IBM has announced CICS Transaction Server Version 5.4: https://www.ibm.com/common/ssi/rep_ca/3/897/ENUS217-113/ENUS217-113.PDF
This release of CICS supports the *full* Java Enterprise Edition (JEE) 7 specification -- really quite amazing. There are also some interesting and useful batch interfaces to handle much larger data sizes (CICS channels and containers) that I like. I also really like the z/OS Provisioning Toolkit since it makes deploying applications to CICS much easier and more dynamic, especially at DevOps velocities. And there's lots of other stuff discussed in the announcement letter. The planned availability date is June 16, 2017. There is a Developer Trial you can order (5655-Y30), particularly relevant to those z/OS customers who are not yet CICS customers. Now, with IBM Multi-Version Measurement (MVM), everybody who already licenses CICS can order this new release (and any other release) with NO SINGLE VERSION CHARGE LIMIT any more. Yes, SVC is gone, finito, basta, terminated. That means you should just go ahead and order CICS TS Version 5.4 from Shopz as soon as it's orderable (which might even be today). Place it in your development LPAR(s), and get going...no additional charge, assuming you're already a CICS licensee (Monthly License Charge or VUE with current subscription). MLC customers should order 5655-Y04, and VUE customers should order 5722-DFJ. For more information on MVM, please take a look at my write-up (and links from there) here: http://millennialmainframer.com/2017/05/ibm-multi-version-measurement/ You will need z/OS 2.1 or higher for this release of CICS, so any/all currently supported z/OS releases are fine. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Timothy Sipples IT Architect Executive, Industry Solutions, IBM z Systems, AP/GCG/MEA E-Mail: sipp...@sg.ibm.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
