Cincom Systems Inc is ready to deliver a new product that automates many of the tasks currently performed by operators working on IBM and compatible mainframes running under MVS/XA. Sys/Master, a new component of Cincom’s Net/Master answer to IBM’s NetView network management system, is, as reported briefly (CI No 804), able to handle an average of 500, and a maximum of 2,000, MVS messages per second. Routine messages are filtered and either discarded, routed to a central console controlling multi-CPU, multi-site networks, or responded to directly by invoking an MVS command. Messages requiring complex actions are routed through Net/Master which sends the appropriate command to the relevant operating system, teleprocessing monitor, batch procedure or other system job entry system. Cincom claims Sys/Master will have a dramatic effect on costs as systems will become less complex and operators will only be needed for exceptional events rather than everyday chores. Sys/Master is one of several new upgrade options available with the new release, 2.0, of Net/Master. Other new options are the Network Tracking System, which provides accurate CPU accounting and current and historic session tracing for id-entifying bottlenecks, and Net/Mail, an electronic messaging system using the VTAM access method and said to be easy to use. Version 2.0 also features better performance and in-cludes language extensions and extended MVS/XA support. In use at 500 sites worldwide including 50 in the UK, Net/Master 2.0 starts at UKP20,000 for single CPUs, up to a total of UKP100,000. As well as XA, Net/Master runs under MVS, DOS/VSE, VM and under Fujitsu’s MSP and Nixdorf’s Nidos operating systems. Cincom, still privately held, hopes for 50 new UK sites with the product in 1988.
