SPARTA News October 2003

October 2003

SPARTA Chapter President’s Corner

- by Brad Carson

Happy Halloween! It's October and the weather is turning a little cooler, the leaves are turning brilliant colors, and things are getting busier here at LabCorp. Last month Pam Tant from DTS and I gave you all a presentation on SHARE 100 in Washington DC. As always there is so much to cover for a SHARE conference, it was tough to boil it down into a 90-minute discussion. The major point for us is we must migrate to z/OS very soon.

On the CPU replacement front, by the time of our meeting we will have replaced the 9672-T26 system in Burlington with a 9672-R36. The T26 system will be having z/VM and Linux installed on it sometime after the first of the year (once we get some DASD for it). A replacement for the HDS system should be coming very soon. I think this change is going to mess up my December vacation a bit.

We have been able to close the CICS debug tool issue (finally!), there was a CICS module (DFHKERET) that had gotten back leveled on us. Once it was relinked, Debug Tool V3.1 started working properly, just in time for the release of Debug Tool Version 4. On the Virtual Tape S613-04 front we are still doing more diagnostic work, but have moved the users data to another storage pool and they haven't had an abend since.

This month we will have a presentation on "SAS Version 9.1" by Ed Webb (et. al.) from SAS Institute. I look forward to seeing you all on the 28th at SAS in Cary. A deli tray, drinks, and dessert will be provided.

Future Speakers
(subject to change)

Oct. 28 - SAS 9.1 and the Mainframe by Ed Webb of SAS
Note: Oct. Meeting is at SAS in Cary
Nov. 25 - IP v6 by a network expert from Cisco
Dec. 30 - Merry Christmas! No meeting.

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 Duane Reaugh by phone as noted below.

2003-2004 SPARTA
Board of Directors

Brad Carson - President
LabCorp 919-361-7270
1912 Alexander Drive
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709

Duane Reaugh - Vice President
DTS Software 919-833-8426
2913 Wake Forest Road
Raleigh, NC 27609-7841

Mike Lockey - Secretary
Guilford Co. Information Services 336-641-6235
201 N. Eugene St. 336-227-2021 (Home)
Greensboro, NC 27401

Tommy Thomas - Treasurer
LabCorp 336-436-4178
231 Maple Ave, Koury Ctr 3rd Fl. 919-361-7267
Burlington, NC 27215

Ed Webb - Communications Director
SAS Institute 919-531-4162
SAS Campus Drive 919-362-0232 (Home)
Cary, NC 27513

Meetings

Meetings are scheduled for the last Tuesday evening of each month (except no meeting in December), 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 Alexander Drive. Go about a mile or so. Then turn right into LabCorp complex and turn Left to the CMBP Building. In the lobby, sign in as a visitor to see Brad Carson. Brad 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 Mailings

The SPARTA chapter policy is to mail a copy of the monthly chapter newsletter to each SPARTA member, NaSPA national, each advertiser, persons who have requested a copy, and to other chapters who send us a copy of their newsletter. The newsletter is mailed about the 20th of each month so you can prepare for the meeting. The mailing list is maintained by Mike Lockey at (336) 412-6235; if you have corrections or problems receiving your newsletter, call Mike.

September 2003 CBT Tape Online

The directory and files from the latest CBT tape V462 (dated September 15, 2003) are available from www.cbttape.org.

If you need a complete tape, contact Brad Carson at LabCorp or Ed Webb at SAS (see Board of Director’s list for contact info).

Minutes of the September 30th, 2003 Meeting

•Meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM by Brad Carson, the Chapter President.

•Ten (10) people were present; all were members.

•Everyone in the room introduced themselves, told where they worked, and briefly described their job function.

•Minutes of the August 2003 meeting were accepted as published in the September 2003 newsletter.

•Tommy Thomas, the Chapter Treasurer, gave the Treasurer’s report. As of september 30, 2003, the balance is $1215.66. A motion was made and approved to accept the Treasurer’s report.

OLD BUSINESS

•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.

•You can access the SPARTA Web site, just point your Web browser to this URL: http://www.spartanc.org. Please send any comments or suggestions about the SPARTA website to Mike Lockey. Be sure to check our website every once in a while to see any new or changed information.

•Brad Carson reminded everyone to continue to make sure the conference room is clean before we leave the meeting.

NEW BUSINESS

•Future Speakers and Topics:

October 2003 - SAS 9.1 by Ed Webb of SAS
November 2003 - IP v6 by speaker from Cisco

Other ideas:
- New release of IOF - Triangle Systems
- CMG Conference - Jim Horne of Lowe's

If you have suggestions about speakers and topics, contact Duane Reaugh.

•Food for the October 2003 meeting will be a deli tray, sodas, and dessert.

•The October SPARTA meeting will be held at SAS Institute in Cary.

•Thanks to Tommy Thomas of LabCorp for hosting the August meeting.

•The business portion of the meeting ended at 7:40 p.m.

•SHARE conference reports were presented by Pamela Tant of DTS Software and Brad Carson of LabCorp.

Brad talked about the following:

Key Highlights

z/OS 1.6 will run only on z/800 or z/9xx hardware
WLM Compatibility mode is gone
IP Version 6 support
JES2 Dynamic PROCLIB support
JES2 Checkpoint restructure
Transactional VSAM (DFSMStvs)
CICS TS 2.2 Java support
CICS TS 2.2 Web support
DB2 V8 only on z800/z9xx hardware
z/OS root HFS now 2200+ cylinders
SMPLTS data set can be shrunk

Benefits to LabCorp
Where we should be headed
What we can do now
What to plan for
Observations and Comments

Pamela discussed the following:

DFSMS Trends and Directions
DFSMS z/OS Roadmap
DFSMSrmm Enhancements
DFSMSdss Dataset Flashcopy
Transactional VSAM
z/OS 1.4 - What's new!
z/OS 1.5 - What's new!
z/OS 1.6 - What's new!
z/OS 1.7
Storage Virtualization

Future Enhancements that may effect DTS
Other

•The meeting ended at 8:40 p.m.

Treasurer’s Report for October 2003

contributed by Tommy Thomas

The balance in the account is $ 1165.72 as of October 19, 2003.

Financial Report
2/01/2003 through 10/19/2003

INCOME
Opening Balance 672.90
Dues 860.00
Misc. 0.00
TOTAL INCOME $1532.90

EXPENSES
Food 442.34
Petty Cash 0.00
Bank Service Fees 0.00
P.O. Box 0.00
Web Site 14.90
TOTAL EXPENSE $ 457.24

BANK BALANCE 1075.66
PETTY CASH($160) 90.06
TOTAL CASH $1165.72


Items of Interest

COBOL History 1984-2002

contributed by Ed Webb

(Ed. Note: This article is an excerpt from Search390. See link at end of the article)

It is better to look at the compiler history rather than just use the names. You are correct, but we in (IBM) development do not get to choose the names that make sense to customers, marketing chooses the names. COBOL for OS/390 & VM ran on OS/390 and also on VM. Enterprise COBOL for z/OS and OS/390 runs on z/OS and also on OS/390, but not on VM. Here is the whole story:

This article is from Search390.com. To gain full access to webcasts, tips, full text articles and daily news at Search390.com - FREE!

Sign up today at http://Search390.techtarget.com/register


SPARTA Food Menu for 2003

contributed by Chris Blackshire

October - Deli Tray at SAS
November - Chicken


Humor

More Layoffs

contributed by Brad Carson

Bush Lays Off Congress; will Outsource Lawmaking to India

Reuters International Release

Washington - Citing the growing cost of running the Federal government and the need to cut costs in order to reduce the budget deficit, President Bush announced today that he was laying off all 535 members of Congress and transferring lawmaking operations to a legislative support center in Bangalore, India. "Hey, outsourcing is the way to go these days," said Bush at an impromptu news conference where he announced the decision, adding, "the American people want to see less government waste. Since every one of those ex-Congressmen had a salary of $150,000, this move will cut our costs by over $80 million per year, and that's not even counting what we'll save on health insurance and retirement plans." Sources indicate that the Indian replacements will be paid approximately $250 per month.

However, the changes won't take effect immediately, Bush said. "Members of Congress could remain on the job an extra 30 days if they agree to train their replacements. If you think about it, this really frees Congress up. They now have the opportunity to seek better jobs elsewhere in the economy. It really is a win-win for both countries", he went on to say.

The outcry from the newly laid-off Senators and Representatives was swift. Ex-California Senator Diane Feinstein said, "This is absolutely outrageous. How can a bunch of replacements over in India run Congress? What do they know about filibusters and committee hearings?" As she was being escorted out of the Hart Senate Office Building by U.S. Capitol Police officers, Feinstein complained that the newly-terminated lawmakers, those who chose not to train their replacements, were only given ten minutes to clean out their desks and leave the building.

"I think it's a great idea," said Vice President Dick Cheney, speaking from a secure undisclosed location. "The American people were fed up with that expensive do-nothing Congress which didn't always give the President everything he asked for. Our new Indian replacements will be much more cooperative to the President, which is what we all want."

Asked whether the outsourcing may be unconstitutional, Cheney noted, "That's up to the Supreme Court to decide, but as you know, they usually see things our way."

The new members of Congress seem thrilled with the attention they are receiving. Speaking from the offices of All-India Legislative Support Centre Ltd. in Bangalore, new Mississippi Senator Ramchandra Shekar
Gupta told reporters, "The Indian people are very hard working and we will do our best as U.S. Congressmen and Congresswomen. And we are going to have some Fun too. Just think: we have $2 trillion of the American taxpayers' money to spend!"


Disk and Database Futures

contributed by Ed Webb

Great interview about where disk and databases are going in the future:

http://www.acmqueue.org/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=43

Membership Information

Don’t Forget the Next SPARTA Meeting

Tuesday, October 28, 2003

Special Location: SAS in Cary

Take I-40 to Exit 287 Harrison Avenue Cary and go south (left over I-40 from Raleigh or right off I-40 from Durham). Turn left onto SAS Campus Drive at first traffic light. At the gate, tell the guard you are attending the SPARTA meeting. Go about a quarter mile or so. Then turn right into the Building F drive and park along curb. Go in the rightmost entrance to see Ed Webb. Here’s a map http://www.sas.com/events/execconf/invite/pga_sep03/campus_map2.pdf

Free Food: Deli Tray, Drinks, Dessert

Program:

SAS 9.1 and the Mainframe

Speakers:

Ed Webb of SAS Institute Inc.

SPARTA News
P.O. Box 13194
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-3194












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