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Client Communications Newsletter - October 2023

  

Don't let IT Infrastructure be your haunted house this spooky season! Scalability, security, and performance monitoring are your ghostly guides. Keep the tech cauldron bubbling for a seamless holiday experience! 


Announcements

IBM Z Day

18 October 2023 | 8:00 AM–5:00 PM EST | Virtual IBM Z Day is a free 1-day enterprise computing virtual conference for anyone and everyone! Hear the latest about IBM Z and LinuxONE and join our lineup of global thought leaders who will highlight industry trends and innovation spanning Hybrid Cloud, AI, Quantum-safe Security and more.

IBM Z Redbook

Check out the updated IBM POV: Accelerate Mainframe Application Modernization with Hybrid Cloud

LinuxONE Cost Savings Estimator Tool

How much less power could you consume and how much money could you save? 

Check out the updated LinuxONE Cost Savings Estimator Tool to examine how to:

  • Determine CO2e emission differences between x86 and IBM LinuxONE and Linux on Z running similar workloads
  • Consolidate per core licenses to drive TCO savings
  • Reduce IT costs by running enterprise software on IBM LinuxONE and Linux on Z

Upcoming Events

  • October 10 | Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Z and LinuxONE Wildfire Workshop | Virtual | LINK
  • October 10-13 | WW IBM Z Security Conference | Amsterdam, NL | LINK
  • October 12 | IBM Z Customer Council | Wisconsin | LINK
  • October 18 | IBM Z Day | Virtual Conference | LINK
  • October 19 | Unlocking Cybersecurity’s Future on IBM LinuxONE and z16 | Virtual | LINK
  • October 19 | IBM Z Customer Council | NYC | LINK
  • October 25 | Modernizing Your IT Infrastructure with Red Hat & IBM LinuxONE/Linux on Z | Dallas, TX | LINK
  • November 2 | DevOps on IBM Z Hands-On Workshop | NYC | LINK
  • November 8 | DevOps on IBM Z Hands-On Workshop | Raleigh, NC | LINK
  • November 15 | DevOps on IBM Z Hands-On Workshop | Chicago, IL | LINK
  • November 16 | Accelerate Digital Transformation with MongoDB and IBM LinuxONE | Virtual | LINK

Tech Corner

Written by Greg Camarillo

As IT infrastructure leaders prepare for the enrollment and holiday season, there are several key considerations:

 

1. Scalability: Ensure that your infrastructure can handle increased traffic and load during peak seasons. Implement auto-scaling and load balancing to accommodate fluctuations in demand.   Did you know that the z/OS AI Framework (i.e. AI powered Workload Management) is introduced in z/OS 3.1 as a foundation to infuse AI into z/OS?

 

2. Security: Strengthen your cybersecurity measures to protect sensitive customer data and prevent potential cyberattacks, as holiday seasons often attract malicious actors. For more information about IBM Z security, visit IBM security solutions on the web: https://www.ibm.com/z/security

 

3. Performance Monitoring: Continuously monitor the performance of your systems to identify and address any bottlenecks or issues promptly.  Join us at the IBM Z Customer Council on October 19 to learn more on “Integrating IBM Z AIOps with Instana, Ansible Automation, and Watson AIOps”

 

4. Disaster Recovery: Have a robust disaster recovery plan in place to minimize downtime in case of system failures or unexpected events.  Learn more on achieving up to eight-nines availability.

 

5. Customer Experience: Focus on enhancing the customer experience by optimizing website and application performance, ensuring quick load times, and providing seamless user interactions.

 

6. Customer Support: Prepare your customer support team for increased inquiries and issues during the holiday rush, and consider implementing chatbots or AI-driven customer support to assist.  Did you know clients can now escalate their own support cases online instead of calling 1-800 and asking for Duty Manager? Browse through the Customer Support Plan (CSP) to refresh your knowledge of IBM Support.

 

7. Compliance: Ensure that your IT infrastructure complies with relevant data protection and privacy regulations, especially if you handle personal or financial information.  Hot off the press, IBM Z Security and Compliance Center 1.2.0 and IBM LinuxONE Security and Compliance Center 1.2.0 are now GA!

 

8. Communication: Establish clear lines of communication within your IT team and with other departments to address any emerging issues swiftly.  Check out why you need ChatOps.

9. Testing: Rigorously test your systems, including load testing and security testing, to identify and rectify potential weaknesses before they become problems. As part of a Resiliency Strategy, you can perform load and stress testing (zBuRST) at scale to ensure maximum quality of service and business resiliency while minimizing cost and complexity.

10. Cloud Readiness: If you rely on cloud services, review your cloud infrastructure's capacity and costs to accommodate increased usage and adjust as needed. 

 

11. Backup and Redundancy: Maintain reliable backup systems and redundancy to minimize downtime and data loss in case of failures.  Learn why you can have both with IBM Z.

 

12. Training: Ensure that your IT team is well-trained and prepared to handle increased workloads and potential challenges during the holiday season. An option to consider is creating or updating your runbook(s).  Try IBM Runbook Automation as part of Red Hat Ansible.

By addressing these considerations, IT infrastructure leaders can help their organizations navigate the enrollment and holiday season successfully while delivering a seamless experience to customers.