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Reg Harbeck

Contributor

Reg Harbeck is a mainframe enthusiast who has been working in IT and mainframes for over three decades. During that time, he has worked with operating systems, networks, computing security, middleware, applications and platforms ranging from Apple ][+ and MS-DOS PCs to leading edge IBM Z Mainframes. Reg has written, presented and consulted on mainframe-related matters around the world, visiting every continent but Antarctica (so far…), and is very involved in the mainframe culture and ecosystem, especially including SHARE and numerous articles and podcasts about the mainframe (such as zTalk). Reg is the chief strategist at Mainframe Analytics ltd.

A note from Reg:

“Two of my favorite things to do are reading and being with my kids—so I especially love reading to them. I read the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy among many other things to my two oldest kids as they grew up, and I now have a grandson and son who are both under five years old, to whom I can start reading more and more complex literature as they grow up. That truly makes me happy.”

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Podcasts

Glenn Hanna on Linux Workloads on the Mainframe

Reg Harbeck

January 12, 2024

This transcript is edited for clarity. Reg Harbeck: Hi, I’m Reg Harbeck and today I’m here with my friend and colleague Glenn Hanna, who is the director of software engineering at PKWARE and happens to also own his own Rhode Island-based navy. I’m sure that will come up in our conversation. Welcome, Glenn. Glenn Hanna: […]

Podcasts

On the Mainframe and a Changing, Challenging IT World

Reg Harbeck

November 17, 2023

This transcript is edited for clarity and contains adult language.   Reg Harbeck: Hi, I’m Reg Harbeck and today I’m here with Joe Winchester, who is an IBM mainframer with quite the personality, as you will hear over the coming minutes. He’s based near Hursley, I guess actually. Somewhere between London and Hursley. Well Joe, […]

Podcasts

The Balancing Act Between Security and Maintenance

Reg Harbeck

November 10, 2023

This transcript is edited for clarity. Reg Harbeck: Hi. I’m Reg Harbeck and today I am here with Milt Rosberg, who is the global VP at Vanguard Integrity Professionals, and we’re here to talk about patch management. Now Milt and I are both mainframers by background, so we have a particular experience with what the […]

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Articles

Continuity and the Mainframe Ecosystem

Reg Harbeck

November 1, 2023

I was just chatting with a colleague from a small mainframe software startup, and we were brainstorming about how to get organizations that have mainframes to wake up and invest in the future of the platform. During our conversation, I mentioned the “Mainframe Continuity Planning” white paper I’d written in 2004 about the need to […]

Articles

POSIX-tivity and IBM Z

Reg Harbeck

August 17, 2023

“Standard,” according to en.wiktionary.org, can be used as a noun that means, “Something used as a measure for comparative evaluations; a model.” The history of standards is a deeply interwoven thread through the history of humanity. But the emergence of computing and IT over the past century has been a somewhat special yarn. On one […]

Podcasts

Putting a Plan in Place for Cyber Resiliency

Reg Harbeck

July 25, 2023

This transcript is edited for clarity.   Reg Harbeck: Hi, I’m Reg Harbeck and today I’m here with Milt Rosberg, who is the global VP of worldwide sales, marketing, and business development at Vanguard Integrity Professionals and deeply rooted in the security industry since 1999 with also risk management at IBM. Milton Rosberg has worked […]

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Vanguard Integrity Professionals

Articles

Fake It After You Make It: Emulation and the Mainframe

Reg Harbeck

May 25, 2023

I get a kick out of how many technical terms and concepts predate electronic computing and have become so pervasive in their IT usage that we’ve often forgotten about their analog origins and meanings. The most obvious of these is probably “computer.” Another one of those terms is “emulate.” Although it might seem a bit […]

Podcasts

Kai Stroh on Db2: A Not So Simple Relational Database

Reg Harbeck

May 24, 2023

This transcript is edited for clarity.   Reg Harbeck: Hi, I'm Reg Harbeck and today I'm here with Kai Stroh, who is the head of mainframe development at UBS Hainer. Welcome. Kai, tell us how did you end up on the mainframe?   Kai Stroh: Hey Reg, thanks for having me. How did I end […]

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Podcasts

Eddy Ciliendo on Object Storage and the Mainframe

Reg Harbeck

March 30, 2023

Reg Harbeck: Hi, I’m Reg Harbeck and today I am here with Eddy Ciliendo, who is the chief strategy officer at Model9. Welcome, Eddy. Eddy Ciliendo: Hey Reg, glad to be here.   Reg: So I’d like to start by just kind of getting a sense—you’ve got a really interesting background that involves a lot […]

Articles

Feet of Iron, Heads of Clay: The Counterintuitive Persistence of Legacy Technology

Reg Harbeck

March 3, 2023

COBOL and the IBM mainframe are nerds. I’ll explain shortly, but first… The term “feet of clay” has become a common part of our language, referring to leaders, organizations and initiatives that have unreliable foundational traits despite the best and most visionary of intentions. Of course, the subtle implications often include that those very attractive […]