More a question of IBM support....

jvmerc · Post by **jvmerc** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 3:04 pm

Over the years, working with Mercator, Ascential and, up until now, IBM I've really enjoyed working with the tools. Always a little frustrated that there is so much potential in them, that will probably not be used here, that could really make life easier and maint/support less costly.

That said, since IBM bought Ascential I've noticed a dramatic increase in bureaucracy and lowering of service. I was wondering if others have noticed the same and.....

What are people's thoughts on the life expectancy of the tool?

Do you see IBM integrating it into other similar applications and eventually letting it die or really supporting it, enhancing it, adding to it?

Do you see it spending much time focusing on enhancing it in areas that are not related to other non-IBM products? Like Oracle, java, http etc..?

jvmerc

PS: This is not intended to be a b*#ch session. I am sincerely interested in the thought of others that have seen the tool and service transition over the years.

ray.wurlod · Post by **ray.wurlod** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 3:49 pm

IBM is SO much larger a company than Ascential, you've got to expect SOME more bureaucracy. My personal opinion is that they overdo it, and it has cost them some business on occasions, but it's their company and they can run it as they like.

The support folks are largely still the same ones you used to have, and they are as good as they ever were. But they, too, are constrained by their employer's rules.

I can't comment on the life expectancy of any particular tool except to note that, in my experience, IBM support things for much longer than other, smaller, vendors do, even when development has ceased. You can still get support for FORTRAN IV and old versions of RPG!

kcbland · Post by **kcbland** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 4:01 pm

I think the tools are going to evolve in a way that serves the larger IBM picture, rather than try to be best of breeds for niche markets. The ability to pick and choose flavours will disappear, as the toolset as a whole takes on more of a component architecture on a common subsystem, rather than 5 distinct tools under the facade you currently have now (RTI, Server, PX, Quality, and Profile).

As far as support, well, we're here to help you as well. As to their improvements/degradation of support, you must feel a little sorry for the support folks. Ascential has had a lot of changes in the last four years, it's a lot of juggling for tech support.

I have a lot of hope for the product set, the potential is for a really cool application suite if they can pull off the things planned.

lcallif2 · Post by **lcallif2** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 9:30 pm

The tools have made great strides since Ascential was purchased by IBM. And we have only seen the tip of the future. All the separate tools are being integrated into one tool, allowing for easier development and closer to the one stop shop that many of us would appreciate finally having.

As for support, it doesn't appear to have changed much over the years. Not worse, not better. Same ol, same ol.....

Lester

vmcburney · Post by **vmcburney** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 11:07 pm

If you are talking about the entire suite it is going to get a much higher profile in IBM than if it had remained at Ascential. With MetaStage reincarnated as the Information Server it becomes the home of DataStage, QualityStage and the Information Analyser from the old Ascential suite. It also services the Federation and Replication servers (formerly Information Integrator). It will probably be the future metadata services layer for the IBM master data management platform and some of the Rational toolset. This will all make DataStage very popular in the master data management space.

So the toolset is certainly not shrinking or disappearing, it is going to become more prominent with the version 8 release. I am not sure about DataStage TX. I don't see much information about it in the release 8 sales material. I assume it will remain as a DataStage plugin.

ray.wurlod · Post by **ray.wurlod** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 2:11 am

DataStage TX 8.0 has been GA for some time already.

janhess · Post by **janhess** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 2:14 am

I assume it will remain as a DataStage plugin.

Since when has DSTX just been a plugin to Datastage? It's a product in it's own right and very good for realtime transformation. I would hate to loose it.

ray.wurlod · Post by **ray.wurlod** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 2:48 am

There is a TX plug-in that can be used from server (?) jobs to run some data through TX maps.

janhess · Post by **janhess** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 2:56 am

However, getting back to support, I have found it just as good as before in the UK. But IBM can't sort out it's licensing since the takeover. I always have to battle with them to get the correct download files for new releases.

chulett · Post by **chulett** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 5:50 am

Ha! Me too! I'm still (mostly) talking to the same people I've always talked to, some for years, when I call support. Sure, there's new ones but it's nice to hear a familiar voice.

However, every time I've had to do something licensing related they've porked it up. Going through that right now as a matter of fact, simply trying to get upgraded from 7.5.1A to 7.5.2 - who knew it could be so hard?

[sigh]

jvmerc · Post by **jvmerc** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 3:47 pm

Well, not to offend the DataStage users, but, Ascential used to try selling me DataStage as a DataStage TX addon/plugin.... used to attend user group meetings in the midwest but they primarily talked about the DataStage line (sorry DataStage users but while they do similar tasks one is not the other. giving them such similar names seemed more confusing for us. The interface is/was differenct and the coding is/was diff too.)

The product support people in Boca are as good as ever!

My experience with PA Online and Software Services has been very frustrating.... Their records are wrong about who our primary is but do to internal politics here the person they have listed incorrectly isn't going to assign me as primary. They also don't have me listed as alternate. And, I'm the person that has worked with Mercator, Ascential and IBM on the product line from recommending the purchase to getting patches, releases etc... thru today. the IBM account managers don't seem to have any pull there either.... So... What I'm finding is that IBM is so bureaucratic it makes it impossible for me to get anything done in a reasonable amount of time with a reasonable amount of effort.

As far as TX product line goes... I've always thought IBM would focus on improving the API's as they relate to IBM products but not put much effort into improving those related to other major product like Oracle (for obvious reasons).

I suspect that Event Agent (now know as Launcher Agent) will go away in favor of other Websphere products.

The design tools will probably survive. Not sure what they'd merge it with but they will certainly keep improving things.

One of the most attractive things about TX is Integration Broker (a/k/a Transformation Extender). figure that will survive in some form.

the HIPAA pack will probably survive. Mercator had one of the best HIPAA based programs in the industry.

Don't know what they are calling the SNMP agent today but figure that will go the same way as the Event Agent if it hasn't already.

When I looked at the 8.0.n beta of Trading Manager (formerly known as Commerce Manager) I had very mixed feelings. I'd like the see the new version to see if we still want it but suspect it will fade into something else or another IBM product will merge into it.

Based on what I saw of 8.n didn't see a hugh amount of change beyond what Ascential had on the plate. Debugging and performance tuning where huge improvements to the tools in general.