SPARTA News September 2013

September 2013

SPARTA President’s Corner

contributed by Chris Blackshire

For the Tuesday, August 27, 2013 SPARTA meeting, SPARTA members and guests went to a sports outing. We and 8,071 others attended the last Durham Bulls home game of the 2013 regular season at the DBAP. We were awarded with a 13 to 6 win over the Charlotte Knights.

We expected an exciting win with the first place Durham Bulls playing the third place Charlotte Knights of the International League’s south division where Charlotte is 23 games behind the Bulls in the won loss column (86W-55L versus 63W-76L). Our expectations were met!

As an aside, the Durham Bulls with 86 wins have the most wins in professional baseball with no other baseball team having more than 81 wins at this point in the season (as of 8/27/2013).

We sat in section 116, which is right past first base about 3 and 4 rows back, meaning we had to pay attention in that many foul balls came in our direction. (I’m bringing a glove next year as some balls were a little too close for my comfort). Thanks Tommy for getting us the great seats (and at the right price).

All in all, a very busy and interesting game.

Epilog (today being Sept. 16):

The Bulls split the 4 season ending away games with Gwinnett and Norfolk, but were still the International League South Division winners.

At the Governors’ Cup Playoffs, the Bulls swept the Indianapolis Indians in three games. Pawtucket bested Rochester, 3-0, in the decisive Game 5 of their semifinals.

The Governors' Cup Championship Games were September 10, 11, 13, 14, and 15. The Bulls spotted Pawtucket the first game 2-1 and then Durham won the series.

The Gildan Triple-A Baseball National Championship Game begins September 17 - IL Champion vs. PCL Champion in Allentown, PA.

Go Bulls!

Our own Ed Webb will present this month about his experience at SHARE in Boston in mid-August 2013. And we’ll have some Pizza as well at our meeting on September 24 at LabCorp in RTP. See you there.


Future Speakers
(subject to change)


Sept. 24 SHARE August 2013 Report by Ed Webb of SAS
Oct. 30 TBA

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.

2012-2013 SPARTA
Board of Directors

Brad Carson - President
LabCorp
3060 S. Church St.
Burlington, NC 27215

Ron Pimblett - Vice President
MDIDS 919-833-8426

Raleigh, NC 27609

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

Tommy Thomas - Treasurer
LabCorp 336-436-4178
3060 S. Church St.
Burlington, NC 27215

Ed Webb - Communications Director
SAS Institute Inc. 919-531-4162
SAS Campus Drive
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 Tommy Thomas. Tommy 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-L Group. The newsletter is posted to the website about five (5) days before each meeting so you can prepare. The SPARTA-L Group is maintained by Chris Blackshire; if you have corrections or problems receiving your meeting notice, contact Chris at chrisbl@nc.rr.com.

April 2013 “CBT Tape” Shareware Online

The directory and files from the latest CBT tape V486 (dated April 2, 2013) are available from www.cbttape.org.

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

Minutes of the July 30, 2013 Meeting

•Meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM by Ron Pimblett, the Chapter Vice President.
•The meeting was held at LabCorp in RTP, N.C.
•Twenty (20) people were present of which fourteen (14) were members.
•Everyone in the room introduced themselves, told where they worked, and briefly described their job functions or their job hunting challenges.
•The minutes of the June 25, 2013 meeting were approved as published in the July 2013 newsletter.
•Tommy Thomas, the Chapter Treasurer, gave the Treasurer's Report. As of July 16, 2013, the balance is $842.09. Motion was made and approved to accept the Treasurer's Report as published in the July 2013 newsletter.

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.

•The SPARTA Web page is available. To access the SPARTA Web page, point your Web browser to 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.

•Ron Pimblett reminded everyone to leave the LabCorp conference room clean.

•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 (919-833-8426).

•The next SPARTA monthly meeting will be August 27 at the DBAP baseball field. Our Durham Bulls will be playing the Charlotte Knights.

•Food for the August 27 meeting will be Buy Your Own at the DBAP.

NEW BUSINESS

•Thanks to LabCorp (Tommy Thomas) for hosting the July meeting.

•Chris Blackshire will be setting up the SPARTA-RTP list as Yahoo will not let him take over the SPARTA-L Listserv update responsibility. In addition, new procedures by Yahoo do not allow moderators to simply add to the list. Invitees must be sent an invitation to join and the sendees add themselves by clicking on the Join icon. This process was instituted to stop moderators from building SPAM lists.

•Send any e-mail address changes to Chris Blackshire so he can update the SPARTA-RTP Listserv (or send you an invitation to Join).

•Per Tommy, the bank is now charging $3 per month to have a checking account. Tommy will check if, as a non-profit, this fee can be waived or find another institution for our checking account. .

•Per Tommy, we need an alternate meeting room for meetings that Tommy can’t attend (Brad was the alternate). IBM suggested meeting at an IBM site when Tommy/LabCorp is not available.

•The 2013 dues are due ($30). Please see Tommy Thomas.

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

PRESENTATION

•Presentation given by Elizabeth Ray Stitt and Don Spoerke of GT Software on their Ivory Mainframe Integration and Data Access Tools.

• Agenda
- GT Software At A Glance
- The Real World
- Modernization in Action
- Ivory Service Architect
- Ivory Service Architect – WS Development
- Ivory Service Architect - Key Benefits
- Ivory Hub Components
- Ivory Hub Director
- Installation
- Ivory Hub Data Mapping
- Ivory Hub Transfer
- Manage
- Business Benefits
- Demonstration

• GT Software At A Glance
- History
- Founded in 1982
- Consistently profitable for 29+ years
- Worldwide sales and support network
- Patented technology
- Early adopters Data Access, SOA and Migration technologies
- Laser focused for today and the future…
- Integration and SOA
- Mainframe tools and technologies
- .NET re-hosting
- Modernize, Migrate, Succeed!

• The Real World
- Banking: Mobile Banking Application
- Insurance: Mobile Insurance Application for Agents
- Manufacturing: Automobile Engineering
- Finance: Stock Trading, Financial Tools
- International Banking: Credit Card Processing

• Modernization in Action (via the Ivory Suite)
- Connect the Mainframe / Legacy Environment to the Distributed Environment
- Web Services
- Screen Presentation
- Real Time SQL

• Ivory Service Architect
- Web Services Everywhere and Anywhere
- Rapid:
- Lightweight development tools
- No coding or code generated
- Rapid iteration with mainframe interfaces
- Flexible deployment models
- Easy
- Near-zero learning curve to access deep feature set
- Reuse Ivory Service Architect services with Neo Kicks
- Proven
- Multiple Industries
- Thousands of services, millions of transactions

• Ivory Service Architect – WS Development
- Powerful Development tool
- Orchestration
- No coding
- Top down (WSDL 1st) and bottom up (copybook)
- Integrated Test Facility
- IMS, CICS – native

• Ivory Service Architect - Key Benefits
- Speed: High Performance
- Scale: Standard Web services
- Agility: Rapid Service Development and Deployment

• Ivory Hub Components
- Ivory Data Hub Director
- (Web-based control facility for the Ivory Hub)
- Ivory Hub z/Server
- (SQL access to mainframe data via ODBC/JDBC to data and apps on z/OS & z/VSE)
- Ivory Hub Enterprise Access
- SQL access to distributed data - access data on MF and non-MF platforms from single SQL queries)
- Ivory Hub Transfer and Deployment Options
- (Data transfer with mainframe – automatic, bi-directional tasks which move data between non-MF and MF systems)

• Ivory Hub Director
- Web Interface to manage the Ivory Hub
- Mainframe Installation Manager
- Legacy Data Manager
- Metadata Mapping
- Access Server Configuration
- Client Installers
- Drivers, Gateway, etc.
- Dashboard
- Log Manager/Viewer
- Log Viewer
- SQL Viewer
- Documentation
- Support Forum

• Installation
- Rapid deployment
- Install and Deploy Ivory Hub Components in an hour
- Custom Install Plan including JCL
- Web based management console
- Comprehensive Approach
- No pre-requisites means you are ready to install Ivory Hub Now!

• Ivory Hub Data Mapping
- Tables
-From DBMS Metadata
- Read or Update
- Views
- Heterogeneous
- Homogenous
- Column Functions
- TRIM, SUBSTR, etc.
- Test SQL

• Ivory Hub Transfer
- Allows PC-clients or mainframe applications to seamlessly move data between z/OS or VSE and any ODBC data source.
- Bi-Directional data transfer to Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase, DB2/UDB and others

• Manage
- Ivory Hub was designed for the systems administrators, not just the data administrators.
- Strong management and monitoring
- Error Resolution
- SQL Unit Testing
- Load Testing
- Security with control
- Views
- SQL Rules
- High availability

• Business Benefits
- Increase Business Agility
- Simplify and Streamline Architecture
- Increase Value of Existing Legacy Assets
- Lower mainframe TCO / drive down MIPS utilization with deployment choices

• Demonstration
(Very easy and logical to point and click to build code)

• Contact Information
- Elizabeth Ray Stitt - District Manager - 919-521-0192
- Don Spoerke – Senior Solutions Architect - 404-253-1800

• The presentation and discussions ended about 9:00 PM.

Treasurer’s Report for September 2013

contributed by Tommy Thomas

The balance in the account is $868.18 as of September 13, 2013.

Financial Report
3/01/2013 through 09/13/2013

Items of Interest


SPARTA Schedule and Menu for 2013

contributed by Tommy Thomas and Chris Blackshire

Sept. 24 - Pizza
Oct. 29 - Chicken
Nov. 19 - Subs
Dec. 31 - No Meeting, Happy Holidays


Southern CMG Returns to Raleigh in early October

contributed by Ed Webb

It’s time for the fall meeting of the Southern CMG (Computer Measurement Group) in Raleigh. OK, technically the meeting is actually at Fidelity Investments in Durham but it’s billed as the Raleigh area meeting. The meeting off Davis Drive in RTP will be Friday, October 4, with breakfast starting at 8 a.m. and the first presentation at 8:45. Lunch is provided for the $35 fee (early birds pay only $25 but you must register by Friday, September 27).

Details with session schedule and sponsor information are online at http://regions.cmg.org/regions/scmg/fall_13/raleigh/meeting.htm.


SHARE Keynote: Surviving in a Feudal Security World

contributed by Ed Webb

Bruce Schneier, Chief Security Technology Officer for BT, presented the day two keynote at SHARE in Boston in August 2013. Though I was prepared for an early morning snoozefest, I was mistaken as Schneier provided some interesting and thought-provoking, even disturbing, ways to look at our personal and online security and lack thereof.

For a good overview of Schneier’s remarks, check out this SHARE blog post from Ryan Segovich: http://www.share.org/p/bl/et/blogaid=250


Humor


Ponderings

contributed by Chris Blackshire

I used to eat a lot of natural foods until I learned that most people die of natural causes.
 
Gardening Rule: When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.
 
The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.
 
Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.
 
There are two kinds of pedestrians: the quick and the dead.
 
Life is sexually transmitted.
 
Health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.
 
The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.
 
Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.
 
Have you noticed since everyone has a phone camera these days no one talks about seeing UFOs like they used to?
 
Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.
 
All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.
 
In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.
 
How is it one careless match can start a bush fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?
 
Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll squeeze these dangly things here, and drink whatever comes out?"
 
Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the freezer?
 
If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?
 
Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet Soup?
 
Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him on a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?
 
Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?

Membership Information

Don’t Forget the Next SPARTA Meeting

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

7 p.m.

LabCorp in the RTP

Free Food: Pizza, Drink, Dessert

Program:

SHARE 2013 Boston Conference Report

Speaker:

Ed Webb of SAS Institute Inc.

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

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