Re: z/OS 1.5 EOS

2005-12-06 Thread John Eells

Dennis Trojak wrote:


Has anybody seen any updates to the 3/31/2007 date for End-of-Service on
z/OS 1.5? The IBM web site still has an * next to it indicating it has
not been officially announced yet.
Is there any offering available from IBM that will still get you z/OS
1.5 for those of us still stuck on G5 hardware?
Dennis..


The current plan is plan to provide central service for each z/OS 
release for three years after availability.  This means our 
intent is to withdraw service in March 2007 for R5, but (as you 
found) we have not formally announced the end of service date. 
(Until we actually announce it there are no guarantees, of 
course, but I know which way I would personally bet.)


As we've discussed recently in another context, the EoS 
announcements are combined and (IIRC) scheduled twice a year. 
Assuming that plans do not change, I would expect to see R5's EoS 
announced officially in next summer's software service 
discontinuance announcement.


There are no offerings available for ordering z/OS R5 any more, 
I'm afraid, but you can always work with your account team if you 
need help for your particular situation to see whether they can 
find a way to help you.


I know this isn't a helpful comment for you, but for others who 
might be reading:


You can order the same version of a z/OS product for which you 
are already licensed at no additional charge.  So if there is any 
significant possibility you will get stuck, it's in your best 
interest to order releases before they get withdrawn from 
marketing even if there is some chance that the order will sit on 
a shelf (physically or logically) and never be used.  This can 
help you make sure you have a migration path from wherever you 
are to where you eventually go.


--
John Eells
z/OS Technical Marketing
IBM Poughkeepsie
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

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Re: z/OS 1.5 EOS

2005-12-06 Thread R.S.

John Eells wrote:
[...]
You can order the same version of a z/OS product for which you are 
already licensed at no additional charge.  So if there is any 
significant possibility you will get stuck, it's in your best interest 
to order releases before they get withdrawn from marketing even if there 
is some chance that the order will sit on a shelf (physically or 
logically) and never be used.  This can help you make sure you have a 
migration path from wherever you are to where you eventually go.


Does it mean, I can order, let's say, z/OS 1.7 or CICS TS 3.1 (I'm on 
lower levels) and have no obligation to migrate within one year ?
I was told I have to migrate within one year from delivery otherwise 
I'll pay for both versions.

Just curious.

--
Radoslaw Skorupka
Lodz, Poland

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Re: z/OS 1.5 EOS

2005-12-06 Thread Chase, John
 -Original Message-
 From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List On Behalf Of R.S.
 
 John Eells wrote:
 [...]
  You can order the same version of a z/OS product for which you are 
  already licensed at no additional charge.  So if there is any 
  significant possibility you will get stuck, it's in your best interest 
  to order releases before they get withdrawn from marketing even if 
  there is some chance that the order will sit on a shelf (physically or
  logically) and never be used.  This can help you make sure you have a 
  migration path from wherever you are to where you eventually go.
 
 Does it mean, I can order, let's say, z/OS 1.7 or CICS TS 3.1 
 (I'm on lower levels) and have no obligation to migrate 
 within one year ?
 I was told I have to migrate within one year from delivery 
 otherwise I'll pay for both versions.
 Just curious.

It *may* be significant that he said *version* instead of *release*.
Normally, the *version* is the number to the left of the first dot (e.g.,
version.release).  Assuming you currently license z/OS 1.4, I believe you
could order z/OS 1.7 and never use it; it's the same *version* that you're
currently running (only the *release* is different).  OTOH, if you're
currently running CICS TS 2.x and order TS 3.1, that's a different
*version*, and you might indeed be required to install and migrate to it
within a specified time after ordering it to avoid paying dual license
fees.  Note also that a new *version* usually means a version upgrade
charge (i.e., more money) as well.

-jc-

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Re: z/OS 1.5 EOS

2005-12-06 Thread John Eells

R.S. wrote:

  Does it mean, I can order, let's say, z/OS 1.7 or CICS TS 3.1 
(I'm on

lower levels) and have no obligation to migrate within one year ?
I was told I have to migrate within one year from delivery otherwise 
I'll pay for both versions.

Just curious.


There is only one _version_ of z/OS, with seven _releases_ so 
far.  Whether there are version license charge considerations for 
CICS or not depends on which version you are on.


--
John Eells
z/OS Technical Marketing
IBM Poughkeepsie
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

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Re: z/OS 1.5 EOS

2005-12-06 Thread Chase, John
 -Original Message-
 From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List On Behalf Of Ed Finnell
  
 In a message dated 12/6/2005 8:59:57 A.M. Central Standard 
 Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
 
 There is  only one _version_ of z/OS, with seven _releases_ 
 so far.  Whether  there are version license charge 
 considerations for CICS or not depends on  which version you are on.
 
 
 Seems like if IBM were to make a package offer for
 G5/G6 customers everybody would be better off? Get users up 
 to speed and have fewer architectures to support. 

Might get the consent decree reinstated

-jc-

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Re: z/OS 1.5 EOS

2005-12-06 Thread Timothy Sipples
Has anybody seen any updates to the 3/31/2007 date for End-of-Service on
z/OS 1.5? The IBM web site still has an * next to it indicating it has
not been officially announced yet.
Is there any offering available from IBM that will still get you z/OS
1.5 for those of us still stuck on G5 hardware?
Dennis..

I've asked and haven't heard anything that would suggest a service 
extension (as least not without a fee).  Everybody is saying plan now, 
act soon.

However, I'm hearing reports of used z800s diving well into the five 
figures (U.S. dollars), so the 64-bit hardware has gotten pretty 
inexpensive (i.e. less than a single mid-range UNIX server) at just the 
right time, thank goodness. I'm familiar with a county government that did 
exactly that (G5 class to z800), and it went very smoothly (and actually 
will save their taxpayers a bit of money because maintenance is lower and 
software is a touch lower in their case).

I always recommend running a full set of numbers and what ifs? Including 
a check to see if an IFL or two would be useful to save IT money through 
server consolidation. (All the 64-bit boxen support Hipersockets which 
have the interesting side effect of making z/OS work less hard servicing 
requests from onboard Linux versus any offboard servers, and that can be 
financially beneficial too.)

So why is 64-bit becoming a base requirement for z/OS? It's only for good 
technical reasons, I assure you -- you don't make too many architectural 
changes, even improvemens, without addressing somebody's business 
requirement. We saw some limits approaching and had to begin the process 
back in the late 1990s for the 64-bit transition. (Since we're talking 
about mainframes, it's a nearly decade long transition -- it has to be at 
a reasonably slow pace.) A good example is DB2: DB2 V8R1 requires a 64-bit 
system because we have some customers that were stretching the limits of 
V7, and V8 offers constraint relief. SAP now requires DB2 V8. We also have 
a 64-bit Java now because there were some customers running out of heap 
space (in Java batch, notably, to avoid garbage collection during long 
batch job), and some areas (WebSphere Portal is a good example) where we 
really need 64-bit very soon. Linux is another area where there are many 
64-bit needs, and USS needs it (C/C++) to keep developers happy. And we're 
going to see more and more 64-bit subsystems and components.

All that means you've got to do everything in the right sequence, and the 
operating system is one of those things that has to get 64-bit 
componentry, even for some core functions that previously ran 31-bit. Get 
enough of those and before long you can't figure out good ways to keep 
retrofitting back into 31-bit without compromising what you're trying to 
do 64-bit. (And forking has its own big headaches.)

One of the last SHAREs had a really interesting technical presentation on 
what's going on inside z/OS in terms of 64-bit development, especially 
from a programming language perspective. It was over my head lots of 
times, but it was still really interesting. :-) Recommended stuff.

So that's where we're at.

Sometimes when I talk with a business manager I point out that there 
really aren't many servers that last (in terms of providing productive 
business services and functional benefit) as long as mainframes do. You 
don't *have* to buy them very often, especially if you buy the latest 
model if/when you do upgrade. (Yes, I know, some shops buy every new model 
that comes out and have very good reasons for doing so. But there's always 
a good set of technical and/or financial reasons for shops that do that.) 
And when you do upgrade you keep your processor capacity (or in the case 
of IFLs and zAAPs your processor counts), so you don't keep buying 
processors every three years. And yes, I know, somebody is going to chime 
in and say they've got five year old (or older) distributed servers 
running something, but see how long non-mainframe folks last if you shut 
off all hardware purchasing for five years. :-)

Don't know if any of the above helped, but I try. Please note, as always, 
that I don't speak for IBM if an official capacity (ESPECIALLY when it 
comes to prices or selling anything) even though I work for them and am 
thus occasionally biased despite efforts to the contrary.

- - - - -
Timothy F. Sipples
Consulting Enterprise Software Architect
IBM Americas zSeries/z9 Software
Phone: +1 312 529 1612
E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

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