Timothy, I agree with the notion that CICS is a great product, and as many of those who know me I am one of the biggest supporters of CICS you will find.
GETTING ON SOAP BOX: However this notion that only IBM can do things correct, cheap, stable and 'free' is not reality. As a user who has supported IBM mainframes for over 36 years, 27 supporting CICS, I have seen many third party products that work very well with CICS. Does the base product for CICS have support for CICS web services - yes it does, but it does not have all the necessary components? If it did why would IBM sell RDz, WebSphere ESB, WebSphere Process Server and many other products to use in conjunction for web services? And let's not forget the education required and/or convoluted definitions required to implement a web service, URIMAP, PIPELINE, WEBSERVICE, TCPIPSERVICE, conversion routines, etc. Most organizations that I talk to want an easy way to define services, both the service itself and the definitions needed to run it. Would most companies need to invest in CICS Transaction Gateway? How easy is it to defined composite services? Can the user call the service from multiple sources, such as Batch, Java, .NET, VB, C? Yes, CICS is the BEST product around and Hursley continues to add new features and functionality. But I think it is a bit disingenuous to state that it is FREE to use web services from CICS. IBM is best served when they embrace and work with third party vendors instead of trying to take over all aspects of mainframe processing. JUMPING OFF SOAP BOX So, I still recommend looking at alternatives (IVORY!) to everything IBM to enhance the value of CICS. Glenn (PS - These are my comments and do not reflect my company's point of view) -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Timothy Sipples Sent: Wednesday, November 02, 2011 11:46 AM To: IBM-MAIN@bama.ua.edu Subject: Re: Batch COBOL as a Consumer of Web Services I like the CICS approach, particularly since you already have it implemented, know how to monitor/manage/secure it, etc. It's a very natural fit for many environments and for most developers working in this domain. CICS has also had a solid track record of picking up new Web Services capabilities as the standards have evolved, so you get that free as you track new CICS releases. Same with performance improvements. And CICS neatly takes care of that persistence issue that was mentioned. When is CICS ever (completely) down, by the way? Alternatively, is it better to worry about just keeping at least a bit of CICS up and running (which you presumably already worry about) versus keeping both CICS and something else up and running? I would contact IBM and also cross-post to the CICS-L list to ask for advice on performance engineering and tuning to see if there's anything you're missing. Every once in a while it's worth checking performance for best practices, regardless of solution approach. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------- Timothy Sipples Resident Enterprise Architect (Based in Singapore) E-Mail: timothy.sipp...@us.ibm.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html LEGAL DISCLAIMER The information transmitted is intended solely for the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of or taking action in reliance upon this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you have received this email in error please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer. SunTrust is a federally registered service mark of SunTrust Banks, Inc. Live Solid. Bank Solid. is a service mark of SunTrust Banks, Inc. [ST:XCL] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
