Sunday 17 March 2024

Making life easier for new mainframers

The big news is that IBM has launched the Mainframe Skills Council, and they did it at the SHARE conference in Orlando. So, I hear you ask, what’s a skills council? The idea is to provide a forum where global organizations will foster a skilled, diverse, sustainable workforce for the mainframe platform. The council includes organizations that are IBM clients, IBM partners, academia, user groups, non-profits, and open communities. They will collaborate to implement mainframe skills development solutions. The initial membership includes: Academic Mainframe Consortium, Albany State University, Broadcom, DNB Bank, HOGENT, M&T Bank, Northern Illinois University, Rocket Software, SHARE, and 21CS.

Meredith Stowell, Vice President, IBM Z Ecosystem, is quoted as saying: “The mainframe community has been working to close the mainframe generational skills gap and we’ve seen substantial progress. The Mainframe Skills Council represents an exciting opportunity to build on these advancements and ignite the community to share experiences and create mainframe talent solutions that can grow with the platform.”

In addition to IBM offering training, industry-recognized digital badging, academic community support, and non-traditional pathway programs, the broader IBM Z global community of universities, clients, user groups, and partners also provide mainframe skills solutions and insights. The Mainframe Skills Council brings together organizations to share experiences and collaboratively implement solutions to build a strong global workforce for the mainframe platform. Importantly, the council will include working groups focused on career awareness, competency frameworks, learning paths, as well as professional development. Council goals include:

·        Showcase a vibrant mainframe talent pool.

·        Align on common industry competency frameworks.

·        Share ideas and practices to enhance professional development.

·        Share education, training tools, and related resources to optimize overall mainframe career experience for professionals and leaders.

·        Increase mainframe employer adoption of proven skill initiatives and practices.

IBM is also introducing the IBM Z Mainframe Skills Depot, which is a comprehensive platform for accessing mainframe skills training. Learners can choose from specialized tracks tailored to roles such as System Administrator, Application Developer, or Modernization Architect, and access over a thousand hours of self-paced, no-charge, hands-on learning to earn industry-recognized digital badges.

IBM currently offers the IBM Z Global Skills Accelerator and Apprenticeship program. With over 300 hours of learning, success coaching, on the job training, and mentorship, this program has enabled 83 global employers to skill up over 440 mainframe system administrators and application developers across 13 countries. In addition, the IBM Z Student Ambassador program provides leadership opportunities for students and supports mainframe student clubs on campuses at more than 95 universities worldwide.

In order for those talented newcomers to the world of mainframes to get jobs, IBM sponsors IBM Z Virtual Career Fairs around the world to bring together IBM clients, partners, and badged mainframe talent.

With the increasing concern about experienced mainframers retiring and the huge skills gap this will leave for so many organizations, this initiative from IBM and its collaborators is an important step in filling that gap and ensuring a steady stream of newcomers to the wonderful world of mainframe working. And it really will make life easier for those potential new mainframers.

Sunday 18 February 2024

Small, cheap, and powerful!

The birth of a new baby is always exciting, and on 6 February, IBM announced a new mainframe. It’s the IBM LinuxOne 4 Express, so it’s using Linux as its operating system rather than z/OS, and inside the pre-configured rack system is a 5.2GHz Telum processor – the same as runs in the Z16 mainframes.

All those sites that are running multiple Linux servers with multiple staff looking after them, might want to think again about what they are doing because, as I said, the new mainframe isn’t some massive box that needs lots of floor space to house, it’s rack-mounted. And the cost of one of these small but powerful boxes starts at $135,000, which is a very reasonable price in the world of mainframes.

And for those sites that are currently running multiple Linux boxes, IBM is suggesting that moving their Linux workloads from x86 servers to an IBM LinuxONE 4 Express box can save them over 52% on their total cost of ownership over five years. Consolidating the workloads on the new mainframe and off distributed systems gives users the benefits of a highly reliable environment with very small amounts of downtime. It also helps customers to simplify their IT environments. Customers also gain the ability to process large amounts of data using the two levels of physical and two levels of virtual cache, and it does that in an energy-efficient way.

The new mainframe can support hybrid cloud working and sites ramping up their AI usage. It also comes with mainframe-level security. It comes with up to 16 Integrated Facility for Linux (IFL) cores, and supports up to 864GB of memory. Of course, the Telum chips provide on-chip AI acceleration, which provides in-transaction inferencing needed for fraud detection, medical imaging, and insurance claims processing. For example, health insurance companies could analyse large volumes of medical records in near real time to validate process claims, increasing the speed of business decision making.

In terms of security, the IBM LinuxOne 4 Express comes with the IBM Secure Execution for Linux capability – a hardware-based security technology that is now built into IBM LinuxONE 4 Express. This scalable isolation protects workload data within virtual machine guests from unauthorized access or modification. In multi-workload environments where data in use could be vulnerable to insider attacks or credential compromise, this is definitely a must-have. And, obviously the workloads are protected from external attacks.

In these days when costs and security can mean the difference between a company staying in business or disappearing from the marketplace, the new IBM LinuxOne 4 Express gives small and medium-sized organizations a good option to choose. Hybrid cloud working is what most companies are doing or working towards, the new machine can handle that. Making greater use of generative and other AI modes of working is similarly on everyone’s radar these days. The new box can do that too. And it has mainframe security levels at its core. So, that means choosing the new box offers future facilities and security. In terms of cost, moving from any number of Linux boxes to a single centralized box will, as mentioned above, realize cost savings for a company. It will also give them better insight into what exactly is going on. Although the cost may seem steep to people unused to mainframe environments, taking a slightly longer look at the accounts should definitely lead to cost savings for any organization.

The IBM LinuxOne 4 Express is an exciting and interesting step for IBM to bring in new customers that previously might have ignored the mainframe world completely and believed the old myths about dinosaurs etc. It's small, it's cheap (relatively), and it's powerful, and I wish it every success.

The new IBM LinuxONE 4 Express will be generally available from IBM and certified business partners on 20 February.

Sunday 4 February 2024

20 years of iTech-Ed Ltd

2024 is a bit of a special year here at iTech-Ed Ltd. It was our 20th anniversary on 1 February. I thought you might be interested in some of the changes that have taken place in that time.

Before we set up iTech-Ed Ltd, I had worked for Xephon for 18 years. Xephon ran briefings on mainframe topics, ran surveys on mainframe topics, and created user guides to things like databases. In 1986, they decided to try a small publication by CICS professionals for CICS professionals. They called it CICS Update. It sold very well – remember there was no Google or Internet in those days, and it was difficult to easily get your hands on working bits of code and alternative solutions to common problems. VM Update followed in 1987, and then a whole range of mainframe-based publications. I was there at the very beginning and over the next 18 years edited most of them.

In 2004, Xephon sold the name and the publications to TCI publications. We set up iTech-Ed Ltd, and we got the contract to edit around five or six of these Updates each month. My first activity, at one minute after midnight on 1 February 2004, was to upload the new issues to the Web site.

Over the next three and half years, iTech-Ed was responsible for encouraging technical people to write articles, editing and checking them to produce each edition every month, paying contributors, and sending the publications to the printers and putting them on the Web site. A small team of experts checked the text for punctuation and grammar as well as technical accuracy.

At the same time, iTech-Ed was carrying out consultancy work and producing technical documentation that was used in-house by a number of well-known companies. And we also started blogging at Mainframe Update using Blogger and Mainframe World on IT Toolbox.

Towards the end of 2007, the Updates ceased publication, and the very first Virtual IMS user group meeting was held using Webex. The user group was immediately very popular and was sponsored by NEON Enterprise Software. That year also saw a growth in number of companies using our Web design and development services.

In 2008 the company took its first steps in offering advice on social media and how organizations could use it both to get their message out there and also to interact with customers in a positive way. I also qualified as a Microsoft Office Specialist Master Instructor – MOS MI – and ran a number of on-site training courses. And in 2010 I attended Microsoft SharePoint Administrator and Developer training.

iTech-Ed Ltd also started publishing the Arcati Mainframe Yearbook – the de facto reference work for mainframers. In 2024, Planet Mainframe took over the production and publication of the Yearbook, and the current edition is available here.

I was first made an IBM Champion in 2009 and have been a champion every year since. I have had numerous articles published in a variety of Web-based and printed publications, such as Enterprise Tech Journal, zJournal, Mainframe Executive, Technical Support, and others. I started blogging regularly on Destination z in July 2011, and now writes for TechChannel. He has also been a regular writer Planet Mainframe.

In 2011, Fundi Software took over as sponsor of the Virtual IMS user group and we then launched the Virtual CICS user group. Both of them enjoy regular meetings and newsletters and have over 600 members. In 2023, the Virtual Db2 user group was launched. I chaired and organized all three of these user groups until Planet Mainframe took over most of the heavy lifting.

Over recent years, we’ve published guest blogs, I’ve ghost written blogs for many other blog sites, and I’ve written articles for other sites including Experfy and the AIOps on IBM Z site. I also wrote for Spiceworks (which was Toolbox) for a number of years. And I’ve created podcasts for a number of different companies.

I’ve spoken at the Guide Share Europe (GSE) UK conference for a number of years, speaking about mainframe security and, more recently, artificial intelligence (AI). I’ve been awarded the IBM Z and LinuxOne Influencer badge over the past few years.

So, here we are – 2024. 20 years in business. If you want to get in contact with us, our website is itech-ed.com or you can email mailto:trevor@itech-ed.com. You can Like us on Facebook at fb.com/itech-ed, follow me on Twitter at @t_eddolls or Instagram at @t_eddolls, and Threads @t_eddolls. You can also connect on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/teddolls.

 

Sunday 21 January 2024

Trevor Eddolls – IBM Champion 2024

iTech-Ed Ltd is pleased to announce that Trevor Eddolls, its CEO, has been recognized by IBM as an IBM Champion for 2024. Trevor was first awarded IBM Champion status in 2009.


 

IBM said: “On behalf of IBM, it is my great pleasure to recognize you as a returning IBM Champion in 2024. Congratulations!

“We would like to thank you for your continued leadership and contributions to the IBM technology community. This recognition is awarded based on your contributions for the 2023 calendar year. The IBM Champion designation is for a 1-year term, and may be renewed by IBM annually, provided you demonstrate continued community engagement and contributions. Your IBM Champion status begins now and will run through December 2024.

Trevor Eddolls, CEO of iTech-Ed Ltd said: “I think it's really important in these days of multiple computing platforms being available that people share information with others about the positive contributions mainframes make to the world of IT. And I'm proud that my efforts have been recognized again this year by IBM. I think the Champion programme is a very positive way for IBM to recognize people around the world who help to promote its products and share their skills in using them."

According to IBM: “The IBM Champion program recognizes these innovative thought leaders in the technical community and rewards these contributions by amplifying their voice and increasing their sphere of influence. IBM Champions are enthusiasts and advocates: IT professionals, business leaders, developers, executives, educators, and influencers who support and mentor others to help them get the most out of IBM software, solutions, and services.”

So why is iTech-Ed Ltd’s Trevor Eddolls an IBM Champion? Well, he doesn’t work for IBM, but he does write about mainframe hardware and software. You can read his articles here. He also writes articles for the TechChannel website, and often blogs on the Planet Mainframe website. Trevor has spoken at the GSE UK regional conference for the past few years. In 2023, he was talking about the brain, intelligence, ad AI. He has been Editorial Director for the well-respected Arcati Mainframe Yearbook. And Trevor Eddolls was the chair of the Virtual IMS, the Virtual CICS, and the Virtual Db2 user groups. Their new website can be found at virtualusergroups.com. And this work has earned Trevor Eddolls the IBM Champion accolade for the past sixteen years.

Are IBM Champions compensated for their role? No. Do IBM Champions have any obligations to IBM? Again, the answer is no. The title recognizes their past contributions to the community only over the previous 12 months. Do IBM Champions have any formal relationship with IBM? No. IBM Champions don’t formally represent IBM, nor do they speak on behalf of IBM.

But it’s not all one-sided! There are regular IBM Champions calls, where IBM and Champions share relevant information on a range of topics. IBM Champions also receive merchandise customized with the IBM Champion logo. And IBM Champions receive visibility, recognition, and networking opportunities at IBM events and conferences; and special access to product development teams, and invitations and discounts to events and conference.

You can find more information about the Trevor and his work on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

You can find out more about iTech-Ed here.

 

Sunday 14 January 2024

iTech-Ed Ltd and Planet Mainframe merge mainframe channels

iTech-Ed Ltd and Planet Mainframe are thrilled to announce a transformative merger, consolidating their assets to propel mainframe education and community support to new heights. 

This strategic integration is the realization of the two companies’ recent marketing partnership that demonstrated such an amazing synergy of goal and purpose that the natural evolution was to take it to the next level and provide a more comprehensive and strategic integration of these mainframe channels with Planet Mainframe taking the lead where appropriate.

From now on, iTech-Ed Ltd’s three user groups – the Virtual CICS user group, the Virtual Db2 user group, and the Virtual IMS user group – will continue to champion the promotion and amplification of educational resources and tools tailored for CICS, Db2, and IMS users while now being hosted on their own unique website (www.virtualusergroups.com) and benefiting from the linkage to, and expanded visibility from, Planet Mainframe. 

iTech-Ed Ltd’s Arcati Mainframe Yearbook and well-known and respected annual Mainframe Survey will also now be hosted on the Planet Mainframe site at www.planetmainframe.com – benefiting from the significant exposure the online publication receives every single month.

The CICS, Db2, and IMS user groups and the Yearbook stand as vibrant communities and assets by, and for, mainframe professionals committed to knowledge sharing and best practices within each specific mainframe technology or about the mainframe in general. Through their surveys, webinars, training sessions, and networking events, they have become an environment where members can remain at the forefront of industry developments and explore interconnected mainframe technologies.

Planet Mainframe, recognized as the premier online resource for mainframe professionals, offers a rich repository of articles, tutorials, opinion pieces, and other educational materials designed to keep users abreast of the latest trends and technologies in the industry. The platform serves as a dynamic forum for global networking and collaboration among mainframe professionals.

Amanda Hendley, Managing Editor of Planet Mainframe, expressed enthusiasm about the merger: “We are very excited to elevate mainframe education and community support for the industry with this merger.  Our shared goals have converged in a way that amplifies the impact of our combined assets. Together, we will provide users with more opportunities to access the tools and resources needed to stay abreast of the latest developments in this dynamic field.”

Trevor Eddolls, CEO of iTech-Ed Ltd and an IBM Champion for 2024, highlighted the significance of the merger: “This news represents a substantial step in our ongoing efforts to support the CICS, Db2, and IMS communities as well as mainframe education in general. We look forward to providing an even more enriched community containing a pool of valuable resources and opportunities for our members under the respected stewardship of Planet Mainframe.”

About iTech-Ed Ltd. iTech-Ed Ltd is a mainframe IT consultancy business specializing in consulting, writing, and editing services. In addition to running the Virtual CICS user group, the Virtual Db2 user group, and the Virtual IMS user group. It also produces their respective bi-monthly newsletters, iTech-Ed Ltd. also produces the annual Arcati Mainframe Yearbook and provides the industry with technical education and training services.

About Planet Mainframe. Planet Mainframe is a leading online resource for mainframe professionals, offering a wide range of articles, tutorials, and other resources to help users stay current on the latest trends and technologies. The platform also provides a forum for networking and collaboration among mainframe professionals worldwide. 

 

Sunday 7 January 2024

2023 at iTech-Ed Ltd

As usual at this time of year, I thought I’d take a look at the previous year, with the spotlight on what was happening at iTech-Ed Ltd.

The exciting news in January was that Trevor Eddolls, CEO of iTech-Ed Ltd, was recognized by IBM as a 2023 IBM Champion. IBM said: “On behalf of IBM, it is my great pleasure to recognize you as a returning IBM Champion in 2023. Congratulations! We would like to thank you for your continued leadership and contributions to the IBM technology community. This recognition is awarded based on your contributions for the 2022 calendar year.”

On 10 January, the Virtual CICS user group had a fact-packed presentation from Todd Havekost, Senior z/OS Performance Consultant at IntelliMagic. He was discussing, “New Ways to Analyze CICS Transaction and Statistics Data”.

On 17 January, the Virtual Db2 user group enjoyed a really interesting presentation from Craig S Mullins, President & Principal Consultant at Mullins Consulting Inc. He was discussing “Understanding Your Rolling 4 Hour Average to Tune Db2 and Lower Mainframe Costs”.

In addition, Trevor’s article, “Mainframe, Security and More: A Review of 2022 and a Look at 2023”, was published on the TechChannel website in January.

Also, January saw the publication of the always popular Arcati Mainframe Yearbook 2023. You can download a copy here – it’s FREE. Last year’s edition was downloaded around 21,000 times during the course of the year, and Trevor is Editorial Director for this highly-respected annual source of mainframe information.

On 7 February, the Virtual IMS user group had a fascinating presentation from Scott Quillicy, Senior Director for Precisely. He was discussing, “Lessons Learned – IMS Application Modernization to the Cloud”.

At the beginning of March, Trevor’s article, “How Successful is Zowe?”, was published on the Open Mainframe Project website.

On 7 March, there was an in-depth presentation to the Virtual CICS user group from Larry Strickland, Chief Product Officer at DataKinetics, who was discussing, “Making the case for developers to use In-Memory tables”.

Also in March, Trevor’s article, “All You Need To Know About Mainframes”, was published on the Planet Mainframe website.

On 28 March, the Virtual Db2 user group enjoyed an informative and entertaining presentation today from BMC Software’s Chad Reiber, Principal Software Consultant. He was discussing “Db2 z/OS Recovery – How Best Practices Have Changed to Address New Threats”.

Dusty Rivers, Senior Director, US Systems Z at Mainline Information Systems, was on top form on 18 April, when he presented to the Virtual IMS user group. He was discussing, “Mainframe Systems (IMS, CICS, etc) As Clients in the New World”.

Colin Pearce gave a great technical nitty-gritty presentation to the Virtual CICS user group on 9 May. He was discussing “How to define CICS Maintained Data Tables to the Coupling Facility Resource Manager”.

On 23 May, Tori Felt, Associate Technical Enablement Specialist in the IBM Z Washington Systems Center, and Keziah Knopp, Db2 for z/OS Specialist at the IBM Z Washington Systems Center, were discussing “Db2 for z/OS and REST Services” with the Virtual Db2 user group.

Also in May, Trevor’s article, “Looking Out for the Well-Being of Mainframers”, was published on the TechChannel website. And his article “Explaining Mainframe Pricing to the Cloud Guys” was published on the Planet Mainframe website.

Lastly, in May, Trevor Eddolls was awarded an IBM Z and LinuxONE Community Contributor - 2023 (Level 1) badge, an IBM Z and LinuxONE Community Advocate - 2023 (Level 2) badge, and an IBM Z and LinuxONE Community Influencer - 2023 (Level 3) badge. It says, “The IBM Z and LinuxONE Community Influencer badge earner is an active and passionate member of the IBM Z and LinuxONE Community. They are a thought leader and viewed as a technical expert by their peers. This individual contributes to the community regularly.”

On 13 June, James Martin, Senior Solutions Advisor, Rocket Software was discussing “Simplifying IMS performance problem identification and determination” with the Virtual IMS user group.

Also in June, Trevor’s article, “Defining Data Security Posture Management”, was published on the TechChannel website.

In July, Trevor’s article, “Top API Security Risks in 2023”, was published on the TechChannel website.

On 11 July, Ezriel Gross, Principal Solutions Advisor, Rocket Software, was discussing "Problem Analysis and Performance Tuning for CICS" with the Virtual CICS user group. And on 18 July, Susan Lawson, Db2 z/OS Specialist, YL&A, was discussing “Db2 12+ and 13 for z/OS Database Design and Application Performance: Features and Usage” with the Virtual Db2 user group.

On 8 August, Tracy Dean, Product Manager, IMS Tools and z/VM Tools, IBM, was discussing “What does IBM Z Cyber Vault mean for an IMS environment” with the Virtual IMS user group.

Also in August, Trevor’s article, “Mainframe Security in the Age of AI”, was published on the TechChannel website. And his article “The problem of orphaned data”, was published on the Planet Mainframe website.

At the Virtual CICS user group meeting, on 12 September, James Alexander, Software Engineer, Broadcom, discussed “Using CICS Artifacts to Build Web Service APIs”. On the 26th, Leila Hosseini, Senior DBA for Db2 on z/OS, discussed “Db2 Level Up” with the Virtual Db2 user group.

Also in September, Trevor’s article, “An Early Warning System for Ransom Attacks and Mainframe Breaches”, was published on the TechChannel website.

In October, Trevor’s article “Mainframe security—Early Warning needed to beat back hackers”, was published on the Planet Mainframe website, and his article, “The Complete Beginners’ Guide to Hacking a Mainframe”, was published on the TechChannel website.

On 10 October, Stan Muse, Consulting Services Account Manager, Edge Solutions and Consulting, was discussing “System z (Mainframe) as the Enterprise Information Server” with the Virtual IMS user group.

Trevor started November by speaking to the new AI stream at the GSE conference in the UK. His presentation was called “A look at human intelligence and how the human brain works”, and looked at the hardware (the brain) and ideas in psychology about what intelligence was, This was intended to give a greater understanding of what artificial intelligence was trying to emulate.

Also in November, Trevor’s article, “The Value of Open-Source Software on the Mainframe”, was published on the TechChannel website.

On 14 November, Andy Wright, IBM Master Inventor, discussed CICS and recovery with the Virtual CICS user group. Then, on the 21st, Todd Havekost, Senior z/OS Performance Consultant at IntelliMagic, discussed “Gaining Insights from Db2 Statistics and Accounting Data” with the Virtual Db2 user group.

At the start of December, Trevor’s article, “More on Mainframes and Open-Source Tools”, was published on the TechChannel website.

In December, Trevor Eddolls was awarded a GSE-UK23 speaker badge. They said: “As a speaker at "Where Technology and Talent meet Tomorrow", you showcased profound expertise and in-depth knowledge. Your engaging presentation style and ability to foster interactive discussions left a lasting impression on the participants, making your session a valuable and enriching experience to our conference.”

The Virtual IMS user group met on 12 December, when Santosh Dorge, Lead Product Developer, BMC Software, discussed “IMS Connect Reimagined: Leveraging SQL to Access IMS Data in Today's Digital Ecosystem”

Looking forward to this year, the Arcati Mainframe Yearbook 2024 will be published in January. The Virtual IMS, Virtual CICS, and Virtual Db2 user groups will continue to meet six times a year. We’re very grateful to the synergy that has developed over the past year with Planet Mainframe, and the fact that they have handled much of the heavy lifting recently. And look forward to working more closely with them in the future.

 

 

 

Sunday 10 December 2023

GSE Conference – what I learned on Wednesday

Last time, I was talking about the sessions I attended on the Tuesday at the excellent GSE UK Conference in the first week of November. This time, I want to tell you what I learned from the sessions I attended on the Wednesday.

At the 10:15 session, I was speaking in the AI stream, looking at the brain and what we mean by ordinary intelligence, before people start talking about artificial intelligence. The session was well-received, and I was asked to give it again at lunch time to some people who were unable to attend.

After the coffee break, I saw IBM’s Lih M Wang’s presentation entitled, “AI for IT Resiliency Use Cases”. She started by suggesting that we are in a new era of computing. The challenges facing IT Operations include:

  • Digital transformation with exponential business growth / cost. There are billions of transactions per day with unpredictable resource demands. And there are millions of Log and SMF records per day, but which indicators shouldn’t be missed?
  • Complexity of business applications across hybrid cloud. There are multiple components across platforms making it difficult to isolate problems. And there’s the impact of any changes, eg hardware / software / application changes.
  • Knowledge and skills gap for IBM zSystems. There’s limited cross-domain SME compared with number of systems managed. Plus, people need to know about the topology, inter-relationships, and dependencies.

Lih said that customers are asking: “Can AI-ML help?” They are looking for early warnings or sick symptoms. They also need to identify anomalous behaviour. Anomaly Analytics on IBM zSystems can: transform unstructured (SYSLOG) data into insights; turn performance metric (SMF) data into operational dashboards; and accelerate problem prevention by leveraging Machine Learning. IBM’s maxim is: Proactive, Prevent, Optimize.

Lih explained the difference between threshold monitoring and a Machine Learning (ML) baseline model. Basically, threshold monitoring is static, whereas ML can recognize what’s significant at much lower levels of activity. Using IBM Z Anomaly Analytics with Watson (ZAA), Machine Learning, and Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW), data can be collected. Then, running typical workloads, the model can be trained. Thirdly, it can be scored by comparing models of expected behaviour with metrics. Visualization of the metrics shows how well the model runs on its own. Lih then showed how this worked with various scorecards for CICS, Db2, IMS, and MQ. Using colours, it becomes very easy to see where anomalies are occurring.

Real-time insights mean that the system will generate events when specified metrics exceed an anomaly threshold. Events will be shown in the main Problem Insights panel along with other events such as key single message events. Customer can select which of the KPIs to monitor for events and the threshold to use. Events can be forwarded to event monitors such as Watson AIOps. Selecting the Evidence column will take you to the scorecard with that KPI and time period open. Lih went on to give some customer examples.

I wanted to see BMC Software's Dave McCain's presentation called, "How can we use AI and user behaviour for better security monitoring". Unfortunately, I had a meeting. I hope to catch it another time.

The last AI stream session of the day was IBM Champion’s Henri Kuiper’s Jeopardy game. Jeopardy is a game that gives you the answer and you have to come up with the right question. For example, “This British mathematician and computer scientist is often considered the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence. The answer is Alan Turing. Or, how about, “The 1956 workshop held at Dartmouth College which is often considered the birth of AI as a field”. The answer is, “What is the Dartmouth Workshop?”. Try this one, “This type of Machine Learning algorithm is inspired by the structure and function of the human brain and is used for tasks like image and speech recognition”. The answer is, “What is a neural network?”

There were other questions about unsupervised learning, GPT3, transfer learning, OpenAI, and so much more about AI and its history.

All-in-all, the GSE conference provided great education, brilliant company, and isn’t to be missed. I heartily recommend it to everyone who has an interest in mainframes. See you at the next one!