Zowe Day @ SHARE New Orleans
2023-08-14
SHARE New Orleans takes place on August 13-18 at the Hyatt Regency. Open Mainframe Project will be represented at the conference with several sessions. including Zowe Day.
Zowe Day will take place on Monday, August 14.
9:45 – 10:45 am: Zowe Day Part 1: Zowe Hot Topics: Installation & Administration
Bring your installation questions, suggestions and challenges to this session! Our Zowe experts will share tips & tricks for installing and administering Zowe z/OS components (API Mediation Layer, Desktop, & ZSS) and introduce you to Zen: the mainframe installation wizard for Zowe.
Speakers:

Sean Grady, Rocket Software
Jan Prihoda, Broadcom
Joe Winchester, IBM

11 am – 12 pm: Zowe Day Part 2: Zowe V2 Technical Highlights: API-ML, CLI, Web UI, Explorers, SDKs, Chat and Event Streaming
Join this session if you want to know what’s new with Zowe V2 and a peek at Zowe V3. The Zowe Community Squad leads summarize features, functions, capabilities and important changes delivered in all of the Zowe V2 LTS release components as well as new components introduced as Technical Previews and GA extensions.
Speakers:

Sean Grady, Rocket Software
Elliot Jalley, Broadcom
Mark Ackert, Broadcom
Uladzislau Kalesnikau, IBA
Adam Wolfe, Broadcom

1:45 – 2:45 pm: Zowe Day Part 3: An Overview of Zowe’s Zero Trust Architecture with Technical Tips for Configuring Zowe Security
Zowe Security Deep Dive. Looking to better understand Zowe security? Don’t miss this session. We’ll review it from two angles. First, how the Zowe Community produces Zowe as secure open source software and second, how Zowe consumers configure Zowe components for high availability (HA), access & authentication that align with their internal security policies.
Speakers:

Mark Ackert, Broadcom
Sean Grady, Rocket Software
Joe Winchester, IBM

3:15 – 4:15 pm: Zowe Day Part 4: Built-On-Zowe: Extenders Showcase Their Apps
With over 75 Zowe conformant extensions, you are bound to be using a product, solution or practical application enabled by one of them! Attend this session to see demonstrations and meet the vendors who develop them.
Speakers:

Domenico D’Alterio, IBM
Michael DuBois, Broadcom
Jeff Cherrington, Rocket Software

Learn more or register on the main SHARE website.

Open Mainframe Summit Las Vegas
2023-09-11
This year, Open Mainframe Summit will be co-located with two industry conferences – IBM TechXchange Conference 2023, hosted in Las Vegas on September 11-14; and Open Source in Finance Forum, hosted in New York City on November 1.

Open Mainframe Summit – Las Vegas
IBM TechXchange Conference offers technical breakout sessions, hands-on experiences, product demonstrations, instructor-led labs, and certifications tailored to your interests and learning style. Open Mainframe Summit will be featured as part of the TechXchange Community Day on September 11. Community Day unites diverse IBM user groups and technical communities to foster collaboration, networking and learning. Experience engaging on-site programs, connect with like-minded professionals, be inspired by IBM Champions, and contribute to tech-for-good projects. This is a celebration of unity, diversity, and innovation where user groups come together to create lasting connections and drive meaningful change.

To attend Open Mainframe Summit Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Hotel, register for IBM TechXchange. One registration will give attendees access to all the events for Community Day.
Registration costs $1599 but Open Mainframe Summit attendees will receive an exclusive discount until August 30 at 5 PM ET. The discount of $300 USD*, will require you to pre-register. Please submit this form to reserve your discounted pass. When your pre-registration submission has been successfully processed, you will be invited to register for the event.
**Timing and titles of sessions, speakers and room assignments are subject to change as needed. Please see the schedule on-site for the latest updates.
September 11 Schedule:

7:00 AM
8:30 AM
Breakfast

8:30 AM
9:30 AM
IBM Keynote

10:00 AM
10:10 AM
Keynote: Welcome – John Mertic, Open Mainframe Project Executive Director
All keynotes will take place in Room 121

10:10 AM
10:30 AM
Keynote: Customer success stories using Zowe – Joe Winchester, Senior Technical Staff Member at IBM
This talk will cover the scenarios and use cases where customers are achieving success with The Open Mainframe Project’s Zowe tooling, showcasing examples spanning from DevOps, education, scripting, Db2 automation, custom web dashboards exploiting Zowe SDKs and more.

10:30 AM
11:00 AM
Keynote Panel: Diversity in the Mainframe Community – Louisa Seers, Product Manager at IBM; Sudharsana Srinivasan, Advocacy Manager at IBM; Len Santalucia, CTO at Vicom Infinity; and Donna Hudi, CMO at Phoenix Software International
Come walk a mile in our shoes. Join a range of female Mainframe practitioners who will share their experiences being professional women in the industry. Hear about not only the highs and lows, but the utterly comical and absurd. This panel will investigate all different perspectives from business problems to more technical discussions.

11:00 AM
11:20 AM
Keynote: Illuminating Pathways for Our Future Innovators – Elizabeth Joseph, Global Head, Open Source Program Office for IBM Z & LinuxONE at IBM
Projects in The Open Mainframe Project are eligible to participate in the LFX Mentorship Program. The Software Discovery Tool has participated for 3 years, and in that time the project has gained valuable new core contributors and provided opportunities to several students who had not previously been involved with the mainframe community. This talk will briefly summarize the program, but more importantly, will explain why providing an opportunity through a program like this is so important for future innovators in our community and serve as a call to action for more projects to participate.

11:30 AM
1:00 PM
Lunch (Grab and Go provided by conference) – Ask me Anything, Networking, Raffle in Room 121

Room 101
Room 102

1:00 PM
1:20 PM
Easy and Modern – Learn COBOL today! – Sudharsana Srinivasan, Advocacy Manager at IBM
The Open Mainframe Project COBOL Programming Course was built with one purpose – make it easy for learners around the globe to easily learn COBOL. How did we achieve this goal? and 3 yrs later what are the results? Join this Lightning Talk to learn all about COBOL, the course and how you can get started today!

Zowe CLI modernizes mainframe development – Gene Johnston, Principal Software Engineer at Broadcom
Most mainframe organizations are looking to modernize how they develop and deliver products. They want to leverage the knowledge of new-hires familiar with off-platform tools, and incorporate concepts of continuous integration into their development processes. Zowe CLI and its SDK provide the means to make significant leaps forward on these challenges with a low barrier to entry. Join this session to learn how to get started, to hear the possibilities available to you, and discuss best practices to help you achieve those goals.

1:25 PM
1:45 PM
Shift Left and Beyond with COBOL Check ! – Joe Winchester, Senior Technical Staff Member at IBM
The Open Mainframe Project COBOL Check allows shift left testing to go all the way up to unit testing of COBOL procedures, making the language development benefit from early checking of code and building of reliable regression test pipelines. This talk will show the technology, its Visual Studio Code integration, and its importance in driving DevOps modernization at mainframe COBOL shops.

Demystified: Put Your Web App on the Zowe Desktop in a Flash – UPDATED – Robert Blum, Senior Software Developer at Phoenix Software International
Are you a web developer with a great web app? Do you want to deploy it to the Zowe Desktop? Are you new to open source, or to Zowe? The Zowe Application Framework provides a quick solution: Plug your web app into a modified sample iframe app. It’s that simple. It’s possible to stand up your app on the desktop within an hour, then take advantage of features like persistence and app to app communications. The presenter will discuss what he learned, providing you the minimum necessary steps to insert your web app into the sample iframe app, and deploy the result. Included will be tips and tricks demystifying how to communicate with the iframe sandbox where your app lives, how to install and debug, and how to use the iframe zoweZlux API to provide enhanced Zowe interoperability.

1:50 PM
2:10 PM
Wowee it’s Zowe!!!! 5 years old, what worked, what didn’t work, and what is to be learned. – Tim Willging, Fellow – Z Systems Architecture & Technology at Rocket
Zowe is five years old since its beginnings, this talk will cover the goals of the project as its beginning to help customers make the mainframe open, simple and familiar, as well as bring forward both new and old communities. We’ll look at the metrics, the key milestones, what worked and didn’t work, which components are successful and why, and talk about lessons learned to move forward.

Togetherness of Linux Distributions on the Whole Open Source Software Development Life Cycle – Sarah Julia Kriesch, Senior Consultant at Accenture & Elizabeth Joseph, Global Head, Open Source Program Office for IBM Z & LinuxONE at IBM
Are Linux distributions really collaborating in development? They sure are! Our Linux Distributions Working Group at the Open Mainframe Project is a great example of collaboration on Linux projects together by sharing common issues and bugs, along with recommendations on how to tackle specific pain points. In this session, you will receive an overview about the latest efforts to collaborate in development, testing and maintenance from over a half dozen Linux distributions that regularly participate. This is including upstream projects and the required infrastructure for development, from the implementation of openQA tests by several distributions to the LinuxONE (OSS) Community Cloud.

2:15 PM
2:35 PM
Feilong: the open source API for z/VM automation – Mike Friesenegger, Solutions Architect at SUSE
Feilong is an Open Mainframe project. Come learn about the project as well as be introduced to the technical components. A demonstration will show the API in action driving z/VM functionality.

Productionizing z/OS Open Tools for Sysprogs and Developers – Steven Perva, Senior Mainframe Innovation Engineer at Ensono
Open Source Tooling is gaining ground in z/OS environments. A critical component to adoption of Open Source in enterprise environments is laying a foundation for making tooling available, maintainable, and accessible. Learn my strategy for productionizing the z/OS Open Tools on our internal production systems!

2:40 PM
3:00 PM
Galasa 101 – Louisa Seers, Product Manager at IBM
Discover Galasa—an open-source test framework that ensures the integrity of your applications. With Galasa, you can confidently verify that the latest maintenance hasn’t caused issues and that recent changes haven’t affected existing functionality. Seamlessly align the delivery of your hybrid Z applications with your enterprise’s code delivery process. Join for an informative presentation on Galasa’s powerful features and cost-effective benefits.

Hybrid Orchestration with IBM Z – Dong Ma, Software Engineer at IBM
There are multiple workloads running on x86, Power or Z, and even for Z workloads there are multiple technical implementations like z/VM, KVM, PR/SM(Processor Resource/System Manager) or even zCX (z/OS container extension) or event native z/OS. Challenges comes when you have to manage all those workload all together, especially those core systems are building across different technical stacks, how to unify and simplify the management for all those different infrastructure stacks, specifically some of those workloads(like z/OS workload and zCX workload) can decrease network latency and therefore, improve IO performance while running under certain co-location rules. With this talk we will present how to manage different hypervisor resources like z/VM guest, KVM guest or zCX (z/OS container extension) guest so that all those infrastructure can be integrated with cloud management tools to provision and orchestrate along with the cloud workloads

3:05 PM
3:25 PM
Accelerate Your Mainframe Modernization using Zowe-Conformant REST APIs – Elliot Jalley, Product Manager at Broadcom
Mainframe modernization is being driven by a number of factors, not least the requirement to move fast while retaining the absolute focus on security. Embracing open-first technology is key. Opening the platform to ensure the mainframe remains vibrant into the future. This session focuses on the growing number of mainframe infrastructure REST APIs that provide standardized, programmatic access to mainframe resources. Join me to learn how Zowe-conformant APIs play a vital role in a risk-managed, in-place modernization strategy that leads to faster delivery, higher quality and increased efficiency, all without compromising on security and compliance.
Positioning legacy ISPF tools for tomorrow – Michael Fontanetta, Distinguished Technologist, Senior Director zSystems Product Innovation Engineering at Ensono
As we hand over the reins of z/OS environments to the next generation, a wealth of tools exists in ISPF that could prove useful to the tasks of tomorrow. We’ll explore how to transition ISPF panel-driven applications to consumable APIs that will fit into tomorrow’s paradigms and be ready for consumption by next-gen interfaces like z/OSMF and Zowe.

3:30 PM
3:50 PM
Deploying Zowe CLI configuration throughout your organization – Gene Johnston, Principal Software Engineer at Broadcom
Most companies try new technology, like Zowe CLI, in a pilot program. Once you are convinced of the value of Zowe CLI, you are challenged with deploying that technology throughout your organization. In this session you will hear how Zowe CLI team configuration was designed to improve sharing your configuration with everyone on your team. We will identify different approaches that are available to address different deployment situations. We will describe techniques for creating the most flexible and effective configurations. We will discuss best practices. And, we will show useful techniques to diagnose problems that you may inadvertently place into your configuration.
The z/OS Open Tools Initiative – Mike Fulton, Distinguished Engineer, IBM Z Application Foundation at IBM
In this session, we will discuss open-source tooling on z/OS, with focus on the z/OS Open Tools initiative and how it can help organizations to improve their efficiency, security, and innovation. We will provide examples of tools such as Git, Bash, GNU Make, Vim, CMake, Ninja, JQ and Curl that are available under z/OS Open Tools and how they can be integrated into existing workloads. We will also cover the z/OS Open Tools porting process and how you can get involved. For more information on z/OS Open Tools, see https://zosopentools.github.io/meta/.

3:55 PM
4:15 PM
Mapping the Face of the Modern Mainframe Workforce: Roles, Skills and Resources – John Lovett, Head of Education and Customer Engagement, Mainframe Division at Broadcom & Meredith Stowell, VP, IBM Z Ecosystem at IBM
What roles are out there right now for Mainframe professionals? What skills are needed for those roles and what resources are available to develop them? If you think you know the answers you may be surprised at how much the Mainframe workforce has evolved. Mainframe modernization and the accompanying call for agile business strategies have changed the face of traditional job roles. Share your own insights by joining Mainframe Open Education project leaders JJ Lovett and Paul Newton for an interactive discussion of these topics.

Synchronzing Mainframe Data with Zowe – Diego Rodriguez Bravo, Client Services Consultant at Broadcom
Use case where a simple script embeding Zowe commands, enables PDS member synchronization between isolated environments and keep version control in a Git repository. Main applicability for source code deployment.

4:20 PM
4:40 PM
IBM Z Advocacy – As easy as 1-2-3! – Sudharsana Srinivasan – Advocacy Manager at IBM
Did you know that you have likely been advocating for the mainframe without even realizing it? When you are mentoring others, speaking at events, and creating content – that is Advocacy. It is all about sharing – a journey that helps you find your authentic voice, build your eminence, and grow your career. Have you ever wondered how to get started on your advocacy journey? Attend this session to learn how you can get started today – it’s as easy as 1-2-Z

ZEN – A New Era of Zowe Installation – Jan Prihoda, Product Owner at Broadcom
Zowe has already established its presence on mainframes. However, its installation and configuration can still be challenging. ZEN aims to facilitate the adoption of Zowe through a wizard-driven installation guide. Features such as variable value validation, real-time validation, assistance with certificate management, and configuration file schema validation are just a few of the capabilities offered by ZEN. And all of this from the comfort of your desktop! Come and see for yourself what ZEN can do for you!

4:45 PM
5:05 PM
The Art of Implementing Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform on an Air-gapped IBM zSystem – Vincent Terrone, Enterprise Architect at Vicom Infinity, & Len Santalucia, CTO at Vicom Infinity
There are clients that desire to implement Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform (OCP) on their IBM zSystems that are isolated from the internet for security reasons. However, this isolation poses a challenge since OCP normally requires a live internet connection during its installation. We will discuss how to overcome this challenge and how to continue to support such isolated air-gapped OCP environments. This is a session from which everyone will learn and benefit.
Software management automation using Zowe and Ansible – Jan Prihoda, Product Owner at Broadcom
If you manage more than two LPARs, you surely know that keeping all the software updated on all systems can be very demanding. Backup/recovery, HOLDDATA resolution, and different task levels/roles – all of these introduce complexity and the possibility of errors. And now, imagine that with the help of open-source tools like Zowe and Ansible, it is possible to not only eliminate but at least greatly simplify all these challenges. Want to know more? Come and see for yourself!

5:10 PM
5:30 PM
Top Five Open Source Mainframe Powerups! – Joe Winchester, Senior Technical Staff Member at IBM
In this talk, I’ll show my favourite free open source tools that every mainframer should be using, if they aren’t already. With short demos and instructions we’ll look at ports of Bash and VIM, the amazing Zigi 3270 emulator, and other open source tools. This will be the best 20 minute open source presentation you’ll be glad you attended to learn new things you didn’t know before and change how you work with the mainframe going forward.
Zowe – Beyond the Typical Use Cases – Jan Prihoda, Product Owner at Broadcom
Zowe is often leveraged for popular use cases, including creating CI-CD pipelines to achieve mainframe DevOps, offering mainframe Developers & Administrators extensions for their VS Code workspace, and creating modern UIs for operational tasks. It can also be leveraged for innovations. In this session, we’ll share how we’ve used Zowe’s capabilities in various ways and in general, why we view Zowe as an enabler for innovations.

6 – 8 pm: Attendee Reception

Registration costs $1599 but Open Mainframe Summit attendees will receive an exclusive discount until August 30 at 5 PM ET. The discount of $300 USD*, will require you to pre-register. Please submit this form to reserve your discounted pass. When your pre-registration submission has been successfully processed, you will be invited to register for the event. For questions about Open Mainframe Summit, email info@openmainframeproject.org.

Zowe Q3 Webinar (Virtual)
2023-09-27 08:30 - 09:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
What’s new with Zowe Explorer?
Whether you are a Zowe User, Contributor, Extender or simply interested in what’s happening with Zowe – please join us for the next Zowe Quarterly Update Webinar on Wednesday, September 27 at 8:30 am PT/11:30 am ET. Register here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_11n1KcA6Rp2f6XdVhI6HsQ
Zowe Community Leads Fernando Rijo Cedeno, Software Engineer at Broadcom and Open Mainframe Project Ambassador, and Timothy Johnson, Software Engineer at Broadcom and Open Mainframe Project Ambassador, will share a comprehensive overview and demonstration of the V2 LTS features and functions in Zowe’s Explorer for Visual Studio Code.
Register for the webinar here. If you can’t make it live, register to receive a link to watch on-demand.

COBOL Programming Course Q3 Webinar
2023-09-29 09:00 - 10:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Join the COBOL Programming Course TSC on Friday, September 29 at 9 am PT/12 pm ET for their Q3 webinar. The focus of the webinar will be “My Summer with COBOL – A Mentee Story,” where 2023 Summer Mentee Ashis Kumar Naik will share his experience, lessons learned and more. His mentor Lezlie Browder, an IBM Ambassador and Chief Solutionist with decades of mainframe experience, will also share her experience and the entire team will be available to answer questions about the course, mentorship or COBOL in general. Register here today!

Building a Thriving Open Source Community: Best Practices for Attracting and Retaining Contributor
2023-10-11 09:00 - 10:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Join Open Mainframe Project for a special webinar on Wednesday, October 11 at 9 am PT/12 pm ET. Register here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_XNpNLYNeRkuIvvwPXxkEXg
Open source communities are an important part of the software development landscape, allowing individuals from around the world to collaborate and contribute to projects. However, building and maintaining a thriving open-source community can be challenging. This presentation will explore the best practices for attracting and retaining contributors to your open-source project. We will begin by discussing the importance of creating a welcoming environment for contributors, including clear documentation and communication channels. We will also cover strategies for incentivizing participation, such as mentorship opportunities. Additionally, we will explore the role of diversity and inclusion in open-source communities, and how to create a culture that values and celebrates differences. We will provide real-world examples of successful open-source communities. By the end of this presentation, attendees will have a clear understanding of the best practices for building and maintaining a thriving open-source community. They will be equipped with practical tips and strategies that they can implement in their own projects to attract and retain contributors.

Speaker Andrej Chmelo is a software engineer at Broadcom with a passion for advancing the field of technology. With a focus on innovation and collaboration, he is an integral and active member of the Zowe community, contributing his expertise to drive the project.
Register for the webinar here. If you can’t make it live to the webinar, register for the on-demand link.

All Things Open (Raleigh, NC)
2023-10-15 - 2023-10-17
All Things Open will be hosted on October 15-17 in Raleigh, North Carolina. ATO is an educational conference where attendees learn about new technologies and topics, and it’s always been that way. The goal is for attendees to leave having learned something or been made aware of something new.
Open Mainframe Project will be featured in the event in this session:
Monday, October 16:
2:45 – 3:30 pm: Linux Distribution Collaboration …on a Mainframe! – Elizabeth Joseph, Global Head, Open Source Program Office for IBM zSystems & LinuxONE at IBM
Linux has run on the mainframe architecture (s390x) for over 20 years now, and there’s even Linux-only mainframe hardware! But tight collaboration between the Linux distributions is rather new. Enter the Open Mainframe Project Linux Distributions Working Group, founded in late 2021.
Bringing together various Linux distributions, both corporate-backed and community-driven, representatives from openSUSE, Debian, Fedora, SUSE, and more immediately joined the effort to share bug reports and patches that impact all the distributions. Issues are often shared and discussed on the mailing list, and more complicated topics covered during the monthly meetings. The working group has a number of success stories that will be shared.
Future potential issues are also tackled, and notes shared about upstream changes that may soon impact the package processes. In the latest effort, the team has started thinking about actual upstream projects to invite to our group to be more pro-active about changes that may cause problems on the s390x architecture.
But more importantly, this is a story about community and collaboration. Many people view the various Linux distributions as a competitive space, but like so much of the open source software community, we are all more successful when we share knowledge about our core. The success of this working group, and growing enthusiasm for it from new Linux distributions who are joining, is a great example of this.
All Things Open is not managed by the Linux Foundation or Open Mainframe Project. To register or learn more about the conference, click on the All Things Open conference: https://2023.allthingsopen.org/.

Closing the Knowledge Gap: How to Attract and Retain Next-Gen Mainframe Talent
2023-10-16 09:00 - 10:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
On Monday, October 16 at 9 am PT/12 pm ET, join leaders from BMC, Broadcom Mainframe Software, IBM and Open Mainframe Project to discuss how to attract and retain next-gen mainframe talent as well as current internship, mentorship and employment opportunities. Register here.
Registration is required and the webinar is open to all applicants from all backgrounds. This one hour event hopes to bring awareness to why inclusive hiring is important and highlight the many internship and hiring programs offered by leading mainframe companies.
Speakers include:

Earl Dixon Jr, Principle Client Services, Vitality Program Tech Lead at Broadcom Mainframe Software
Jen Corio, Director – Talent Acquisition at BMC
Shelly Meierarend, IBM Z Global Skills Leader at IBM
John Mertic, Executive Director at Open Mainframe Project

Earl Dixon

Jen Corio

Shelly Meierarend

John Mertic

In addition to a presentation of programs by four panelists from leading companies, the webinar will include a Q&A session to answer any attendee questions about the many mainframe job opportunities. This session will cover the following:

Broadcom Mainframe Vitality Program
BMC Next Gen Program
IBM Z Day page
Open Mainframe Project Mentorship Program

Register here.
Check out other Marking Our Strong Community Stronger videos here. Join our LinkedIn community here.

IBM Z Day 2023 (Virtual Conference managed by IBM)
2023-10-18
Join us for IBM Z Day on October 18 from 8 am – 5 pm ET to connect, learn and be inspired.

IBM Z Day is a free 1-day enterprise computing virtual conference for anyone and everyone! Hear the latest about IBM Z and LinuxONE, and join our lineup of global thought leaders who will highlight industry trends and innovation spanning Hybrid Cloud, AI, Quantum-Safe Security, and more!
REGISTER FOR IBM Z DAY NOW: ibm.biz/ibmzday-2023
Explore 5 content-rich learning tracks:

IBM Z – Build an AI-infused, cyber resilient hybrid cloud platform with unmatched, industry-first quantum-safe security that enables you to deliver ground-breaking innovation with greater productivity and a lower carbon footprint.
App Modernization – Accelerate application modernization and AIOps across IBM Z and Cloud leveraging APIs to access applications and data, implement enterprise DevOps and full application observability all as you learn how IBM is infusing AI into application modernization.
Data & AI – NEW! Dive deep into how the Data & AI on IBM Z’s portfolio offers resilient, efficient, no-compromise enterprise data serving for the world’s most demanding hybrid cloud, transactional, and analytics applications on IBM Z.
Sustainability – When sustainability, productivity and profitability coexist they support profit and planet. Hear from environmental, business and IT thought leaders on how IT can identify and reduce energy usage, and where IBM Z and LinuxONE are already making a positive impact on our planet.

IBM Z Skills Acceleration – Get free training & network with like-minded early professionals, students and lifelong learners from all around the world to advance skills & learn from subject matter experts.

Sign Up NOW: ibm.biz/ibmzday-2023

GSE UK (Towcester, United Kingdom)
2023-10-30 - 2023-11-02
GSE UK Conference, hosted at Whittlebury Hall in the United Kingdom on October 30 – November 2, offers attendees the opportunity to gain new knowledge, tips and guidance on different products from experienced industry professionals. Through user and vendor-led sessions, GSE UK events are designed to reduce the chance of errors and help save time and money. gain knowledge that will help your entire team increase efficiency, agility and save money including education and training costs. The event features more than 250 technical sessions across enterprise IT topics including Security, CICS, DB2 and MQ to name a few.
Open Mainframe Project will be represented at the event by several ambassadors, contributors and leaders. Check the schedule below:
Tuesday, October 31:
12 pm: New Mainframers Talk Candidly (continued) – Earl Dixon, Tech Lead for the Broadcom Vitality Program and frequent speaker for the Making our Strong Community Stronger Initiative
Other speakers include Niall Ashley, Katie Juhala and Zdravka Oysolova
12 pm: Db2 and Zowe. Everything, everywhere at once! – Joe Winchester, Open Mainframe Project Ambassador, Zowe community member and Senior Technical Staff Member at IBM
A challenge facing mainframe Db2 shops is how to become more agile with modern tooling, yet leverage the existing resources and skills that power their z/OS systems. Zowe provides a way to do this through its Visual Studio Code plugins, its browser based web desktop, and its command line interface. This allows Db2 shops to leverage their existing JCL and REXX libraries, their existing stored procedures, their existing SQL scripts, and surface existing resources in new form factors for DevOps tool chains, for automation, for operations, and more. These can be used by existing and novice mainframers, providing a bridge between familiar open source tools and Db2 on z/OS. This talk will demonstrate the power of the new ecosystem with real world examples and customer success stories.
4:45 pm: Goodbye to Baby-sitting your z/OS Jobs with Zowe Integrated JCL Checking (demo) – Domenico D’Alterio, Open Mainframe Project Ambassador, Zowe Community Member and Principal Product Manager at IBM
Take the worry out of programming your jobs, checking and double checking for code standard compliance, ensuring DevOps processes are delivered while meeting business SLAs for your hybrid cloud applications by allowing IBM Z JCL Expert to do the heavy lifting for you. In this session, come and discover the ease with which IBM Z JCL Expert, when integrated with Zowe, helps you automatically check your jobs as part of your CI/CD pipeline in a fraction of the time it would normally take, allowing you to focus on the more value-adding functions of your role. A live demo of the Zowe integrated features will be shown in the session.
Wednesday, November 1:
8 am: Keynote – The Mark and Steve Show – Steven Dickens, Vice President and Practice Leader at the Futurum Group and Mark Wilson, Architect, Technician and Project Manager at Vertali Limited
10:15 am: Mainframe/Zowe Tutorial – Germanas Samrickis, Software Engineer at Rocket Software
Mainframe Hands-On Lab Session for those who have zero or limited experience on mainframe. Lab excercise covers usage of VSCode, Zowe and ZOAU.
Purpose of this lab is showcase how smooth and enjoyable experience could be using modern tools. This session is not intended to be a deep dive. Instead, it serves as a guide on how to get started, with the expectation that you can pursue a deeper dive into the subject on your own.
Max Capacity: 20 attendees

Limited capacity on a first-come, first-served basis
No prior mainframe experience required
Bring your curiosity and laptop

10:15 am: Zowe plugin development using the “Realtime Dataset Metrics” as a sample – Alex Agoltsov, Senior Software Engineer at Rocket Software UK
The idea is to show what is needed to create and maintain the Zowe plugin.
I’m going to use the “Realtime Dataset Metrics” Zowe plugin from OMEGAMON for Storage as a sample, showing best practices, and processes (architecture, testing, unit-testing, development, CI/CD, communication layer and etc.)
1:45 pm: Wowee it’s Zowe, the new face of the mainframe – Joe Winchester, Open Mainframe Project Ambassador, Zowe community member and Senior Technical Staff Member at IBM
All of the old with all of the new. The Open Mainframe Project’s Zowe tooling aims to bridge the gap between folks new to the mainframe familiar with distributed and open source technologies, with the rich set of existing mainframe runtimes and tooling that exists on the platform. This is done by bridging the worlds with browser front ends, Visual Studio Code and IntelliJ plugins, Chatbots, and command line interfaces. By being open source and extensible Zowe not only provides base function out of the box, but supports a depth of vendor plugins making it ideal of DevOps modernization or building custom mainframe dashboards with its SDK. This talk will cover Zowe from end to end, and showing how it is fast becoming ‘The New Face of the Mainframe’ for experienced and newbie mainframers alike.
1:45 pm: Automated testing of COBOL Sections! – Rune Christensen, Contributor to COBOL Check, Open Mainframe Project Ambassador and Lead Software Engineer at Bankdata
Want to test your COBOL sections? Want to run it on your laptop? Test driven development with fast feedback inside Visual Studio Code? Mocking of programs, CICS calls and other sections, enabling truly isolated tests? Pipelines with test gateways, denying failed tests to be deployed? Dashboards showing status of tests, and team usage? All of this is in your reach! Look no further, in just 50 minutes I will show you COBOL Check; that will change your COBOL experience!
Thursday, November 2:
10:15 am: I get my CICS on route Zowe – Joe Winchester, Open Mainframe Project Ambassador, Zowe community member and Senior Technical Staff Member at IBM
This presentation will show how to use open source Zowe tooling to develop, administer, deploy and test CICS applications. We’ll show how to:

Build automation to drive CICS automation for compilation and deployment from a stand-alone environment using the Zowe command line interface, and embed scripts in a Jenkins CICD pipeline
Use Visual Studio Code Zowe extensions to work with JCL, REXX and TSO to drive z/OS, write, compile, and debug COBOL and Java CICS programs.
Use VS Code tasks to integrate with CLI scripts.
Use the Visual Studio Code Zowe CICS Explorer plugin to connect to CICS regions, to view resources and perform actions like new/copy, enable/disable, and perform development tasks without needing to use CEMT or other CICS interfaces.
Develop CICS programs with BMS maps, CICS programs with web services, and CICS Java programs, all using Visual Studio Code Zowe extensions.
Interact with Db2, MQ and other subsystems that make up a CICS program’s technology stack.

This presentation has content for experienced CICS developers and system programmers, as well as newcomers who want to learn how to interact with CICS through a CLI and through Visual Studio Code.
11:45 am: Automating PTF Maintenance Using an Open-First Approach – Jan Prihoda, Product Owner at Broadcom Mainframe Software
Historically, software management has leveraged SMP/E. More recently, mainframe vendors collaborated to introduce and recommend the z/OSMF-based alternative using Portable Software Instances (PSWI), Workflows, and Software Update. Both methods work well when the target LPARS are limited, reside on the same physical device or are within a sysplex. But for organizations managing hundreds of LPARs, deploying new software or applying the latest maintenance can be challenging to manage, time-consuming, frustrating, and downright painful. In this session, we will demonstrate an automated alternative – developed specifically for customers eager to solve this problem – powered by Zowe CLI, Ansible, and z/OSMF.
1:45 am: Zowe Extensions in IBM Z System Management (demo) – Domenico D’Alterio, Open Mainframe Project Ambassador, Zowe Community Member and Principal Product Manager at IBM
Zowe™ technology delivers new ways to integrate IBM Z system management into the enterprise processes and applications, protecting the investment made on IBM Z. Zowe helps to make the IBM Z platform easier to learn and use for next-generation IT staff and developers. Come and learn how IBM System Management offerings like IBM Z System Automation, IBM Z NetView and IBM Z Workload Scheduler, expand Zowe framework with specific extensions to have an easier way to integrate Automation of system, applications, processing and more in a hybrid cloud environment. A demo of the ZOWE CLI extensions available for the products listed above will be performed during the session, to show the value add in the data center management of them. Come and learn about use cases that leverage REST API for Automation as well as CLI extensions of Zowe in an hybrid cloud environment.
For the complete schedule or to register, visit the event website here.

Open Mainframe Summit New York
2023-11-01
This year, Open Mainframe Summit will be co-located with Open Source in Finance Forum, hosted in New York City on November 1.
Open Source in Finance Forum is dedicated to driving collaboration and innovation in financial services through open source software and standards. The event brings together experts across financial services, technology, and open source to engage our community in stimulating and thought-provoking conversations about how to best (and safely) leverage open source software to solve industry challenges. Open Mainframe Summit will be featured as part of a 6-session track and a 10-minute keynote presentation on November 1.
Open Mainframe Project will also have a booth at OSFF. Stop by to chat with member from 11:30 am – 7:45 pm.
Learn more about the event here. Register here. Open Mainframe Project members and community receive a 20 % discount. Use this code “20OSFF23” when checking out of registration.

Schedule:
11 – 11:10 am: Keynote Session: Driving the Modern Enterprise; Why Aren’t You On Board? – John Mertic, Executive Director, Open Mainframe Project
Open source transforms every industry, from automotive to energy – even movies! Even as ubiquitous as open source, adoption in industries like the financial industry has been challenging, and organizations have sometimes hesitated to leverage open-source software.
But that trend is changing. Is your enterprise onboard?
In this keynote, John Mertic, Executive Director of the Open Mainframe Project, will highlight how projects like Zowe and Galasa and investments into OpenTelemetry and security are changing the narrative for open source in forward-thinking financial services organizations.
11:30 am – 7:45 pm: Sponsor Showcase
Stop by the Open Mainframe Project booth for stickers, a chance to win John Mertic’s new open source book and more.
12:00 – 12:30 pm: From Vulnerability to Resiliency: Securing Open-Source Software Development – Andrej Chmelo, Broadcom
The nature of open-source software makes it vulnerable to security threats that can lead to severe consequences, including data breaches and system failures. Therefore, it’s crucial to understand the importance of securing open-source software development to enhance its resiliency. This presentation will provide an in-depth understanding of the vulnerabilities associated with open-source software and the strategies to mitigate these vulnerabilities. It will explore the importance of building security in the development process, such as code review and testing, as well as the use of software analysis tools. By the end of the presentation, attendees will have a clear understanding of the strategies and practices necessary to ensure the resiliency and security of open-source software development. They will also have a better understanding of the potential consequences of not adequately securing their open-source software projects.
12:35 – 1:05 pm: Top 5 in 5! The Use Cases that Describe how Customers Have Leveraged Zowe for their Strategic Initiatives Over the Past 5 Years – Rose Sakach, Broadcom
Since 2020, the Arcati Mainframe yearbook has predicted exponential increases in Zowe adoptions. By the end of 2023 close to 70% of mainframe organizations – i.e. more and more of you – will be doing something with Zowe. In this session, we’ll showcase the most popular Zowe use cases. Whether you are a Systems Programmer, DBA, Security Administrator, DevOps Architect or Developer you will gain an understanding of the value of Zowe as we demo and explain 5 common Zowe use cases to help prioritize and expedite your adoption journey.
2:05pm – 2:35pm Unleashing the Power of Open Source: Revolutionizing Mainframe Insights with OpenTelemetry – Jessielane Punongbayan, Dynatrace
Join me on an exciting exploration as we discover the immense potential of combining OpenTelemetry, open source solutions, and Dynatrace z/OS monitoring. In this talk, we will uncover hidden efficiencies and unlock enhanced performance by utilizing these transformative monitoring tools. Together, let’s embark on this journey to redefine the possibilities of mainframe monitoring.
2:40pm – 3:10pm Galasa Use Cases – Louisa Seers, IBM
How is Galasa used in the real-world? What kind of test cases could it handle? The test framework that can handle both complicated subsystems and web-based interfaces in the same test to demonstrate full system integration tests. This talk will show you a few use cases where Galasa can really shine and make difficult manual tasks look easy.
3:40pm – 4:45pm: Secure & Open: Not Mutually Exclusive? – Michael DuBois, John Jakacki, Rose Sakach & Emre Tunar, Broadcom; Len Santalucia, Vicom Infinity; Tim Willging, Rocket Software
Open source technologies offer businesses undeniable benefits like increased agility, cost-effectiveness and freedom of choice. With the emergence of Zowe, the mainframe ecosystem can realize those advantages and then some. So why are some organizations steadfast in their hesitation to embrace open? Perhaps because on a platform so widely recognized for its safeguards, open source is still perceived by many as a security risk. Join our panel of mainframe security experts who will discuss the advantages, concerns and reality of open source security and what it means for mainframe.
5:45 – 7:45 pm Attendee Reception
Learn more about the Open Mainframe Sessions here.

COBOL Programming Course Q4 Webinar: Today's COBOLers
2023-12-20 09:30 - 10:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
COBOL is the language of business, it is a well-known fact…..but is that all it can be used for? Join us for COBOL Programming Course Q4 webinar on Wednesday, December 20 at 9:30 am PT (12:30 pm ET) to hear from an educator and students of Talladega College on the importance of COBOL in our world today, what got them started on their COBOL journey and how they have fun with it! Register here.

Speakers: Professor Philip Grabowskil and Students Reinhard Mensah and Victor Tavares

Zowe Quarterly Webinar
2024-01-17 08:30 - 09:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
Join Open Mainframe Project’s Zowe community on Wednesday, January 17 at 8:30 am PT/11:30 am ET for our first quarterly webinar of the year! Whether you are a Zowe User, Contributor, Extender or simply interested in what’s happening with Zowe, we invite you to attend the webinar to learn more. Mark Ackert will give an overview of Zowe Event Management.
Register here.

IBM Z Council (Tysons, Virginia)
2024-02-29 09:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York)
Join the IBM Z community on Thursday, February 29, 2024 from 9:00 am – 3:00 pm EST at Maggiano’s Little Italy: Tysons Galleria. The theme for the day is Cyber Resiliency & Modernization.
The term “modernization” means something different for everyone. The presentations for this event will focus on bridging the mainframe skills gap, a fit-for-purpose application strategy on Z, advancements in AIOps technology, and latest additions to our LinuxONE family. Conversations throughout the day will encompass all components of Z modernization and cyber resiliency. You won’t want to miss this opportunity to further the discussion. Register here.
Vicom Infinity CTP Leonard Santalucia will kick off the day with a presentation on the Open Mainframe Project. The open source movement has rapidly become the way code is being developed for today’s smart and agile businesses. This session will cover how an “open mainframe” is the perfect solution for deploying open source on an enterprise computing platform. Attendees will learn how the open source community has gathered around the mainframe platform and how open source projects such as Zowe, COBOL, a new working group focused on Mainframe.
This event is managed by the IBM Z community. To learn more about the event or to register for it, visit the main event page: https://ibm-zcouncil.com/events/tysons-va-feb-29/.

SHARE (Orlando, Florida)
2024-03-03 - 2024-03-07
SHARE, an independent volunteer-run information technology association that provides education, professional networking and industry influence, invites you to join them in Orlando on March 3-7, 2024. SHARE is an associate member of the Open Mainframe Project and Open Mainframe ambassadors will be on-site. Check out these Open Mainframe Project -related sessions and register here.
**All sessions are listed in Eastern Standard Time (EST) and will take place at the Rosen Centre Hotel.
Monday, March 4:
9:15 – 10:15 am: Customer Success Stories with the Open Mainframe Project Zowe – Joe Winchester and Ross Cruickshank, IBM, and Murali P Panchalingam
This talk covers a number of success customer stories and use cases adoptiong Zowe technology, focusing on Education and training of New to Z staff, DevOps and automation scripting, Db2 modernization through Zowe Desktop extensions and VS Code development, as well as custom SDK dashboards to build situational apps for in-house productivy. Each scenario is backed up by quotes and videos from the customers together with sample code and tips and information for others in their Zowe journey, whether getting started or wanting to learn from the success of others.
1:15-2:15 pm: The “ABC’s” of Building Dashboards Using Zowe APIs – Rose Sakach and Toine Micheielse, Broadcom
Ready to build a mainframe app using APIs? Then don’t miss this session. We’ll walk through each step of creating a simple dashboard using Zowe APIs, Python, a data store, and Kibana. Walk away with a handy checklist containing all the details – no notebook required!
2:45-3:45 pm: IBM Z System Automation 4.3 – Exploit Zowe and REST APIs to Enable Next Gen Operators – Gunnar Freitag, IBM
Learn about exciting new Z Automation capabilities of the new SA z/OS 4.3 release supporting IBM Z and DevOps for enhanced operations management. Learn about – On-demand automated resources to dynamically adapt to changing business requirements – The new ability to access your automation environment via REST calls and a wide variety of added enhancements making your life easier. Come and learn about user scenarios and improvements delivered recently.
4-5 pm: Learn How Zowe Explorer Empowers Both New and Experienced Mainframers – Joe Winchester, Billie Simmons, Ross Cruickshank, IBM
The Zowe Explorer Visual Studio Code plugin is being adopted as “the new face of Z” across the specturm of mainframe experience from education courses “IBM Z Explore, COBOL training” through to experienced system programmers and assembler developers using it as their preferred IDE and mainframe “all-in-one” productivity workbench. This talk covers the different scenarios and use cases that enable everyone to explorer the mainframe with Zowe as their navigator.
Tuesday, March 5:
7:15 – 7:45 am: BOF: Mainframe Open Education Project – William Cash, Hunter JOhnson and J.J. Lovett, Broadcom
Working session to build upon research conducted by the Core Team Members regarding roles and responsibilities, the most desired education topics for NextGen mainframes, evolving education to meet and suit the needs of new mainframers. We are looking to maintain engagement to drive year-round learning and education for the entire ecosystem through various avenues.
10:30 – 11:30 am: Enterprise Deployment and Configuration of Zowe – Joe Winchester and Ross Cruickshank, IBM, and Murali P Panchalingam
As Zowe grows in maturity and adoption, more customers are deploying it at scale, in production environments, and relying on it for more critical infrastructure workloads. This talk covers the use cases and patterns to assist with Enterprise roll-out, covering everything from initial install and configuration of the first POC, through to securing with client certificates, MFA, high availability within an LPAR or cross syplex, rolling out updates, central configuration of connection details.
1-2 pm: PSP: Next-Gen Mainframe DevX with IntelliJ IDEA, Jenkins, and GitHub – Uladzislau Kalesnikau (Software Engineer, IBA Group
In this presentation, we focus on enhancing the Developer Experience (DevX) for mainframe systems by developing mainframe source code within the IntelliJ IDEA IDE environment, managed as GitHub projects. Specifically, we will delve into the build stage of the IBA Group DevOps suite, which is based on Zowe products. Our discussion will include an in-depth look at the testing options available in this setup, as well as Jenkins’ role in automating and optimizing workflows. We will also test how easily we can expand our solution by adding more parts, and how well it can function in different settings. This will involve using CICS and working with various programming languages like COBOL, HLASM, Java, and Python.
Looking ahead, we’ll examine the potential impact of the Language Server Protocol (LSP) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) on enhancing mainframe development in upcoming versions. This presentation is crucial for mainframe developers looking to enhance their DevX and modernize their development practices using IntelliJ IDEA.
Wednesday, March 6:
5:30-6:30 pm: ZEN – The “Easy Button” for Zowe Installation – Jan Prihoda, Broadcom
ZEN helps you speed the deployment of Zowe through a wizard-driven configuration guide. Easily exploit rich features such as variable value validation, real-time security validation, assistance with certificate management, and configuration file validation with just a few clicks. Come and see for yourself what ZEN can do from the comfort of your desktop!
Check out the complete schedule for SHARE and register here.

Diverse Perspectives of Women in IT (Webinar)
2024-03-13 09:00 - 10:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
An upcoming webinar hosted by the Making our Strong Community Stronger (MSCS) collaborative will feature a panel of five women discussing what it means to be a woman in the IT industry today. MSCS is sponsored by Broadcom Mainframe Software, IBM, the Open Mainframe Project, Rocket Software, TechChannel and BMC Software.
The discussion will be moderated by Dr. Gloria Chance, president and CEO of The Mousai Group, and panelists include:

Becca Barrile, internal communications director, Rocket Software
Dr. Rebecca Gott, chief technology officer, Power platform, IBM
Donna Hudi, chief marketing officer, Phoenix Software
Arshind Kaur, product manager, IZOT division, BMC
Ruchi Saxena, research, design strategy, Broadcom
Allyson Cook, program lead, customer engagement, Broadcom

The webinar will take place on March 13 at 9 am PST/12 p.m. EST. Register today to claim your spot.

The 21st Annual Southern California Linux Expo
2024-03-14 - 2024-03-17
The 21st Annual Southern California Linux Expo (SCaLE 21x) will take place on March 14-17, 2024 at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, CA.
SCaLE is the largest community-run open-source and free software conference in North America. It is held annually in the greater Los Angeles area. Elizabeth Joseph, Open Mainframe Project ambassador and Chair of the Software Discovery Tool and Global Head, OSPO for IBM Z at IBM, will be on-site to give a presentation titled, “Will your open source project run on a mainframe? And beyond!” Her presentation takes place on Saturday, March 16, 2024 at 3:45 to 4:45 pm PT.
You probably developed your open source project for a single, “default” architecture like x86, but today there is a growing interest in other architectures, from ARM to Power, and yes, even mainframes (s390x). The talk will present some of the reasons these architectures are growing in popularity, form factors they’re available in, and why your open source project may want to consider supporting them.
From there I’ll discuss some of the free tools and programs that are available to open source software developers to port their projects to ARM, Power, and s390x, and give some practical guidance on precisely how to get started.
This event is managed by the SCALE team. Stay tuned for more details on the main event website here: https://www.socallinuxexpo.org/scale/21x.

COBOL Programming Course Q1 Webinar
2024-03-19 08:00 - 09:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Join us for the COBOL Programming Course Q1 webinar on March 19 at 8 am PST. Zowe Explorer Squad Lead Adam Wolfe, Open Mainframe Project Ambassador and Product Owner at Broadcom Mainframe Software, joins the COBOL Programming Course team to discuss all things Zowe.
Zowe and COBOL are two of the most popular projects of the Open Mainframe project! Tune in to listen to the team discussing about the upcoming Zowe v3 release, the impact to the COBOL course, and more!
Register here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_q9d5mzezSguu5FGOa1EBiw

Zowe Webinar: Squads, Training Programs & Badges
2024-03-28 07:00 - 08:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Join the Open Mainframe Project Community on Thursday. March 28 at 7 am PDT/10 am EDT for a free webinar about Zowe. Jakub Balhar, Principal Product Owner at Broadcom and Zowe TSC Chair, will provide an overview of Zowe and its different squads, and Darren Surch, CEO of Interskill Learning and Open Mainframe Project Ambassador, will provide details and a demo of Zowe training courses and badges. He’ll even share news about upcoming advanced training opportunities coming soon! Register here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_u1H9h_v9QQWtzq4IOC_CJg.
Jakub Balhar, Darren Surch
Additional Details:
The 2024 Arcati Mainframe Report, surveys mainframe organizations each year to see what technologies are being used and which ones are going out of favor. This year, 89% of respondents indicated that Zowe was either running now, or soon will be by the end of the year.
As more organizations leverage Zowe for their mainframe modernization, we invite you to join the Open Mainframe Project community on Thursday, March 28 at 7 am PDT for a webinar that will showcase how you can get involved in Zowe, an open source software framework for the mainframe that strengthens integration with modern enterprise applications, and training programs.
With the help of the Zowe community, Interskill provides a free online “Fundamentals for Zowe” course to build your Zowe skills and get you started on your Zowe journey! There’s even a brag-worthy Open Mainframe Project digital badge to show your Zowe skills to the world! If you are already somewhere along the route, the best way to learn is from Zowe docs and the discussions in Zowe channels on Slack.
Register here.

Mainframe Open Education Student User Group
2024-04-03 08:30 - 09:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
Knowledge management involves consciously organizing, retaining, and sharing an organization’s knowledge and experience. The primary aim is to connect those seeking information with those who possess it, enhancing operational efficiency and expertise within the organization. This is exactly what Mainframe Open Education does.
Join the core team on Wednesday, April 3 at 8:30-9:30 am PDT for a webinar that introduces students to the Mainframe Open Education project. We’ll hear from contributors and students who have engaged with the project to learn about how to get involved, best practices, badges and more!
Speakers include:

Nanxi Meng, Instructional Designer at Broadcom and contributor to Mainframe Open Education
Eugene Ndlovu, Graduate of University of Johannesburg, Graduate

Register here.

Grazer Linuxtage (Graz, Austria)
2024-04-05 - 2024-04-06
Grazer Linuxtage is a conference taking place annually in Graz on Apirl 5-6. Grazer Linuxtage is organized by volunteers and offers attendees the opportunity to learn more about open source software and open source hardware.
Open Mainframe Project Ambassador Sarah-Julia Kriesch, IT consultant for Accenture, will be on-site on Saturday, April 6 at 10-10:45 am (Europe time) to present and overview of the Linux Distribution Working Group and how the different distributions collaborate.

openSUSE, Fedora and Debian have joined forces with an IBM representative as the Linux Distributions Working Group in the Open Mainframe Project with the aim of maintaining the respective mainframe (s390x) ports together and ultimately providing all Linux distributions with the corresponding patches and can integrate extensions. At first this idea was viewed with some surprise from outside, but at community level we are an “international” Linux community consisting of different Linux distributions. In the meantime, SUSE, Canonical (Ubuntu), AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux have also joined. In the same way, they started to develop the tooling for automatic tests together with openQA.
This lecture, given in German, will present the advantages of joint collaboration on Linux distributions with different communities and, using the example of the Linux Distributions Working Group, show how we can develop together so that everyone has an advantage in the end.
Check out the complete schedule here.
This event is not managed by the Linux Foundation. To learn more, visit the main event page here.

Texas Linux Fest (Austin)
2024-04-12 - 2024-04-13
Texas Linux Fest is the first state-wide annual community-run conference for Linux and open source software users and enthusiasts from around the Lone Star State. Much like SCALE in Los Angeles, Ohio Linux Fest in Columbus, and Linux Fest Northwest – and an ever-growing list of successful regional shows – Texas Linux Fest is a weekend event geared towards individual users, rather than an expensive multi-workday expo that might cater primarily to sponsored attendees. Whether you use free software and Linux at home, in your place of business, in your school or non-profit, or you are simply curious, Texas Linux Fest offers something for you.
On Saturday, April 13 from 2:30 – 3:15 pm, Elizabeth Joseph, Open Mainframe Project ambassador and Chair the Software Discovery Tool and Global Head, OSPO for IBM Z at IBM, will be on-site at the event. Her talk will cover the Linux Distributions Working Group, which she serves as the co-chair, and other initiatives that the Open Mainframe Project has that supports Linux.
This event is not managed by the Linux Foundation. For more information about the event or to register for it, visit the Texas Linux Fest website.

Open Source Summit North America (Seattle, Washington)
2024-04-16 - 2024-04-18
Open Source Summit is the premier event for open source developers, technologists, and community leaders to collaborate, share information, solve problems, and gain knowledge, furthering open source innovation and ensuring a sustainable open source ecosystem. It is the gathering place for open-source code and community contributors.
Open Source Summit is a conference umbrella, composed of a collection of events covering the most important technologies, topics, and issues affecting open source today. One of these is events is LinuxCon, where Elizabeth Joseph, Open Mainframe Summit Ambassador and Global Head, Open Source Program Office for IBMZ at IBM, will be on-site to give a presentation about the Linux Distributions Working Group.
On Wednesday, April 17 at 2-2:40 pm, she will give a presentation titled, “How Our Mainframe-Focused Working Group Solved Our Linux Distribution Maintainer Isolation Problem.”
When you’re the only maintainer caring for a somewhat niche part of your project, it can be very isolating. This was happening with maintainers of the s390x (mainframe) port of a number of Linux distributions, and so in 2021 we founded The Open Mainframe Project Linux Distributions Working Group to try and solve this.
The working group brought together maintainers of the s390x port of openSUSE, Debian, Fedora, Rocky Linux, and more to discuss and collaborate on shared issues, future planning, and access to hardware resources for development and testing.
This talk will provide a basic introduction to the s390x architecture to provide context to why collaboration is required and why maintainers sometimes struggled. Then we’ll dive into some of the specific technical success stories the distributions have from this working group, and how that’s managed to knock down those walls that were causing us to feel so isolated, and create a friendly, collaborative team. Add this to your schedule here.
You can find the complete schedule here. Learn more about the event or to register for it, visit the main Open Source Summit North America website here.

GSE UK Virtual Conference
2024-04-23 - 2024-04-25
The GSE UK Virtual Conference will be hosted online on April 23-25. There will be ten parallel streams during the three days with each session lasting for one hour. Registration will be free for GSE members but a small charge will be made for non-members to cover our expenses. Access to session videos will be free for GSE members and for two months after the conference for non-member delegates.
All sessions are in the UK timezone.
Wednesday, April 24:
1-1:30 pm: How to Build an Internal Mainframe Talent Pool – Darren Surch, CEO of Interskill and Open Mainframe Project Ambassador
Modern mainframe organizations recognize the persistent shortage of external, mainframe-skilled personnel and ensure long-term mainframe workforce efficacy by building internal mainframe talent pools. The synergy of workforce succession planning, strategic mainframe upskilling, and internal mobility provides a powerful solution to a persistent mainframe industry challenge. Join Lifetime IBM Champion, Darren Surch, as he outlines how to build a successful internal mainframe talent pool at your organization!
3-4 pm: How to Test a Mainframe without knowing the Mainframe! – Eamonn Mansour, Software Engineer, and Louisa Seers, Product Manager, at IBM
Writing a test is hard, automating it is even more challenging if you don’t know the interfaces you are working with. Galasa is an open-source project that provides your automated tests with a common API to allow you to focus on writing the tests. From 3270 to Batch jobs, Galasa can help you to test it even as a new mainframer. In this session we will explain what Galasa is and provide a getting started guide, all the way from creating a Galasa test from scratch, running it locally, and running it in a pipeline.
3-4 pm: The Next Generation of Mainframers – Moderator John Mertic, Executive Director of Open Mainframe Project, Jessielaine Punongbayan, Senior R&D Engineer at Dynatrace, Michael Bauer, Software Engineering Supervisor at Broadcom and Richelle Craw, Software Engineer at Beta Systems Software
For many of the fortune 500 companies the mainframe is and will remain a critical component of the IT infrastructure to run business processes efficiently and process billions of critical transactions safely and securely.
As experienced professionals are gradually retiring, a new generation of professionals are moving up as the “mainframe experts.”
In this session, we’ll chat with a few ambassadors and leaders from Open Mainframe Project who are this next generation.
They’ll share their experience with mainframes, how they got into the industry and advice for others and will share real-world examples of the new generation of mainframers and the diversity that is quietly building behind the scenes.
Thursday, April 25:
10:30 – 11:30 am: SSO and the Mainframe – Elliot Jalley, Product Manager, and Jakub Balhar, Staff Software Engineer, at Broadcom Mainframe Software
There is an increasing need for tools, processes and architecture that allow modern mainframes to move fast without sacrificing quality. APIs are key to securing quick and secure access to data on the platform.
Come and learn how the Zowe API mediation layer is powering modern workflows with a secure single signon experience from the network to the mainframe, across sysplexes and security domains.
10:30-11:30 am: When Units Tests just aren’t Enough, Application Integration is Key – Will Yates, STSM CICS Hybrid Cloud, and Jamies Davies, CICS TS Development Manager, at IBM
The most obvious answer to effective testing is to make sure each unit test is performed correctly.
In the landscape of enterprise systems compromised of cloud providers, z/OS, and many middleware, integration, and development programs, it becomes a complex web that can seem impossible to connect and test all together.
There is an answer, and that involves understanding applications, what areas could easily have integration tests stitched together, and how to implement testing as a service within your organisation.
This session will cover the technical details to understand more about application integration testing, how Galasa, an open-source project, could be implemented at scale and worked examples of integration testing to help make it easier to scale testing at your organisation.
12-1 pm: Automation and Containers – Two Things guaranteed to be part of your future mainframe strategy – Sujit Neb, Senior Automoation Engineer at BMC
Embark on a real-world journey with me as I share how automation, containerization, and the robot framework transformed my life and reignited my passion for work.
Discover how these technologies gave me back control and infused joy into my professional journey.
Join me in this inspiring exploration of empowerment, where technology not only revolutionizes workflows but also enhances lives.
Don’t miss this opportunity to be part of a transformative experience.
Together, we can unlock the potential of technology together and embrace a future where work is both efficient and fulfilling.
The event is managed by GSE UK. To learn more about the schedule or to register for the event, visit the main event website: https://conferences.gse.org.uk/2024V.

Webinar: How Open Source is Modernizing The Mainframe
2024-04-25 09:00 - 10:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
The open source movement has rapidly become the way code is being developed for today’s smart and agile businesses. This webinar will cover how an “open mainframe” is the perfect solution for deploying open source on an enterprise computing platform. Join Vicom Infinity for a Lunch ‘n Learn webinar on Thursday, April 25 at 9 am PT, 12 pm ET. John Mertic, Executive Director of the Open Mainframe Project, will share:

how the mainframe platform is a natural technology for Linux deployments and
how the mainframe community operates within the 18+ open source projects and working groups hosted by Open Mainframe Project.

With projects such as COBOL, Zowe, Mentorship, Feilong, Zebra, and Mainframe Open Education, many of these programs complement each other and we’ll take you through how to participate and join the collaboration.
Space is limited, so we ask that you register for the webinar.
REGISTRATION:
Send email to Leonard.Santalucia@convergetp.com requesting “please register” and a webex calendar invitation will be sent to you.

This webinar is managed by Vicom Infinity.

Mainframe Open Education Student User Group
2024-05-01 09:00 - 10:00, 2024-06-05 09:00 - 10:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Knowledge management involves consciously organizing, retaining, and sharing an organization’s knowledge and experience. The primary aim is to connect those seeking information with those who possess it, enhancing operational efficiency and expertise within the organization. This is exactly what Mainframe Open Education does. it is the wikipedia of mainframe knowledge and experience.

Join the core team every first Wednesday of the month for a live discussion about Mainframe Open Education. We’ll hear from contributors and students who have engaged with the project to learn about how to get involved, best practices, badges and more!
Speakers include:

Nanxi Meng, Instructional Designer at Broadcom and contributor to Mainframe Open Education
J.J. Lovett, Head of Education and Customer Engagement at Broadcom Mainframe Software
Tiiso Senosha, contributor to Mainframe Open Education and past Open Mainframe Project Mentor

Register here.

ASAP University 2024 TWS Education+Training
2024-05-19 - 2024-05-22
ASAP U Conference 2024 takes place on May 19-22 in Miami, Florida. ASAP U Conferences bring together many Workload Automation experts from all over the world to collaborate, network, learn, inspire, and much more. With 30+ sessions, labs and certification exams to choose from and attend, you can aways expect to walk away with more knowledge and inspiration to implement into your work environment. Register here.

Open Mainframe Project Ambassador and Zowe contributor Domenico D’Alterio, Principle Product Manager at IBM, will be on-site at the conference with a Zowe session. Stay tuned here for more details about his session and the rest of the agenda.
This event is managed by ASAP, which aims to provide the Workload Automation user community with a forum to learn, explore, and achieve results for their company as well as themselves. ASAP is committed to be the user voice behind workload automation issues to help drive the development of product enhancements. This organization is a place where our members can reach out and get real life examples and solutions to every day automation needs. For more details about the event, visit the main conference website.

Happy Birthday Mainframe: 60 years old and 60 years young!
2024-05-23 09:00 - 10:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Join the Open Mainframe community in this special webinar on Thursday, May 23 at 9 am PT/12 pm ET that aims to celebrate the mainframe birthday. We will take a look back at the fantastic innovations that have powered the IBM Z mainframe platform from its beginnings 60 years ago, which includes some of the folks who have shaped and witnessed the platform as well as those who are leading the charge into the next 60 years. Register here.
Speakers include:
– Cheryl Watson, CEO and Co-Founder at Watson & Walker
Cheryl Watson is the CEO and co-founder of Watson & Walker which offers practical mainframe performance and measurement advice. Cheryl is known around the world for her passion and enthusiasm for IBM mainframes and the software that runs on them. She is most well-known for her z/OS (formerly MVS) newsletter, Cheryl Watson’s Tuning Letter, published since 1991.
– Derek Britton, Mainframe and Modernization Advisor
With over 30 years in the enterprise and mainframe software industry, Derek is an accomplished technology leader, writer, and consultant. With software development, product and brand marketing, product management, and services experience, Derek regularly commentates across the IT press, and at events such as Gartner, Open Mainframe Summit, SHARE, and GSE. Derek holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from De Montfort University, and is the co-founder of the Open Mainframe Project COBOL Working Group.
– Donna Hudi, CMO at Phoenix Software International

Donna has more than 30 years of financial service, technology, marketing, and executive management experience spanning the asset management, software development, consulting, and non-profit industries. Prior to joining Phoenix Software as their Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Business Development, she served as the Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer for SHARE Association. Donna has been involved with the Open Mainframe Project since she was the Executive Director for SHARE Association and has continued during her tenure at Phoenix Software. She has been a member of the OMP Marketing Committee since 2019 and currently serves as the Marketing Committee Chair.
– Ed Jaffe, CTO at Phoenix Software International
Ed began his software development career by writing applications for government and research organizations in Washington, D.C. After moving to Los Angeles in 1982, he transitioned to the banking industry and eventually joined Phoenix Software International in 1987. He became Manager of Research & Development in the mid-1990s and was named Chief Technology Officer in 2009. Ed participated as a SHARE volunteer for nearly 30 years most recently as the SHARE Core Platform Focus Area Leader and is recognized throughout the mainframe community as a subject matter expert and strong advocate for the IBM Z platform.
– Jakub Balhar, Principal Product Owner at Broadcom
Jakub is a long-term enthusiast who is interested in building more secure solutions. He currently leads Zowe as the TSC chair, API Mediation Layer Squad lead, and the Product Owner for API Mediation Layer within Broadcom. He previously worked in the Space-related business, collaborating with NASA and ESA as Gisat’s Head of Application Development.

-Jessielaine Punongbayan, Support Engineer and Tech Evangelist at Dynatrace

Jessielaine is a Support Engineer at Dynatrace, an AI-powered monitoring tool. She has held various roles such as a Product Owner, Team Leader, Open Source contributor, Mainframe Modernization Ambassador, Writer, Conference Speaker, Software Engineer, and Hackathon Winner.
Register for the webinar here.

Zowe Quarterly Webinar
2024-05-29 08:30 - 09:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
Join the Zowe community on Wednesday, May 29 at 8:30-9:30 am PT/11:30-12:30 pm ET for the next quarterly update! Register here.
With Zowe v3 on the release horizon, Team Config for Zowe CLI and Zowe Explorer for VS Code becomes more relevant than ever. The Zowe Community introduced Team Config to take the burden of learning, understanding, and implementing connectivity away from every user – which is what v1 profiles required.
Join this session for a comprehensive review of Team Config, what it looks like, how best to leverage it, and (for those of you still using v1 profiles) best practices for converting Zowe CLI v1 profiles to Team Config to ensure you and your team are ready for Zowe v3!
Speaker: Adan Wolfe, Product Owner at Broadcom and Open Mainframe Project Ambassador
Register here.

Open Source in Finance Forum (London)
2024-06-26
Join us at the Open Source Finance Forum in London on June 26 for a captivating session featuring Louisa Seers, Product Manager at IBM, and Joe Winchester, Senior Technical Staff Member at IBM. At 4:45-5:15 pm, they will present a session titled, “Uncovering the Open Mainframe Project.”
Once considered a closed ecosystem, the IBM z/OS mainframe is embracing open source. This session explores transformative projects like Zowe and Galasa that empower users in retail, banking, and insurance. These tools address critical areas: streamlining operations with automation (e.g., job scheduling), enhancing security with vulnerability scanning, and unlocking innovation through data analysis and cloud integration. Aligned with the Open Mainframe Project, this session equips you to leverage open source for a revitalized, cost-effective, and future-proof mainframe environment. Add it to your schedule here.
Register now to secure your spot or check out the full schedule here.
