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Getting
More From Outsourced Services
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Many mainframe users have chosen to outsource some
or all of their operations, infrastructure and support.
This month we look at how to get the most from any outsourcing
arrangement.
Last quarter we looked at mainframe
monitoring software for composite applications.
We've written a partner article discussing the issues
and challenges with composite applications for CMG's
MeasureIT.
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Finally in our technical section, we release an article originally
written for two of our Systems Programmer mentoring students
explaining z/OS cross
memory communications for beginners.
We hope you enjoy this month's issue of LongEx Mainframe
Quarterly.
management: Nine Ways
to Get More From an Outsourcing Arrangement
In the mainframe sector, outsourcing is as common as shrinking
budgets and higher software costs. Many organisations have
handed over their entire mainframe hardware, operation and
support to external providers; including many Australian Commonwealth
agencies. In fact only 79% of respondents to the Arcati 2010
Mainframe survey ran in-house mainframe data centres.
Other organisations outsource only a part of their infrastructure
or support, such as their network infrastructure or COBOL
application maintenance. Recent offshoring developments have
only accelerated outsourcing interest.
Organisations that haven't outsourced their mainframes may
still face many of the same outsourcing issues. Often one
department operates the mainframe on behalf of others; or
blocks of work are given to different departments, or even
a division in a different country.
But regardless of how it works, outsourcing customers are
paying for a group or company outside of their control to
operate, maintain or develop services and systems.
Many outsourcing customers are not satisfied with their outsourcing
services - as many as 30% according to a 2008 Deloitte Consulting
report. However all outsourcing customers can get more from
their outsourcing arrangement: from improved stakeholder experiences
and reduced costs, to better provider relations and service.
This article shows nine ways that help make this happen.
...more
technical: The Challenges
Monitoring Composite Applications
Composite applications, or applications that cross application
environments and platforms, pose unique problems for monitoring
and tracking. This article discusses composite applications:
what they are, monitoring issues, and solutions available
..more from CMG
MeasureIT
technical: Cross Memory
Communications for Beginners
One of the strengths of z/OS is its concept of address spaces.
Every process (or address space) has its own storage, and
believes that it has the entire z/OS to itself. Separating
tasks into address spaces means that a task in one address
space cannot access data or affect (crash) a task in another.
However there are times when a task in one address space
needs to access data, or even run a program, in another address
space. In this article, we look at the options for people
new to cross memory communications.
..more
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