Mainframe Challenge, and Next Talk

Thu 18 Nov News Item

Hello, all!

We have a few announcements to make for the next few weeks.

Next Guest Lecture

A big thank you to all who turned out to Paul Yarrow's talk yesterday, and to follow this up we are pleased to announce that we have another IBM talk next week (24th November) at 6:15pm in S0.11, as usual.

The talk will be led by Gray Bachelor, a Solutions Architect, on the topic of "Systems Engineering: SMARTer products and services’’. Gray will explore the challenges, leading practices, advanced modelling and tools that support combined devices and IT back-end including cloud computing.

IBM Mainframe Competition

The IBM Mainframe Competition runs each year, and we highly recommend entering.
Registrations are open and the competition finishes at the end of December, so sign up now to have a chance at winning fabulous prizes!

"Mainframes make the world go round. Seriously, most of the biggest businesses in the world use a mainframe for their most mission-critical operations. If you've ever taken cash out of the wall, booked a flight or bought anything on the Internet, you've probably used a mainframe.

So, we are pleased to announce the IBM student mainframe challenge! You'll join a fictional company and, over three increasingly challenging stages, develop mainframe knowledge that translates into real skills for your C.V. Learn how businesses use these powerful machines.
Prove your new-found abilities, and you'll have the chance to win a t-shirt, an Amazon Kindle e-Book Reader, and the top 3 winners receive a Sony PlayStation 3 with Move motion controller or Xbox 360 with Kinect!

The winners will also have the opportunity to visit IBM's Development Laboratory at Hursley (near Winchester) and see mainframes and other innovative technologies in action.

Students from all across the world are entering national Mainframe Challenges. The 2010 Mainframe Challenge is now open for registration.