A model to look at might be the IBM Innovation Center, Dallas. The price is higher than what I picture as your target: $550/month and up IIRC. You get two dedicated VM virtual machines: one that runs CMS and that you use as a console. You can do limited console automation with Rexx. And one on which you IPL z/OS. The z/OS -- any current version that you want -- runs from shared read-only DASD that IBM maintains: PTFs and so forth are IBM's problem. You get just about every IBM product that you could possibly want -- again, read-only DASD, with IBM doing the PTFs.
For $550 IIRC you get everything you "need." More DASD, lots and lots of CPU cycles, etc. entail an upcharge. You "own" the configuration. If you want to muck up SYS1.PARMLIB so that z/OS will not IPL, it's your gun, your bullet, your foot. I have never done it, so I don't know, but I would assume IBM has some way of getting you back running. You "own" RACF. You can have as many userid's as you care to define. If you want to experiment with permissions in any way you choose, go at it. IBM provides very limited support: (1) if you need help you can ask by e-mail: sometimes you get great help, sometimes not; (2) no PMR support. You are not a z/OS licensee and thus not entitled to PMR support. I would assume that if you had some fatal problem you could go route (1) and get IBM to address it somehow: I have no experience. It is a good option for an individual or small company just a little above your intended price point. You have to a certain extent the best of both worlds: you have a z/OS that you can do with as you wish just as if you owned the box; and you have IBM doing the z/OS PTFs and basic installs and volume backups and so forth that I at least don't care to do. You do not have to do any initial install: your z/OS will IPL on day one. It is current hardware. I believe we are currently running on a z14. There are also offerings for VM, VSE and Linux IIRC but I am not familiar with them. You cannot do "production." You can let customers on for demos, but that is it. (Speaking from memory; I am not an IBM attorney.) You have to be a "software vendor" developing a "mainframe product" but my impression is that IBM's bar is pretty low: you don't have to be BMC or CA. You might consider using that as a model. I think it is a GREAT starting point for thinking about this. You might ask yourself "how do we tune that model so that we could get the price down to $X?" ... whatever you think your $X should be. And if you wanted to involve IBM in your discussions the Dallas folks might be the right place to start. http://dtsc.dfw.ibm.com/MVSDS/'HTTPD2.ENROL.PUBLIC.SHTML(ZOSRDP)' Hopefully that link works. I am not sure PDS's make the best Web repositories. (Gasp! Mainframe heresy!) Charles -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Grant Taylor Sent: Friday, July 3, 2020 10:50 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Mainframe co-op On 7/3/20 11:13 AM, Seymour J Metz wrote: > Interesting. Some questions come to mind. Discussion is good. > Would it have to have current software to attract the open source > community? I don't think that bleeding edge is needed in any way shape or form. My personal interest would be something in the z/OS family. The bottom end of what is still supported would be a minimum desired version. But I think anything in z/OS is better than was is readily available now. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
