Member Spotlight

JUDE RICARD
Manager Infrastructure/Systems Administrator

Company—
Yum Brands

Years in IT—
30

My first mainframe job—
It was with a large defense contractor running a JES3/MVS multi-system shared resource complex. Back then, the mainframe ran everything from administrative applications to assembly lines to graphic design. It was great learning environment, and I worked in many areas such as MVS and program products installation, system configuration, security, assembler system exits and user modifications, dump diagnostics, disaster recovery and hardware installation/configuration.

Little did I know at the time this type of configuration was a basis for Sysplex which prepared me for future opportunities. Although I later moved on and learned additional product areas such as DB2, JES2, WLM, PR/SM, HCD, Linux, TCPIP, VTAM and many others, I felt my first job was the one I acquired the most skills, techniques and methodologies I still use today.

My favorite mainframe attribute—
IBM System z is still a cost-effective, highly functional, soundly secure and resilient platform offering. The z/OS operating system is the heart of System z; however, Linux on System z along with z/VM is a solid choice and offers many competitive advantages over other distributed platforms. Going forward, new versions of z/OS, DB2, zEnterprise processors and hybrid offerings such as the zEnterprise BladeCenter Extension (zBX) and IBM DB2 Analytics Accellerator (IDAA) demonstrate the System z platform is still a solid choice for many enterprises.

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