Open Mainframe Project

Zowe Q4 Webinar
2022-12-14 08:30 - 09:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
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, December 14 at 8:30 am PT/ 11:30 am ET. Register here.
Featured Squad: Zowe Explorer for IntelliJ

Featured Topic: Check out the Zowe Explorer for IntelliJ

Similar to the Explorer for Visual Studio Code, Zowe has introduced a new EXPLORER for IntelliJ users. Join this session to learn more about it, see what it looks like, how to download it and what’s planned for the future.
Speakers include:

Rose Sakach, Broadcom
Uladzislau Kalesnikau, IBA Group
Valiantsin Krus, IBA Group
Mike DuBois, Broadcom

Register here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-nA2TOvETn-vAzeZgsHlcw.

Move from Modernization Confusion to Modernization Clarity (Webinar)
2022-12-14 08:00 - 09:00
Join Forrester, Micro Focus, and Open Mainframe Project on Wednesday, December 14 at 8-9 am PST for a free webinar titled “Move from Modernization Confusion to Modernization Clarity.” Register here.
Depending on who you ask, you’ll get very different definitions of the word “Modernization” and those different definitions are causing unnecessary confusion. The Open Mainframe Project is working with the broader mainframe and cloud ecosystems to create a shared understanding of modernization options, from modernizing in place to moving to the cloud.
Come learn about the new Modernization Working Group of the Open Mainframe Project, where we will create “open-source thought leadership” and a repository of vendor-agnostic modernization information. We’ll also describe where you can find free modernization education, adding to your own modernization knowledge and credentials.
Speakers include:

Brent Ellis, Senior Analyst at Forrester
Misty Decker, Director of Worldwide AMC Product Marketing at Micro Focus

Register for the free webinar here.

COBOL Programming Course - Meet the Community of Learners! (Webinar)
2022-12-12 09:00 - 10:00
As we bring 2022 to a close, the COBOL Programming Course team would like to showcase our amazing learner community. We are always pleasantly surprised by the continued interest in COBOL learning content and are super thankful for this amazing learner community that has helped us by sharing valuable insights, inputs and direction to the course. You don’t want to miss this session – Your one opportunity to hear from some of our amazing learners as they share their learning journeys!
Register here.
Speakers include:

Michael Bauer, Broadcom
Sudharsana Srinivasan, IBM
Hartanto Widijaya, COBOL Programming Course Community Member
Paul Newton, IBM
Joe Winchester, IBM
Elizabeth Joseph, IBM
Tiiso Senosha, Mainframe Open Education member
Janos Varga, Community Member

Open Source Finance Forum (New York, New York)
2022-12-08
Open Source in Finance Forum, hosted on December 8 in New York City, is the only conference dedicated to driving collaboration and innovation in financial services through open source software and standards. Learn more or register here.
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 Project will be on-site with a panel titled, “Trends in Enterprise Open Source.” Panelists include Alex Kim, Open Source Incubator Advocate at IBM; Misty Decker, Director, Worldwide Product Marketing, AMC Portfolio at Micro Focus; Len Santalucia, CTO at Vicom Infinity, a Converge Company; and Moderator John Mertic, Director of Program Management at the Linux Foundation.
Forward-thinking organizations no longer consider their IT infrastructure as the cost of doing business but as a competitive advantage. These organizations have various IT services and infrastructure, from SaaS services, cloud-native applications, edge computing, and even mainframe. This hybrid infrastructure isn’t an easy out-of-the-box solution. However, the ability to tailor it to their business needs enables them to create better customer experiences and engagement. In this panel, global IT leaders will share how they view and use open source projects including benefits, perceived barriers and strategies that can be applied to your organization. Add this session to your schedule here.
Learn more about the conference or to register for it, visit the main event website: https://events.linuxfoundation.org/open-source-finance-forum-new-york/

Words Matter: The Language of Diversity, Understanding, and Acceptance (Webinar)
2022-11-16 09:00 - 10:15
Join us for our next webinar as part of the Making Our Strong Community, Stronger collaborative initiative for diversity, equity and inclusion. In this discussion on November 16 at 9-10:15 am PT/ 12-1:15 pm ET, we take an unflinching look at the role of language in our diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. We’ll see how fluid language is today and discover the importance of supporting the evolution of vocabulary to drive greater equity, inclusion and acceptance across our increasingly diverse community. Register here.
Words have power. They can connect or divide. Create friends or enemies. Without clarity and common ground, words can foster generational misunderstandings, inflicting harm and holding us back from societal, personal or cultural advancement. But words can also build the bedrock for new levels of progress, appreciation and humanity. If you doubt the power of words, ask yourself this: have you tip-toed around how to address a person or group of people for fear of “saying the wrong thing” or offending them?
Specific language conveys inclusion and “being seen” and can provide confidence in our connections with friends, family or colleagues. However, it’s easy for those not impacted by injustice or discrimination to downplay the power of words. Language drives our conscious minds but also embeds itself deeply in our unconscious where it drives how we think, feel and act—and how we treat each other.
Moderated by Dr. Gloria Chance, CEO and President of The Mousai Group, panelists include:

Alysha M. Campbell, CEO, CultureShift HR
Michael Daubman, Director Product Management, Broadcom Mainframe Software
Shahed Alqadi, Project Manager, BMC Software
Nik Harris, Director of Strategic Outreach & Engagement, Human Rights Campaign
Jane Kerzhenetseva, Delivery Manager & Inclusion Lead, Rocket Software

Our panelists will openly discuss words, phrases and concepts that have entered our collective lexicon but are being met with confusion or even hostility by some, while welcomed and celebrated by many. Where are the triggers with this new language and how can we move past what is potentially blocking progress or understanding?
We are all impacted directly and daily by words around us, in the media, entertainment, songs, conversations, books, social media, work, and so on. Outdated language coddles and amplifies the harm of racism, sexism, ageism, ableism, religious bigotry, classism and heterosexism, yet new, more inclusive language plays a critical role in the dismantling of these societal structures.
Join us for a frank (and hopefully fun) conversation. Together we can prompt learning and raise awareness while taking personal responsibility for the words we use and our willingness to be open minded and empathetic towards each other. What words come to mind when you think of new terms and concepts in the public sphere?
Register for the free webinar here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_grHjM17kSiykhrvgQ0GHrQ.

All Things Open 2022
2022-10-30 - 2022-11-02
All Things Open 2022, which is celebrating its 10 year anniversary this year, will take place on October 30-November 2 in Raleigh, NC.
Three beliefs are at the core of what we do:

Technology will continue to increase in importance and influence as we move forward
Open Source is at the core of innovation and remains a gateway to participation and opportunity
Live events and in-person communication and dialogue will continue to increase in importance and have never been more vital

These beliefs and created events and platforms that have hosted tens of thousands from all over the world, including All Things Open, the largest open-source event on the U.S. east coast.
Submit a speaking proposal (deadline April 22): https://www.allthingsopen.org/call-for-papers-2022/
Learn more on the main event website: https://www.allthingsopen.org/.

Zowe Quarterly Webinar (September 2022- Virtual)
2022-09-28 08:30 - 09:30
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 Wed Sep 28 at 8:30 am PT/11:30 am ET. Register here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_PlNijM8ATSOO_Ux3JkPAFw
Title: Introduction to Zowe Chat
Abstract: Join us for the very first look at Zowe Chat! We’ll provide an overview of the latest incubator project, introduce you to the Squad (Team), describe the extensibility of the platform and show you what it looks like!
Speakers: Rose Sakach and Mark Ackert (Broadcom) and Domenico D’Alterio (IBM)
Register here.

COBOL Programming Course Q3 Webinar (Virtual)
2022-09-27 09:00 - 10:00
Join us on Tuesday, September 27 at 9 am PT/12 pm ET for the COBOL Programming Course Q3 Webinar! Register here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_G2TJ5fgGQd6f9xT6VLyscA

In this session, the TSC members will be speaking with Open Mainframe Project Summer Mentee Sainath Rao. Join us and listen to the next generation of COBOLers share and discuss the content refresh and updates done through the Summer Mentorship project. Whether you are new to COBOL or a seasoned COBOLer there is something you can take away from this new and updated COBOL Programming Course!

Session Speakers:
Sudharsana Srinivasan (IBM), Mike Bauer (Broadcom), Paul Newton (IBM), Joe Winchester (IBM), Hartanto Widjaya (member of the COBOL Programming Technical Steering Committee), Sainath Rao (Open Mainframe Project 2022 Summer Mentee)

Register here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_G2TJ5fgGQd6f9xT6VLyscA

Open Mainframe Summit 2022 (Philadelphia, PA + Virtual)
2022-09-21 - 2022-09-22
Open Mainframe Project is excited to announce that Open Mainframe Summit will be an in-person event this year! Join us on September 21-22, 2022 in Philadelphia, PA. Register here: https://events.linuxfoundation.org/open-mainframe-summit/
If you missed the 2021 event, you can find a recap here. Or, you can find the all the videos available on the Open Mainframe Summit 2021 playlist on our Youtube Channel.

IBM zDay 2022 (Virtual)
2022-09-15
Join us for IBM zDay – Global Conference to connect, learn and be inspired.
IBM Z and LinuxONE Community is hosting its signature annual virtual conference – IBM zDay 2022, bringing together over 150 industry experts and global thought leaders on AI, modernization, hybrid cloud and more! Join us on Sept 15th. This free digital event is open to everyone of all levels! No experience required!
REGISTER FOR FREE NOW: ibm.biz/ibmzday-2022

Open Mainframe Project Ambassador Sarah Julia Kriesch, a key contributor of the Linux Distribution Working Group will also be doing a panel discussion at 12 pm ET.
Explore 5 all-new content-rich learning tracks:

IBM zSYSTEMS: Build a flexible, AI-infused, sustainable business with IBM zSystems. Accelerate and scale with infrastructure that is optimized at its core to secure your enterprise.
IBM LinuxONE: Build a sustainable infrastructure with IBM LinuxONE, an enterprise-grade Linux server designed to meet the needs of mission-critical workloads in the hybrid cloud.
MODERNIZATION: Build a connected business with IBM zSystems and Cloud. Leverage APIs to extend and access applications and data, and refactor or rewrite existing application code.
COMMUNITY: Learn how our global community is shaping the digital landscape, evolving the tech industry and making the world a better place.
STUDENT 24-Hr Global Meetup: Starts Sept. 14th! Students and life-long learners from around the world will come together to advance their skills and participate in hands-on coding activities designed for all levels, including our all-new 2022 IBM zStudent Contest.

SIGN-UP TODAY: ibm.biz/ibmzday-2022

Open Source Summit Europe (Dublin, Ireland + Virtual)
2022-09-13 - 2022-09-16
Open Source Summit Europe, which takes place in Dublin, Ireland is on September 13-16 and will have a virtual element.
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.
On Thursday, September 15 at 2-2:45 pm, Jeff Reser, Head of Solution Marketing at SUSE, will give a presentation about “How to Help the Next Generation.”
The technology skills gap is not new. Mainframe organizations are aware of the skills gap and the difficulties of attracting new talent to the mainframe because of misguided notions that it’s an outdated system. Far from being obsolete, many mainframes today are seeing increased workloads as they underpin high volume transactions in a number of industry sectors, boosted especially by the rise in customer facing online and mobile applications. Whole generations of people are “touching” the mainframe in this way without even realizing it. Open Mainframe Project aims to educate the next generation through its hands-on programs including the COBOL Programming Course, Mainframe Open Education and the Mentorship Program. In this presentation, attendees will learn more about these programs and how to can get involved. Add this to your schedule here.
Register to attend in person or virtually: https://events.linuxfoundation.org/open-source-summit-europe/register/.

COBOL Programming Course Q3 Webinar
2022-08-30 09:00 - 10:00
Join the COBOL Programming Course team on Tuesday, August 30 at 9 am PT/12 pm ET. Register here.
In this session, COBOL Programming Course TSC members will be speaking with Open Mainframe Project Summer Mentee, Sainath Rao. Join us and listen to the next generation of COBOLers share and discuss the content refresh and updates done through the Summer Mentorship project. Whether you are new to COBOL or a seasoned COBOLer there is something you can take away from this new and updated COBOL Programming Course!
Register to attend this free webinar here.

Making Our Strong Community Stronger Reception at SHARE (Columbus, OH)
2022-08-23 19:00 - 20:30
Are you attending SHARE Columbus on August 21-26? If you’re attending the conference in-person, we invite you to stop by the Making Our Strong Community, Stronger SHARE Columbus Reception! The event is free and open to the mainframe community. Register through your SHARE registration process here.
Join us on Tuesday, August 23 at 7 pm at SHARE (Taft A Room) for networking event to accelerate diversity, equity, and inclusion in our mainframe community. Mingle with your peers, hear others’ experiences and share your own—everyone can contribute, no matter what your role.
Several members, sponsors and speakers will be at the reception – ready to answer questions, receive feedback and learn more about you.
About Making Our Strong Community Stronger: Making our Strong Community Stronger is the first-ever initiative on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the mainframe industry. Sponsored by BMC, Broadcom Mainframe Software, IBM, Open Mainframe Project, Rocket Software, TechChannel, and VirtualZ Computing.

SHARE Columbus 2022 (Columbus, Ohio + Virtual)
2022-08-21 - 2022-08-26
Join us for SHARE Columbus, August 21-26, 2022, for a week-long program of unmatched education, face-to-face networking opportunities, live technical sessions and receptions. Register for the conference here: https://www.share.org/Events/SHARE-Columbus-2022/Registration.
Several Open Mainframe Project Ambassadors will be on-site to represent various projects including COBOL, Zowe and more. Check out the schedule here:
Monday, August 22: Zowe Day
Zowe Day offers 4 information-packed educational sessions designed to be consumable regardless of experience level or role. Attend just one or as many as you like – this is a great opportunity to meet and learn from the experts! Join our vibrant community and help shape the future of Zowe.
9:45 -10:45 am

Zowe Day Part 1: Overview of Zowe, Today and Beyond – Rose Sakach (Broadcom) and Bruce Armstrong (IBM) Session 1 kicks off the day with a general Zowe overview and is recommended for all, but a must for those new to Zowe.

11 am – 12 pm

Zowe Day Part 2: How Zowe Helps DevOps – Joe Winchester (IBM) and Michael Bauer (Broadcom) If your organization is interested in enabling mainframe DevOps – don’t miss Session 2 where the focus on Zowe Command Line Interface (CLI) Use Cases will demonstrate its applicability.

1:45 – 2:45 pm

Zowe Day Part 3: Deploy and Configure Zowe – Security Updates – Joe Winchester (IBM) and Rose Sakach (Broadcom) System Administrators responsible for the install and configuration of Zowe will want to reserve a seat for Session 3 where the experts will offer step-by-step best practices with guidance on security options and additional recommendations for consideration.

3:15 – 4:15 pm

Zowe Day Part 4: How to extend Zowe – Michael Bauer (Broadcom) We will conclude the day with a focus on the development community interested in extending Zowe. Session 4 will showcase the programmable interfaces and their associated Zowe Conformance programs.

Monday, August 22:
11 – 12 am

Women of COBOL Panel Discussion – Misty Decker (Micro Focus) With the launch of the new Women of COBOL video series on Tech Channel, we’re looking to feature women for their technical knowledge and expand visibility to the amazing work these women are doing. In this panel discussion, we’ll meet some Women of COBOL and learn about their personal journey and the technical areas they are experts in.

Tuesday, August 23:
8 -9 am

Zowe Version 2 Updates – Domenico D’Alterio (IBM), Bruce Armstrong (IBM), Joe Winchester (IBM) and Michael Bauer (Broadcom) Zowe allows you to protect your investment in z/OS and build the future of the mainframe in an open, simple and familiar way. Zowe 1.0 entered in maintenance mode, Zowe 2.0 recently became the “active” Long Term Release (LTS) of Zowe from the open community. It is based on 2+ years feedback on Zowe 1.0 from enterprise customers and the z/OS mainframe community at large. In this presentation you will learn about the enhancements that are available as part of Zowe 2.0 as well as you will learn what you need to know to migrate from Zowe 1.0 to Zowe 2.0.

9:15 -10 15 am

What’s New in Zowe 2.0: Desktop, Apps and ZSS – Sean Grady (Rocket Software) Zowe v2.0 is its first big change since Zowe launched in 2018. Each section has improvements and new features, and there’s plenty to cover so join this session if you’d like to see what changes for installation and use of the Desktop, ZSS, and their Apps. Whether you’re a developer or user, we’ll have tips for you to migrate and make best use of Zowe 2.0.

10:30 – 11:30 am

Schemas for Zowe 2.0: How they evolve the way you setup and validate Zowe – Sean Grady (Rocket Software) Zowe’s latest server release improves upon Zowe to address a common request: Make zowe server configuration easy to understand and validate! In 2.0, we’ve added schemas everywhere and we’ll show you how this revolutionizes and simplifies how you setup Zowe, track changes, and clone & verify configuration.

Wednesday, August 24:
8-9 am

Getting Your Mainframe Ready for High Performance with Cloud Storage – Eddy Ciliendo & Tomer Zelberzvig (Model9) While the mainframe is a robust mission critical platform , there is new storage out there barely being utilized by the mainframe. What is cloud storage? How do you connect to it from your mainframe? What needs to be done on the mainframe and TCP/IP in order to get high performance with cloud storage?

10:30 – 11:30 am

How to Monitor and Manage Mainframe and Storage Performance Metrics Utilizing Voice and Open Source Software Tools – Len Santalucia, Justin Santer, Vincent Terrone (Vicom Infinity, a Converge Company) We hear a lot of talk about hybrid, multiplatform, and Internet of Things. In this session, Vicom Infinity, a contributor and silver member of the Linux Foundation Open Mainframe Project, will talk about their quest for easier access to mainframe and storage performance metrics by simply using your voice in a completely secure manner. ZEBRA (Zowe Embedded Browser for RMF/SMF and APIs) is an open source SW project under Linux Foundation’s Open Mainframe Project’s ZOWE Project. It intends to provide re-usable and industry compliant JSON formatted RMF/SMF data records, so that many other SW providers and users can exploit them. VIVA, Vicom Infinity Voice Assistant posted at this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE8IQaE3rUs , is a secure voice assistant that enables enterprise systems clients to use a voice user interface for their enterprise applications in a completely private and secure way. The integration of ZEBRA and VIVA provides the ultimate solution for fast and easy access to mainframe and storage performance metrics data.

1:15-2:15 pm

I get my CICS on Route Zowe! – Joe Winchester (IBM) and Ezriel J. Gross (Rocket Software) This presentation will show how to use ope 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, as well as how to embed scripts in a Jenkins CICD pipeline. We’ll show how to use Visual Studio Code Zowe extensions to work with JCL, REXX and TSO to drive z/OS, as well as how to write, compile, and debug COBOL and Java CICS programs. We’ll show how to use VS Code tasks to integrate with CLI scripts. We’ll show how to use the Visual Studio Code Zowe CICS Explorer plugin to connect to CICS regions, to view resources and perform actions like newcopy, enable/disable, and perform development tasks without needing to use CEMT or other CICS interfaces. We’ll show how to develop CICS programs with BMS maps, CICS programs with web services, and CICS Java programs, all using Visual Studio Code Zowe extensions. 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. This presentation will also cover interacting with Db2, MQ and other subsystems that make up a CICS program’s technology stack.

4-5 pm

Navigating the Minefield: Diversity Tips for White Males – Misty Decker (Micro Focus) Does diversity make you a little nervous? Do you worry about giving someone a compliment or asking about their culture for fear of offending them? You know that tech needs to be more diverse and you want to be sensitive to your diverse colleagues’ feelings, but how do you do that? In this open and honest conversation, we’ll share tips for white males hoping to support their diverse colleagues without offending.

Thursday, August 25:

8-9 am

Mentors Wanted: The Role of White Males in Improving Diversity and Inclusion – Misty Decker and Derek Britton (Micro Focus) Does it seem as though white males are often relegated to the sidelines of diversity efforts? It’s unclear what role they can play in improving the diversity and inclusion of their organizations. When it comes to mentors, most people tend to connect with someone like them. But white males can provide very valuable advice and support for women and people of color, if delivered appropriately. In this session, Misty Decker (mentee) and Derek Britton (mentor) will share lessons learned from their mentor/mentee relationship and help you learn how to explore a similar partnership in ensuring diverse talent grows and succeeds.

9:15 – 10:15 am

A Demo of Integrating Workload Automation in Automated Processes through Zowe Extensions – Domenico D’Alterio (IBM) Zowe enables the integration of Z specific workflow and actions in hybrid cloud application and processes. IBM Z Workload Scheduler extends Zowe API Mediation Layer and the Zowe CLI with a set of Workload Automation specifics that enable integration scenarios to, for example, resolve a ticket. Come and learn how IBM Z Workload Scheduler extensions of Zowe enable a real automated scenario for ticket resolution, a demo of the scenario will be showed as part of the session.

Friday, August 26:
8-9 am

Extending the Access, Personas and Use Cases for z/OS Based REST Services: Zowe Chat – Domenico D’Alterio (IBM) and Bruce Armstrong (IBM) Zowe is always evolving and adding new capabilities to extend the access, personas and use cases for z/OS interaction. Zowe Chat provides access to z/OS based services from a chat tool, enabling team collaboration in problem solving and more through the collaborative tool already in use in your enterprise. Come and learn about this new Zowe component, so how it is extensible and how it can help in your daily job.

8-9 am

Simplified Container Management with SUSE Rancher – Mike Friesenegger (SUSE) During this session, attendees will be introduced to SUSE Rancher and how it orchestrates Kubernetes to deliver Kubernetes-as-a-Service. Learn about Rancher components with a demo that shows the deployment and use of Rancher components running on IBM Z and LinuxONE.

9:15-10:15 am

Modernize z/OS System Management with As-a-Service Approach – Hiren Shaw (IBM) Today, z/OS day-to-day administration requires specialized z/OS System programming skills. This session talks about how z/OS Management Services Catalog revolutionizes z/OS system management with easy-to-use modern interface. We will demonstrate how you can transform the way you manage your z/OS environment with the new z/OS Management Services Catalog. Completing z/OS management tasks is now simpler than ever for early tenure system programmers. This cloud-like interface helps systems programmers of all skill levels to be self-sufficient and productive using services.

9:15 am-10:15 am

Feilong: The Open Source API for z/VM Automation – Mike Friesenegger (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 as well as how the API is used to provision and manage a cloud on z/VM.

9:15 – 10:15 am

Why we chose Zowe to help Advance our Mainframe Automation Initiatives – Rose Sakach (Broadcom) When tasked with enabling automation to address a series of infrastructure-group managed procedures, this technical team began investigating leveraging APIs and Curl scripts but ultimately decided to use Zowe CLI. Join this session to learn why and gain insights into how Zowe can help advance your mainframe automation initiatives.

Learn more about SHARE Columbus at the main event website here.

Diversity You Cannot See: A Special Event on Neurodiversity in the Mainframe Workplace
2022-07-27 09:00 - 10:00
Did you know today an estimated 40% of people deal with autistic, attention deficit, anxiety, and/or dyslexic disorders? Combined, these mental differences account for the bulk of what sociologists refer to as “neurodiversity,” or natural variations in everyone’s brain, particularly those who have outlying characteristics, such as autism.

Join us on Wednesday, July 27, 2022 at 9 am PT/ 12 pm ET for a special web event hosted by 30-year veteran Cynthia Coupé. Cynthia will share her experience as a neurodiversity expert and mother of an autistic daughter, as well as industry insights and perspectives from three other neurodivergent proponents: one working professional in the tech industry, a grad student “on the spectrum,” and one neurodiversity staffing executive. A Q&A “town hall” session will follow at the same time on July 28. Replays will be available after each live event. Register here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Yk-pogSRQSu17WJUZ1Khyg.
Together, they’ll discuss how neurotypical people can better interact with this intelligent and unique population, where communication breakdowns usually happen, and what the future holds for this often misunderstood but increasingly important talent pool. They’ll also explore how societal awareness, appreciation, and participation with neurodivergent people can have a big impact on the way we work, learn, and commune with one another.
“Neurodiversity is the new normal,” Coupé says. “Even though it’s less stigmatized today, many people still don’t know how to navigate it, even though we all interact with it regularly (whether we realize it or not). To build safe spaces where everyone can grow, collaborate, and work in the way that plays to our strengths, this panel will lead the discussion on how we can better understand ourselves and each other.”
About the moderator: Cynthia Coupé is a self-diagnosed neurodivergent and Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) with over 30 years working in the field of neurodiversity. She is a TEDx speaker and the co-founder and CEO of Outreach Advocacy Resources and Services (OARS), Inc., a company dedicated to transforming the lives of neurodivergent clients by using their inherent strengths to better society. With her diverse background of serving individuals in the clinical, hospital, home, and school settings (including her own autistic and ADHD daughter), Cynthia has developed a unique perspective and aspires to be a lasting ambassador for this vulnerable but brilliant demographic.
About Making Our Strong Community Stronger: Making our Strong Community Stronger is the first-ever initiative on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the mainframe industry. Sponsored by BMC, Broadcom Mainframe Software, IBM, Open Mainframe Project, Rocket Software, TechChannel, and VirtualZ Computing.

Open Source Finance Forum (London)
2022-07-13
Open Source in Finance Forum, which is part of FINTECH Week London, will take place on July 13, 2022 at the Etc.Venues – 133 Houndsditch.
Open Source in Finance Forum is the only conference dedicated to driving collaboration and innovation in financial services through open source software and standards. The event bring 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.
Register here: https://events.linuxfoundation.org/open-source-finance-forum-london/register/
Use the Open Mainframe discount code for 20% off: OSFF22MAINF20
Visit the main conference page here for more information: https://events.linuxfoundation.org/open-source-finance-forum-london/

Zowe Q2 Webinar
2022-06-22 08:30 - 09:30
Whether you are a Zowe User, Contributor, Extender, or simply interested in what’s happening with Zowe – please join us for our next Zowe Quarterly Update Webinar on June 22 at 8:30 am PT (11:30 am ET).
Register here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_gJ6M2U5jQMmw42t7LnZOnw
Focus Topic: Zowe Consumers Talk about Zowe!
Abstract: Join our roundtable of Zowe customers as they share why they choose Zowe, their experience with the Zowe installation, their greatest Zowe challenge and their plans for the future.

Enterprise Computing Community (ECC) Conference
2022-06-12 - 2022-06-14
The annual ECC 2022 Conference will take place on June 12-14 at Marist College. Open Mainframe Project will be on-site at the event as a sponsor as well as presenting a few sessions.
The 14th annual Enterprise Computing Community Conference will be hosted by Marist College with collaboration and support from our esteemed academic and industry partners and sponsors. If you would like to present or register for the event – please see below.
Submit a speaking proposal here (deadline May 13): https://ecc.marist.edu/web/conference2022/call-for-papers
Register to attend in person here: https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=nq-hFIyyJ0uyQyXDPbb_-gjf6yjzqYxMra96hXEaFkFUQVdRMERERjFCTTROTVdYUllWRTZIVVlHRS4u.
Learn more about the event on the main conference site here: https://ecc.marist.edu/.

SUSECON 22 (Digital)
2022-06-07 - 2022-06-09
SUSECON is coming to a screen near you on June 7-9! SUSECON, which is an event created by Open Mainframe Project member SUSE, is all about sharing the latest technical advances, best practices, customer experiences, and visions for the future.
True to the “open” culture, SUSE invites all customers, partners, engineers, developers, community members, and business leaders to submit a session proposal for you to share your expertise.
Submit your session idea here – deadline to submit is April 6. Submitters will be notified of their submission acceptance in mid-April.
Learn more on the main event website here: https://www.susecon.com/.

OpenSUSE Conference (Nuremberg, Germany)
2022-06-02 - 2022-06-04
The openSUSE Conference 2022 is schedule to take place June 2 to June 4. The openSUSE Conference is the annual openSUSE community event that brings people from around the world together to meet and collaborate. The organized talks, workshops, and BoF sessions provide a framework around more casual meet ups and hack sessions. Learn more about the conference or register for the event, here.
Sarah Julia Kriesch, an Open Mainframe Project Ambassador and contributor to the Linux Distributions Working Group, will present at the conference with a talk titled, “Collaboration Instead of Competition.”
Default community distributions are running in the same issues for special architectures. Every Linux distribution has got mostly separate maintainers and hardware distributors are handling these communities really often disconnected. That has been identified also for the architecture s390x. Therefore, openSUSE, Fedora, Debian, SUSE, Canonical (Ubuntu) and Red Hat have established together with IBM a Linux Distributions Working Group for a better collaboration together and with the goal to achieve better support. In this presentation, you should receive an overview of a good collaboration between Linux distributions and what you can achieve together with such a Working Group.

COBOL Programming Course Q2 Webinar
2022-05-25 09:00 - 10:00
COBOL skills have been debated long and hard…. so, let’s get to some facts. Join us to hear from Dr. Cameron Seay, a mainframe educator that has adopted the Open Mainframe Project’s COBOL Programming Course into his curriculum. You don’t want to miss this opportunity to learn the latest happening with COBOL education. Register for the webinar on Wednesday, May 25 at 9 am PT (12 pm ET): https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_XcbRi0WlTO2l9a_vCufqKw.
There is something in it for everyone – students, educators, clients, life-long learners – See you at the session!

IBM Z Day (Special Edition - Virtual)
2022-04-05
IBM, a Platinum member of Open Mainframe Project, is planning a special edition IBM Z Day, which will take place on April 5, 2022!

Connect, learn, and be inspired by what’s brewing in the labs, hear from community members as they share experiences, discover new and exciting innovation, learn how to accelerate your digital transformation and modernization journey, and hear what’s on the minds of thought leaders. Check out the keynote presenters, including Meredith Stowell, a member of the Open Mainframe Project Governing Board, and Ross Mauri, a longtime Open Mainframe supporter and collaborator:

The event is free and will be virtual. Learn more and register on the main event site here: https://ibmzday.bemyapp.com/se

SHARE Dallas 2022
2022-03-27 - 2022-03-30
SHARE 2022 will take place on March 27-30 in person in Dallas and virtually. To register for the event or to learn more, visit https://www.share.org/Events/SHARE-Dallas-2022/Registration.
As always, Open Mainframe Project will have a presence at the event as many of our project leaders and ambassadors will be giving presentations. Please see below and add these sessions to your schedule.
Monday, March 28 (all times are in CST):
1-2 pm: Deploying and Securing Zowe from z/OS to zCX to Hybrid Cloud and Everything in Between – Joe Winchester, IBM
With the increasing uptake of container-based deployments and shift to open hybrid infrastructure, learn how you can deploy Zowe as containers using Kubernetes securely and with speed and agility to enable Zowe desktop and API services to work with z/OS resources. In this session, you will see a demo and learn about Zowe containerization strategy, architecture, security model as well as Zowe conformance criteria with respect to containers. This session will also traditional Zowe deployment and configuration on z/OS using keyrings, multi-factor-authentication, different security managers, USS setup, z/OSMF configuration, and all of the scenarios that we’ve seen customer deploy Zowe into. The talk will include hands-on demos where folks can ask questions and get the presenters to tweak and re-configure on the fly, and will show how to use SMP/E for maintenance, z/OSMF workflows, portable software instances, dockerhub images. Folks attending the talk will leave with a good knowledge of the best practices and common pitfalls and solutions as well as understand the direction for where Zowe is heading in a k8s and ReadHat Open Shift topology to help them plan their hybrid cloud strategy for Zowe based as well as other USS/Linux tooling.
3:30-4:30 pm: Zowe (Kotlin) SDK, A New Project to Connect Mainframes to the Modern Tech Stack – Uladzislau Kalesnikau and Ilya Abnitski, IBA Group
To remain the backbone of the enterprise computing environment, mainframes need to be connected to a modern tech stack and development tools. The Zowe framework provides many opportunities to bring open source to mainframes. This session will present Zowe Kotlin SDK developed by the IBA Group team to connect z/OSMF and Zowe. The project aims to provide greater flexibility for teams coding in Java or Python and enables them to use Intellij IDE for mainframes.
Tuesday, March 29 (all times are in CST):
8-9 am: Automating Complex Mainframe Workflows with Zowe CLI – Petr Plavjanik and Dan Kelosky, Broadcom
Wouldn’t life be easier if your workflows, even the most complex ones, were automated end-to-end? In this session, you will see how you can leverage existing automation assets and combine them together to create a fully automated process. We will achieve this using Zowe CLI, TypeScript, and Jenkins and improve an existing process based on REXX scripts and JCLs.
9:15-10:15 am: How Zowe Is Opening up the Mainframe to Current and Future Generations of Mainframers – Joe Winchester, IBM; Leanid Astakou, Rocket Software; Dan Kelosky, Broadcom
This talk shows how the open mainframe Zowe project is being used by customers to help modernize their mainframe development and IT tools and practices. We will cover the different components given by squad subject matter experts, with a focus on customer success stories and adoption. The presentation will show the extensibility of the Zowe components into traditional mainframe areas like CICS, MQ, IMS and Db2, as well as modern tooling usages using Jenkins, GitHub, Visual Studio Code and more. We will also show how through APIs vendors and customers have built their own Zowe extensions for their z/OS services. Since Zowe was last presented at Share we have introduced support for containers, with publishing onto docker hub, multi-factor-authentication, sysplex distributor high availability, and are preparing for Zowe version 2. This talk will cover these as well as discuss common customer questions and answers regarding security, usage of open source on z/OS, scalability, and Zowe’s future roadmap. Customers who are new to Zowe wanting to find out more, customers who are Zowe users wanting to be updated on futures, vendors wanting to build or update their Zowe extensions, and students wanting to learn more about education will all benefit from this presentation.
10:30-11:30 am: How to Enable System Management Integrations in Hybrid Cloud and DevOps Environment through Zowe Extensions – Domenico D’Alterio, IBM
Zowe™ technology delivers new ways to integrate IBM Z into the enterprise. 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 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.. Come and learn about use cases that leverage REST API for Automation as well as CLI extensions of Zowe in an hybrid cloud environment.
2:15-3:15 pm: Zowe in a Container World – Tiefeng Jia, IBM
With the increasing uptake of container-based deployments and shift to open hybrid infrastructure, learn how you can deploy Zowe as containers using Kubernetes securely and with speed and agility to enable Zowe desktop and API services to work with z/OS resources. In this session, you will see a demo and learn about Zowe containerization strategy, architecture, security model as well as Zowe conformance criteria with respect to containers.
3:30-4:30 pm: Zowe V2 – What’s new with Zowe CLI? – Michael Bauer, Broadcom
Join this session to learn of the latest improvements made to the Zowe Command Line Interface. Collectively, these features provide for easier rollout and adoption of the technology across the enterprise. It is now easy to share configuration information across a user base or store it within an automation project. In addition, the CLI is now lightning quick! And the installation has been further simplified. If you are an existing user or just interested in leveraging modern tools to develop automation for z/OS, you won’t want to miss this session!
Wednesday, March 30 (all times in CST):
8-9 am: Modern DevOps on CICS from Ansible to Zowe – Joe Winchester, IBM; Ezriel Gross, Rocket Software; Stewart Francis, IBM
This talk covers how to do modern CICS DevOps using open source tooling such as Zowe and Ansible. This covers development environments such as Visual Studio Code using GitHub, CI/CD pipelines built using Jenkins, and testing tools such as galassa and COBOL Check. Many of these tools have vendor extensions and commercial support offerings from mainframe software companies, however this talk will very much take the open source first angle and show how to build end to end tooling to support agile development practices end to end. As well as CICS the talk will show this in the context of applications written in COBOL as well as Java, and transactions exploiting Db2 and MQ on z/OS. For the front end tooling the focus will be on Visual Studio code and the growing family of extensions such as the Zowe Explorer, as well as free tooling for language awareness, testing frameworks, debugging and more. The talk will also cover IntelliJ and Eclipse and the free and open source extensions available. This talk will benefit experienced CICS Developers wishing to learn about and transition away from ISPF or those using vendor tools wishing to see the open source free landscape, as well as new to the mainframe developers wishing to see how to exploit familiar development environments on top of CICS Transaction Server programs and transactions.
9:15-10:15: Mainframe Open Education – Fostering the Stewardship of Education Resources – Kelle Veverka, Broadcom; Viviane Sanches, IBM; Paul Newton, IBM
The creation, curation and consumption of Mainframe education happens all the time, but how do you bring existing efforts together in a way that benefits the Mainframe community, reduces critical skills gaps, and makes existing resources readily available? Mainframe Open Education, a project under the Open Mainframe Project (OMP), is bringing community members together from every corner, empowering them to embrace the stewardship of Mainframe open education resources that will help to cultivate Mainframe knowledge, onboard new talent, and provide a place where Mainframe experts share and consume knowledge. Join the conversation to learn more about this community partnership and how you can participate.
Check out the main schedule here.

Micro Focus Universe 2022
2022-03-22 - 2022-03-23
Universe 2022 is for those journeying into the unfamiliar to solve a digital dilemma—how to balance today’s needs with tomorrow’s opportunities. Join us as we show you how to achieve the outcomes needed to run and transform at the same time and boost your transformation journey without ever leaving your home or office. Learn more here.
Register for the “Application Modernization and Connectivity” (AMC) track to gain access to information that will help set a successful path to digital transformation for your COBOL and mainframe applications.
What to Expect:

Attend Online: The event is virtual so you can experience it from your sofa, home office, or wherever you are!
General Session: Micro Focus executives share strategies for solving your digital dilemma: how do you balance running day-to-day with the need to transform your organization for tomorrow—and do both at the same time.
Track Keynotes: Key leaders from each of our tracks share specific information from disciplines across the enterprise that can help you run and transform at the same time.
Breakout Sessions: Attend customer and Micro Focus-led breakout sessions to benefit from best-practices and product usage tips.
Live Studio Broadcasts: New for 2022, Live Studio broadcasts are available any time during conference hours. They provide one location to easily view a variety of track-specific content—from product strategy to customer stories, and demonstrations.
Explore Zone: Looking to dive even deeper? Taking things at your own speed? Visit the Explore Zone to watch deep dive demos, download white papers, find customer stories, discover research, and more.

From Educators to End Users: Leveraging Holistic Approaches and the Importance of Belonging Across the Tech Ecosystem
2022-02-23 09:00 - 10:00
Join us on February 23 at 9 am PDT/ 12 pm EDT for the first 2022 webinar of the Making Our Strong Community, Stronger collaborative initiative on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the mainframe industry. Register here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_eO5uTSRsThKcAa9M0jgq9Q.
We’re mixing up the conversation by sharing the perspective of IBM Z educators and end users. In keeping with our previous discussions, we are continuing our bold, open and honest dialog related to the experiences, challenges, and solutions to navigating DEI. But this time around, we’re bringing in one new, important factor—belonging—making our key initiative diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEI-B).
Throughout last year, we discussed the importance of telling our stories and creating a climate for success for everyone. We are shifting to demystify the challenges of isolation and loneliness that can occur when programs, training, support and other components of the ecosystem may not provide the holistic access, partnerships, and opportunities that unlock real belonging and potential for people, teams, and companies.
Some organizations create well-intended approaches to provide help, however, these noble attempts can feel like a one and done mentality, meant to do good, while possibly further isolating the very individuals who are meant to benefit. DEI-B is not a one-time initiative—it’s a lifetime of educating and listening to everyone in the company to improve. Organizations need to match what’s happening societally to reflect, hear and understand everyone’s values and needs in order to progress. This is not a one-time initiative, project or task.
You’ll notice that the panelists for this webinar include end users and educational professionals—and that’s no coincidence. From vendors to end users and partners that use IBM Z—there are more perspectives and personalities than you’d expect within the technology ecosystem. This breadth of perspectives makes it more important than ever to build, support and maintain holistic, effective approaches that will make the ecosystem stronger working for everyone.
Panelists include:

Dr. Gina Bullock, Assistant Professor, North Carolina A&T State University
Chinedu Ibeh, Corporate Vice President, Enterprise Compute Services, New York Life
Byron Smith, Senior Mainframe Security Engineer, Systems Technology Banking Officer, M&T Bank
Nicole Nwakalor, Specialist, Systems Engineering, Infrastructure, Operations and Cloud, Charles Schwab
Moderator: Dr. Gloria Chance, president and CEO, Mousai Group

We are also pleased to host a unique event after the webinar for attendees only: Dr. Gloria Chance, our webinar moderator, will hold a private Town Hall for attendees to join the conversation, bringing their own experiences and questions into this growing DEI-B community.
Sponsored by Broadcom Mainframe Software, IBM, Open Mainframe Project, Rocket Software, TechChannel and VirtualZ Computing.

Zowe Office Hours
2022-02-16 09:00 - 10:00
Join the Zowe community on Wednesday, February 16 at 9-10 am PT/ 12-1 pm ET. Zowe App Framework / Web UI experts will be on-hand to respond to questions and concerns. Please see below for the details.
When: Wednesday, February 16, 2022, 12:00pm to 1:00pm (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (ET)
Where: https://zoom.us/j/94312528890
The next office hours is scheduled for February 23 at 9-10 am PT/ 12-1 pm ET. More details to come.
Did you miss an Office Hours Session? Find prior session recordings and view the schedule here: https://www.zowe.org/vnext#office-hours

COBOL Programming Course Q1 Webinar
2022-02-08 09:00 - 10:00
Since the launch of Open Mainframe Project’s COBOL Programming Course two years ago, we have held quarterly TSC calls to encourage our learners, COBOL fans and the community at large to join us to learn more about our work we drive and provide inputs and thoughts about the course.
For our 1st quarter session webinar on Tuesday, February 8 at 9 am PT/12 pm ET, we are excited to have Rune Christensen from Bankdata as our guest speaker, joining us to talk about COBOL and this specific COBOL course and how his team leverages it. Register here: https://bit.ly/3gm7PxO.
Speakers:

Rune Christensen, Bankdata
Sudharsana Srinivasan, IBM
Michael Bauer, Broadcom
Joe Winchester, IBM
Paul Newton, IBM
Hartanto Widjaya, Singapore Management University

FOSDEM
2022-02-05 - 2022-02-06
Open Mainframe Project will be featured at FOSDEM, happening virtually on February 5-6.
Sarah Julia Kriesch, a DevOps Consultant at Accenture and Open Source Contributor at openSUSE, will be presenting a session about the Linux Distributions Working Group.
Default community distributions are running in the same issues for special architectures. Every Linux distribution has got mostly separate maintainers and hardware distributors are handling these communities really often disconnected. That has been identified also for the architecture s390x. Therefore, openSUSE, Fedora and Debian have established together with IBM a Linux Distributions Working Group for a better collaboration together and with the goal to receive better support. In this presentation you should receive an overview about a good collaboration between Linux distributions and what you can achieve together with such a Working Group.
Details can be found below:

Learn more about the conference or to register, visit the FOSDEM website here.

LFX Mentorship Showcase
2022-01-12
The LFX Mentorship Showcase, hosted online on January 12, is an opportunity for graduating mentees of the LFX Mentorship program to showcase the work they completed during their session term. Learn more about the 29 graduated mentees of the Linux Kernel, Cloud Native Computing Foundation, Open Mainframe Project, RISC-V, Hyperledger, and LF Networking mentorship programs as they share the specific projects they worked on during their mentorship, highlighting the contributions they made. Visit the main event page to learn more or register: https://events.linuxfoundation.org/lfx-mentorship-showcase/.
This virtual event is free to attend and open to anyone who would like to learn more about the experiences of LF Mentorship Program mentees, find out more about some of the programs our projects are working on, recruit new talent, and support new developer contributions.

Open Mainframe Project is excited to announce that two graduate mentees will be featured in this showcase – Hartanto Ario Widjaya, a student at the Singapore Management University and mentee of the COBOL Programming Course, and Sudhanshu Dubey, an Application Development Associate at Accenture and mentee of the OBOL Working Group. Please see their presentation description and times below and add it to your schedule.
COBOL: Now and Tomorrow, Hartanto Ario Widjaya
10:05 – 10:15 pm EST
https://sched.co/tRX6
During the Open Mainframe Project Mentorship Program, Ahmed and Hartanto improved upon the materials of the COBOL Programming Course, a project set to provide free and accessible COBOL training for everyone. Amidst the needs for COBOL programmers, they help to enable the next generation of learners to add COBOL to their tech toolkit. The project community has been amazing, everyone is welcoming of us, and we get to work with various people who are happy to help us even though we are new to the field. Unlike most projects, our project is courseware-based. So we get to explore COBOL in great detail to add to the course. Furthermore, we also learned how to communicate better with each other and got exposed to mainframes, where millions of lines of COBOL code are still in operation today.
COBOL Modernization: Renovating Core IT Applications, Sudhanshu Dubey
10:29-10:39 EST
https://sched.co/tRXF
Billions of lines of COBOL are still running the core IT of thousands of companies but those applications have largely been left out of modern advances in IT. In partnership with the Open Mainframe Project, we asked student intern Sudhanshu Dubey to demonstrate the options for modernizing an existing COBOL application to address the business needs and prove the future possibilities.
During the project Sudhanshu did the following:

Ran analysis tools on a monolithic banking core application
Identified key services that could be externalized
Modernized the user experience

If a university student can do it, certainly you can too. It was a wonderful experience working with my mentors and the project community. The mentors were very welcoming and supportive. They understood that I am new to this and helped me at each step without putting too much pressure on me. Similarly, the project community helped me with everything I needed and it was fun interacting with other mentees. While working on the project I learned COBOL, CICS and the MicroFocus tools I used. Also I learned modernization techniques. We presented at a lot of places which improved my speaking and presentation skills. Add it to your schedule here: https://sched.co/tRXF
The Linux Foundation’s Mentorship Program helps developers – many of whom are first-time open source contributors – gain the skills and experience necessary to contribute effectively to open source communities. Learn more about the program here: https://lfx.linuxfoundation.org/tools/mentorship/.

Open Source Summit + Automotive Linux Summit Japan (Virtual)
2021-12-14 - 2021-12-15
Open Source Summit + Automotive Linux Summit Japan 2021 is a Virtual Experience, happening December 14-15 on the Japan Standard Time Zone (UTC+09:00). Open Mainframe Project will be represented by a few Zowe community members and ambssadors. The session has been changed to Pacific Standard Time.
As with past virtual experiences, know that we are taking thoughtful actions to create an immersive digital experience that provides you with interactive content and collaboration experiences. You will have the ability to network with other attendees, attend presentations with live Q&A, interact with sponsors real-time, and much more – all virtually, from anywhere. To register for the event, visit the main conference page: https://events.linuxfoundation.org/open-source-summit-japan/register/.
Tuesday, December 14 at 10:30- 11:20 pm PST: Women Explorers: What Does the Future of Mainframe Development Look Like?
Speakers: Richelle Anne Craw, Katelyn Nienaber & Jessielaine Punongbayan, Broadcom; Lauren Li & Billie Jean Simmons, IBM
Meet the women of the Zowe Explorer Squad. In this session, the panelists will share valuable insights on navigating the challenges of modernizing the mainframe developer experience. The session will cover topics such as collaborating in the Zowe Explorer project, building a positive culture across different companies, managing open source commitments with internal priorities, overcoming time zone barriers, embracing the team diversity, and feeling confident in making decisions about the future of the project. Add this to your schedule here.
Register for the event, here.
