As many of you who use our mainframe products know, George Pipka has been at the center of our mainframe customer support team for several years. Along with development and product management leadership George has been developing the content for the mainframe track at this year’s conference. I spoke with George from his home in Canada to find out what is in store this year.
KP: Thank you George for taking the time to talk to me. I know the mainframe track is one of the most popular each year. What’s exciting for 2011?
GP: Innovation in the products has continued at a blistering pace this year. We are going to show how ChangeMan ZMF fits into the Orchestrated ALM story, and how it actually leads the story.
KP: That is a bold claim, why is that?
GP: Simple: the ChangeMan ZMF ERO (Enterprise Release Option) is on fire! Customers all over the world are adding this option so they can coordinate their releases. Release complexity and the need for a solution that scales have never been greater. Plus, customers will learn to use the power of ChangeMan ZMF Web Services to integrate mainframe SCM into development and release management processes.
KP: It sounds like you’re going to take these sessions deep.
GP: The REXX and XML Services are powerful and productive utilities. One of our partners will walk through the most commonly used ChangeMan ZMF customizations.
KP: And what about more routine updates?
GP: We’ve changed a lot of the internal file structures for ChangeMan ZMF. So, we will show why and what you get from that update. Plus, we’ll feature how one customer is using the new and improved INFO/MAN Option for ChangeMan ZMF and the HTTP SOAP Call System interface.
KP: What surprises are in store?
GP: Did you know that you can now put your Java apps under ChangeMan ZMF? And our Professional Services group is the best way to prepare your organization, your systems, and most importantly, yourself for the next upgrade.
KP: But we’re not just talking about ChangeMan ZMF I assume?
GP: Absolutely not. You must come and see how ChangeMan SSM can protect your system infrastructure. We’re going to blow you away with how the new Dimensions for z/OS extends Dimensions CM’s reputation to the mainframe, delivering a consistent user experience across distributed and mainframe platforms.
KP: That’s quite a list. Anything more?
GP: Of course we’ve got sessions for all the mainframe products but the one I am most eager to see is the StarTool IOO where we will see dramatic performance improvements in the VSAM file system without changing any code!
KP: Sounds like you’ve done it again. Thanks George.
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