SPARTA News

October 2022

SPARTA President’s Corner

contributed by Randy Springs

October in North Carolina brings us varied weather conditions, from some hot days to cool nights, with a little heavy rain and/or drought condition. The State Fair comes to Raleigh mid-month, and college basketball season hype begins.

This month, we will again be holding our SPARTA meetings via Zoom format. With the removal of mask mandates in NC, we can consider going back to our in-person meetings if we can find an appropriate venue. Let us know if you have any suggestions for a meeting location.

For our October meeting, join us for a presentation from well-known speaker. This presentation on the latest information will be informative and valuable to us all. Invite your fellow systems programmers to join us for networking and information.

Please join your colleagues online at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, October 4, on Zoom. Watch for meeting connection information coming your way soon.

Randy Springs
Retired (Truist)

Future Speakers (subject to change)

October 4, 2022 - TBA by TBD

November 1, 2022 - TBA by TBD

We need ideas and volunteers for future speakers. Presentations don’t have to be fancy, just informative and interesting. Even a 5 or 10 minute talk can start an interesting interaction. Contact Ron Pimblett by phone as noted below.

2022-2023 SPARTA

Board of Directors

Randy Springs - President

Retired (Truist)                  (919) nnn-nnnn

street

Raleigh, NC 27604

Ron Pimblett - Vice President

MDI Data Systems

Land line 613 599 6970

Mobile 613 981 6919

190 Guelph Private

Kanata, ON K2T 0J7

Chris Blackshire - Secretary

Retired (Dell, Perot Systems, Nortel)  (919) nnn-nnnn

street

Durham, NC 27713

Randy Springs - (Acting) Treasurer

Retired (Truist)                  (919) nnn-nnnn

see Randy

Springs earlier

Ed Webb -  Communications Director

Retired (SAS Institute Inc.)  (919) nnn-nnnn

street

Apex, NC 27523

Mike Lockey -  Web Master

Guilford Co. Information Services  336-641-6235

201 N. Eugene St.

Greensboro, NC 27401

Meetings

Coronavirus Change: All meetings for the foreseeable future will be held online at 7 p.m. via the Zoom App. The link to meeting is sent to SPARTA Mailing list within 24 hours of the meeting time for security reasons. Stay safe.

Meetings are scheduled for the first Tuesday evening of each month (except no meeting in January), with optional dinner at 6:15 p.m. and the meeting beginning at 7:00 p.m.

These monthly meetings usually are held at LabCorp’s Center for Molecular Biology and Pathology (CMBP) near the Research Triangle Park (see last page). Take I-40 to Miami Boulevard and go north. Turn right onto T.W. Alexander Drive. Go about a mile or so. Then turn right into LabCorp complex and turn Left to the CMBP Building (1912 T.W. Alexander Drive). In the lobby, sign in as a visitor to see Bill Johnson. Bill will escort you to the conference room.

Call for Articles

If you have any ideas for speakers, presentations, newsletter articles, or are interested in taking part in a presentation, PLEASE contact one of the Board of Directors with your suggestions.

Newsletter e-Mailings

The SPARTA policy is to e-mail a monthly notice to our SPARTA-RTP Group. The newsletter is posted to the website about five (5) days before each meeting so you can prepare. The SPARTA-RTP Group is maintained by Chris Blackshire; if you have corrections or problems receiving your meeting notice, contact Chris at chrisbl@nc.rr.com.

August 2022 “CBT Tape” Shareware Online

The directory and files from the latest CBT tape V504 (dated August 16, 2022) are available from www.cbttape.org.

If you need help obtaining one or more files, contact Ed Webb (see Board of Director’s list for contact info).

Minutes of the September 13, 2022 Meeting

• The meeting was called to order at 7:10 PM by Randy Springs, the SPARTA President.

• This Twenty-eighth (April 2020 to September 2022) virtual SPARTA meeting was held via the Zoom Software.

• Ten (10) people were present at the virtual meeting.

• The business portion of the meeting was followed by Ed Webb's Presentation.

• For the Roundtable, everyone introduced themselves, told where they worked, talked about working from home, and briefly described their job functions and what they've been doing at work and home.

OLD BUSINESS

• The minutes of the August 2, 2022 meeting as published in the September 2022 Newsletter were approved.

• The August 31, 2022 Treasurer's report (there was Activity in July and August for the 2020-2021-2022 website expenses) as published in the September 2022 Newsletter was approved. As of August 31, 2022, the current balance was $994.51.
July: The beginning balance of $1,489.66 minus $330.10 web site expenses with an ending balance of $1,159.56.
Aug: The beginning balance of $1,159.56 minus $165.05 web site expenses with an ending balance of $994.51.

• Call For Articles: Articles are needed for this newsletter. If you would like to write an article for this newsletter, please contact Ed Webb. Keep in mind that you don't really need to write the article, it can be an article that you read that you would like to share with the membership.

• The SPARTA Web page is available at this site: http://www.spartanc.org. Please send any comments or suggestions about the Web page to Mike Lockey. Be sure to check the Web page every once in a while to see any new or changed information.

• 2022 meeting dates, Future Speakers and Topics (subject to change based on internal politics, budget, the weather):

If you have suggestions about speakers and topics, contact Ron Pimblett.

• The next SPARTA monthly meeting will be held virtually on Tuesday, October 4, 2022.

• The dues have been suspended (motion passed in the March 2021 monthly meeting).

• Thanks to Randy Springs for online hosting the September 13 meeting via Zoom.

• There are currently 95 people on the SPARTA e-mail distribution list.

• Send any e-mail address changes to Chris Blackshire so he can update the SPARTA distribution List. The SPARTA meeting notices are being sent via a simple distribution list maintained by Chris.

• Randy Springs is looking for a new Treasurer volunteer. He projects about 2 hours per month is needed.
- Contact Randy Springs if you are interested.

• Randy Springs has setup a SPARTA group on LinkedIn. Please join.

• There was discussion about a possible 2022 in person meeting, depending on vaccinations and room availability. Stay tuned.

NEW BUSINESS

• We will continue meeting virtually with a 2022 in person meeting date TBD. Stay tuned.
• Randy will contact Bill Johnson to determine the LabCorp meeting place status.
• The Business portion of the meeting and the meeting itself ended about 9:10 P.M.

• The Presentation started at 7:30 PM.

• Presentation Topic: SHARE 2022 (139), August 21-26, 2022

by Ed Webb, Retired from SAS Institute Inc.

• Agenda
• Why Go to SHARE?
• Quotes of Interest
• Odds and Ends
• Best Sessions
• SHARE Status

The online presentation ended at about 8:50 PM.

• Presentation Access - See Below for a full outline of the presentation.

See the SPARTA webpage for all recent presentations including this one.
Also see the related Notes for this presentation.

• Contact Info:
Speaker: Ed Webb
Retired from SAS
Senior z/OS Systems Consultant
Email: edwistuo@aol.com

• The September 13, 2022 monthly meeting ended about 9:00 P.M. after a SHARE COVID discussion.

Treasurer’s Report for September 2022

contributed by Randy Springs

The balance in the account is $994.51 as of September 30, 2022.

SPARTA Financial Report
9/01/2022 through 09/30/2022

Items of Interest

SPARTA Schedule and Menu for 2022

contributed by Chris Blackshire

Oct 4, 2022 - Chicken
Nov 1, 2022 - Subs
Dec 6, 2022 - BarBQ

IBM plans to Provide Java 17 on z/OS

contributed By Ed Webb

On September 27, 2022, IBM announced its plan to deliver a Java 17 SDK on z/OS.

"Continuing the commitment to Java™ for IBM® zSystems, IBM intends to deliver IBM Semeru Runtime Certified Edition for z/OS®, Version 17, formerly known as IBM 64-bit SDK for z/OS, Java Technology Edition. The software development kit (SDK) is planned to support the Java Standard Edition 17 language specification, enabling Java 17-compliant applications to be ported to and deployed on IBM z/OS."

The Statement of Direction does not provide a target date for software delivery.

IBM Support Forums are Moving to IBM Communities

contributed By Ed Webb

"To improve your support experience and provide you with the best possible access to people who know and understand your products, the Support Forums will join the IBM Community on October 11, 2022.

With this move, simply visit community.ibm.com to search for and continue discussing your products there. The IBM Support site will provide a link to the IBM Community for some time after the move, but we recommend all users update bookmarks pointing to the Support site's Forums as soon as possible after October 11. To make this transition as easy as possible, the Forums will remain on the Support site until November 11, but you will only be able to read questions and responses there, not post new ones."

IBM's article is sparse with details.

IBM-Marist Joint Study Program ...

contributed By Ed Webb

Here's a follow-up to Dr. Cameron Seay's recent presentation to SPARTA.

"Competition for top technical talent is fierce; demand is high and supply is low.

To survive, companies must develop strategies for building a pipeline of talent. For IBM, one such strategy was the creation of the IBM-Marist Joint Study Program. This progressive program pairs Marist students with faculty mentors and IBM experts to conduct research and solve complex, real-world problems while providing cutting-edge technology to the broader campus. The benefits from the program are multi-faceted. First, the joint study students gain valuable industry experience by working on innovative technologies such as quantum, Al, cybersecurity and hybrid cloud while collaborating closely with IBM subject matter experts and receiving guidance and mentorship from Marist professors."

Read the article in the Enterprise Tech Journal 2022 Issue 4 for details.

Moore’s Law is Alive or It’s Dead. Which is Right?

Contributed by Chris Blackshire

"Intel says Moore’s Law is alive and well. Nvidia says it’s dead. Which is right?

The decades-old debate over Moore’s Law was brought center stage following two major announcements over the last week — one for Intel’s upcoming Raptor Lake processors and the other about Nvidia’s RTX 4090 graphics card.

Intel, in keeping with its consistent messaging since CEO Pat Gelsinger took the reins, proudly stated that “Moore’s law is alive and well” to a roomful of applause. This came just a week after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang restated his belief that Moore’s Law is, in fact, dead. Both tech CEOs can’t be correct, which means there’s more going on in these two statements than meets the eye."

Digital Trends, a newsletter of MSN, has an interesting discussion this topic after these recent competing announcements.

Humor

Halloween Fun (Techy and Others)

contributed by Chris Blackshire

What did one spider ask the other spider?
Would you connect me to the web?

Why did the cat lie on the computer?
To keep an eye on the mouse.

What do you get when you divide the circumference of a jack-o-lantern by its diameter?
Pumpkin pi.

What do witches like about their computer?
The spell checker!

Why couldn’t mummies read emails inside their tombs?
They were in-crypt-ed.

Why did the spider leave home?
She wanted to change websites.

What does a spider work on while using a computer?
Her website.

Why is it that programmers always confuse Halloween with Christmas?
Because 31 OCT = 25 DEC

Are any Halloween monsters good at math?
No—unless you Count Dracula!

What do mummies listen to on Halloween?
Wrap music.

What do you get when you cross a vampire and a snowman?
Frostbite.

What happens when a ghost gets lost in the fog?
He is mist.

Why don’t angry witches ride their brooms?
They’re afraid of flying off the handle.

How are vampires like false teeth?
They both come out at night.

What’s the problem with twin witches?
You never know which witch is which.

What do you do when 50 zombies surround your house?
Hope that it’s Halloween.

What type of Halloween books do pumpkins write?
Pulp fiction.

What happens when you stay up all night on Halloween?
Wait for it … it will dawn on you.

How do you buy things on the dark web?
With crypt-ocurrency!

What would be the national holiday for a nation of vampires?
Fangs-giving!

Membership Information

Don’t Forget the Next SPARTA Meeting

Tuesday, October 4, 2022

7 p.m.

Location: Online

Information about access to our online meeting will be sent to our e-mail list by Tuesday, October 4.

Free Food before meeting: Your Food at Your Home

Program:

To Be Announced

Speaker:

To Be Determined

SPARTA Corporate Sponsors:

September 2022 Presentation outline

• Presentation Topic: SHARE 2022 (139), August 21-26, 2022

by Ed Webb, Retired from SAS Institute Inc.

• Agenda
• Why Go to SHARE?
• Quotes of Interest
• Odds and Ends
• Best Sessions
• SHARE Status

• WHY GO TO SHARE?
- z16 Announced on April 5 - IBM Provided Details on z/OS Changes
- IBM Telum Processor for IBM Z – an 8-core, 7nm microprocessor with transparent main-memory encryption, 1.5X cache of z15, and > 6 TFLOPs AI acceleration per chip.
- z/OS 2.5 Upgrade Planning and Look Ahead
- Late-breaking z/OS 2.5 and z/OS 2.4 News - 1Q2022 and 2Q2022 CD (Continuous Delivery) Functions
- SHARE Requirements Carry More Weight with IBM than Ideas (were RFEs)
- Networking with peers and IBM developers and executives
- At Fort Worth, Spent an hour in a z/OSMF Lab with the z/OS Architect

• WHY (DO I STILL) GO TO SHARE?
- Because I’m a Z Person who has attended these conferences since 1979; first GUIDE starting in 1979, then SHARE in 1999
- Networking with Friends and Vendors
- Staying Current and Being Re-energized about z/OS
- First Full-Week SHARE In-Person Since Pandemic Lockdown in 2020

• SHARE 2022 COLUMBUS
5 Days In-Person and Some Streaming with Recordings!
- Five Days with Full Content with some rooms live-streamed and recorded
- SHARE Tech Exchange only Monday and Tuesday evenings with food
- Broadcom-sponsored Lunch on Wednesday
- Recorded sessions are available now (Ends December 31, 2022)
- 45-50 minute sessions - video and audio with handouts in most cases
- SHARE Partners with dedicated sessions on Mon. and Wed.

• QUOTES OF INTEREST
- “Passwords are for tree houses” - Frank Abagnale of FBI
- “IBM Z is a critical part of the Global Economy: 67 of the Fortune Top 100 companies, 45 of 50 top global banks, 8 of 10 top insurers, 24 of top 25 Countries (based on GDP)” - Jose Castaneda of IBM
- “April 30, 2030 projected date when quantum computing will start breaking encryption algorithms” - Rebecca Levesque, President of 21st Century Software

• ODDS AND ENDS
- Curious about some new z/OS function? Then locate details here:
- - https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/new-function-apars-zos-platform
- - https://www.ibm.com/support/z-content-solutions/management-services
- MR00071167/RFE51590 Storage Management with Facility Profile
- - Dave Crow’s requirement - Operations no longer need ALTER access to data sets
- zCX Growth - no longer requires hardware option on z15 (monthly license)
- IBM Container Hosting Foundation + IBM Container Repository
- - Container Registry - trusted registry for open-source container images
- - built by IBM and scanned by IBM, applications are not supported by IBM
- Proactive Resilience Discovery Workshop offering - free IBM offering
- - contact zos@ibm.com
- IBM Change Tracker for z/OS 2.5
- - by Marne Walle of IBM and Chris Taylor, 21st Century Software
- New Priced Feature now available in z/OS 2.5
- - 21st Century Software is the Change Tracker development partner for IBM
- SOD 15Mar2022 Comprehensive configuration change management tool for tracking, controlling, and managing software changes

• BEST SESSIONS

• SHARE Program Opening Keynote (Highlights)
By Frank Abagnale of the FBI and “Catch Me If You Can” bio-movie
- Every 2 seconds someone’s identity is stolen
- Phishing e-mails have gotten much better
- Soft Spots
- 18 billion password attacks a year
- Stay off social media
- Date of birth and where you were born are 2 of three items needed to steal your identity
- Shred everything
- Freeze your credit
- Checks - do not use from most accounts (too much personal info, easy to steal)
- Credit card is safest, not debit/credit card
- Pandemic fraud
- Medicare fraud is $100 billion a year
- Cartels have better technology than governments
- $37 billion stolen by scammers targeting elderly adults, 10,000 a day
- Millennials are scammed more, Seniors lose more money
- Red flags - money now, ask for personal information
- Caller identification easily manipulated
- No technology can defeat social engineering, only people can
- Education is critical ( https://www.abagnale.com - 800-237-7443)

• Installing z/OS v2r5 using z/OSMF Software Management
By 4 presenters from Banco de Brasilia (BRB)

• Data Set File System Use Cases
Understanding the Support behind SHARE’s #1 Requirement
by Kershaw Mehta of IBM

• The Magic of PSWs and Registers
By Patty Little, Elliott Picker, John Shebey of IBM

• z/OS 2.5 User Experience
By Ed Jaffe of Phoenix Software International

• So I Bought a z114!
By Enzo D’Amato Enzo@enterpriselab.dev
(16 year old high school student with Asperger’s syndrome)

• What’s New in z/OS 2.5: The BuckEye Edition
By Gary Puchkoff of IBM

• IBM z/OS V2.5 Release Overview - z/OS Support Summary

Notes:
1 - All statements regarding IBM's plans, directions, and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice.
2 - Extended support dates are projected and are subject to change or withdrawal without notice.
3 - WdfM - Server has been Withdrawn from Marketing
4 - Defect support provided with IBM Software Support Services for z/OS

• Bit Bucket x’40’
- It’s a Small zFS After All… by Tom Conley of Pinnacle
- Procrastination…It’s Making Me Wait for Access by James Lund of Texas A&M
- Ode to a Mainframe Legacy - over 60 years of IBM by James Lund of Texas A&M

• SESSIONS OF INTEREST
See Notes on SPARTA Website

• SHARE STATUS
- SHARE 2023 Atlanta will be a four-day event March 5-8, 2023.
- - More sessions than the four-day SHARE 2022 Dallas event.
- SHARE 2023 New Orleans will be a full five-day conference August 13-18, 2023.
- - SHARE was last planned to occur in New Orleans in Spring 2006 but Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 derailed those plans.
- - Looking forward to some good cajun cookin'.
- Visit SHARE's Event Calendar for more details soon.

The online presentation ended at about 8:50 PM.