Feature article - Web-savvy integration of the On Demand model
Companies can do business faster and cheaper when leveraging information technology (IT) to automate their business processes. These IT systems each offer discrete services or functionality of particular business value; however, in order for other internal or external systems to have access to these services, the respective systems first need to be integrated.

Feature article - Anatomy Lesson: Building an on demand business layer by layer
Remember those biology class anatomy books with the clear overlays? The construction of a successful On Demand Business can be thought of in much the same way — no single component completes the picture.

Demo - Register to download the WebSphere Mettle Test
The Mettle Test is an evolving set of scripted demo scenarios that demonstrate single and multi-system workload management in the z/OS environment. The demo shows how qualities of service can be maintained in the execution of WebSphere workloads on systems under stress, via autonomic behaviour. The current demo contains two self-optimising scenarios and provides information on pertinent zSeries z/OS technologies. The system models a mid-size production environment containing a mix of WebSphere, CICS®, DB2® and batch workloads. The Flash demo featured here makes it possible for a user to step through workload balancing test results without having to be attached to the live system.

Analyst opinion - ebizQ White Paper - IBM WebSphere Business Integration
This white paper defines business integration, its critical role in business today, and introduces IBM's WebSphere Business Integration platform, which strives to align IT with business strategy and deliver measurable, accountable ROI.

Analyst opinion - Addressing core Web application infrastructure requirements
In today's fast-paced, competitive environment, greater developer productivity and quicker time-to-market for new applications can enhance competitive advantage. The ability to rapidly change existing applications directly impacts business profit margins if valuable lead time is either gained or lost. Find out why independent analysts D.H. Brown and Redmonk believe IBM, with its WebSphere® Application Server family, is one of the leading vendors helping organisations address their core Web application infrastructure requirements.

Analyst opinion - Application Transformation, DH Brown
This report reflects the opinion of many users about their integration pain points and opportunities to improve business processes. IBM is one leading vendor with a wealth of experience, offering a suite of tools to enable businesses to capture these enterprise transformation opportunities.

Executive brief - CBDI Report - Service-oriented architecture: An introduction for managers
An executive briefing on the value proposition for Service Oriented Architecture and Web Services, and strategies for adoption.

Analyst opinion - "Optimising Infrastructure and Application Performance"
When users complain of poor enterprise application performance, it can take several days to isolate the problem. Your monitors show multiple alerts, but do not pinpoint where the problem is. Without a complete picture of your IBM zSeries environment, you can waste valuable time searching in the wrong places. To find out how end-to-end application performance management can give you a global view, read "Optimizing Infrastructure and Application Performance."

Technical article - Integrating WebSphere Applications with IBM Tivoli Enterprise Console or IBM NetView for z/OS for Event Management
IBM WebSphere Application Server provides a cross-platform foundation to support J2EE applications running across the enterprise. Several IBM products can monitor WebSphere and generate events on defined conditions; however, there are times when event generation from within the application code is desired. For this purpose, IBM provides the Event Integration Facility (EIF), to allow events to be sent from custom applications to IBM Tivoli® Enterprise Console or IBM NetView® for z/OS.

Whitepaper - ITIL: The most widely recognised approach to effective IT service management
What if the science of management could be applied to information technology? What if IT departments could create and deliver IT services to business users in a controlled and disciplined way? What if IT service management could be better aligned with business needs? That is the premise of a highly popular, process-based methodology called "IT Infrastructure Library" or "ITIL."

Webcasts - Lower the total cost of ownership while boosting performance, availability and efficiency
Improved infrastructure management. Better information exchange. Faster application development and deployment. More efficient operations for your extended zSeries environment. IBM zSeries software Webcasts cover these topics and more in information-packed sessions designed for time-crunched IT professionals like you. Learn how IBM products and services can help you keep pace with market and customer demands — and still keep costs in line.

Webcasts - OMEGAMON XE for CICS
OMEGAMON XE for CICS provides robust online monitoring capabilities to keep your CICS systems running at peak performance. CICS Performance Analyser offers in-depth offline analysis to give you a detailed view of CICS application performance – including system resource usage, cross-system performance, transaction resource usage and external subsystems used by CICS applications. The synergy of these products provides you with a complete solution for CICS performance management. Join Peter Siddell to hear how the powerful combination of OMEGAMON XE for CICS and CICS Performance Analyser can help you maximise and fine-tune CICS performance using a blend of real-time and historical trend analysis, performance tuning and capacity planning.

Pick a topic, log in and register at http://www.ibm.com/software/zseries/webcasts. On demand learning, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It's just another way IBM helps you maximise the power of your zSeries environment.

• Learn what the Candle Corporation acquisition means for zSeries: Automated infrastructure management to enable On Demand Business
• Migrate to DB2 Universal Database for z/OS Version 8: Assessing ROI from enhanced availability, scalability and security
• Creating new business value with a next-generation development environment: IBM WebSphere and tools for eServer zSeries
• Anticipating and preventing the perils and consequences of runtime, production problems using development tools from IBM
• IMS Version 9 and enhanced tools integrate and Web-enable your database for On Demand Business
• Optimising a mixed workload environment: New and enhanced CICS Tools for z/OS

Visit http://www.ibm.com/software/zseries/webcasts anytime to find out how to attend these sessions live or view the replay from the archives.

Successful IBM tools migrations: 10,000 and counting
If you're concerned about the high cost of mainframe tools upgrades and expansions, you can be sure that IBM offers the skills, experience and expertise to assess your needs, guide you through various alternatives and provide you with assistance to ensure successful migration.

Customer testimonial - Breaking up isn't hard to do: EBSCO leaves its software vendor and hooks up with IBM
EBSCO's John Fitts, General Manager and VP of Information Systems and Services, and David Wyatt, Manager of Technical Support talk about how they teamed with IBM to help the company moved forward with the hardware upgrade and replace its existing ISV software with 14 IBM software products.

Mainframe total cost of ownership software tools assessment
Are your third-party tools' costs too high? Looking for a functionally-rich, affordable alternative? IBM zSeries tools allow you to continue to make the most of your mainframe, and keep total cost of ownership (TCO) woes under control. Explore an affordable alternative to third-party tools with on-par functionality and day one availability to support your mission-critical middleware and applications.

White Paper- DB2 for z/OS Version 8 - Driving Business Value
Looking at DB2 in a whole new way — measuring business value and impact on the bottom-line is at the forefront of every executive's mind. Upgrading mainframe software isn't the same game anymore. IT managers need to make judgments and prioritise spending, so finding the value in the upgrade, and not just the technology updates is critical. DB2 V8 brings both bangs and whistles and hard-core economic sense. This white paper examines the business case for the upgrade from Version 7, including a generic Return On Investment (ROI) model that can be easily adapted to most customers specific circumstances. Find out today.

Customer Testimonial- AFLAC migrates data to scalable, open standards-based DB2
To keep productivity rising, AFLAC needed to replace its legacy database with a standardised, open infrastructure featuring components that could be easily integrated across multiple vendors' platforms and different applications. AFLAC is now in a better position to integrate its enterprise systems with its billing database and make many of its business processes from enrolment to claims settlement faster and more efficient. A major goal within their IT organisation is to keep up with growth while providing access to real-time data. Read the complete reference.

Webcast - Maximise Performance of IMS in a Parallel Sysplex Environment

Webcast - Information Management Tools Update: What's new in DB2 and IMS Tools for zSeries
Autonomic computing is a hot topic in IT circles these days, and for good reason. Technology that automatically detects and remedies problems is a tantalising prospect. Discover how IBM tools for DB2 Universal Database and IMS software employ autonomic computing capabilities to help you build and maintain a successful On Demand Business environment. Get the facts from Dan Wardman, Director for DB2 and IMS Tools, Silicon Valley Lab, San Jose, California.

Article - Autonomic IMS and IMS Tools
A critical element of On Demand Business is autonomic computing — that is, the ability for IT systems to tune themselves, manage complexity, adapt to unpredictable conditions and prevent failures. Autonomic computing is not an all-or-nothing concept. Many tools in the Basic and Managed levels will realise their ultimate potential in the autonomic computing evolution. For example, the IBM IMS Buffer Pool Analyser: it analyses buffer usage information and makes recommendations for Level 4 buffer pool tuning. How will it become more autonomic? By taking actions versus merely giving recommendations to the DBA.

Feature article - PRA leads to $20M USD savings for BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee
Although BlueCross uses the best platform for each business process, the mainframe has been the core of its information enterprise for more than 40 years and remains so today. All lines of BlueCross business feed up to the mainframe, so it provides a central view of the entire business in one place. BlueCross decided to focus on keeping its mainframe cost effective. It wanted to keep software costs flat — or even decrease them — although its data volumes were rising. Read how BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee saved $20M USD. Read the whole story, then download the animation to hear the exclusive interview.

Hear for yourself what BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee has to say about the mainframe. Download the informative animation.

White Paper - Enterprise Server Comparison
This 59-page white paper shows that IBM's z/Architecture, building upon its predecessor architectures and their decades as enterprise application workhorses, provides the server environment that most fully supports todays on demand computing imperatives.

White Paper - The Value of the Mainframe for Mid-Sized Enterprises
Now more than ever, many mid-sized enterprises find themselves trying to manage increasingly complex IT infrastructures with dwindling resources. It's time to change your thinking, time to reset your perceptions. IBM eServer zSeries mainframes can help provide your business with the flexibility and cost-effectiveness necessary to thrive in todays on demand marketplace.

White Paper - Resiliency with Linux and zSeries
Linux for zSeries can inherit the hardware’s reliability, but software faults can still cause outages. Thus a serious need exists to discuss and demonstrate how a highly resilient solution on Linux for zSeries running under z/VM can be implemented.

Announcement - Sub-capacity pricing for select IBM Program License Agreements - helps improve flexibility and price/performance
IBM extends sub-capacity charging benefits to an additional set of zSeries software programs governed by the International Program License Agreement (IPLA).

Executive Brief - IBM zSeries: Premier Business Resiliency for the On Demand World
Today's zSeries leadership in delivering world-class availability levels and overall business resiliency has been 40 years in the making — and it's always been about the application and keeping the business running. No other computing platform has integrated the number of availability design-points throughout its entire architecture as long as — nor as well as — the mainframe. And no other company is in a better position than IBM to help bring the zSeries availability technologies to your entire IT infrastructure.

If you think you have a mainframe story you'd like to share, contact your IBM client representative, Business Partner about it. Or, send an email to cgosling@us.ibm.com.

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