PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT: tcACCESS

Transparent integration of mainframe data sources and mainframe programs into LUW applications

tcACCESS is a comprehensive software solution that enables two-way integration between IBM mainframe systems and client/server, Web and SOA technologies — without the need for mainframe knowledge or programming effort. tcACCESS is a proven platform that facilitates SQL-based integration of mainframe data sources and programs into LUW applications using industry standards such as SQL, ODBC, JDBC, and .NET. SQL queries to access mainframe data can be easily created using drag and drop techniques — no programming required. Read More

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Treehouse Participates in CA IDMS and CA Datacom Technical Conferences

By Wayne Lashley, Chief Business Development Officer for Treehouse Software

Recently I, and others from Treehouse, had the pleasure of attending the CA IDMS Technical Conference in Framingham, MA, as well as the CA Datacom Technical Conference in Plano, TX. Both of these were free events organized by the IUA and CADRE (the IDMS and Datacom user associations), with event hosting and assistance provided by CA Technologies, to provide customers with an opportunity for training, product briefings and technical discussions with product management, product development and with other customers.

I have to commend the IUA, CADRE and CA for their initiative and efforts in putting on these events. With the changes made to the content and focus of CA World in 2014, IDMS and Datacom customers had limited opportunities to learn about product roadmaps and to interact with product representatives. The technical conferences were well-organized, offered excellent technical content—including a full day of condensed product training for both novices and advanced technicians—and even included some social time.

Above: CA Datacom Event

In representing a vendor to these CA customer groups—we have a number of Datacom and IDMS customers using tcACCESS and tcVISION—, I was especially appreciative of the opportunity to get more involved in the community and to have our own technical people benefit from the training and interaction.

I was impressed with the level and quality of resourcing that CA is putting into its development and support teams. Both product groups have adopted Agile methodology for delivering, in a timely way, product capabilities and features that customers “want and will use”. Furthermore, with emerging functionality in IDMS (DB), IDMS/DC, ADS, Datacom and Ideal, there was ample demonstration that CA is embracing modern standards and trends such as SQL, Web services and Big Data.

Above: CA IDMS Event

Readers from IDMS and Datacom shops that were unaware of, or unable to attend, the technical conferences should note that the success demonstrated by the recent events is likely to result in similar technical conferences being scheduled for the future. I encourage you to take advantage of them!

Treehouse Software – Your Mainframe / LUW Data Integration Partner

To learn more about tcACCESS and tcVISION, or to request a demonstration, Contact Treehouse Software today.

tcVISION TREETIP: Navigating The Repository Editor

When modeling and mapping a new metadata structure, tcVISION’s powerful Repository Editor is used to define and modify Input and Output Objects. The rich features within the Editor allow users to:

• import new objects
• copy or create new objects
• import metadata for input and/or output objects
• define target DBMSs
• specify input and/or output objects for import
• define DMBS-specific options
• define target object names
• replace/supersede existing object metadata

To assist new and even experienced tcVISION users, we’ve put together the following screen shots to give a quick overview of the Repository Editor’s functionality buttons / icons used for setting up modeling and mapping of sources and targets.

Here is an example of what the tcVISION Repository Editor looks like:

Repository Editor icon definitions: Input objects

Repository Editor icon definitions: Output objects

Repository editor right click menu options

Repository editor extended output target options

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Enterprise ETL and Real-Time Data Replication Through Change Data Capture

tcVISION provides real-time data replication through change data capture, and allows easy and fast data migration for mainframe application modernization projects. Enterprises looking for a product that enables bi-directional heterogeneous data replication between mainframe, Linux, Unix, and Windows platforms need look no further than to tcVISION from Treehouse Software.

To learn more about tcVISION, or to request a demonstration, contact Treehouse Software today.

Modern Approach to Migration of Disparate Enterprise Data

by Joseph Brady, Marketing and Documentation Manager for Treehouse Software

I came across an article recently in the Data Migration Pro Journal, “Is it R.I.P for the Big-Bang Data Migration?” Given this site’s deep dive into data migration matters, I was intrigued with not only the title, but its resounding message being so closely connected to what Treehouse Software has been preaching for years: The traditional strategy of parallel migration between the host and the target may be failsafe (you can always go back to the original system) but with the vast amounts of data that are usually involved and myriad complications that can potentially delay or completely disrupt the operation, the endeavor usually risks a failed migration project.

Since the mid-1990s, Treehouse has dominated the ADABAS-to-RDBMS data migration and integration market, with its proven and powerful ETL, CDC, and real-time replication solutions. More recently, the addition of expanded capabilities enables migration and integration of virtually any mainframe database or data source. In short, we can connect your enterprise—from anything to anything.

The combined power of our technology resources and know-how reduces cost and mitigates risk in mainframe IT project initiatives, where data migration and integration complexity is often underestimated, yet critical to success.

Efficient, standards-based, and automated approaches such as those provided by Treehouse’s products can be implemented in a fraction of the time of, and much more cost-effectively and reliably than, manual efforts. Treehouse Software’s data migration, replication and integration solutions are intended for customers needing to access, integrate, replicate, and migrate data from Software AG’s ADABAS and other mainframe data sources. Such data sources often require migration or replication to relational database systems such as Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, IBM’s DB2, Teradata, and Sybase.

To extend its reach to mainframe data sources such as VSAM, IMS, CA-IDMS, CA-Datacom, DL/I, DB2, and even sequential files, Treehouse teams with B.O.S. Software Service und Vertrieb GmbH of Haar, Germany, to distribute and support B.O.S.’s tcVISION and tcACCESS, mainframe data replication and data access products. These offerings provide the ability to deliver anywhere-to-anywhere data replication and integration, as well as direct SQL-based access to non-relational mainframe data structures.

tcACCESS is a comprehensive software solution that enables two-way integration between IBM mainframe systems and client/server, Web and SOA technologies–without the need for mainframe knowledge or programming effort. tcACCESS is a proven platform that facilitates SQL-based integration of mainframe data sources and programs into open-systems and Windows applications using industry standards such as SQL, ODBC, JDBC, and .NET. SQL queries that access mainframe data can be easily created using drag and drop techniques—no programming required. The results of queries can be immediately presented and viewed (i.e., in Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, etc.). Direct ODBC or JDBC access to mainframe data from any client/server or Web application can be easily implemented; it is necessary only to assign the tcACCESS driver to the application.

The tcVISION solution focuses on CDC when transferring information between mainframe data sources and Windows or open-systems databases and applications. Through an innovative technology, changes occurring in any mainframe application data are tracked and captured, and then published to a variety of RDBMSs and other targets. tcVISION’s capture facilities detect changes in mainframe data sources without programming effort, and reduce the amount of data that must be transferred between systems to an absolute minimum. tcVISION guarantees transparent, efficient and auditable data transfer between sources and targets, and provides powerful routines to perform efficient, reliable bulk transfers of data with great success.

Treehouse can help your organization with tools and expertise for the riskiest and most-often overlooked parts of mainframe modernization and integration projects—the data migration and integration. Leveraging our products and services will eliminate reliance on your programming staff to write and maintain data extracts and middleware and enable deployment of powerful, robust and secure data migration and replication implementations.

Read our case studies and let us know how we can help you make your next migration project a sure-fire success.

Are You a Data Hoarder?

by Joseph Brady, Marketing and Documentation Manager for Treehouse Software

I moved recently. I’ve heard it said that moving is one of life’s most stressful experiences…right up there with death. I would have to agree.

At some point during the process of evaluating every item I owned to determine whether to keep, toss or donate, it occurred to me that I could be the next star of The Hoarders reality show. It hit me especially hard when we unearthed the boxes that were tucked away under the staircase storage space that contained documents (or other essentials like my son’s artwork from kindergarten) that I hadn’t unpacked — let alone touched — since my last move over seven years ago. Over the years, I had accumulated a houseful of stuff — all of which at some point in time had been essential.

It took weeks to accomplish packing it all. Each item that I was going to move to the new place had to be carefully wrapped, boxed, and labeled, minimizing any breakage or losses and the amount of time the movers would have to spend on the other side. Not only would this potentially save us hundreds of dollars, but would expedite the unpacking and ensure my stuff in the new digs would be well organized and clutter-free. Looking back, this was time well spent.

So what does this have to do with your data?

Just as stuff inside a home can be hoarded, so can data! One of the long-running complaints about corporate IT is how data gets “siloed”, which constrains organizations in acting across internal boundaries. Enterprises generate huge amounts of structured and unstructured data stored in various data repositories across the organization and in production systems. There are many reasons behind data hoarding, but if you have a data archiving strategy, you can ensure that inactive data — especially that which may be inside legacy systems applications  — is stored, managed, secured or destroyed and that the data you keep can be accessed for any reason at any time.

For the purposes of this article, let’s talk about inactive data that is rarely or lightly used (or may not be used at all except on occasion when someone needs to look something up). While there may be myriad methods to access this data, including writing customized SQL queries, these may vary greatly in quality and sharability and you may need training to support them. Maintaining a mixed bag of individually knocked out SQL queries may prove to be a headache. What is needed is an agile, simple solution.

Introducing DataNovata.

DataNovata is a Rapid Application Development tool that instantly generates a secure, read-only, web-based application to query and navigate any database in any conceivable way. Simple focused and cost-effective tool, DataNovata is a perfect way to get a standard architecture in place as applications are being retired or decommissioned while the data still needs to be available for various purposes—regulatory/statutory, audit, historical analysis, etc.

The feature-rich, web-enabled applications generated by DataNovata are suitable for end users and give them powerful data interrogation facilities to facilitate finding the information they need quickly—with minimal training and technical expertise required. Organizations are realizing enormous cost savings by leveraging the power of DataNovata.

DataNovata is used for a variety of purposes such as:

• Application Retirement: DataNovata can replace the enquiry facilities of an application should it need to be decommissioned or retired, e.g. superfluous to requirements, no longer supported, expensive to run, obsolete platform.
• Archived Data Management: DataNovata can provide instant access to all your archived data, reducing the costs of supporting old and expensive platforms.
• Enhance Access to Mainframe Data: Using the complementary product tcACCESS, DataNovata can be used to give access to data held in a variety of mainframe data sources including DB2, IMS/DB, CA-IDMS, CA-Datacom, VSAM and ADABAS.
• Satisfy Legal Requirements: DataNovata can satisfy statutory legal requirements with regard to data retention and provide an automated deletion process for purging end-of-life data.
• Platform and Application Rationalization: DataNovata can assist in streamlining your IT infrastructure.
• Applications Portfolio Management: DataNovata provides a solution to the application redundancy and upgrade issues created by mergers and acquisitions, eliminating the associated licensing, maintenance and hardware costs.
• Information Lifecycle Management: DataNovata can be central to your Information Lifecycle Management policy, responding to requests, retrieving data, providing access to authorized users and handling infrequently accessed information.
• Forensic Analysis: DataNovata can become a powerful forensic tool for the detection of fraud, as the generated application follows the relationships within the data not necessarily used by the original application.
• Analytical Databases: DataNovata provides the perfect user interface for analytical databases containing petabytes of data, even where there are no relationships defined in the database.
• Application Renovation: DataNovata can renovate the user interface of an aging application with a modern, intuitive and feature-rich front-end, leaving any off-line processing unaffected.
• Testing Facility: DataNovata can be an invaluable testing facility for application development or maintenance, where an independent but structured view of the data would be useful for verifying database operations.

Because of its universal use, DataNovata does not sit in any specific vertical market niche. However, its ability to provide users access to legacy data makes it well-suited for use by the financial, pensions, banking and insurance industries.

Now, if there were only something as easy as DataNovata that would help me unpack those last miscellaneous boxes, I could have my housewarming party.