IBM Impact 2014

I am fortunate once again to be attending IBM Impact. The general session again focused on mobile, and featured speakers from Tangerine Bank, Square, and Daimler Car2Go. Live demos did not go too well due to apparent networking issues, but speakers covered nicely.

Here are some of my biggest take-aways from today’s CICS sessions:

• The 5.2 Developer Trial can be turned into a full version without re-installing.
• The mobile feature pack introduced in 5.1 is integrated into the base in 5.2.
• “Simple” Occurs Depending On is supported in 5.2 web services.
• 5.2 has something called Multi-Versioning, which allows a new version of a program to be implemented, and taken out, quickly. It is possible to have the new version and old version available simultaneously.
• Of course, as with every new release of CICS in recent years, more things are moving above the bar for virtual storage relief, and more commands are threadsafe.
• It was not explicitly stated, but all indications are that the CICSPlex WUI is going away after V5. It is time to really start using the CICS Explorer, if you’re not already using it.

I had a great one-on-one “Lunch and Learn” session on the CICS Explorer. It was originally slated for myself and one other person, but they were a no-show. The session was a good review of many of the things I already knew, and I picked up a couple of new tidbits. The one-on-one and Lunch and Learn sessions alone pretty much make the trip for Impact worthwhile.

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IBM Impact 2013 Days Three and Four

Days three and four at IBM Impact 2013 were filled with more details on the overviews presented on day one. Probably the biggest highlights of the week were the individual sessions I had with IBM CICS experts on days three and four. The last time I was at Impact, these opportunities were not available. I highly recommend signing up for at least one of these events if you attend Impact, more if you can – regardless of which technical track is emphasized in your agenda. I was able to discuss the differences between the release our shop is currently running and Version 5.1 with an IBM’er who was very knowledgeable on the subject, and I had the unique opportunity to discuss the upcoming Dynamic Scripting feature pack with the developer that created it. There is more to gain from the “normal” sessions at Impact than can be acquired just from reading manuals, and the individual sessions are even beyond that.

Every IBM CICS person I talked with at Impact were genuinely excited about CICS TS 5.1. I can’t say enough about their passion, and their interest in answering any question any attendee had. Their enthusiasm made the week that was Impact 2013 an enjoyable learning experience.

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IBM Impact 2013 Day Two

My day two at IBM Impact 2013 was filled with more information about some of the new and upcoming enhancements to CICS/TS in V5.1. Andy Armstrong’s session on JSON in CICS (which is basically web services dealing with data in JSON format instead of XML) was excellent, as were Fraser Bohm’s sessions on Modern Batch and Liberty containers. The WAS Liberty profile is key behind a lot of the cool new capabilities in CICS; I would like to have seen even more on that – perhaps a “for dummies” session and one with more details and/or examples. We are fortunate to have the Hursely folks here in Vegas to share their insight on some of the latest developments in CICS.

The conference is just half over – still lots to see and learn!

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