Mainframe and IBM have been synonymous since 1952. Over the years mainframes have seen a lot of transformation to stay in tune with the market requirements and industry changes. With the New Year, IBM brings forward another change with the new mainframes in a signature moment. This change is in sync with the changing market requirements. We are living in the digital age, the current technological landscape and recent trends prove that cloud , mobile and big data are disrupting business dynamics globally.  They are creating opportunities... [More]

Tags:  agile system-z devops z13 mainframe

  Today is a very exciting day.  IBM has just unveiled z13, the world’s most advanced mainframe system, which offers unprecedented performance and scalability and transforms the economics of IT.  Today is also the first time in history where all compilers on z/OS (COBOL, PL/I and C/C++) are simultaneously providing Day 1 support for a new z processor while delivering new programming features.  In addition, we have added a new compiler to our z System lineup – XL C/C++ for Linux on z Systems.   These new... [More]

Tags:  mainframe cobol compilers ibm-z system-z linux

Mobile app developers recognize the importance of responding quickly to problems that their users experience. But I frequently get asked for advice about how to most effectively stay in tune with what's going on with a mobile app, both the code running on the phone as well as the code running in the cloud that forms the mobile back-end services.   The IBM Bluemix platform available through the IBM Cloud marketplace offers many services that enable mobile app developers to easily keep an eye on the health of their apps, and... [More]

Tags:  application development devops rational cloud-computing mobile-applications ima cloud mobile monitoring mqa mobile-app-development bluemix

Hybrid Cloud has become an extremely common term in the Cloud space. It is used to describe multiple cloud adoption scenarios where either multiple cloud technologies co-exist, or cloud and physical infrastructure co-exist. Let’s understand ‘hybrid cloud’ better by looking at various cloud adoption scenarios: Cloud and physical infrastructure: This is an extremely common scenario. Unless an organization is born-on-the-cloud, this is actually the default scenario. Any given organization has workloads and applications that run... [More]

Tags:  urbancode cloud cloud-computing devops paas iaas hybrid

In my previous  blog post, I shared the 5 best practices my teams have learned during our own DevOps Journey.     1. Expand agile practices beyond development and test to include client, business stakeholders, and operations to breakdown silos and improve outcomes. 2. Shift Left with continuous testing using automation and virtualization to eliminate long back-end test cycles and increase quality. 3. Build a delivery pipeline leveraging tools-as-a-service... [More]

Tags:  ibm-rational automation doors-next-generation rtc devops developer rational development agile test virtualization agile-development clm

We’re approaching a tipping point at IBM with our internal adoption of DevOps practices.  It was rather energizing for me as both a user and provider of DevOps solutions to participate in a meeting at the IBM Design Center in Austin, Texas in July, surrounded by hundreds of IBM business line and development leaders at various stages of DevOps adoption. For some it was an opportunity to do a bit of chest-thumping with early and measurable success. For others, it was an opportunity to drink the Kool-Aid, so to speak, and better... [More]

Tags:  smarter-cities software-delivery software-development watson software development cloud devops agile

I recently had the opportunity to talk about DevOps for Enterprise Systems at both IBM Enterprise2014 (Las Vegas) and the DevOps Enterprise Summit 2014 (San Francisco). Co-presenting with me were Slavik Zorin, CEO of Synchrony Systems, an IBM Business Partner, and Carmen DeArdo, Director of Application Development at Nationwide Insurance, respectively. I heard a lot of positive feedback, and I thank them both for sharing their stories.   What follows is a summary of the key takeaways from the two events. The main point... [More]

Tags:  enterprise-software-deliv... developer devops enterprise continuous-delivery events event rational webcast enterprise-modernization development

How can you deliver applications faster without sacrificing quality or control? How do you deliver 10X faster business innovation instead of 10% incremental improvement? New and established companies using DevOps have transformed their software delivery process and achieved dramatic improvements in speed, quality and business satisfaction. If you want to hear real life experiences improving operations with DevOps, watch the on-demand webcast.    

Tags:  agile software-delivery webcast devops app-delivery application software event

When I was young and just starting my career one of the key lessons I learned from one of my first mentors was to always look for ways to improve.  Actively look for ways to learn more, and be open to new ideas. At the time this was revolutionary to me because I thought I knew a lot more than other people about certain things; this is one of the drawbacks of youth I guess. But I thought about it, took this advice to heart, and remember it every day. Always look for ways to improve what you do.    When I started playing on a... [More]

Tags:  test systems-engineering ibm-rational joannescouler process develop-test rational product-development grahambleakley engineering

Code Rally is a racing game with a twist: instead of driving a vehicle around a track using a controller you code an AI (Artificial Intelligence) to drive the car around for you. This Fall, the Code Rally Online Challenge will be held in North America, Europe, Brazil, India and China. Compete amongst your peers to put your skills to the test and race for the fastest time!  You will have the chance to compete on multiple race tracks for some awesome prizes. Looking for more? If you become the fastest racer in your region, get... [More]

Tags:  software rational-team-concert coding code was softlayer bluemix developer development jazzhub rational

In my last blog post , I shared the 5 best practices my teams have learned during our own DevOps Journey.     Expand agile practices beyond development and test  to include client, business stakeholders, and operations to breakdown silos and improve outcomes. Shift Left with continuous testing using automation and virtualization  to eliminate long back-end test cycles and increase quality. Build a delivery pipeline leveraging tools-as-a-service  that enables developers to... [More]

Tags:  test development rational virtualization testing automation devops agile

Welcome to the world of performance testing . I hope that this blog helps decision makers understand performance testing. What is performance testing ? Here is a non-exhaustive list of different aspects of performance testing . There are many.   Types of performance tests   Load testing Load testing is appropriate when you want to know what your application does under a specific load. For example, what are the response times when 100 users send requests to your application at the same time? Stress testing Stress testing indicates what... [More]

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Recently, Gartner, Inc. positioned IBM as a leader in the  2014 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Integrated Software Quality Suites (ISQ)  report. For the report, Gartner evaluated 14 worldwide vendors, placing IBM in the number one spot in the leaders quadrant based on its completeness of vision and ability to execute. Testing is one of the key processes in the software development life cycle. The market has been steadily maturing to deliver improved user success, but technology changes like... [More]

Tags:  gartner devops software software-development software-development-life... testing development

In my role as worldwide support engineer for IBM Rational Robot , I received many questions about migrating Robot to Windows 7 as Windows XP went out of support April 8, 2014 . Wondering what's the big deal about moving to Windows 7? I'll explain what to do and present features made available again. The latter makes a migration even more rewarding.   Windows 7 and Rational Robot A big difference between Windows XP and Windows 7 is security, which makes migration no picnic. The first... [More]

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