IBM has announced a partnership with Syracuse University to help prepare a new generation of workers who are proficient in mainframe technologies.
ORLANDO, Fla. IBM (NYSE: IBM) continues to find ways to keep the mainframe
relevant, this time the systems giant has announced a partnership with Syracuse
University to help college students build smarter computing skills to manage
both traditional and new systems in large global enterprises.
IBM announced its partnership with
the university at the IBM Innovate 2012 conference here.
IBM has championed the mainframe for
decades and continues to tweak its mainframe offerings to deliver new
functionality to keep the systems in command of new workloads and new
challenges enterprises face today. For instance, IBM delivered the zEnterprise
system, which is an integrated environment that can effectively consolidate
islands of computing, reducing complexity, improving reliability and
performance.
The zEnterprise extends the
strengths and capabilities of the mainframesuch as security, fault tolerance,
efficiency, virtualization and dynamic resource allocationto other systems and
workloads running on AIX on Power7, Linux on System x and Microsoft Windows.
IBM said more than 120 new clients worldwide that have chosen the IBM mainframe
platform as a backbone of their IT infrastructure since the IBM zEnterprise
system was introduced in July 2010. The zEnterprise is a
workload-optimized, multi-architecture system capable of hosting many workloads
integrated together, and efficiently managed as a single entity.
IBM also said as business value creation
increasingly shifts to software, the software skills needed to tackle
disruptive technologies like cloud and mobile, particularly for
enterprise-class, large industrial systems, have become critical. Lack of
employee skills in software technologies is cited as the top barrier preventing
organizations from leveraging software for a competitive advantage, according
to initial findings in IBMs "Institute for Business Value 2012 Global
Study on Software Delivery".
Syracuse Universitys Global
Enterprise Technology (GET) curriculum is an interdisciplinary program focused
on preparing students for successful careers in large-scale, technology-driven
global operating environments. A consortium of technology partners,
including IBM, provides technology platforms and multiple systems experience
for the GET students. IBMs Rational Developer for System z (RDz) and z
Enterprise Systems help students build applications on multiple systems
platforms, including z/OS, AIX, Linux and Windows.
Our students need to build relevant
skills to address the sheer growth of computing and big data, said David
Dischiave, assistant professor and the director of the graduate Information
Management Program in the School of Information Studies (iSchool) at Syracuse
University, in a statement. These courses and the IBM
technology platform help prepare students to build large global data centers,
allow them to work across multiple systems, and ultimately gain employment in
large global enterprises.
This is part of our ongoing effort
to build ecosystems around the mainframe, said Charles Chu, director of
product management and strategy at IBM Rational. Were funding access to
software, hardware and more for the University of Syracuse, and were adding
the mainframe to our toolset.
Nearly 500 students have
participated in the Global Enterprise Technology minor since its inception, IBM
said. Syracuse Universitys iSchool is the No. 1 school for information systems study, as ranked by
U.S. News and World Report, and serves as a model for other iSchools that
are continuing to emerge around the globe, IBM added.
According to IBM's 2012 Global CEO
Study, including input from more than 1,700 CEOs from 64 countries and 18
industries worldwide, a majority (71 percent) of global CEOs regard technology
as the No. 1 factor to impact an organizations future over the next three
years considered to be an even bigger change agent than shifting economic and
market conditions.
Syracuse University is a participant
in IBMs Academic Initiative and was a top-ranked
competitor in IBMs 2011 Master the Mainframe
competition. As today's mainframes grow in popularity and require a new
generation of mainframe experts, the contest is designed to equip students with
basic skills to make them more competitive in the enterprise computing industry
job market. IBM's Academic Initiative offers a wide range of technology
education benefits to meet the goals of colleges and universities. Over 6,000
universities and 30,000 faculty members worldwide have joined IBMs Academic
Initiative over the past five years. Since 2003, through its University
Relations and Academic Initiative, more than 1.5 million students across 125
universities have been trained on IBM and open-source technologies.
Darryl K. Taft covers the development tools and developer-related issues beat from his office in Baltimore. He has more than 10 years of experience in the business and is always looking for the next scoop. Taft is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and was named 'one of the most active middleware reporters in the world' by The Middleware Co. He also has his own card in the 'Who's Who in Enterprise Java' deck.
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