Influential Mainframers
Mainframe Modernization is the Climate Change of IT – Influential Mainframer Misty Decker
Misty Decker didn’t plan to build a career evangelizing mainframes. She wanted to be a research mathematician. But grad school wasn’t financially viable, so she pivoted, searching for an opportunity that would pay her tuition. When IBM initially called her to...
Influential Mainframer – Geoffrey Decker
Today, we introduce someone whose mission includes music, mainframes, and mentorship. Geoffrey Decker Co-Founder and Instructor, Eli Madison Memorial Apprenticeship (EMMA)Instructor, Northern Illinois University, Dept. of Computer Science Chicago, Illinois, USA...
Influential Mainframer – John Baker
This month, Planet Mainframe celebrates influential mainframers nominated by the community.Today, we spotlight a z/OS performance powerhouse. John Baker Principal Consultant, z Performance, IBM Toronto, Ontario, Canada Connect with John on: View the entire 2025...
Recognizing the People Who Keep Mainframe Moving Forward
Mainframes don’t just run on technology—they also run on people. Behind every secure transaction, every optimized system, and every breakthrough in modernization, there’s someone making it happen. Last year, we launched the Influential Mainframers [2024] program to...
You don’t know Frank
When you first meet Frank Kyne, you’ll ask to be forgiven for parroting back “Kind.” While you’d be wrong about the spelling, you’d be right about Frank’s personality. Next, you might notice his accent - it’s clearly Irish. Except that he was born in the Bronx, New...
Celebrating your 2024 Influential Mainframers
When thinking about how to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the mainframe, our first instinct was to create a series of articles on its history, starting with its earliest iterations and ending with how the technology evolved through today. But perhaps that is a...
Most Influential Mainframers Trivia
At Planet Mainframe, we’ve been celebrating the careers of mainframe influencers—the people that raise the bar, push the envelope, break new ground. Whatever metaphor you want to use, these are the people who aren’t afraid to make things a bit uncomfortable in order...
The Third Time’s the Charm: Laticia Carrow
Laticia Carrow is a government contractor Capacity Management Analyst at DDC ITS, an IBM Z Champion, and a TechChannel Rising Star. Her career is one of personal and professional transformation based on curiosity and perseverance and a testament to the importance of...
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Introducing Cyber Security Month
We trust you've appreciated our September series, centered around Db2. Over the past few weeks, we've had the pleasure of sharing over 10 fresh, original Db2 articles with our dedicated audience. Today, we are thrilled to introduce an engaging new theme for...
Make Security Your Competitive Advantage
“If you spend more on coffee than on IT security, you will be hacked.” That was according to Richard Clarke, former special advisor on cybersecurity to the US President. He added, “What’s more, you deserve to be hacked,” which does seem a little harsh. Maybe...
Securing CICS with RACF
Implementing CICS Security with RACF can be a complex and demanding process. In order to do it to a level that creates a good balance can take time and requires good knowledge and understanding of both CICS and RACF. So I will explain the various steps in securing...
Why you need to protect your business with IBM Z Cyber Vault
It seems like every week there is a new story of a major company or organization being affected by a cyber-attack. It might be a ransomware attack, stolen user data, or other disruption to services, and may be initiated either by an external attack or internal...
Best Practices for Closing the Mainframe Security Gap
You could argue – as some folks have – that mainframes are inherently more secure than commodity servers because there are fewer variables at play on mainframe systems, making them easier to secure in some ways. The fact that mainframes account for a relatively small...
Fix the roof when the sun is shining: Data Loss Prevention
It’s high time we acknowledged that mainframe data loss is far more than a security problem. It’s fundamentally a business problem. As the old saying goes, prevention is better than cure. This applies to data loss and cyber attacks as much as anything else in life. If...
Db2 for z/OS: SEPARATE_SECURITY and SECADM
In the Db2 for z/OS module called DSNZPARM (ZPARM, for short), which provides the configuration settings for a Db2 subsystem, there is a parameter named SEPARATE_SECURITY. This ZPARM was introduced with Db2 10, and its purpose is to enable a Db2 for z/OS-using...
Quantum Safe Cryptography Overview
Quantum Safe Cryptography The Problem – Current Cryptography is Vulnerable to Quantum Computing Cryptography experts believe that by 2030 quantum computers will be advanced enough to cut the strength of symmetric key algorithms (such as AES, 3DES and RC4) by half, and...
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Virtual IMS User Group | April 14, 2026
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European Mainframe Technical Exchange – Prague – April 21-23
Prague, Czech Republic Prague, Czech RepublicRegistration is open for the 2026 European Broadcom Mainframe Technical Exchange! This year’s event will take place in Prague, Czech Republic, from April 21 - 23. Register today to reserve […]
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Virtual CICS User Group | May 12, 2026
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Virtual Db2 User Group | May 19, 2026
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Rocket Software and K2view Partnership, 2025 Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice, and more
IBM Introduces New Software to Address Growing Digital Sovereignty Imperative Rocket Software and K2view Partner to Accelerate Mainframe Modernization with Governed, AI-Ready Test Data for Testing, Analytics, and AI BMC is recognized as a 2025 Gartner® Peer Insights™...
❓Mainframe Professional Skills Trivia
Our last trivia quiz explored the legacy of mainframe pioneers, and this week we’re going to continue looking into the lineage of skills in mainframe professional practice, examining how early design and operational decisions shaped the way mainframe expertise is...
❓ Workforce and Training Trivia
Happy 2026—and welcome to a whole new year of Planet Mainframe Trivia! As our January theme focuses on Workforce and Training, this quiz looks at mainframe pioneers and the early decisions that shaped how mainframe skills are learned and passed on. Mainframe expertise...
Newest Virtel Release, SHARE Orlando Tickets, and more
VIRTEL announces release of Virtel 4.63: a major new version to better connect, secure, and simplify access to any mainframe application SHARE Orlando Early Bird Tickets Available Hitachi Vantara's Virtual Storage Platform One Wins CRN 2025 Products of the Year Award...
❓What 2025 Taught Us About Mainframes: A Trivia Quiz
As the year closes, and the year-end reflections roll in, we’re taking a closer look at key findings from the latest BMC, Kyndryl, and Planet Mainframe Arcati surveys. The results point to a platform that is evolving in response to cost pressures, skills gaps,...
Real-Time Data Replication, Quantum Safe Assessment Service, and More
Precisely Accelerates Mainframe Modernization with Real-Time Data Replication to Amazon S3 Kyndryl Unveils Quantum Safe Assessment Service to Enable Enterprise Readiness for the Quantum Era IBM Turbonomic and IBM Kubecost unite to optimize Kubernetes performance and...