, PowerTerm provided...
Mainframe AI Agents: The Interns Who Never Sleep
A conversation with BMC Anthony Doroand Leah Sokalov.A Knowledge Problem That Can’t Wait Amanda Hendly, Managing Editor of Planet Mainframe, met with Distinguished Engineer Anthony Doro and Senior Product Manager Leah Sokalov, both from BMC. The conversation focused...
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Upcoming Events
Events
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Virtual Mainframe Technical Exchange – June 23 – 25, 2026
Virtual MeetingSave the Date! Learn more about the North American and Virtual Mainframe Technical Exchanges here.
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Accelerating Mainframe Efficiency: SysProg & DBA Webinar
FeaturedZoom - Virtual MeetingAre you a systems programmer, database administrator, or mainframe operations or security leader looking to get more out of your z/OS environment? This opening session of the PopUp Mainframe Persona Webinar Series is built for practitioners navigating complex systems, limited resources, and constantly evolving requirements. You’ll gain practical insight into how teams are improving efficiency, […]
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From Chaos to Control: Modern Mainframe Certificate Management
Content by Broadcom Mainframe Software Mainframe certificates are often managed in isolation, which creates blind spots and unnecessary risk. In this webinar, we’ll explore how a guided certificate assistant on z/OS, paired with an integrated lifecycle management approach, can streamline provisioning, automate renewals, enforce consistent policies, and deliver central visibility across your mainframe certificate estate. […]
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Virtual IMS User Group: Modernizing IMS Backup and Recovery – The Strategic Shift to Cloud Storage
Zoom - Virtual Meeting📅 July 14, 2026 🕦 11:30 AM ET As enterprise data volumes continue to grow and cyber threats become increasingly sophisticated, organizations are rethinking how IMS backup and recovery environments are designed, secured, and maintained. In this session, Sujata Mane of BMC Software explores the architectural and operational shift from traditional tape-based backup strategies toward […]
❓Everything CICS Trivia
While most people you know probably haven’t even heard of CICS, anyone that banks, travels, or does business in the modern world has benefited from this cornerstone of enterprise transaction processing. Evolving alongside changes in hardware, operating systems,...
A New AWS Deployment, Project Glasswing, and more
IBM installs €11.5m Mainframe at South East Technological University to Mark 70th Anniversary in Ireland Precisely Powers Customer Communications with AWS Deployment IBM Brings Its Most Advanced AI-Powered Security Portfolio to Clients, and is Strengthened by Ongoing...
❓Windows Meets the Mainframe
When Microsoft Windows emerged in the 1980s, it represented a very different vision of computing from the centralized, highly structured world of the mainframe. Windows powered the rise of personal computers and client-server systems, while mainframes continued...
Think 2026, Vertica Acquisition, and more
Think 2026: IBM Positions Mainframe Environments as Governed AI Infrastructure Rocket Software Completes Acquisition of Vertica®, Expanding High-Performance Analytics and AI for Mission-Critical Systems Kyndryl unveils agentic AI capability that proactively prevents...
❓The Unix Legacy Trivia
Like so many transformative innovations, the creation of UNIX was the unintentional outcome of a failed experiment—specifically with a time-sharing operating system called Multics for the GE-645 mainframe. While it was originally developed as a side project with...
News – AI, Modernization, and Mainframe Momentum: This Week’s Industry News
BMC Expands AI-Powered Mainframe Solutions IBM Introduces IBM Bob Premium Package for Z Kyndryl to modernize systems for North Carolina DMV AI Helped a Company Transition Off the Mainframe - and the Project Won an Award Kyndryl named a Leader in 2026 ISG Provider...