Creating a Modern Responsive Application Platform

IBM has overhauled the insides of the mainframe so that corporations and government agencies could still rely on the mainframe as the rock-solid reliable and secure computer for vital transactions and data while allowing it to take on new chores like running Web-based programs. Now, the mainframe addresses new challenges – batch and interactive.

Attend this free one-day event and learn about the potential of your mainframe to maximize your ability to develop, integrate and deploy modern applications. Gain your complimentary admission and find out:

• How to position the mainframe to fit into the major strategic initiatives being taken by your organization
• How to adapt legacy applications to modern programming methods, without overdoing it
• What new skills you can acquire and what new tools are available that will be useful in your career
• How and why the unparallel scalability that the mainframe offers affects virtualization and cloud computing initiatives
• And more

This one-day seminar is packed with in-depth sessions that give you the key information to make strategic management and tactical deployment decisions. Plus, you have an opportunity to experience live demos and learn how to leverage the strengths of System z to optimize your IT operations.

Complimentary admission is granted on a first-come, first-serve basis and attendance is limited. Register today by calling Jen Tobin at 781-657-1329 or apply online.

Session Descriptions

Session 1: Analyst Session - System z: the right platform for new applications and data

Your mainframe is at the heart of your business, providing you with the core basis you need to deliver upon the requirements expected by your management infrastructure. Richard Ptak, of Ptak, Noel & Associates, will discuss the evolving application environment including the need for rapid development, process controls, and how System z is the right choice for new applications.  He will discuss the cost advantages of deploying applications on the mainframe.

Session 2: Using Rich UI and Web 2.0 on/for System z

Getting the most out of your applications requires that you leverage modern application architectures.  This means knowing which applications run best on System z, when to re-use and leverage existing processes and data and how to apply techniques such as  Rich User Interfaces and Web 2.0.  This session will tell you what is important and demonstrate how to build agile, efficient modern applications.

Session 3: Using Jazz, Rational Developer and other tools to develop new applications

The goals of application development are simple:  ease of development, controlled deployment, high throughput and scalability.  Achieving these goals requires a holistic approach to building the development environment and choosing the right tools to keep you on track. This session will show how to build this  environment and provide a demonstration of how IBM solutions such as Jazz, Rational Developer for System z, ClearQuest and ClearCase can help integrate applications, control costs and deliver modern applications on time and under budget.

Session 4: Build, deploy and manage SOA applications with CICS and WebSphere solutions

Application integration requirements have grown steadily since the early 1990s. Supporting integration links is a considerable expense that consumes skilled developer and support resources. That’s because homegrown solutions also require support for their software, scripting, operating processes and increasing demands to support new releases, third-party vendor products, new protocols, new hardware, and protection against software failures.  Hear how the new CICS Transaction Server v4.1 can help you compete in the marketplace, comply with regulations and standards, and control costs and resources. You will learn how your upgrade to this new version can be simplified using the CICS Tools. You will also discover how the CICS Transaction Gateway can give you a secure, transactional and highly available connectivity solution to WebSphere Application Server for enterprise modernization.  WebSphere Application Server for z/OS as an enterprise integration platform blends many parts of the existing application portfolio that allows incremental improvement over the existing integration solution, provides an SOA migration path for On Demand business transformation, new technologies, and helps you tackle new integration needs in addition to maintaining regulatory compliance.

Session 5: Reduce complexity with SOA connectivity and integration solutions on System z

Across every industry today, businesses require more agility and improved cost optimization to help address the rapid changes of everyday market conditions, not just to survive but succeed. Clearly, IT must reduce its complexity, improve security and management, as well as offer increased return on investments – including System z systems. This session highlights IBM’s leading enterprise service bus messaging and enrichment offerings for enabling fast, flexible, and reliable access to z/OS business information across the organization. This enables you to address dynamic business requirements, reduce resources, maintenance and integration costs. It also enables IT to seamlessly bridge to new connectivity technologies like REST or Web services that are in such high demand today.

Session 6: Using SOA as a framework for continuous process improvement

Business process changes are inevitable. When they occur, you need the most efficient means possible to respond to those changes in a timely manner. Business Process Management provides a combination of business process "points of agility" so you can in affect change with speed and minimal disruption.  This session will show you how Business Process Management enabled by SOA is not just to design and automate a business process, but to create processes designed for continuous optimization, driven by a continuous feedback loop, with tools and capabilities to support collaboration across multiple business and IT stakeholders within your organization.

About Richard Ptak

Richard Ptak has over 30 years experience in systems product management working closely with Fortune 50 companies in developing product direction and strategies at a global level. Previously Ptak held positions as senior vice president at Hurwitz Group and D.H. Brown Associates. Earlier in his career he held engineering and marketing management positions with Western Electric's Electronic Switch Manufacturing Division and Digital Equipment Corporation.

He is frequently quoted in major business and trade press such as The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, InformationWeek, and ComputerWorld and is author of "Manager's Guide to Distributed Environments" (John Wiley & Sons, 1998). In addition, Ptak was technical editor of "Cisco Internet Architecture Essentials Study Guide: Cisco Internet Solutions Specialist" by Mathew Recore, Jeremy Laurenson, and Scott Herrmann (Cisco Press, 2002).

Ptak holds a master's in business administration from the University of Chicago and a master of science in engineering from Kansas State University.

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for this free one-day seminar