Application Architecture: an Evolutionary View

Application Architecture: an Evolutionary View

The Mainframe Era In 1970 I joined a company, Databank Systems Ltd, that operated a national network of 6 computer centres, each containing a S360/40.  In total this was less than 1/10,000th of the power of my current laptop, at a cost several thousand times...

read more
New Year, Old Stuff; And New…

New Year, Old Stuff; And New…

What can I say? I'm an old guy and I like old stuff. The best example of this is my 1968 Oldsmobile Cutlass convertible. I bought it about 10 years ago, a little bit before my 50th birthday. I've had older cars before - in my 30's I had a beautiful 1968 Camaro - that...

read more
Fear the Mainframe

Fear the Mainframe

For many years, it seems, management and the distributed IT team have, more-or-less, ignored the mainframe. The mainframe has been quietly keeping the company in business, running all those transactions, and being reliable, powerful, scalable, and secure. All the...

read more
Mainframes, containers, and Linux

Mainframes, containers, and Linux

We all know why mainframes are good – all that reliability, availability, and security stuff that we’ve been hearing about for many years. The question then becomes: how can we make mainframes better? IBM’s new Z15 mainframe announcement shows how security can be...

read more
Import your existing TCP/IP profile

Import your existing TCP/IP profile

Learn how to import your existing TCP/IP profile into the Network Configuration Assistant Starting with z/OS V2R2, the IBM Configuration Assistant for z/OS Communications Server, also known as the Network Configuration Assistant or NCA, can be used to produce TCP/IP...

read more
Security complacency: is your mainframe at risk?

Security complacency: is your mainframe at risk?

This has been a fine summer. And I’m not talking about the weather: I mean the whopping fines proposed for infringements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by Marriott Hotels and British Airways, followed by an even bigger fine in the US for Equifax –...

read more