September 2009 Newsletter Sponsored by      

   
   


Tandemworld Newsletter for September 2009


Contents

Gravic, Inc. Announces Data Replication Solutions for Base24™

Software Integrator TWINSOFT and System Management Tool Vendor Integrated Research have extended their year long business partnership to include Central and Eastern Europe

Move Scobol applications into a modern, WEB oriented environment

Don’t Miss New Webinar on Affordable NonStop Application Rejuvenation

Computer Security Products announces two new Security Products

comForte acquires Gresham Software Labs Pty Limited

Affordable NonStop Upgrades

XYPRO at VNUG

Availability Digest Warns of IPv4 “Doomsday”

Sneek Preview of TANDsoft’s What Time Is It in Your Test Bed?

Tandemworld Within EMEA

Employment

Online Version

Current Subscribers 11,307


Gravic, Inc. Announces Data Replication Solutions for Base24™

The Gravic Shadowbase Products Group is pleased to announce affordable solutions for active/active replication of Base24 environments. Gravic, an inventor of bi-directional replication and a world leader in providing high availability and continuous availability, now provides Base24 support in its patented Shadowbase product line.

Shadowbase Base24 Support Provides:

·         Uni-directional Active/Passive for Disaster Recovery

·         Uni-directional Sizzling-Hot-Takeover Active/“Almost Active” for High Availability

·         Bi-directional Active/Active for Continuous Availability

·         Heterogeneous Data Warehouse Feeds

·         Real-Time Event-Driven Business Intelligence Solutions

For more information, please visit: www.gravic.com/shadowbase/base24

 Please Visit Gravic at the Upcoming Fall Shows:

 

SUNTUG                                                               CTUG
Florida HP Technologies User Group                 Canadian Tandem User Group
2009 Florida Event                                              
 Fall Conference
Embassy Suites                                                   
 HP Headquarters
Tampa, Florida                                                     
Mississauga, Ontario
September 25-26, 2009                                         October 20-21, 2009                 

GTUG                                                                 BITUG

German NonStop User Group                           British Isles NonStop User Group

European NonStop Conference                         National NonStop Meeting: The BIG SIG

Darstadtium Conference Center                       Institute of Directors, Pall Mall

Darmstadt, Germany                                         London, England

November 18-19, 2009                                      December 2-3, 2009

For additional information about Gravic’s products and services, including free whitepapers on how Shadowbase data replication solutions can solve your company’s business continuity, data integration and synchronization, and real-time business intelligence challenges, please visit: www.gravic.com/shadowbase.

All product names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective owners.

 


Software Integrator TWINSOFT and System Management Tool Vendor Integrated Research have extended their yearlong business partnership to include Central and Eastern Europe.

Darmstadt, August 2009. The recent joint expansion holds every promise of success.  “We are extremely pleased to have expanded our longstanding partnership. TWINSOFT has been an excellent partner in the German speaking countries. We are confidant that TWINSOFT 's experience, customer dedication and expertise will make them equally successful in the countries of CEE,” says David Stark, Integrated Research Vice President Europe.

Speed and efficiency in business critical applications, particularly in the financial service and banking world, are essential factors for success. Financial Service Providers have stringent SLAs to meet, making the reliability of the systems and applications essential. Whether the Platform is HP NonStop, Unix or Windows, the Prognosis suite of monitoring tools for IT infrastructure , ATM / POS networks, VoIP / IP telephony systems and web applications, has you covered every step of the way.

Having its roots in the provision of IT-Services for business-critical applications, the TWINSOFT’s business focus has remained on high availability and the provision of individual business integration, legacy modernization and innovative software development solutions. TWINSOFT’s experience in the areas of business integration and SOA make them an ideal development partner. Product neutrality and individual solutions are key factors in providing customers with solutions that suit their requirements exactly. Depending on customer requirements and in-depth analysis, TWINSOFT develops individual solutions or utilizes proven best of breed technology to provide customers with an optimal cost/performance balance. Whether it is a test scenario for one of the most modern container ports of the world or the development and integration of a telephony product for millions of users – TWINSOFT combines systematic procedures with creativity and the latest technologies. System and application management play an integral role in monitoring business critical applications, which is why Prognosis has been an integral part of the TWINSOFT portfolio for many years. "We have been partners with Integrated Research since our company was founded 20 years ago. The Prognosis range of system management tools is successfully deployed around the world, especially to monitor the business-critical operations of banks and financial service providers. We firmly believe that the countries in CEE, will also be very quick to appreciate its value," commented Martin Westermeier, General Manager, TWINSOFT.

About Integrated Research

An Australian company founded in 1988, Integrated Research has a heritage of providing performance monitoring and diagnostics software solutions for business-critical computing environments around the globe. Developed on a fault-tolerant, highly distributed architecture, PROGNOSIS has become the solution of choice on 24x7 HP NonStop environments as well as other computing platforms such as Windows, UNIX and Linux. PROGNOSIS also provides detailed financial transaction management for ATM, POS, phone, internet or mobile banking, stock trading and other financial transaction applications. Headquartered in Sydney, the company has over 140 employees located in its offices in the USA, UK, Germany and Australia. With customers in more than 50 countries, PROGNOSIS users include the world's largest bank, stock exchange, airline manufacturer and telecommunications companies.

PROGNOSIS is sold and supported through Integrated Research sales offices and via a global, channel-driven distribution network consisting of resellers, systems integrators and service providers.

Company highlights

  • Founded in 1988, publicly listed in 2000
  • Offices in USA, UK, Germany and Australia
  • Global, direct and channel-driven distribution network
  • Customers in 50+ countries
  • Dominant share of HP NonStop performance monitoring market
  • Emerging as dominant solution for large-scale VoIP deployments

About TWINSOFT

TWINSOFT was founded in 1989 by Tandem Computers and the Dutch company Cap Volmac (presently Cap Gemini) to provide professional services predominantly to Tandem customers.  Along with Tandem Computers, TWINSOFT progressed through various company entities ending with Hewlett-Packard. On 1st November, 2004, TWINSOFT became a fully independent company following a management buy-out.

For more information please contact info@twinsoft.de.

 


Move Scobol applications into a modern, WEB oriented environment

CAIL continues to show how easy it is to move Scobol applications into a modern, WEB oriented environment with CAIL Studio.   

In addition, with CAIL Suite,  many organizations are improving security and information access with NonStop systems.  

And for those recognizing the importance of better positioning NonStop information services in corporate IT infrastructure and the future of the business,  integrated Attachmate / CAIL software is a superior  “ Enterprise Connectivity and Security Solution ”  with all Host based applications (ie: NonStop, Mainframe, AS/400, Unix / Linux, etc. systems).   

For more information,  please contact CAIL at 1-800-668-5769 or 1-905-940-9000 or  info@cail.com  or visit  www.cail.com/adapt

 


Don’t Miss New Webinar on Affordable NonStop Application Rejuvenation

 Today the challenge for most NonStop users is how to incorporate new technology into existing business processes with minimal costs and risk. Later this month NuWave Technologies will present a webinar addressing this issue. If you would like to be invited to "Affordable NonStop Application Rejuvenation - How to Integrate Commercial Web Services Into Pathway”, please email Gabrielle at gguerrera@nuwave-tech.com.

With the recent proliferation of commercial Web Services, it is now possible to find inexpensive, sometimes free business functions that can be integrated into existing applications. The webinar will cover topics like: moving beyond web enabling, adding Web Service content to exiting Pathway applications, and examples of plug and play commercial Web Services.

 


Computer Security Products announces two new Security Products

ProtectUX

CSP is pleased to announce a new utility for managing security of OSS files. It allows users to browse OSS files much in the same way as Windows files. Files may be selected and copied to/from multiple systems. OSS security attributes can be set for a single file or groups of files and the Policy option will allow ACL’s to be created for large groups of files based on a business security model.  ProtectUX is available today and can greatly simplify the security management of the OSS file system. 

File Integrity Checker (FIC)

Critical system files need to be monitored to prevent unauthorized modification as part of the PCI DSS requirements. The FIC module is a comprehensive file monitor which will verify any change to critical files. The selected group of critical files are placed in a database and each file is given a unique fingerprint; these files are then monitored for change. Reports and alerts can be generated to insure that these files have not been changed. The File Integrity Checker is part of the CRM compliance module which verifies if a NonStop system is in compliance with predefined security rules such as SOX, PCI DSS and HIPAA. This product will save time and make regulatory compliance a much easier task.

Please contact Sales@cspsecurity.com for more information on these products or any questions you may have about Nonstop system security.

 


comForte acquires Gresham Software Labs Pty Limited

Wiesbaden, Germany – August 28, 2009 - ComForte GmbH, a global leading provider of Host Connectivity and Security Solutions for the HP NonStop platform announced that they have acquired all shares of Gresham Software Labs Pty Limited (GSL), based in Sydney, Australia. Through the acquisition of GSL, comForte adds the software product 'The Operations Pack' (TOP) to its portfolio as well as product support staff and a new office location in Sydney, Australia.

Gresham Software Labs is a subsidiary of UK based Gresham Computing Plc., which specialises in the provision of real-time financial solutions to banks and corporations. GSL sells operations management software and support services into the HP NonStop market globally.

The Operations Pack (TOP) is an easy-to-use management tool providing command access to your HP NonStop Expand network, subsystems and components, wrapped in an Explorer type interface. TOP provides a strategic front-end to NonStop server systems and networks. Using TOP any authorised user can operate a NonStop server from a Windows workstation.

"We are very excited about the acquisition of GSL as the company, its people and its products are very much complementary to comForte's product and solution offering", says Dr. Michael Rossbach, CEO of comForte GmbH, "The addition of GSL marks an important step in the execution of our growth strategy". He continues, "This acquisition is great for comForte's customers as we are now able to offer real, global 24*7 support through the addition of product support staff in Australia. It is also reassuring for the existing GSL customers as comForte will provide continued support for TOP. For many years, comForte has been a well respected and trusted partner in the NonStop space and we will continue to be dedicated to the NonStop platform."

For more information please contact Dr. Michael Rossbach at M.Rossbach@comforte.com

About comForte …

comForte is a global leader in the market for HP NonStop solutions - offering customers a comprehensive suite of proven and innovative middleware, connectivity and security products. Organizations in all industries are using comForte products to more effectively leverage their investment in NonStop systems.

With comForte, organizations can …

·         Connect NonStop platforms with the systems, applications, users, and initiatives required to meet their business and technical objectives.

·         Protect mission-critical data as it is stored in and exchanged with NonStop environments.

·         Modernize their environment by seamlessly integrating NonStop with Web services and SOA initiatives.

·         Streamline administrative efforts though intuitive interfaces, and sophisticated, robust management capabilities.

Today, more than 500 customers around the world rely on comForte products to manage access to mission-critical NonStop server applications and data.

 


Affordable NonStop Upgrades

There has never been a better time to upgrade your NonStop ServerNet system hardware.  Castle Systems, Inc. specializes in NonStop hardware serving customers worldwide since 1994.   We have recently purchased a tremendous number of ServerNet systems as many NonStop customers upgrade to NS Integrity or Blade servers.  Once hard to find hardware like S88 & S78 CPUS, along with GESA controllers, Super DLT tape drives, LTOs & 144GB Disk are now regularly coming into our inventories.  For those remaining on the ServerNet platform, this influx in hardware makes considerable difference in you ability to plan and implement upgrades.   Confident the hardware is available and inexpensive are tremendous facilitators for any needed upgrade.  For NonStop Users moving to Integrity, we have NS1200 & NS16200 systems that will soon be available for sale. 

Whether you need a full system upgrade or just a couple of disk drives, we have you covered.  With over 10,000 parts on hand and new systems coming in weekly, we can meet any hardware need at anytime.  

 NONSTOP HARDWARE Now

AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE DELIVERY

CPUs                              Disk                                              Controllers

S88 8GB                         46144 144GB                              3865 GESA

S88 4GB                         4638  36GB 15K RPM               M8021 Fibre to SCSI Router

S86 8GB                                                                               3886-16 SWAN

S86 4GB

S78 4GB                         Tape

S78 2GB                           5257 Super DLT   

                                       LTO I, II

 Call 1-800-731-1966 or 440-918-9933

www.castlessytems.net


XYPRO at VNUG

XYPRO will be exhibiting at the Viking NonStop User Group (VNUG) conference at Vidbynäs Slott, Stockholm, Sweden on 29-30th September 2009.


If you're attending we look forward to seeing you there. And make sure you don't miss our 20 minute PCI Compliance and Enterprise Auditing presentation at 13.30, straight after lunch, on Tuesday the 29th.

Please EMAIL For more information


NonStop - A Running Commentary – September, 09

The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author
and shouldn’t be viewed as reflecting any views
of his current or past employer

In a recent trip back to my home in Boulder I stopped by the local coffee shop for a cappuccino, and picked up a free copy of the Boulder Weekly (Aug 27, ’09). In it I read about a new venture in social networking for students of the University of Colorado where they could anonymously share secrets they wouldn’t feel comfortable discussing even with their closer friends. The article finished with a quote from another social networking site founder, Frank Warren, in which he said “the increasing availability of new forms of communication are more likely to bring people together than pull them apart.”

In a previous issue of TandemWorld newsletter I wrote of how surprised I was with the growth in readership in my own social networking sites. I also wrote of how the work I had done was as much a tribute to how willing the Nonstop community was in sharing information and how an inconsequential approach to marketing – essentially, nothing more than word-of-mouth - worked well, as it was a place to go for information on NonStop. It turned out that there was a global marketplace for such information sharing and it continues to spur me to keep on writing.

Social networking is bringing people together. Whether its university students or fellow NonStop users, we all demonstrate an interest in reading about what’s going on in our area of interest and particularly, in the case of NonStop users, what each of us is doing. According to a recent Neilsen survey of 25,000 active online consumers, according to a recently published story in USA Today, “nine in ten consumers trust their peers more than marketers …” What a surprise!

A lot of what we are watching unfold with social networking is being driven by the economy. People are being forced into becoming more creative with less, and what we are seeing pioneered today will probably stay with us long after the economy turns around and the ‘recovery” kicks-in with a vengeance! Even major companies with huge advertising budgets are turning to social networks for product launches.

In the same USA Today story referenced earlier, from an August 28, ’09 feature article that appeared in the Money section and was called “More marketers sign on to social media,” it reported of how Ford Motor “tapped 100 top bloggers and gave them a Fiesta for six months.” It then reported on how Ford’s head of social media, a job only created a year ago, told the USA Today reporter that “it’s about culture change and adapting to this ongoing communicating. The bloggers are fully free to say what they want.” But the reporter suggests “marketers have noticed” and reports on how Forrester Research has found that “according to its survey of 1,217 business decision makers worldwide late last year, 95% use social networks to some extent.”

Like Ford, Levi Strauss is relying on social networking to better market its products. According to the story in USA Today, Megan ‘Connon, director of digital marketing at Levi’s said, “it was an easy call. This is where our customers are.” While at Intuit, according to Kira Wampler, Intuit’s social-media marketing leader, “Social (media) is one of the key trends driving our business … it’s more than marketing. It’s about fast connections with customers and building an ongoing relationship.” However, USA Today also noted how Michael Brito, social-media strategist at Intel, pointed out that “social media is not the messiah …. it is one of several tools.”

From the quotes above, we read of titles like Ford’s ‘head of social media,” Levi’s “director of digital marketing,” Intuit’s “social-media marketing leader,” and Intel’s “social-media strategist.” And I have to believe that none of these titles would have appeared on anyone’s business cards five years ago. There are some marketing professionals who, even today, turn to me and ask, “I just don’t get it! What’s value proposition!”

According to Forrester’s Natalie Petouhoff, “reaching out to millions of consumers who thrive online around the clock requires an investment, a different type of thinking, and some courage!” However, the social networking success stories we are reading about continue to maintain ties back to more traditional media campaigns. So before anyone dumps their traditional marketing programs, remember Intel and how “it’s one of several tools!” But companies that don’t embracing social networking do risk missing out on opportunities and, in some situations, can end up failing completely.

Readers of my LinkedIn user group may recall how recently, in the discussion group “Social Networking as an integral part of business applications?” I wrote of how “Readers Digest just filed for Chapter 11 - and not entirely ‘unexpectedly!’ ... but is the failure of Readers Digest in any way connected to the rise in social networking? I looked at their web site - and they support a number of bloggers, so what happened?” I suspect that even with their acceptance of social networking, Readers Digest may not have moved fast enough – and many newspapers and magazines are also in similar situations to Readers Digest and could fail at any time.

I am beginning to see a trend develop, however. Traditional marketing managers may soon become part of a new organization headed by the Chief Blogging Officer, or something along this line but perhaps more acceptable to the marketplace. Whatever the title, the immediacy and transparency of social networking, is becoming an increasingly powerful phenomena. “There is no gap between the CEO and customers … the network is so connected, there’s no need for a middleman,” says the CEO of one career-management web-site.

For as long as I can remember, NonStop users have asked why more money isn’t being invested in marketing NonStop! And for just as many years, I can remember hearing of how marketing was spending its money on positioning the company in favor of products, or positioning solutions in favor of technology. Whatever! In more recent times, it was often out of the pockets of NonStop ISVs that case-studies and other collateral on NonStop were produced. But now, in the highly networked world we live in, we are all connected! There’s really no need for the middleman, and there’s no excuse for information on NonStop not becoming readily and easily accessible.

Electronic newsletters, like Tandemworld, online publications like the Availability Digest, and the growing number of blogs and electronic newsgroups and forums in which I am intimately involved, are producing a body of work that cannot be ignored! We may not see too many CBO’s in our organizations, just yet, but if you appreciate and value what we are reading about already, I believe we will!

And will this growth in social networking help pull the NonStop community even closer together, as new communications options appear to be doing of late? From what I am seeing then yes, I believe that it will. Through the years, many of us met in person quit regularly (when travel was allowed, and even encouraged) so I think that, for the NonStop community, the on-line world and importantly the world of on-line discussions and social networks that we are quickly becoming part of, is very real, and very, very, important for us all.

Richard Buckle

HP – ITUG user group:         Director (2000 – 2006)   

- Chairman (2004 & 2005)

IBM – SHARE user group:  Marketing Director (2007 – 2008)

LinkedIn -

                 Real Time View user group:  http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1878133&trk=hb_side_g

Real Time View blog:           www.itug-connection.blogspot.com

Buckle-Up blog:                  www.buckle-up-travel.blogspot.com

Twitter:                                RichardKBuckle


Availability Digest Warns of IPv4 “Doomsday”

Remember the Year 2000 Doomsday? We survived that as well as other doomsdays since then. So here comes another one…IPv4. This current version of the Internet Protocol (IP) will exhaust its supply of unique addresses within the next two years, and replacement version IPv6 may not be ready in time. The Availability Digest’s August issue examines the complexities that face the IPv4 to IPv6 transition.

Also in the Digest:

·        “Twitter Taken Down by DDoS Attack” explains how politics in one country effectively disabled the worldwide availability of this social networking site.

·        Our Product Review highlights Double-Take, a unidirectional, asynchronous data-replication engine that replicates file changes in Windows and Linux environments over unlimited distances.

·        “Achieving Fast Failover in Active/Active Systems” is the first of a two-part article on how users and transactions can rapidly be moved from failed to surviving processing nodes. 

Digest Managing Editor Dr. Bill Highleyman recently gave a pair of three-day classes on active/active technology to a major bank’s IT staff. The courses were well-received; but a common attendee concern was that material was too NonStop-focused, with not enough detail on Linux and Windows systems, where clustering is used to achieve high (though not continuous) availability. Active/active came out of the NonStop world and is very slowly making its way into use with other platforms. Bill is searching for case studies where active/active has made a successful migration to other systems. If your work involves a move to active/active, contact editor@availabilitydigest.com.

The Digest is free online and focuses on continuous processing architectures, with particular attention given to active/active technology. www.availabilitydigest.com 

 


Sneek Preview of TANDsoft’s What Time Is It in Your Test Bed?

Take a look at the upcoming September/October issue of The Connection.  TANDsoft Product Manager Jack Di Giacomo’s article, “What Time Is It in Your Test Bed – Understanding the Benefits of Clock Simulation,” will be published in this NonStop-specific publication – formerly from ITUG, now available via Connect membership.

Jack’s cross-platform article focuses on the following:

·        The history of clock simulation and how Y2K prompted the development of clock-simulation tools.

·        The value of clock simulation in virtual and/or consolidated environments. 

·        Challenges faced when testing applications without the use of clock simulation.

·        Examples of application bugs caused by not developing time-sensitive applications.  Beware the Y10K bug.

·        Benefits of clock simulation.

·        Clock simulation products for HP systems. 

·        Case studies of clock simulation in practice. 

For a sneek preview of “What Time Is It in Your Test Bed,” visit the TANDsoft website’s  Reference page at www.tandsoft.com.

TANDsoft’s HP NonStop solutions include time-zone virtualization, time-sensitive application testing, file synchronization for disaster recovery, and the new Enscribe-2-SQL toolkit.  

 


User Groups

BITUG SIG Meeting: Security, Risk, Compliance 7th October 2009

Please join the BITUG SIG for a meeting on Security, Risk and Compliance. For more information, please visit http://www.bitug.com


2009 CTUG Fall Conference 20th October 2009

 

CTUG is pleased to announce that our 2009 Fall Conference will be held on October 20st with a Training Day on October 21st, 2009.

 

As a result of overwhelming popular response to last year's venue, the Conference and Education Session will once again take place at the Hewlett-Packard Canada Head Quarters, 5150 Spectrum Way, Mississauga, Ontario.

  

We will be providing more details as they become available, so for now please Save The Date!
 

INUG Autumn Conference 18th November 2009.

The event will be held at HP Los Rozas, Madrid. For further information please contact via email info@inug-connect.org


CONNECT GERMANY & GTUG GO INTERNATIONAL

2-day conference& exhibition 18-19 Nov. 2009

at the Darmstadtium Conference Center in Darmstadt, Germany (Rhein-Main-Area)

 

Mark your calendar for the premier NonStop Community Event presented by GTUG and CONNECT Germany. The goal of this conference and exhibition is to establish itself as the main NonStop Community Event in Europe with a continued focus on NonStop. It is your chance to meet your fellow NonStop users and learn the latest on NonStop from users, HP, and vendors.

Enjoy the breath-taking Darmstadtium, Darmstadt's brand new conference center. Discover Darmstadt’s impressive cultural heritage as the Center of Art Nouveau in the early 1900s.

Organized by Connect Germany and GTUG, fees will be considerably lower compared to last year’s event. Registration for the event will be open starting 1 September 2009. www.gtug.de

 


Tandemworld within EMEA

Tandemworld specialise in the recruitment of HP NonStop / Tandem specialists.

We Currently have a number of Highly skilled NonStop / Tandem professionals seeking new projects and assignments

within the EMEA Region.

 

Do you have Project Work that you need assistance on? Hardware upgrades to perform?

 

These professionals are available on a short or long Term Basis (1 Week to 1 year +) at Very Competitive rates.

We can also supply Permanent employees and other technical resources e.g. IBM, Unix, Unisys DEC/VMS etc.

 

If you have a requirement for Contract or Permanent Resources or require further information please contact us :-

 

+44 (0) 20 8304 7979

info@tandemworld.net

www.tandemworld.net

 


Employment

For More on Employment in EMEA Go Here

For More on Positions in the Americas Go Here (to advertise your positions here please contact us)

For More on Positions in AsiaPac Go Here (to advertise your positions here please contact us)


Looking for a Solution or an answer to a particular problem ASK Tandemworld. We will contact the vendors for you and find a suitable solution that meets for current and future needs.

 


www.tandemworld.net

+44 (0) 20 8304 7979


We would like to thank the sponsors of the September 2009 Newsletter

 


To enquire about Sponsorship opportunities for the Tandemworld Newsletter please click here.

Our company, Nonstop World (Tandemworld) Ltd, accepts no liability for the content of this email, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided.
To Unsubscribe or Change your Subscription Please click here                                                                                                                                                           Top