Cloud Compiling is slated to sponsor an IBM Systems magazine webinar on October 21st, titled, “If it Ain’t Broke, Why Recompile COBOL?” The webinar will discuss how to have a successful COBOL V6 migration without enduring spikes in mainframe CPU.

Cloud Compiling, the provider of seamless cloud computing solutions for IBM® z/OS®, today announced sponsorship for an IBM Systems magazine webinar titled “If it Ain’t Broke, Why Recompile COBOL?” The webinar will discuss COBOL V6 migration and concerns about spikes in mainframe CPU as charged through the Rolling 4-Hour Average (R4HA) and related pricing options. IBM has announced End of Software or EOS dates for previous COBOL versions, making migration to COBOL V6 essentially mandatory to maintain IBM software support for the language.

Guest speaker, Reg Harbeck, is a mainframe industry expert and IBM Champion for z/OS who has worked in IT and mainframes for more than three decades. During this time, he has consulted, presented, written, and taught courses on mainframe-related matters world-wide, and is heavily involved in the mainframe ecosystem. He has worked with operating systems, networks, computing security, middleware, applications and platforms ranging from Apple ][+ and MS-DOS PCs to IBM Z Mainframes. Harbeck will outline strategies to avoid unnecessary budget churn as Fortune 500 organizations ponder the shift to COBOL V6.

The Cloud Compiling-sponsored webinar will take place Wednesday, October 21, 2020, and will feature Cloud Compiling’s Chief Development Officer Charles Mills, who will review a customer use case on consolidating multiple compiling licenses to a single license in the cloud, and how this method can offload MSUs during COBOL migration, further reducing costs.

“IBM z/OS continues to be the workhorse in the Fortune 500 and government data centers,” said
Budd J Rutter II, founder and CEO of Cloud Compiling. “Contrary to some misconceptions about the mainframe, it is the most cost-efficient IT asset on the planet and will remain so for the foreseeable future. It is a natural technological progression for moving some z/OS transactions to the cloud in order to optimize and save budget dollars, as we continue to do more work with fewer people in large enterprise IT environments.”

The IBM mandate to switch to COBOL V6 will place a significant burden on IT resources and could lead to massive unplanned costs accompanying the migration due to spikes in CPU time. Mainframe developers should expect compile times on V6 to be between 15 and 200 times longer on average than the same compiling processes on COBOL 4.2.

While the mainframe continues to be a cornerstone for large enterprises, powering 70% of the Global 500’s core business functions, it is not the same mainframe that came into existence over 50 years ago when COBOL emerged onto the platform. IBM continues to modernize Big Iron for better agility and performance and COBOL is no exception. The latest COBOL V6 iteration has some big advantages over older versions, performing much more in-depth optimizations than its predecessors, improving application performance and stability, and delivering additional value to the end user, but it does come at a CPU cost. Interested users can register for the webinar at https://bit.ly/ibmsystemsccwebinar.

IBM Systems magazine and Cloud Compiling webinar details:

  • Title: “If it Ain’t Broke, Why Recompile COBOL?”
  • When: Wednesday, October 21, 2020 | 1:00 p.m. EDT / 12:00 p.m. CDT
  • Speakers: Charles Mills, chief development officer at Cloud Compiling and Reg Harbeck, chief strategist at Mainframe Analytics, Ltd.
  • Register: https://bit.ly/ibmsystemsccwebinar

About IBM Systems Magazine

On behalf of IBM, MSP TechMedia publishes two magazines—IBM Systems magazine, Power Systems, and IBM Systems magazine, IBM Z. The monthly Power Systems edition reaches approximately 50,000 readers who own or work on Power Systems servers running IBM i, AIX and Linux. The IBM Z edition is delivered to approximately 25,000 IBM mainframe customers every other month. Each magazine is also available as a digital version that is free worldwide. More info on IBM Systems magazine can be found https://ibmsystemsmag.com/.

About Cloud Compiling

Cloud Compiling extends the benefits of cloud computing to the IBM z/OS platform. With its patent-pending technologies, Cloud Compiling is the only true cloud compiling solution developed for IBM System Z, bringing cost-effective compiling alternatives to the mainframe environment. Cloud Compiling’s innovative compiling technologies support COBOL, PL/1, FORTRAN and C/C++ programming languages. The company offers solutions for in-house private cloud installation and turnkey public cloud deployment, resulting in reduced expenses and increased operational efficiencies for its customers.