Free IBM System Z Mastery Exam voucher for Students

god_of_thunder

Hi,
Just wanted to let you all know that IBM is giving out System Z mastery exam vouchers for students enrolled in the IBM academic initiative. They require a .edu address to request a voucher.

They also offer a 4 hour virtual sandbox environment for practice.

eMeS

I'm betting 95% of the members here have no idea what System Z is...

If anyone out there is interested, not only can use use the virtual lab provided by IBM, you can run a mainframe OS with the Hercules emulator.

The Hercules System/370, ESA/390, and z/Architecture Emulator

MS

god_of_thunder

eMeS wrote: »

I'm betting 95% of the members here have no idea what System Z is...

If anyone out there is interested, not only can use use the virtual lab provided by IBM, you can run a mainframe OS with the Hercules emulator.

The Hercules System/370, ESA/390, and z/Architecture Emulator

MS

Thanks for the info. Wanted to see what the fuss was all about. How is the job market for Mainframe skills?

eMeS

god_of_thunder wrote: »

Thanks for the info. Wanted to see what the fuss was all about. How is the job market for Mainframe skills?

Excellent if you know where to look, but generally you don't see a lot of people that hold certs in that world.

Usually if you see someone holding a mainframe-related cert they are either a salesperson or they work for an IBM partner.

MS

TheShadow

eMeS wrote: »

I'm betting 95% of the members here have no idea what System Z is...

If anyone out there is interested, not only can use use the virtual lab provided by IBM, you can run a mainframe OS with the Hercules emulator.

The Hercules System/370, ESA/390, and z/Architecture Emulator

MS

Tsk Tsk! Now look what you did divulging mainframe secrets.

Dec 1, 2010 1:40 pm
Microsoft Quietly Invests in IBM Emulator TurboHercules
By Joab Jackson, IDG News

Continuing its low-key crusade for greater mainframe openness (or less IBM dominance of that market), Microsoft has invested an undisclosed amount of money in mainframe emulator provider TurboHercules, said the Paris company.

Microsoft Quietly Invests in IBM Emulator TurboHercules - PCWorld Business Center

sidsanders

eMeS wrote: »

I'm betting 95% of the members here have no idea what System Z is...

If anyone out there is interested, not only can use use the virtual lab provided by IBM, you can run a mainframe OS with the Hercules emulator.

The Hercules System/370, ESA/390, and z/Architecture Emulator

MS

chime in late...

you can run the latest linux-s390 under herc as well as the great granpa of z/vm -- vm/370, "latest" http://vm370.31bits.net/vm370sixpack-1_2.zip, and zos -- mvs 3.8j, turnkey is good to learn: MVS Tur(n)key System - Readme File

eMeS

TheShadow wrote: »

Microsoft Quietly Invests in IBM Emulator TurboHercules - PCWorld Business Center

Interesting story, and I can see what they're thinking, but I have my doubts that companies that are big into mainframes are going to sacrifice scalability, resilience and reliability to start running a bunch of virtualized mainframe images on WinTel hardware. Especially when you start talking about companies that are using things like XRC and PPRC across multiple SYSPLEX's.

What do you guys think?

Plus everyone that's tried to challenge IBM in this market over the years has sunk a ton of money into failing. Think Amdahl and Hitachi. I remember back in the 90's the place where I worked had some Hitachi mainframes that were smoking fast. It was before IBM switched to CMOS, but once IBM switched to CMOS they quickly caught up and blew Hitachi out of that market.

MS

sidsanders

some shops that need to do dev work using ibm dev programs, things can get mega lame. we have done that as well as leased gear+rental time. in the end it was cheaper to bring the hw onsite. we did that with the, allowed at the time, intel based emulator flexes and mp3000s (os/2 host controller.. bleeeh). finally went to a z9 (no ifl -- the integrated facility for linux for those that dont know).

if we could legally run some of the dev work under herc vs a z9/10/next gen, that would be even better. ibm is pushing the zpdt to fill the herc/flex/psi gap now.

i do like z/vm though...

Turgon

eMeS wrote: »

Interesting story, and I can see what they're thinking, but I have my doubts that companies that are big into mainframes are going to sacrifice scalability, resilience and reliability to start running a bunch of virtualized mainframe images on WinTel hardware. Especially when you start talking about companies that are using things like XRC and PPRC across multiple SYSPLEX's.

What do you guys think?

Plus everyone that's tried to challenge IBM in this market over the years has sunk a ton of money into failing. Think Amdahl and Hitachi. I remember back in the 90's the place where I worked had some Hitachi mainframes that were smoking fast. It was before IBM switched to CMOS, but once IBM switched to CMOS they quickly caught up and blew Hitachi out of that market.

MS

IBM tends to win on the big stuff. When the desktop and LAN side of IT mushroomed in the late nineties our systems manager refered to it all as 'toys'. The importance of the mission critical midrange/mainframe big database transactional environment has been obfuscated in the minds of post nineties techs by the dash to NT and its successors and internet facing services and infrastructure the last 10 years. A lot of people are unaware and miss out of great career opportunities in this space when chasing the invogue certifcation tracks. It's still out there and very important. This is something I encourage people working the food chain from helpdesk/desktop/server/network to be aware of.

AS400 anyone?

TheShadow

eMeS wrote: »

Interesting story, and I can see what they're thinking, but I have my doubts that companies that are big into mainframes are going to sacrifice scalability, resilience and reliability to start running a bunch of virtualized mainframe images on WinTel hardware. Especially when you start talking about companies that are using things like XRC and PPRC across multiple SYSPLEX's.

What do you guys think?

Plus everyone that's tried to challenge IBM in this market over the years has sunk a ton of money into failing. Think Amdahl and Hitachi. I remember back in the 90's the place where I worked had some Hitachi mainframes that were smoking fast. It was before IBM switched to CMOS, but once IBM switched to CMOS they quickly caught up and blew Hitachi out of that market.

MS

+1 I was a victim of the great dinosaur matings of the late 80's early 90's and then did some work inside IBM. I would never bet against them on heavy iron ever. Desktop is a different story however when you really need a mainframe, there is no substitute. Microsoft just likes waking the giant every time they think it's sleeping. It is like picking an open sore but hercules disappearing from the redbooks wasn't an accident.