Newsletter - June 1998
Serving the community of IBM Midrange users.
Membership: $100.00.
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President's Message from Don RimaEat your heart out, Rand McNally!As you may know, I've been in "house hunting mode" for several months now with my parents moving up to Virginia. My guess is that you may have been through such an experience, yourself, at one time or another. So, when one asks, "What is it, and how do I get there?", you know viscerally what I am referring to. You don't need a road map. If only upgrades were the same. One of the many struggles we have in this industry is staying current in many areas. One of these areas is keeping current in our operating system release. Those of us who are senior citizens in the industry recall briefing sessions on how to perform the migration to the current system from a previous release. We've brought that goodness back! We've asked Ovid Williams from the IBM Technical Support Division to give us a how-to on the migration path from most RISC releases to V4R2. Also, following his presentation, some of our own membership from United Payers And Providers will field questions and offer pointers from their recent and successful upgrade to V4R2. So, plan now for an info filled evening of news and tips that you can use to get the new features and functionality of V4R2 loaded and running on your RISC box. A very special thanks goes to Roland Mitchell for his embedded SQL presentation last month. His presentation and handout of examples was top drawer and a very good addition to one's programming toolkit. A special welcome to our new and renewing members Marv Levitov, Leo van Dooren, John Arnold, Art Heine, and Terrance Knecht. We interrupt this newsletter for a very special announcement ... Welcome ! to our newest WAM member, Stephen Nelson Johnson, born May 23rd at 8 lbs 4ozs, 21.75 ins ... Pam, Stephen, and Nelson are doing well. Congratulations ! Year 2000! Its not too late! (almost)Next month, for the July meeting, we are pleased to bring direct form the IBM Toronto AS/400 Labs David Slater. David is worldwide Campaign Manager for AS/400 Application Development Products. He is responsible for the AS/400 Year 2000 presentations/campaigns in the US, Europe, Latin America, and Asia/Pacific. David will give us some tips and tools for Y2k. No matter what your current Y2k status THIS IS A MUST SEE! This is a TECHNICAL PRESENTATION. I've already seen the handouts. They're good! We'd like to suggest that you bring as many from your shop as you can for this special event... and they don't all have to be MIS staff. In fact, we feel this is so important, we will pay for every CFO, CEO or President that comes as a member's guest. We must insist that you RSVP by Friday, June 12th to take advantage of this offer (no exceptions!). This will allow Peter to make sure that there is plenty of Great Eats. This brings up a point: Every month Peter Maher makes all the arrangements for our meetings. I think we all agree that he has done a superb job for the past three years. I would like to make a personal request to you, our membership, Please, Please, Please RSVP by 4:00 p.m. on the Friday before the meeting. This will allow us to more accurately plan for the meeting not only with regard to food but also items such as handouts, seating, etc. Thank you!We're always looking for ideas for speakers. So, if there is a speaker that you've heard and think would do a good presentation for WAM please let us know. Also, if you feel you'd like to personally give a presentation, we'd like to hear from you also! Additionally, if you have a great idea, a tip or trick, that you can write up we will make sure that it is published on the web at http://www.wash-midrange.org and in our monthly newsletter. The JAM grid is complete. It's the best I've ever seen! Check it out on the home page and I think you'll agree with me that the JAM in College Park is where you should be on December 4. Looking forward to seeing you all at the June meeting. -Don This Month's MeetingOS/400 V4 R2 Upgrade with Ovid Williams June 16, 1998The Upgrade Process to V4R2 ... ... In our June meeting, Ovid Williams, IBM's Systems Support Manager for the Mid-Atlantic region will be giving us the step-by-step 'how to' of migrating from our current release. His presentation will also touch on the latest 'gotchas!' and most current PTFs that need to be loaded and applied to make your move to 4.2 a successful and smooth one. Following Ovid's presentation our fellow members from United Payors and Providers will review their successful migration to 4.2 ... along with the surprises that they encountered ... and the things that made their upgrade process work. Tuesday - June 16, 1998 - 18:00
Holiday Inn
(Parking is FREE !) Board Meeting Immediately After ! 18:00 Buffet - - 19:00 Speaker - - 20:30 Adjournment It's Fiesta Time this month! Join us for our Mexican Buffet with make-your-own tacos, burritos, or even taco salad. RSVP (by Friday 06/12) to Peter 703/834-3706 or 1stplace@crosslink.net $25.00/non-member IBM Provides Y2K Readiness DatabaseIBM has created a handy Web site that lets you query a database to find out the Y2K readiness status of all of IBM's products -- hardware and software. You can browse through categories or search for specific products. Once you find what you're looking for, you can request that IBM email you a more detailed report, which is sent almost instantly. The site works best with a Java-capable browser and is located at
Sponsor New WAM Members - - Win $100 Gift CertificateFor each new member you sponsor to join WAM for the 1998 dues year, your name will be placed in the prize box making you eligible for a $100 gift certificate. The more new members you sponsor, the more chances you have to win ! The drawing for the $100 gift certificate will be held at this year's JAM conference on Friday, December 4.To qualify for the drawing, please ensure that you let John Rodrigues know the name and telephone number of each new WAM member that you have sponsored. John can be reached at 703/519-1569 or at majobo@aol.com. (This promotion is effective April 1, 1998.) This great idea was developed by John Rodrigues as a means of delivering more value to our members. Thanks John! U P C O M I N G E V E N T S
Treasurer's Message1998 membership duesIf you have already renewed your membership for 1998 you may skip this message. However, if you have not renewed so far, I urge you to renew immediately and certainly before July 31, 1998. Our membership is on a calendar year basis and as such, all 1997 memberships expired on 12/31/97. As a paid member for 1998, you will be able to attend JAM'98 at the member price - a saving of $45. You will be able to get this member price for yourself as well as for any one else in your organization who will be attending JAM alongwith you. So the benefit of membership may be substantial for this reason alone. However, to qualify for member rates for JAM'98 you must be a member as of July 31, 1998. Memberships received beyond that date will be for the 1999 calendar year. As you all know by now, the membership dues structutre was changed effective January 1, 1998. The annual dues now are $100 and this amount includes the cost of attending the monthly meetings throughout the year. You no longer need to pay an additional $25 to attend each meeting and there are still five monthly meetings left in 1998. So please renew your 1998 membership as soon as possible by sending in your checks for $100 at the earliest. The checks made out to WAM may be sent to:
12023 Blackberry Terrace North Potomac, MD 20878 -K B Soni Enjoy the Summer!!
Peter Maher-Webmaster
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Latest Update - June 1998