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Data Center Management

Mainframes continue to represent the strong core of Data Center technology, while Virtualization and Cloud are also emerging as important technologies to support efficiency, scalability, and cost containment. Topics critical to Data Center Operations and Computing including hardware and software for Storage, Consolidation, High Availability, Backup & Recovery, and IT Optimization, as well as automated tools that help compensate for the growing Mainframe Skills Shortage.



Data Center Management Articles

Sonasoft Corp. recently announced the availability of its email archiving solution for Microsoft Exchange server. The new offering is an affordable and easy to use solution specifically designed for addressing the pain points of SMB customers.

Posted September 29, 2009

Xerox Corporation announced today that it intends to acquire Affiliated Computer Services, Inc., a business process outsourcing provider, in a cash and stock transaction valued at $6.4 billion. With this acquisition, Xerox says it will position itself for a leading role in document and business process management.

Posted September 28, 2009

Progress Data Direct, a division of Progress Software Corporation, announced the latest release of its Progress DataDirect Shadow mainframe integration platform, which includes an enhanced engine for relational to non-relational data processing on IBM's System z Integrated Information Processor (zIIP). The new release addresses the issue of cost-effective access to mainframe data that continues to be a key requirement for organizations and technology providers that rely on, or integrate with, legacy data stores.

Posted September 28, 2009

Veryant, a COBOL modernization vendor, announced two new products in its isCOBOL Application Platform Suite (APS), which helps businesses develop, deploy, and modernize COBOL applications. isCOBOL Web Direct 2.0 connects business applications to the cloud, offering the ability to deploy fully interactive Web 2.0 applications on demand as part of Software as a Service (SaaS) offerings. isCOBOL SQL Server adds a flexible relational database engine to ISAM files without changing current program code or data. This eliminates the need to choose between maintaining ISAM files or moving to a mainstream RDBMS to meet evolving requirements.

Posted September 28, 2009

Eucalyptus Systems, an open source cloud infrastructure provider, announced the company's first commercial offering, the Eucalyptus Enterprise Edition (EEE), which enables customers to implement an on-premise cloud with VMware's virtualization technologies, including vSphere, ESX and ESXi.

Posted September 28, 2009

Image Control Environment 8.0 (ICE 8.0) is now generally available from NewEra Software. ICE 8.0 includes same-day support for IBM Corporation's z/OS V1R11. "This is the 12th year in a row that we have been able to meet same-day delivery of our Image Control Environment with a new release of the IBM z/OS operating system," Paul Robichaux, CEO of NewEra Software, tells 5 Minute Briefing. Additionally, with the release of ICE 8.0, he points out, "we entered the CICS market, which was a new market for us." ICE now provides support for CICS TS V4.1, the transaction-processing environment that is used on large IBM computers, Robichaux states.

Posted September 28, 2009

According to new IDC survey conducted to gain insight into usage of IBM System z mainframes, almost 50% of the 300 respondents are planning to increase their spending annually on mainframe hardware and software. The study, "Mainframe Directions in the Multi-Platform Data Center 2009-2013: Today's Workloads and Future Outlook," was conducted during the winter and spring of 2009 all participants were IBM mainframe users.

Posted September 24, 2009

More and more companies are turning to Linux to help simplify systems management for better results. Learn about the advantages of Linux applications integrated with System z and the capabilities that make Linux on System z, the perfect platform for deployment of business-critical workloads in this 1-hour teleconference.

Posted September 24, 2009

Linux is at the center of computing now as well as computing that is being built for the future, emphasized Bob Sutor, vice president of Open Source and Linux, IBM, in his Monday keynote address at the first annual LinuxCon in Portland, Oregon, hosted by the Linux Foundation.

Posted September 24, 2009

IBM has opened a new Africa Innovation Center in Cape Town to foster the development of information technology and business skills and to expand its customer and business partner ecosystem in the region. The IBM Africa Innovation Center in Cape Town will provide local customers, business partners, start-up companies, ISVs, IT professionals, and the academic community with access to training workshops, consulting services, a broad technical infrastructure, as well as hands-on assistance to help solve business challenges and bring new technologies to market.

Posted September 24, 2009

Inna Kuznetsova is Director, IBM Linux Strategy. Her team drives Linux business across IBM, sets business goals and ensures business management system support for them. The team also follows the market trends and identifies key short- and long-term strategies; and works across the broad IBM organization to provide proper coverage of Linux in sales, marketing and product management. Kuznetsova recently talked with Linux Executive Report about IBM's Linux strategy, how the approach has evolved, and what she sees ahead for Linux in the enterprise.

Posted September 24, 2009

Inna Kuznetsova is Director, IBM Linux Strategy. Her team drives Linux business across IBM, sets business goals and ensures business management system support for them. The team also follows the market trends and identifies key short- and long-term strategies; and works across the broad IBM organization to provide proper coverage of Linux in sales, marketing and product management. Kuznetsova recently talked with LinuxLine about IBM's Linux strategy, how the approach has evolved, and what she sees ahead for Linux in the enterprise.

Posted September 24, 2009

CA, Inc. today announced CA Database Management r12 for DB2 for z/OS, and CA Database Management r12 for IMS, the latest versions of its mainframe database management solution. The new versions feature enhancements for performance management, database administration, and backup and recovery.

Posted September 21, 2009

SOA Software's Repository Manager 6.1 product has been certified by SAP AG as "Powered by SAP NetWeaver." The solution provides SOA governance of enterprise services exposed and consumed by SAP solutions.

Posted September 21, 2009

Teradata Corporation, a provider of enterprise data warehousing solutions, was invited to provide testimony before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, joining a panel of experts and stakeholders on the topic. The hearing, titled "Utilizing Technology to Improve TARP and Financial Services Oversight" was largely focused on driving accountability and transparency through database technology. Dow Jones & Company, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the SAS Institute, Inc, and the Center for Democracy and Technology were also among the witnesses.

Posted September 21, 2009

Netcordia, a provider of network management solutions, announced a strategic partnership with Hitachi Data Systems intended to help companies identify problems lurking across their network, before they slow performance and compromise application availability or data center operations. Through this partnership, Hitachi Data Systems has integrated Netcordia's NetMRI with its Hitachi IT Operations Analyzer version 1.2, creating one of the first available integrated infrastructure monitoring and management solutions for the mid-market.

Posted September 21, 2009

A member of the Quest International Users Group and IT specialist at Shell Canada Ltd., Sue Shaw took on the role of president of the users group in June. She talks with Database Trends and Applications about what drew her in as a member and her goals for the PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, and Oracle Utilities association now that she is at the helm.

Posted September 14, 2009

This year, despite a turbulent economy marked by painful layoffs in many sectors, database professionals appear to be weathering the storm. In fact, database professionals reported higher incomes and bonuses this year over last. Still, a sizeable segment of professionals saw changes in their jobs as a result of economic conditions, and many are concerned going forward about the impact of tighter budgets on their departments' performance.

Posted September 14, 2009

If you use an IBM z Series mainframe you've undoubtedly heard about zIIPs and zAAPs and other specialty processors. But maybe you haven't yet truly examined what they are, what they do, and why they exist. So, with that in mind, let's take a brief journey into the world of specialty processors.

Posted September 14, 2009

Clerity Solutions, a provider of mainframe migration and modernization solutions, today introduced the Clerity Migration and Modernization Analysis Process (MMAP) for Adabas Natural environments. The new service is targeted at helping companies analyze migration options for Software AG environments, including the business impact and implementation requirements involved in moving to other platforms and application architectures.

Posted September 14, 2009

IT management software company CA, Inc. today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately held NetQoS Inc., a provider of network performance management and service delivery solutions, for $200 million.

Posted September 14, 2009

AES, a mainframe systems management vendor, announced the release of CleverView for cTrace Analysis 6.1, which is designed to better equip IT shops to meet the challenges of managing virtualized environments. CleverView for cTrace Analysis includes diagnostic capabilities that enable companies to simplify and automate the trace collection, enhance diagnostic efforts, and accelerate virtualization deployment, while reducing costs and improving network service level performance.

Posted September 14, 2009

CiRBA, Inc., a provider of data center intelligence software, has announced the release of CiRBA Version 5.2, which features a six-step process and templates for virtualization analysis to ensure that organizations can transform infrastructure safely and cost-effectively. Version 5.2 also provides enhanced data collection management features for improved analysis.

Posted September 14, 2009

At the Red Hat Summit 2009 in Chicago last week, Red Hat announced the availability of the fourth update to its Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 platform. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 is the integrated platform foundation of the Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization portfolio of solutions and delivers expanded virtualization capabilities with the inclusion of kernel-based virtual machine (KVM) technology and Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (Intel VT-d) and PCI-SIG SR-IOV, allowing multiple virtual machines in an Intel Xeon Processor 5500 Series-based platform to directly share I/O devices. The release also features improved I/O throughput and the inclusion of additional tools for developers.

Posted September 09, 2009

In his keynote address at the Red Hat Summit 2009 in Chicago last week, "Linux Everywhere? Matching the Workload to the Computer," Bob Sutor, vice president of Open Source and Linux at IBM focused on the varied use of Linux on a wide range of devices, computers and mainframes, and the benefits of technologies including virtualization, cloud computing, horizontal clusters and grids, and centralized computing.

Posted September 09, 2009

Red Hat, a provider of open source solutions, announced availability of JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 5.0, which the vendor says will be integral to Red Hat's cloud foundation.

Posted September 08, 2009

At VMworld 2009 HP introduced new management and service solutions to extend the benefits of virtualization beyond servers to infrastructure.

Posted September 08, 2009

Information Builders (IBI), a provider of business intelligence (BI) solutions, announced support for IBM System z/OS computer Integrated Information Processor (zIIP) in Focus 7.6.10 and WebFocus 7.7. Information Builders says that its zIIP chip support represents the first and only BI platform optimized for the mainframe environment.

Posted September 08, 2009

Stratavia, a provider of data center automation and cloud enablement software solutions, announced the release of the Sybase Migration Data Center Automation Application, a software solution aimed at enabling organizations to make an error-free migration from Sybase database environments to their choice of IBM DB2, Oracle, or Microsoft SQL Server database platforms. Stratavia customers can now automate the migration of Sybase database objects, code and data from a centralized location, while also enabling self-service access for application teams to begin their testing without impacting migration timelines.

Posted September 08, 2009

Phoenix Software International has announced the release of Version 4, Release 7.0 of its z/OS JES2 and JES3 interactive spool browse and system management product (E)JES. New to (E)JES with this release is a Customer Application Infrastructure (CAI), an integrated framework for TSO/ISPF that runs REXX-based customer and end user plug-in applications for customizing and extending the capabilities of (E)JES in local environments.

Posted September 08, 2009

Oracle Database 11g Release 2 became generally available and downloadable yesterday from the Oracle Technology Network (OTN). Improvements have been made in all key areas, with a general emphasis on helping customers lower their IT infrastructure costs. Announcing the new release during a conference call yesterday, Andy Mendelsohn, senior vice president of Database Server Technologies, Oracle observed, "Right now the majority of our installed base customers are running on 10g R2, with a good number on 11g R1. The reason 11g R2 is important is not only for the innovations in the release but it is really the release that the masses of our installed base are going to be moving to as they go to the 11g family of databases."

Posted September 02, 2009

Stratavia, an independent provider of data center automation and cloud enablement software solutions, has announced the release of the Sybase Migration Data Center Automation Application, a software solution aimed at enabling organizations to make an error-free migration from Sybase database environments to their choice of Oracle, as well as Microsoft SQL Server or IBM DB2 database platforms. Stratavia customers can now automate the migration of Sybase database objects, code and data from a centralized location, while also enabling self-service access for application teams to begin their testing without impacting migration timelines.

Posted September 02, 2009

At VMworld 2009, VMware, Inc. unveiled a new management model for IT with the introduction of the VMware vCenter Product Family, a comprehensive set of solutions that provides policy-based, service-driven management. VMware vCenter Product Family builds on the capabilities of the VMware vSphere 4 virtualization platform to simplify management, reduce operating costs, and deliver more dynamic and flexible IT services.

Posted September 01, 2009

At the SHARE conference last week, Progress DataDirect, the data infrastructure division of Progress Software Corporation and provider of data access and integration technologies, announced support for event processing capabilities available in the IBM Customer Information Control System (CICS) Transaction Server (TS) version 4.1.

Posted August 31, 2009

At the SHARE conference last week, Progress DataDirect, the data infrastructure division of Progress Software Corporation and provider of data access and integration technologies, announced support for event processing capabilities available in the IBM Customer Information Control System (CICS) Transaction Server (TS) version 4.1.

Posted August 31, 2009

DTS Software announced what it says is the first IBM mainframe application for the iPhone.

Posted August 31, 2009

BMC Software announced a new release of its BMC Batch Impact Manager solution, intended to reduce the time needed to resolve IT bottlenecks in batch environments. BMC says its Batch Impact Manager offers the only batch-processing tool that not only can predict problems before they happen and recommend ways to avoid them, but also provides ways to fix the issues completely.

Posted August 31, 2009

IBM announced the availability of the IBM System Storage DS5020 Express, a new storage disk offering that delivers enterprise-class storage capabilities for midrange businesses.

Posted August 31, 2009

IBM announced four IBM Rational products that are among the first to apply the new Change Management services developed by the Open Services for Lifecycle Collaboration (OSLC) initiative. As a founding member of the OSLC, IBM is working with an open community of software vendors, integrators and corporate software delivery teams to develop specifications that make it easier for development teams to use lifecycle tools in combination and more efficiently share information between systems.

Posted August 31, 2009

Last week the Linux Foundation, of which IBM is a platinum member, released an update to its landmark 2008 study of who contributes to the Linux kernel. Again, IBM was the top systems vendor on the list, which spans over 4 years of kernel development.

Posted August 27, 2009

IBM has announced the System z Solution Edition Series, including seven packages of integrated hardware, software and services designed to help customers deploy new enterprise workloads.

Posted August 27, 2009

It is really Unix, and particularly Sun Solaris, that is most feeling the heat of competition from Linux in the server operating system arena, notes Dave Rosenberg in a recent CNET article. Rosenberg adds that during a recent IBM analyst meeting, Inna Kuznetsova, director, Cross-IBM Linux Strategy and IBM Power Systems Business Development, said the Linux business is growing in size. More than 1,800 clients have moved from other platforms to IBM and almost 50% of those migrations included Linux. In addition, IBM doubled its Sun customer wins between Q1 and Q3 of this year.

Posted August 27, 2009

In a brief announcement last week, Oracle stated that the U.S. Department of Justice has approved its proposed acquisition of Sun Microsystems and terminated the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act.

Posted August 25, 2009

AES, provider of service performance monitoring solutions, has announced CleverView for IP Service Performance v2.1, providing real-time remote service monitoring for virtual devices and cloud computing.

Posted August 24, 2009

HiT Software, Inc., a provider of products for database access, integration and replication, announced the availability of the HiT JDBC/DB2 v3.70 high-performance JDBC driver, featuring added support for IBM DB2 native data encryption. HiT JDBC/DB2 is now optimized to take advantage of IBM DB2's DES standard, and combined with HiT Software's HiT SSL Server, provides end-to-end 256-bit encryption for data traveling between Java applications and IBM DB2 LUW or z/OS databases

Posted August 24, 2009

Virtual Bridges, IBM and Canonical have introduced a new version of a Linux-server based virtual desktop with the release of Virtual Bridges' VERDE 2.0 software. The Open Virtual Client desktop is a combination of IBM's Smart Client desktop software, Canonical's Ubuntu Linux servers and Linux desktop, and Virtual Bridges' VERDE Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) offering.

Posted August 24, 2009

CA, Inc. announced that it is bringing enhanced automation and management of existing internal IT infrastructures and external cloud services to the enterprise. CA's Business-Driven Automation, Service Management, Application Performance Management, and Database Management solutions now support the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2). CA also plans to extend the capabilities of several Systems Management solutions to support Amazon EC2. The power and flexibility to manage applications in the Amazon EC2 environment as an extension of their enterprise helps customers achieve Lean IT.

Posted August 24, 2009

Pillar Data Systems, a provider of application-aware storage systems, has formed a new distribution agreement with SYNNEX Corporation, a business process services company. Through this relationship, solution providers and VARs can take advantage of SYNNEX's distribution capabilities when sourcing the Pillar Axiom Storage Solutions. By joining with SYNNEX, Pillar Data Systems expects to deepen and expand its reach with storage solution providers who are focused on medium and enterprise-class business customers.

Posted August 19, 2009

IBM announced the System z Solution Edition Series—seven integrated hardware, software and services packages designed to help customers deploy new enterprise workloads such as data warehousing, electronic payments and disaster recovery. In addition, IBM says it is launching a new campaign to encourage companies to migrate from Sun and HP servers to the Linux platform on System z.

Posted August 17, 2009

SHARE will provide hundreds of enterprise technology professionals with education they need to support their organizations' strategic IT initiatives during the SHARE summer conference August 23-28 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, Colo.

Posted August 17, 2009

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