By Frances Villafuerte and Emily Alameida
In December 2024, IBM software representatives from CICS, IMS, and Db2 for z/OS teams traveled to Taiwan to meet in-person at the IBM Mainframe CICS, IMS, and Db2 Technical conference for the first time in 7 years. Experts from across the Db2 ecosystem attended to give 38 customers from 11 companies a complete picture of the new features and best practices within the Db2 ecosystem and celebrate the mainframe and its ever-increasing importance in the business world. Representatives included representatives from the UK, Singapore, Japan, and Poughkeepsie and the Silicon Valley Labs in the US.
The IBM Mainframe CICS, IMS, and Db2 Technical conference is a 2-day conference intended to give customers a face-to-face opportunity to meet with experts, hear about the exciting new features we have delivered, and discuss and exchange information regarding business and operational challenges. Customer participants from across Taiwan attended the conference to participate in workshops, presentations, and discussions about Db2, IMS, and CICS hand-in-hand collaborating in their ecosystems. Separate breakout sessions, follow-up meetings held throughout the week to provide the opportunity for more in-depth, detailed discussions. The in-person interaction emphasized the ongoing investment and commitment from the Db2 for z/OS team to continue to deliver the capability necessary to address ever-changing business needs. The benefits of attending the technical conference extended beyond interactions with IBM representatives and hearing about the new features available. The conference gave attendees a place and opportunity to meet with other users in the Db2 community. For IBM representatives, it provided the opportunity to better understand requirements stemming from this region, thereby further informing design decisions for future.
An important goal of the conference was to demonstrate the strength and vitality of the Db2 for z/OS ecosystem products and encourage the adoption of new features that provide significant benefit. As a result, many of the attendees have decided to migrate to the latest version of Db2 and begin the process of converting deprecated objects to Universal Table Space (UTS) future enhancements.
Stay tuned for announcements about future technical conferences!