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We have successfully completed the latest IMS /SOA Workshop ( http://www.gtsoftware.com/content/gt-software-ims-and-soa-workshop )in Columbus. We had a large very enthusiastic group attending.

Where else can you get real "free" training with real SOA experts.

The agenda is packed:

Free Breakfast
SOA Primer ( from an IBM SOA Expert)

IMS and SOA Considerations ( from a GT and IBM SOA expert who have actually done SOA projects with IMS)

Ivory Service Architect demo ( a live demo with mainframe IMS SOA software)

On Thursday at the Tridex IMS Users Group we will be hosting , with IBM, the IMS SOA Workshop. After a few presentations on IMS, IMS and SOA , and some IMS usage discussions we will actually have a hands on workshop allowing the attendees to actually build some IMS services using Ivory. We will ask them to build a service from a COBOL Copybook and if they are willing to also build a service using MFS as the starting point.

A typical question I receive in customer / prospect meetings centers around Mainframe SOA.  There is still confusion in the marketplace about the role the mainframe plays in an organizations SOA strategy.  Consider the below scenarios.  They are both quite common.  Your Mainframe SOA strategy will differ greatly based on how you view your company.  The below is my summary of a message Dale Vecchio, Gartner, lectures to the Gartner client base about this very topic. 

Ivory does not require any new code including custom code during the creation, orchestration, joining or calling of Web services. Any code created will require a learning curve which can be great and will require any code written to be maintained for the life of the Web service. Ivory’s approach to development uses a Web Services creation wizard or graphical flow modeling or “wiring” diagrams that allow the user to drag, drop and wire together various building blocks to compose a service.

Ivory Service Architect supports deployment of mainframe-based Web services across the widest range of platforms, giving organizations broad flexibility in where they choose to house SOA-related workload. No other solution on the market today offers such a variety of options for mainframe SOA. Without requiring any changes to the service definition, Ivory Service Architect supports the deployment of mainframe-based Web services across z/VSE, z/OS, CICS/TS, CICS, IMS, Windows, Wintel, UNIX, and Linux.

Most mainframe centric organizations use batch processes as an important part of their day to day operations. A mainframe SOA vision cannot be considered complete without a strategy to integrate batch processes. Ivory Server for Batch integrates batch applications with internal or external services. With very low overhead and incredible throughput, batch applications can now be active participants in an SOA.

The standard approach for most mainframe Web services integration products is to offer the publishing of services from existing mainframe transactions or business logic but that is an incomplete SOA implementation. A SOA solution must provide integrated functionality to call any services whether they are mainframe centric, distributed within the corporate network, or external to the organization. Ivory Service Architect provides for much more than simple publishing. In Ivory, we have the concepts of External Services and Callable Services.

As your organization advances in SOA maturity, a few things become apparent. Just creating a Web service is not enough. Support for standards and XML schemas becomes more than just a nice to have – it is critical to the success of your SOA project. While Ivory offers virtually universal access to any asset on the mainframe, it also delivers cutting-edge support for XML and Web Services standards. Ivory offers robust support for virtually every industry standard schema - such as ACORD, IFX, or SWIFT.

Welcome to the new GT Software mainframe SOA BLOG!