Vern Dixon
Systems Software Programmer
Attorney’s Title Insurance Fund

I've been attending SHARE conferences since the mid 1970’s. While employed in several different jobs with vendors and user companies over the years, I have continuously been satisfied after attending each event. I always felt my employer’s money was well spent.

Aside from SHARE being part of my yearly professional upkeep, I specifically attended SHARE in Tampa this past February to learn about new functions in ITIL, Communications Server, TS/CICS, Network Printing, and DR/BC. Among these, my personal highlights from Tampa included the updates I heard on DR/BC, ITIL, and ISPF.

At my organization, Attorney’s Title Insurance Fund, my current business needs center around DR/BC, ITIL and CICS experiences. While at SHARE in Tampa, I attended sessions with various flavors of DR/BC in hopes of gaining new information about my business issues.

These sessions included education on local and remote replication, new disk/tape erasure products, laptop/mobile security methods, various user experiences, and new and improved products. Similarly, by attending high level overviews and “how to” presentations, including my participation in the session, “ITIL in Action: Airport Simulation”, relieved some of my challenges with ITIL. Lastly, I believed my attendance in presentations on critical APARs/PTFs, migration experiences, release experiences, and TCP client/server update helped address my other business issue with CICS.

After returning from Tampa, I felt the information I learned about DR/BC and replication, z/OS V1R3, and CICS experiences were beneficial not only for myself but for my team as well. With Tampa over a month behind now, I've been busy continuing my daily efforts in mainframe network systems and printing support. In addition, I have been able to put the knowledge gained at SHARE to use with my responsibilities on EPG functions related to implementing CMMI and ITIL, the functions of a mainframe DR team member, TCP support for my organization’s production of CICS/MQ client/server applications, and migrating from Z/OS V1R4 to V1R7 this year.

IT information transforms so frequently, but the continued professional friendships I embrace at SHARE will never change. It’s one of the differentiators that keep me coming back year after year.

If you would like to share your experience, please contact Brooke Ober at bober@share.org