IBM Software
WebSphere
Education
University of Florida
Helping students stay on track with a mobile app based
on IBM CICS Transaction Server
Overview
The need
The University of Florida (UF) wanted
to provide students with information
that would help them get around the
2,000-acre campus and meet their
academic responsibilities.
The solution
The university developed a mobile web
application with access to the Integrated
Student Information System based on
IBM® CICS® Transaction Server running
on an IBM System zEnterprise®
114 server.
The benefit
Tests showed 4 percent faster
performance with CICS V 4.2 vs. 4.1,
1.4-fold faster performance with
zEnterprise 114 server and IBM System
Storage® DS8800, and 30 percent less
draw on CPU with zEnterprise 114 server.
Ownership of smartphones among college students jumped to 69 percent
in 2012 from 27 percent in 2009, according to one report. The growth
rate could hit 80 percent in 2013 and 90 percent in 2014.1 The message is
clear. If you want to reach college and university students, say it with a
smartphone.
The University of Florida (UF) in Gainesville has taken this message
seriously and rolled out a mobile web application which enables its
50,000 students and 5,400 faculty members, and its staff, to access a rich
selection of online features anytime and anywhere using a mobile device.
Consistently ranked among the nation’s top public universities,
UF has a distinguished reputation for preparing students to succeed in
the workplace. Job recruiters ranked UF ninth on the list of Top 25 places
where corporations prefer to recruit new employees (2010). UF also ranks
No. 3 on SmartMoney magazine’s list of colleges and universities that help
graduates get top salaries (2011) and No. 6 on Payscale.com’s list of
universities that offer the best return on investment for undergraduate
education (2011). UF has a commitment to providing its students with
opportunities to use the latest technologies to help them make better
choices about their education and prepare them for technology
advancements they will find when they enter the workplace.
IBM Software
WebSphere
Education
Getting around smarter
“IBM has delivered
another very fast,
modern and extendable
CICS Transaction
Server in CICS
TS V4.2.”
—Steve Ware, Systems Administrator/
Programmer, University of Florida
Just getting around the 2,000-acre UF campus is a challenge, especially
for new students. The UF Mobile Web makes it easier, safer and faster.
A live interactive map of the campus shows where buildings are located.
An emergency feature allows users to contact the UF Police or the
Operator in two clicks. The campus is serviced by the Gainesville
Regional Transit System, and an interactive map enables the user to see
where a bus is on its route and how long it will take to arrive. A people
finder provides contact information for students and faculty.
The heart of the UF Mobile Web is the Integrated Student Information
System (ISIS), which keeps students on track with class schedules,
required textbooks, academic dates and information, grades and
important announcements. “Academic life can be very complicated,
especially in a vibrant environment such as the University of Florida, with
so many activities and demands on the student’s time,” says Steve Ware,
systems administrator/programmer, University of Florida. “The UF
Mobile Web helps students navigate through this information overload
and meet their responsibilities.”
The UF Mobile Web was developed using the Mobile Web Open Source
Project v2.5.0, a fork of version 0.9 of MIT Mobile Web. When students
access ISIS on their smartphones, they are actually accessing the
university’s IBM CICS Transaction Server environment, which runs on
the IBM mainframe. IBM CICS is an advanced mainframe transaction
processing solution that provides powerful and flexible support for online
transaction processing (OLTP) operations.
Boosting performance by four percent
No stranger to CICS, UF recently migrated to CICS Transaction Server
for z/OS®, Version 4.2 from 4.1, in a beta testing program for the new
version. “The University of Florida has been participating in CICS betas
for about a decade, which has helped contribute to the continued success
of CICS and the mainframe at UF, where we rely on CICS for our core
business, which is our 50,000 students,” Ware comments.
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IBM Software
WebSphere
Solution components
Software
• IBM® CICS® Transaction Server for
z/OS®, Version 4.2
• IBM Communications Server
• IBM DB2® 10 database
• IBM Enterprise COBOL for z/OS,
Version 4.2
• IBM High Level Assembler
• IBM Tivoli® OMEGAMON® XE
for CICS
Servers
• IBM System Storage® DS8800
• IBM System zEnterprise® 114 server
“The upgrade to the z114
mainframe resulted in
a 1.4-fold performance
improvement. What’s
more, the CPU
consumption for the
CICS workload on the
z114 has decreased
approximately
30 percent.”
—Steve Ware
Education
UF did load testing with CICS 4.1 and 4.2 versions to see if there was a
difference in the performance of ISIS. “There was actually a four percent
improvement in the performance of the CICS workload with 4.2,” says
Ware. “IBM has delivered another very fast, modern and extendable
CICS Transaction Server in CICS TS V4.2.”
Fast development in a few weeks
UF uses the IBM Communications Server CICS socket interface.
“The socket interface made the development of the UF Mobile Web
component that much easier because it utilizes several web servers
running Apache,” says Ware. “We were able to put a test environment
together in a few weeks.”
The UF CICS environment runs with IBM DB2® 10 database and
VSAM. The data is stored in VSAM and DB2 tables. Most applications
are developed in IBM High Level Assembler and, to a lesser degree,
with IBM Enterprise COBOL for z/OS.
UF Information Technology (UFIT) management, UFIT CICS systems
staff and UF ISIS CICS application developers use IBM Tivoli®
OMEGAMON® XE for CICS to improve time to resolution should
an issue arise with CICS performance. This helps to keep system
availability high.
UF recently took delivery of an IBM System zEnterprise 114 server,
replacing its IBM System z9® Business Class mainframe. “The upgrade
to the zEnterprise 114 mainframe resulted in a 1.4-fold performance
improvement,” says Ware. “What’s more, the CPU consumption for the
CICS workload on the z114 has decreased approximately 30 percent.”
Up to one million transactions per day
The university also upgraded its IBM System Storage DS8100 to the
DS8800. “We’ve enjoyed very near 100 percent scheduled availability
with CICS TS 4.2, and exceptional performance, especially coupled with
our new z114 and DS8800,” Ware says.
UF’s IBM CICS environment handles from half a million transactions
per day to one million at busy times, such as registration. “Not only is
our IBM infrastructure scalable and rock solid,” Ware adds, “but also our
total cost of ownership is very low compared to other solutions. It has
helped us put relevant, timely information in front of the student in a
mobile world.”
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For more information
To learn more about the IBM CICS Transaction Server, please
contact your IBM representative or IBM Business Partner, or visit the
following website: ibm.com/software/htp/cics/tserver/
Additionally, IBM Global Financing can help you acquire the software
capabilities that your business needs in the most cost-effective and
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forward with IBM Global Financing. For more information, visit:
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