Wednesday, April 11, 2007
IBM to Help Banks Improve the Consumer Experience
IBM Opens New Centers to Help Banks Improve the Consumer Experience
Apr 11, 2007
Acting on consumer and market research, IBM today launched three new Banking Centers of Excellence (BCOE) to help financial services clients modernize aging computing systems and meet the needs of banking consumers.
The BCOE is a direct response to the many global business challenges banks face...Two primary roadblocks banks face in trying to better understand the customer experience are aging banking application systems that don't easily share information across banking channels and traditional customer relationship management practices that focus more on functional services like loyalty and retention programs...
Read the full news report from here @ Sys Con
Apr 11, 2007
Acting on consumer and market research, IBM today launched three new Banking Centers of Excellence (BCOE) to help financial services clients modernize aging computing systems and meet the needs of banking consumers.
The BCOE is a direct response to the many global business challenges banks face...Two primary roadblocks banks face in trying to better understand the customer experience are aging banking application systems that don't easily share information across banking channels and traditional customer relationship management practices that focus more on functional services like loyalty and retention programs...
Read the full news report from here @ Sys Con
Labels: banks, crm, finance, ibm
IBM ends 31-bit z/OS mainframe support
IBM ends 31-bit z/OS mainframe support
By Mark Fontecchio, 11 Apr 2007 | SearchDataCenter.com
IBM stopped supporting 31-bit z/OS on the mainframe on the first of this month.
Jim Rhyne, chief architect for enterprise software at IBM, said some companies are able to strike deals to extend IBM support for 31-bit z/OS. But for the most part, Rhyne said that IBM has given customers plenty of time to migrate off z/OS 1.4 and 1.5, as the end-of-service announcement was made in August of 2003.
Read the full news report from here @ Search Data Center
By Mark Fontecchio, 11 Apr 2007 | SearchDataCenter.com
IBM stopped supporting 31-bit z/OS on the mainframe on the first of this month.
Jim Rhyne, chief architect for enterprise software at IBM, said some companies are able to strike deals to extend IBM support for 31-bit z/OS. But for the most part, Rhyne said that IBM has given customers plenty of time to migrate off z/OS 1.4 and 1.5, as the end-of-service announcement was made in August of 2003.
Read the full news report from here @ Search Data Center
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Viador's R1/ReportWizard for IBM Mainframes -- Web-Based Reporting, Charting on IBM z/OS
Viador Announces R1/ReportWizard for IBM Mainframes -- Web-Based, Easy, Open, Secure, Scalable Reporting and Charting Native on IBM z/OS
Press release
SUNNYVALE, CA -- April 02, 2007 -- Viador Inc.™ today announced the release of Viador R1/ReportWizard for IBM™ Mainframes to complement its existing ReportOne Business Intelligence product suite. ReportOne (R1) is a new J2EE-based product line that includes the R1/ReportWizard for SQL reporting and the R1/Analyzer for OLAP analysis. R1/ReportWizard provides reporting capabilities directly from any supported web browser, accessing a variety of relational data sources including IBM DB2™. Executives, business analysts, and other knowledge workers will gain immediate insights into their data, and increased productivity from this new Viador product.
Viador R1/ReportWizard provides true full-function web-based reporting capability, without the need for any extra client-installed or downloaded software (an area of critical security and administration concern to many corporations). With this capability, users are able to easily create data views, interactively analyze them, drill into detail, and produce charts, using any supported web browser. Viador R1/ReportWizard is ideally suited to the needs of IBM mainframe customers, due to its architecture, ease of use, security, and minimal support requirements; it can scale up to support thousands of users with enterprise-class performance. Because it is completely web-based, users can easily share insights they derive with the help of R1/ReportWizard by simply granting another user secure, auditable access to the URL of the report that they are viewing. Unlike many other products, Viador requires no additional software to create or use R1/ReportWizard reports.
R1/ReportWizard is the latest product of Viador's new native J2EE-based complete product suite, running on Windows, UNIX, Linux, and now IBM z/OS. It is built with a zero-footprint DHTML interface, open APIs, and offers a JSR168-compliant portlet to integrate with industry standard portals, such as the IBM WebSphere™ Portal. R1/ReportWizard integrates with numerous IBM products, features, and functions, such as IBM WebSphere, IBM DB2™, IBM z/OS™, IBM RACF™, and IBM zAAP™.
The R1/ReportWizard architecture is fully compliant with all relevant open standards, such as JAAS security and XML. Viador products leverage the strength of J2EE and its rich universe of supporting products; as a result, Viador can offer unmatched scalability and future-compatibility for R1/ReportWizard. Designed for ease of installation, administration, deployment, and use, R1/ReportWizard enables very rapid return on investment (ROI) and low total cost of ownership (TCO).
"We are pleased to offer industry-leading Business Intelligence products to the IBM mainframe community," said Ben Connors, President of Viador. "With Viador R1/ReportWizard, users can have unparalleled ease of use, open architecture, and scalability to securely access IBM DB2 and a variety of data sources. Because it runs natively on the IBM z/OS operating system, users leverage all of the scalability, security, and reliability that IBM mainframes are known for."
"We have helped multiple customers successfully use Viador solutions for secure large-scale deployments, both within their organizations and through the firewall," said Loyal Pridgen, President of IndigeTech in Richmond, VA. "Now that Viador products run natively on IBM mainframes, these deployments can grow to substantial scale."
Availability
Viador R1/ReportWizard is available immediately on a worldwide basis. It is delivered globally both through Viador and through Viador channel partners.
About Viador Inc.
Viador Inc. combines proven experience, technology and partnerships to deliver Business Intelligence for leading businesses and organizations worldwide. Viador offers industry-leading BI development tools for SI/ISV partners and Enterprise customers by providing a platform that is highly customizable, allows the addition of new features on demand, requires zero client maintenance, offers quick and reliable deployment, and the industry's lowest TCO. Viador is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, USA. For more information, contact Viador at (408) 992-6000, Fax (408) 992-6001, email press@viador.com, or visit the Viador website at www.viador.com.
Viador, R1/ReportWizard, and the Viador logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Viador Inc. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.
Media Contact for Viador:
Viador Inc.
(408) 992-6000
SOURCE: Viador
Press release
SUNNYVALE, CA -- April 02, 2007 -- Viador Inc.™ today announced the release of Viador R1/ReportWizard for IBM™ Mainframes to complement its existing ReportOne Business Intelligence product suite. ReportOne (R1) is a new J2EE-based product line that includes the R1/ReportWizard for SQL reporting and the R1/Analyzer for OLAP analysis. R1/ReportWizard provides reporting capabilities directly from any supported web browser, accessing a variety of relational data sources including IBM DB2™. Executives, business analysts, and other knowledge workers will gain immediate insights into their data, and increased productivity from this new Viador product.
Viador R1/ReportWizard provides true full-function web-based reporting capability, without the need for any extra client-installed or downloaded software (an area of critical security and administration concern to many corporations). With this capability, users are able to easily create data views, interactively analyze them, drill into detail, and produce charts, using any supported web browser. Viador R1/ReportWizard is ideally suited to the needs of IBM mainframe customers, due to its architecture, ease of use, security, and minimal support requirements; it can scale up to support thousands of users with enterprise-class performance. Because it is completely web-based, users can easily share insights they derive with the help of R1/ReportWizard by simply granting another user secure, auditable access to the URL of the report that they are viewing. Unlike many other products, Viador requires no additional software to create or use R1/ReportWizard reports.
R1/ReportWizard is the latest product of Viador's new native J2EE-based complete product suite, running on Windows, UNIX, Linux, and now IBM z/OS. It is built with a zero-footprint DHTML interface, open APIs, and offers a JSR168-compliant portlet to integrate with industry standard portals, such as the IBM WebSphere™ Portal. R1/ReportWizard integrates with numerous IBM products, features, and functions, such as IBM WebSphere, IBM DB2™, IBM z/OS™, IBM RACF™, and IBM zAAP™.
The R1/ReportWizard architecture is fully compliant with all relevant open standards, such as JAAS security and XML. Viador products leverage the strength of J2EE and its rich universe of supporting products; as a result, Viador can offer unmatched scalability and future-compatibility for R1/ReportWizard. Designed for ease of installation, administration, deployment, and use, R1/ReportWizard enables very rapid return on investment (ROI) and low total cost of ownership (TCO).
"We are pleased to offer industry-leading Business Intelligence products to the IBM mainframe community," said Ben Connors, President of Viador. "With Viador R1/ReportWizard, users can have unparalleled ease of use, open architecture, and scalability to securely access IBM DB2 and a variety of data sources. Because it runs natively on the IBM z/OS operating system, users leverage all of the scalability, security, and reliability that IBM mainframes are known for."
"We have helped multiple customers successfully use Viador solutions for secure large-scale deployments, both within their organizations and through the firewall," said Loyal Pridgen, President of IndigeTech in Richmond, VA. "Now that Viador products run natively on IBM mainframes, these deployments can grow to substantial scale."
Availability
Viador R1/ReportWizard is available immediately on a worldwide basis. It is delivered globally both through Viador and through Viador channel partners.
About Viador Inc.
Viador Inc. combines proven experience, technology and partnerships to deliver Business Intelligence for leading businesses and organizations worldwide. Viador offers industry-leading BI development tools for SI/ISV partners and Enterprise customers by providing a platform that is highly customizable, allows the addition of new features on demand, requires zero client maintenance, offers quick and reliable deployment, and the industry's lowest TCO. Viador is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, USA. For more information, contact Viador at (408) 992-6000, Fax (408) 992-6001, email press@viador.com, or visit the Viador website at www.viador.com.
Viador, R1/ReportWizard, and the Viador logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Viador Inc. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.
Media Contact for Viador:
Viador Inc.
(408) 992-6000
SOURCE: Viador
Labels: business-intelligence, db2, ibm
Thursday, April 5, 2007
IBM Encourages Customers to Bring BI Back to the Mainframe
IBM Encourages Customers to Bring BI Back to the Mainframe
By Stephen Swoyer, 4/4/2007
IBM is pursuing a number of pricing stratagems to make the mainframe a more affordable proposition on both hardware and software. One such is its zSeries Integrated Information Processor, or zIIP. zIIP is in essence a software license that lets customers host data-intensive workloads often associated with business intelligence (BI) or data warehousing (DW) on z/OS at a substantially reduced cost. IBM hopes with this effort to reverse the exodus from mainframes and to recast the System z as an alternative to distributed Windows, Unix, and Linux systems for BI and DW.
zIIPs were conceived with four primary scenarios in mind: remote JDBC and ODBC access to DB2 on z/OS; BI queries; parallel query processing; and DB2 utilities processing.
Read the full news report from here @ Enterprise Systems
By Stephen Swoyer, 4/4/2007
IBM is pursuing a number of pricing stratagems to make the mainframe a more affordable proposition on both hardware and software. One such is its zSeries Integrated Information Processor, or zIIP. zIIP is in essence a software license that lets customers host data-intensive workloads often associated with business intelligence (BI) or data warehousing (DW) on z/OS at a substantially reduced cost. IBM hopes with this effort to reverse the exodus from mainframes and to recast the System z as an alternative to distributed Windows, Unix, and Linux systems for BI and DW.
zIIPs were conceived with four primary scenarios in mind: remote JDBC and ODBC access to DB2 on z/OS; BI queries; parallel query processing; and DB2 utilities processing.
Read the full news report from here @ Enterprise Systems
Labels: business-intelligence, competition, data-warehouseing, databases, ibm, prices, zos
IBM Opens Up System Z Mainframe To SOAs
IBM Opens Up System Z Mainframe To SOAs
By Antone Gonsalves, InformationWeek, April 5, 2007
IBM is expanding the Z Mainframe server's capabilities by allowing it to process XML documents and their attachments, such as graphic files, that are traveling in a SOAP packet, thus making the System z mainframe friendly to service-oriented architectures.
IBM's strategy for opening up its high-end computing workhorse revolves around the company's CICS (Customer Information Control System) software, which is IBM's transaction server for developing, running, and managing transaction applications on the mainframe.
Read the full news report from here @ Information Week
By Antone Gonsalves, InformationWeek, April 5, 2007
IBM is expanding the Z Mainframe server's capabilities by allowing it to process XML documents and their attachments, such as graphic files, that are traveling in a SOAP packet, thus making the System z mainframe friendly to service-oriented architectures.
IBM's strategy for opening up its high-end computing workhorse revolves around the company's CICS (Customer Information Control System) software, which is IBM's transaction server for developing, running, and managing transaction applications on the mainframe.
Read the full news report from here @ Information Week
Labels: cics, ibm, service-oriented-architecture, xml, zos
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Anchor Software Announces Faster Mainframe Solution
Anchor Software Announces Faster Mainframe Solution in Response to CASS™ Cycle L Requirements Degraded Processing Speed Due to Required Use of DPV™ is Addressed
Press release
Anchor Software, LLC, a leading provider of data processing software for postal processing, data quality, direct marketing and document design, today announced its ability to improve processing speeds in answer to IBM Mainframe performance degradation issues related to CASS Cycle L requirements to run DPV and LACSLink™.
Plano, TX March 23, 2007 -- Anchor Software, LLC, a leading provider of data processing software for postal processing, data quality, direct marketing and document design, today announced its ability to improve processing speeds in answer to IBM Mainframe performance degradation issues related to CASS Cycle L requirements to run DPV and LACSLink™.
Per United States Postal Service® (USPS®) regulations, CASS Certified™ software for Cycle L must be shipped by software vendors prior to May 1, 2007, and must be used by mailers no later than August 1, 2007. With CASS Cycle L, mailers must use DPV and LACSLink to be eligible for postal automation discounts. When processing with DPV, Mainframe users have experienced as much as an 80% speed degradation.
Processing speeds on servers running MS Windows and UNIX operating systems are much faster than most Mainframes. To take advantage of this performance increase while processing on Mainframes, in addition to offering Anchor Software's MaxCASS™ to process strictly on Mainframes, MaxCASS is now available to run in a seamless Distributed Processing environment via TCP/IP connection to any number of remote servers. Using this unique capability, jobs are launched, monitored and completed on the Mainframe platform, but the "matching engine" process is performed on the remote servers. In benchmark tests of this Distributed Processing alternative, results have consistently shown that processing speeds can increase by more than 10 times versus running in a traditional Mainframe environment.
"Concerns of speed and other performance issues related to Cycle L will continue to be a major focus of our commitment to offering the marketplace alternative Mainframe software solutions. That initiative is part of our dedication to improve address quality in consideration of the USPS' mission to reduce Undelivered-As-Addressed (UAA) mail," said Gary Siegel, President of Anchor Software.
MaxCASS, when used in conjunction with its full complement of integrated features (DPV, DSF2™ RDI™, Geographic Coding, LACSLink, NCOALink®, and ANKLink™) helps maintain high quality address lists and achieve the lowest possible postage rates by ensuring addresses are accurate, current and conform to Postal Service™ standards.
About Anchor Software:
Anchor Software, LLC, based in Plano, Texas, is a leading provider of data processing software for the direct marketing industry. For more information, visit the Anchor Software website at www.AnchorComputerSoftware.com.
For licensing information, please call 800-237-1921, or email Sales(at)AnchorComputerSoftware.com.
Anchor Software, LLC is a non-exclusive licensee of the United States Postal Service®. MaxCASS and MaxMover are trademarks owned by Anchor Software. The following trademarks are owned by the United States Postal Service: ANKLink, CASS, CASS Certified, DPV, DSF2 LACSLink, NCOALink, Postal Service, RDI, United States Postal Service and USPS. AD# 4.07.
Press release
Anchor Software, LLC, a leading provider of data processing software for postal processing, data quality, direct marketing and document design, today announced its ability to improve processing speeds in answer to IBM Mainframe performance degradation issues related to CASS Cycle L requirements to run DPV and LACSLink™.
Plano, TX March 23, 2007 -- Anchor Software, LLC, a leading provider of data processing software for postal processing, data quality, direct marketing and document design, today announced its ability to improve processing speeds in answer to IBM Mainframe performance degradation issues related to CASS Cycle L requirements to run DPV and LACSLink™.
Per United States Postal Service® (USPS®) regulations, CASS Certified™ software for Cycle L must be shipped by software vendors prior to May 1, 2007, and must be used by mailers no later than August 1, 2007. With CASS Cycle L, mailers must use DPV and LACSLink to be eligible for postal automation discounts. When processing with DPV, Mainframe users have experienced as much as an 80% speed degradation.
Processing speeds on servers running MS Windows and UNIX operating systems are much faster than most Mainframes. To take advantage of this performance increase while processing on Mainframes, in addition to offering Anchor Software's MaxCASS™ to process strictly on Mainframes, MaxCASS is now available to run in a seamless Distributed Processing environment via TCP/IP connection to any number of remote servers. Using this unique capability, jobs are launched, monitored and completed on the Mainframe platform, but the "matching engine" process is performed on the remote servers. In benchmark tests of this Distributed Processing alternative, results have consistently shown that processing speeds can increase by more than 10 times versus running in a traditional Mainframe environment.
"Concerns of speed and other performance issues related to Cycle L will continue to be a major focus of our commitment to offering the marketplace alternative Mainframe software solutions. That initiative is part of our dedication to improve address quality in consideration of the USPS' mission to reduce Undelivered-As-Addressed (UAA) mail," said Gary Siegel, President of Anchor Software.
MaxCASS, when used in conjunction with its full complement of integrated features (DPV, DSF2™ RDI™, Geographic Coding, LACSLink, NCOALink®, and ANKLink™) helps maintain high quality address lists and achieve the lowest possible postage rates by ensuring addresses are accurate, current and conform to Postal Service™ standards.
About Anchor Software:
Anchor Software, LLC, based in Plano, Texas, is a leading provider of data processing software for the direct marketing industry. For more information, visit the Anchor Software website at www.AnchorComputerSoftware.com.
For licensing information, please call 800-237-1921, or email Sales(at)AnchorComputerSoftware.com.
Anchor Software, LLC is a non-exclusive licensee of the United States Postal Service®. MaxCASS and MaxMover are trademarks owned by Anchor Software. The following trademarks are owned by the United States Postal Service: ANKLink, CASS, CASS Certified, DPV, DSF2 LACSLink, NCOALink, Postal Service, RDI, United States Postal Service and USPS. AD# 4.07.
Labels: efficiency, ibm, speed
Unix is nipping at the mainframe's heels
Unix is nipping at the mainframe's heels
Mar 07, 2007
By Manek Dubash, Techworld
Mainframes seem so last century to many but that hasn't stopped the mainframe division of IBM soldiering on -- and making quite a success of the business, if the company is to be believed. But many potential customers are eschewing big iron, and many existing ones are migrating away from it in favour of cheaper Unix-based platforms.
Read the full news report from here @ Tech World
Mar 07, 2007
By Manek Dubash, Techworld
Mainframes seem so last century to many but that hasn't stopped the mainframe division of IBM soldiering on -- and making quite a success of the business, if the company is to be believed. But many potential customers are eschewing big iron, and many existing ones are migrating away from it in favour of cheaper Unix-based platforms.
Read the full news report from here @ Tech World
Labels: competition, ibm, unix
IBM VSE mainframe operating system gets upgrade
IBM VSE mainframe operating system gets upgrade
By Mark Fontecchio, 21 Mar 2007 | SearchDataCenter.com
IBM has upgraded the VSE mainframe operating system to include storage, security and networking improvements, as well as introduced pricing schemes to lower mainframe software licensing costs.
With z/VSE 4.1, IBM has introduced pricing with a so-called subcapacity measurement tool. Using this, mainframers can pay for the MIPS that they use on z/VSE, rather than being charged for how many total MIPS are on the box. The z/VSE 4.1 is now generally available.
Read the full news report from here @ Tech Target
By Mark Fontecchio, 21 Mar 2007 | SearchDataCenter.com
IBM has upgraded the VSE mainframe operating system to include storage, security and networking improvements, as well as introduced pricing schemes to lower mainframe software licensing costs.
With z/VSE 4.1, IBM has introduced pricing with a so-called subcapacity measurement tool. Using this, mainframers can pay for the MIPS that they use on z/VSE, rather than being charged for how many total MIPS are on the box. The z/VSE 4.1 is now generally available.
Read the full news report from here @ Tech Target
Labels: ibm, networking, prices, security, storage, vse
Keeping the mainframe alive - IBM on the move
Keeping the mainframe alive
By Aaron Tan, ZDNet Asia, March 06 2007
IBM's long-standing mainframe has come under siege from cheaper rivals that provide similar levels of reliability, but Big Blue is sparing no effort to ensure the platform stays relevant.
Rajnish Arora, research director of enterprise servers and workstations research at IDC Asia-Pacific, noted that the mainframe has come under "competitive threat" from Unix because of improving scalability and virtualization technologies that are now available at a lower cost.
The IDC analyst, however, noted that IBM has not been standing still.
Read the full news report from here @ ZD Net Asia
By Aaron Tan, ZDNet Asia, March 06 2007
IBM's long-standing mainframe has come under siege from cheaper rivals that provide similar levels of reliability, but Big Blue is sparing no effort to ensure the platform stays relevant.
Rajnish Arora, research director of enterprise servers and workstations research at IDC Asia-Pacific, noted that the mainframe has come under "competitive threat" from Unix because of improving scalability and virtualization technologies that are now available at a lower cost.
The IDC analyst, however, noted that IBM has not been standing still.
Read the full news report from here @ ZD Net Asia
Labels: competition, ibm, scalability
IBM touts mainframes to India, Russia & China
IBM touts mainframes to India, Russia & China
By Bryan Betts, Channel Register, UK - 10 Mar 2007
IBM is trying to sell mainframes to companies in India, Russia and China, promoting them as ways to reduce power and cooling costs. It said that the power grid in places such as Mumbai is strained from severe server sprawl, especially of Windows servers...
Big Blue claimed that moving parts of its System z mainframe development to labs in these three countries has given it a greater insight into the needs of companies in emerging markets.
Read the full news report from here @ Channel Register, Uk
By Bryan Betts, Channel Register, UK - 10 Mar 2007
IBM is trying to sell mainframes to companies in India, Russia and China, promoting them as ways to reduce power and cooling costs. It said that the power grid in places such as Mumbai is strained from severe server sprawl, especially of Windows servers...
Big Blue claimed that moving parts of its System z mainframe development to labs in these three countries has given it a greater insight into the needs of companies in emerging markets.
Read the full news report from here @ Channel Register, Uk
Labels: china, efficiency, ibm, india, mainframes, russia
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]