16. April 2008 by Dr. Steve.

The week of April 6th I was on a business trip to Europe. During the trip I visited 6 large financial clients in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Scotland. I always enjoy trips that allow me to visit multiple countries during one single visit. It is always very interesting to compare how different mainframe end users in different countries do things. Although, such trips are quite hectic. One night you’re in Brussels, the next night you’re on a train bound for Amsterdam, or a flight for Edinburgh.

Speaking of Edinburgh, I had the opportunity to visit one of my favorite Chinese restaurants on this trip. I dined with my colleague Ian Sagan at the Golden Dragon (21 Castle St. Edinburgh, Scotland).  On Sunday April 6th I had the opportunity to walk around Brussels and take in some of the beautiful sights, such as St. Michael’s cathedral in the photo.

 St Michaels Cathedral Brussels Belgium

While I was walking around through the Brussles crowds I started thinking about how all the people milling around, walking orderly down the crowded streets reminded me of the concept of a FICON open exchange. Particularly when we had large crowds of people queued up in line at crosswalks trying to cross the streets.

Quite frankly I am perplexed, but not by the concept itself. I am perplexed as to why IBM has created little to no documentation on this subject. Open exchange saturation seems to be occurring more frequently, and I suspect that with the z10, we may see more of these situations in the near future.

The 6 large financial clients did have one thing in common: a desire for better such documentation, or at least some documentation on this subject.  What say you???

Dr. Steve

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1. April 2008 by Dr. Steve.

Just got back from a very enjoyable family vacation in Orlando last week. My kids were on spring break from their respective school. Mrs. Guendert, the kids and I went to Disney World in Orlando, FL. While there we went to the Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, and the Animal Kingdom. We had a lot of fun!

And to prove that it truly is a Small World After All. we had the good fortune of being there the same week a good friend of mine was there with his family. Chris Hardy is one of the best sales executives we have at Brocade and he happened to be vacationing in Orlando with his family last week. The Hardy’s had a lot farther to travel: Chris is from Manchester in the U.K. I’ve been to the U.K. several times in the past few years, often to visit with some of Chris’ customers. It was great for my family to get to meet a good friend of mine, and likewise, it was great getting to meet Chris’ wonderful family.

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