IBM Corp hasn’t forgotten its poor old VM and VSE users altogether, and following similar upgrades for AS/400 and OS/390 users, IBM’s entry-level and mid-range mainframe users are at last getting some measure of access to the more recent advances in software technology, particularly what IBM calls e-business, or electronic commerce. At the same time, IBM has boosted its Multiprise 2000 range of medium-sized mainframes by adding 15 new models with faster performance and more memory. The VSE/ESA version 2 release 3 operating system adds new networking capabilities such as web serving and access to VSE data from web browsers, and integrated TCP/IP support. It will be released in January. There is no date for the equivalent VM/ESA version 2 release 3 operating system, though that should be available some time in the first half of next year. IBM also intends to upgrade the VM and VSE versions of its CICS Transaction Server to fall in line with the newer version already on OS/390. Secretly, IBM would still like all its VM and VSE users to move over lock, stock and barrel onto the more resource-hungry MVS, aka OS/390, and is offering an Enterprise Server Offering package to try and tempt some of them to jump to OS/390 Version 2 Release 4, which began shipping last month. It can be implemented on a Multiprise mainframe without impacting current VM or VSE applications, says IBM. OS/390, of course, includes more support for e-business, runs Lotus Development Corp’s Domino and even supports Java. The Multiprise range of hardware now stretches to 15 models, and has a 26-fold growth path from the smallest to the largest. The performance increase is said to be 11% in the two-way to five-way models over existing systems, and the processor storage capacity of entry level models has been doubled to 2Gb. Upgrades from existing models to the new two-way Model 227 or larger are available with minimal disruption. Prices have not been announced. For those worried that the range isn’t powerful enough, IBM says it intends to provide an upgrade path to high- end S/390 Parallel Enterprise Servers next year.
