Social Media Round-Up

As I took an early look at the contribution coming from former Tandem Computers colleague, Keith Dick, my attention was drawn to the topic of where we go for more information about NonStop – not just in general, but whenever we encounter situations that surprise us. Turning to our peers may not provide the answers we need nor are we always across the many online forums and chatrooms that can provide possible answers. For more on what Keith has to say, check out his article in this issue of NonStop Insider.

On the other hand, sources of information such as LinkedIn may not be the answer either as it has gradually been usurped by the marketing types to the point where conversations are little more than promos for upcoming events and just-published articles. In many instances all good information, mind you, but not really the stuff that would cause many of us to join the conversation. The problem for many of us is that with the creation of so many forums and groups, it’s getting harder to find useful information. But don’t give up just yet – as I was politely told, just recently, maybe the problem is closer to home. Maybe I need to become more involve and maybe, just maybe, I should join the conversation and post that comment!

There have been some interesting conversations started on a couple of LinkedIn groups that share a common theme – who’s going to keep supporting NonStop systems in the future? Perhaps the most interesting conversation on this topic was initiated on Tandem User Group, Should I dust off my Tandem know how? Additional comments posted included one from “the old guys league” and yet another from a contributor arguing strongly that “Tandem, now NonStop, ISN’T a dead platform” (my paraphrasing)! Of late this conversation has drifted into much-covered topic, “Just how many NonStop systems are out there today?” And, if you want to know more about what is being addressed on the topic of supporting NonStop systems, you may want to join this conversation.

Complementing this conversation is another posted to the LinkedIn group, TCM NonStop Experts – HPE NonStop / Tandem Services and Solutions. It was really simply a request to folks who may yet want to work on COBOL – Looking for a Cobol Developer …know of any available? I was curious to know more about the outcome to this post but as it so happened, the news channel, CNBC, posted its own story, albeit focused on IBM mainframes and the banking marketplace, that I find appropriate for our own NonStop community – Banks scramble to fix old systems as IT ‘cowboys’ ride into sunset. As for the storyline, this should get a few hearts pumping faster:

In the United States, the financial sector, major corporations, and parts of the federal government still largely rely on it because it underpins powerful systems that were built in the 70s or 80s and never fully replaced.

And here lies the problem: if something goes wrong, few people know how to fix it.

The stakes are especially high for the financial industry, where an estimated $3 trillion in daily commerce flows through COBOL systems. The language underpins deposit accounts, check-clearing services, card networks, ATMs, mortgage servicing, loan ledgers and other services.

Sound familiar?

Comments still continue to be posted to a conversation already referenced in previous social-media Round-Up posts. If you are a member (or planning on joining – there are now more than 650 members and counting) the LinkedIn group, Fools for NonStop then check out the latest comments to NonStop “young guns” And just started, you may want to take a look at the new conversation, To V or not to V! , where the topic of who exactly will be using Virtualized NonStop (VNS) may prove too tempting to ignore for some.

These aren’t the only discussions to be found where fresh comments have been added over the past month. There are many NonStop community blogs that continue to be active just as HPE continues to build a bigger social media presence – how many of us belong to the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Community and follow / read posts to this blogs? May be worth checking out – recently, our very own Randy Meyer blogged about a new Linux server offering, for instance. For the NonStop community there are many places to go to find out more about NonStop products but it does take an investment in time, but as someone who has built his career around a social media presence, I can assure you it’s well worth finding the time to pursue!

Cheers,

Richard