In most things, using three systems is more difficult than using two systems. This is true for disaster restart programs as well, so it caught our attention that Hopkinton, Mass.-based EMC Corp. recently released a two-site configuration of its Geographically Dispersed Disaster Restart (GDDR) product. The company already had a three-site version on the market, apparently “cutting their teeth” on the more challenging configuration, and now making the product available to more  shops with smaller, two-site infrastructures.

Like it’s older sibling, the two-site version of GDDR provides a high level of availability in mainframe environments. The product “enables customers to automatically restart host mainframe systems, critical applications and EMC Symmetrix DMX storage systems to minimize the impact of unplanned or planned outages and enhance information availability and protection,” according to EMC’s press release.

This two-site version competes with IBM’s Geographically Dispersed Parallel Sysplex. While IBM sells GDPS as a service engagement, “EMC sells their offering as a product, with services strongly recommended, but not required,” noted Jim Baker, a research manager at IDC Corp. According to Baker, “This means that every change [in GDPS] is cause for a reopener with regard to the professional services price,” while EMC customers know what the costs are up-front with GDDR. And, depending on their sophistication levels (”Very, very sophisticated users,” Baker stressed), customers can implement GDDR without EMC’s assistance.

Another key difference is where the failover control comes from. IBM’s GDPS has K LPAR, meaning that its logical partition is inside the sysplex it controls. Instead, EMC’s GDDR “uses a heartbeat mechanism amongst the entities and can control failover from outside the sysplex,” Baker explained.

While companies that currently run GDPS would have to weigh the pros and cons of switching over to GDDR, Baker believes that the release of a product that competes with GDPS will give customers leverage over IBM.”Competition is a beautiful thing,” said Baker.

GDDR is intended for very large companies that have sysplex in multiple locations and use mainframe-only technology.

“This is a huge step forward for EMC in the mainframe business,” Baker said. “There is still a sharp EMC focus on the mainframe, where most of the world’s transactional data still resides.”

This year’s SHARE conference in San Diego was a busy one for product announcements, with the issues of mainframe security, compliance and modernizing your legacy applications being the most popular. Here’s a look at what came out.

Security and compliance

Most of the security software announced at the SHARE mainframe conference had another goal in mind: compliance. In other words, it’s important to make sure your mainframe is secure, but it doesn’t mean much if you can’t prove it when the auditors come hunting.

NewEra Software released Image Focus 6.1, which includes two compliance-related features. The first allows system programmers to access the IT resources they need while maintaining security for compliance purposes. Another can identify and track changes and anomalies in load libraries and partitioned datasets, so you know when there’s been a problem. Beta Systems Software announced Beta 96 Enterprise Compliance Auditor, which can detect critical conditions and events in your IT systems while continuously documenting everything it’s monitoring. And JME Software released Deadbolt Monitor, which allows you to use a Web browser to access live and historical records generated by RACF, ACF2 or Top Secret security systems.

In other security product news, another feature of NewEra’s Image Focus is Fast DASD Erase for z/OS, which overwrites tracks and cylinders with binary zeroes. Meanwhile, JME also released Deadbolt Password Reset, which allows you to use a Web browser to reset your RACF, ACF2, and Top Secret passwords.
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So I was down at an IBM mainframe event in New York City earlier today. There was some news that came out, although mostly the point was to talk up Big Blue’s big iron and then provide break-out sessions for analysts and customers (the press wasn’t invited to those). Anyway, I wanted to fill you in on the basics of the news before I write a more detailed story to come out in the next day or so.

The big news out of the event is Destination z, which IBM is pitching as an online community for mainframe customers (both existing and prospective), business partners, academia types, and IBM personnel to come together to talk about the mainframe. I haven’t had a chance to do a deep dive on the site yet, but from first glance it looks mostly like an advertisement Web site for the mainframe. I was expecting it to be a little bit more like iSociety, the MySpace-like site for IBM System i enthusiasts. But like I said, I haven’t taken a close, detailed look at it yet. IBM and 28 business partners - including Red Hat, Novell, and Micro Focus - came together to form the group.

There is also some other news out of the event, including improvements to z/VM, the mainframe’s virtualization operating system. Two other “news” items are largely re-branding of software that IBM has done through its acquisitions of Consul and CIMS Lab, although in the latter case there have been some features added since.

Lastly, during System z general manager Jim Stallings’ presentation, he had some slides regarding MIPS shipped in recent years, including overall numbers and breakout numbers for the mainframe’s three specialty processors, the IFL, zAAP and zIIP. I’m hoping to get my hands on those slides and post them, either in the story or here on the blog.

BladeLogic has virtualization management software

The Lexington, Mass.-based company last week released BladeLogic Virtualization Manager, a systems management application focused on virtual machines (VMs). The new software works with VMware ESX and has a single interface to handle provisioning, deleting and managing of VMs.

RLE Technologies releases data center monitoring equipment

RLE’s new Falcon F110 is a data center monitoring system that allows for 11 different points where thresholds for temperature, humidity, and water leaks can be detected. When the limits are breached, the system can automatically notify the necessary people through email or messaging alerts. The F110 is the first of six products that RLE plans to release by the end of July.

Opsware updates online security and compliance subscription service

Opsware Inc., a data center automation software company, has updated its online subscription service, called The Opsware Network, for data center compliance and security. The company says the upgraded software has more than 2,000 new compliance and security checks to help meet regulations such as HIPAA and Sarbanes Oxley (SOX), as well as online community forums and access to additional downloadable content.

21st Century Software updates mainframe DR software; adds Unix DR software to the mix

21st Century Software has upgraded its DR/VFI data recovery and backup software for the mainframe, as well as announcing a new version for Unix systems. The mainframe product has new features such as the ability to now simulate a disaster recovery event before going offsite to perform testing. The Unix version is focused on backing up and restoring critical files and applications.