Pasquale “PJ” Catalano IBM Z & LinuxONE Test ArchitectIBM Infrastructure, EST&IPoughkeepsie, New York, USAThis piece is part of the 2026 Planet Mainframe Influential Mainframers series.IBM Z & LinuxONE Test Architect and Master Inventor, Pasquale “PJ”...
In today’s always-on environments, changes to z/OS systems are happening constantly—often dynamically, and often under time pressure. While most organizations have formal change management processes in place, these processes are frequently reactive rather than...
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...
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,...
IBM’s zPDT Decision Risks Mid-Tier ISVs and Mainframe Innovation I’ve been a passionate mainframe (System z) advocate for over 45 years and a staunch supporter of IBM and most of their decisions. However, when I received an email from IBM on 30 September 2025...
The Virtual Mainframe User Group on IMS recently gathered to talk about Z Xplore. IBM Z XPlore is the successor to Master the Mainframe, the competition-style program that introduced thousands of students to IBM Z. Where Master the Mainframe ran only a few months each...
Running open source on z/OS allows it to better integrate with off-platform solutions. It also provides user interfaces familiar to engineering and computer science students, who, we hope, will become the next generation of z/OS programmers and sysadmins. Of course,...
We are delighted to announce that Cheryl Watson's Tuning Letter 2025 No.2 is now available. If you haven't already subscribed, now is your chance to discover the most comprehensive body of practical and impartial z/OS, and MVS tuning and measurement advice ever...
Mainframe teams need faster, easier ways to modernize COBOL applications. With IBM z/OS Connect 3.0.88, exposing CICS services as REST APIs is now simpler, faster, and less complex than traditional CICS web services.Whether you're building mobile apps, partner...
After publishing “Strengthening Enterprise Security with IBM Multi-Factor Authentication,” I’m excited to share part two: my hands-on experience implementing and using multi-factor authentication (MFA) on z/OS. Before discussing the practical aspects, it’s important...
