Mark Cathcart, Technical Staff Member and Software Strategist, IBM EMEA

Biography

Mark Cathcart is Principal Consultant to IBM System/390 Division in Europe, Middle East and Africa for new software technology and software strategy. His current assignment is Object oriented and Component based software and software development including Java, Enterprise Java and Component Broker and XML. Other areas he is responsible for include e-business and the Internet, Client/Server, and Open Systems. Mark is a "certified" Consultant IT Specialist and a member of the IBM S/390 Software Design Council. This year he was elected to the position of Technical Staff Member in the IBM UK Technical Consultancy Group. Mark is a Knight of the order of VM and joined IBM Systems Engineering in 1987 to become a 'Poacher turned Game-keeper' after spending 13 years as an IBM customer. This included four years with responsibility for the VM systems at a leading New York bank. He likes to play "devils advocate" at IBM and have a unique insider's perspective.

Abstract

Talk 1: Strategy Overview

Java for OS/390 Strategy and Implementation Mark will describe the implementation and strategy for Java on IBMs OS/390 Enterprise Server operating systems a.k.a the mainframe. He will discuss the use of the UNIX services for implementation, give an outline of development scenarios and then go on to discuss the strategy for future enhancements including the delivery of a highly scaleable JVM and Enterprise Java Beans.

Talk 2: Technical

Using Java for OS/390 with existing applications and data

This session will review the options for connecting and using Java for OS/390 with existing applications and data in mainframe subsystems such as CICS, IMS, DB2, and data in flat(sequential) files as well as VSAM. Mark will give an overview how the various connectors, gateways and beans work and if possible Mark will then go on to review the function and performance of the newly released and optimised Common Connector Framework for OS/390. This session will include a brief review of technologies such as the CICS Transaction Gateway, Net.Data Servlets, as well as JDBC, JSQL for DB2. Finally, Mark will discuss using Java as a programming language for existing application and data in place of traditional languages such as COBOL, PL/I etc.