Terminal Talk is back and More

Open Mainframe Project Announces Schedule for Open Mainframe Summit Las Vegas on September 11

Registration is now open for the Open Mainframe Summit, an open source initiative that enables collaboration across the mainframe community. The goal of the conference, which is in its fourth year, is to develop shared tool sets and resources for mainframers.

This year the event will be co-located with two industry conferences  – IBM TechXchange Conference 2023, hosted in Las Vegas on September 11 at the MGM Grand Hotel; and Open Source in Finance Forum, hosted in New York City on November 1 at the Marriott Marquis.

Participants at the IBM TechXchange Conference will experience technical breakout sessions, hands-on experiences, product demonstrations, instructor-led labs, and certifications tailored to various interests and learning styles. 

The schedule for the Las Vegas Open Mainframe event includes keynotes about open source, Zowe use cases, diversity in the mainframe community, and mentorships. Some of the session presentations include:

• Easy and Modern – Learn COBOL Today – Sudharsana Srinivasan, Advocacy Manager at IBM
• Feilong: The Open Source API for z/VM Automation – Mike Friesenegger, Solutions Architect at SUSE
• Mapping the Face of the Modern Mainframe Workforce: Roles, Skills and Resources – John Lovett, Head of Education and Customer Engagement, Mainframe Division at Broadcom
• Shift Left and Beyond with COBOL Check – Joe Winchester, Senior Technical Staff Member at IBM
• Software Management Automation using Zowe and Ansible – Jan Prihoda, Product Owner at Broadcom

Source: PR Newswire

Minneapolis Mainframe Computer Software Startup Poised To Change the Way Enterprises Use and Share Data Across the Cloud

A small, woman-founded, and woman-led mainframe systems integrator may revolutionize the way we connect native mainframe data with third-party distributed, cloud-based applications.  

According to David Strom of SiliconAngle, VirtualZ Computing’s software applications, Lozen and Zaac, may offer a better way to move mainframe data back and forth between the mainframe and the cloud. VirtualZ’s solution, which is still being tested, should be better than the ETL tools that have grown up to address the issue – and easier than converting all that mainframe COBOL code into Java.

Virtual Z’s software, which runs on IBM Corp.’s z Series equipment, connects to common data formats, including MuleSoft LLC and COBOL data sets, with a series of pre-built connectors.  

“We allow the customers’ business applications – regardless of where they are running – to read and write mainframe data directly,” VirtualZ Chief Executive Jeanne Glass told SiliconANGLE in an exclusive interview. “Because the data stays securely and safely on the mainframe, it is a single source of truth for the customer and still leverages existing mainframe security protocols.”

According to Glass, the company needed to develop two software products, because Lozen allows access to mainframe data, while Zaac enables access to distributed data.

“The ability to transparently move enterprise applications to the cloud without having to move all the dependent data off the IBM platform will revolutionize the process, the speed and the risk mitigation involved in these complex efforts,” said Barry Wordell, Microsoft Corp.’s worldwide mainframe migration strategist.

The software is currently scheduled for a fall release date. 

Source: SiliconAngle

New Episode at Terminal Talk Podcast

Terminal Talk is a long-running podcast (with episodes going back to 2017) that looks at the people, technology, and culture behind the mainframe. New episodes are now produced sporadically – only two so far this year – and this month’s offering is a conversation with Steven Perma, entitled “Conversations with a Mid-Career Mainframer.” Perma is a Senior Mainframe Innovation Engineer with Ensono and has lots to say about where the platform is headed, how to get others along with us, and just where to find motivation.