Three days at the end of May saw Sean Bicknell and I head to the ninth annual VNUG (Viking NonStop User Group) conference held this year at Gällöfsta Manor, about half an hour north of Stockholm.
Day one was either an education day, or a golf tournament. I was looking forward to a round of golf, but striking British Airways cabin staff had other ideas. Our rescheduled flight meant I’ll have to wait until next year to play my first golf in Sweden. At least with an extra year to practice I’ll increase my chances of not coming last!
The real business began on the morning of day two. Around 10 vendors set up their booths and a range of HP updates, vendor pitches and user presentations kicked off at 9.30am. Our presentation was originally scheduled to be the final one of the event on day three, but a last-minute cancellation by one of the speakers meant we were moved to the afternoon of day two – no complaints there.
For XYPRO’s 20 minute slot we took a look at a few of the PCI-DSS requirements which can’t be met on a NonStop with native software. This scenario applies to far more requirements than we had time to cover, but it was more than enough time to take a high-level look at three of the key PCI-DSS related tools we have to offer.
The first was XUA (XYGATE User Authentication) which provides logon controls via IP address, thus ticking the PDC-DSS 1.3.2 box: Limit inbound Internet traffic to IP addresses within the DMZ. XUA also provides far more functionality with the likes of LDAP-integrated Single Sign On, granular log-on control, time-related log-on restriction, full audit and more – not only providing extra uses, but also covering other PCI-DSS requirements including (but not limited to) 7.2, 8.1 and 8.5.13.
Following the theme of using one XYGATE solution to crack several different PCI-DSS nuts, were XSW (XYGATE Security Compliance Wizard) which is by far the best file-integrity/change-detection tool on the market and XMA (XYGATE Merged Audit) which chiefly consolidates and exports NonStop audit data and provides real-time alerts. XSW and XMA apply to a long list of PCI requirements, so if you’re just starting a PCI project, be sure to take a look sooner rather than later.
PCI-DSS is a fairly hot topic in Europe right now and Sean and I thought his presentation was well received at the time. Those thoughts were backed up a few days after the event, when the delegate feedback forms were returned, showing the XYPRO presentation to have scored the highest of the event – no mean feat when HP’s Mittal Parekh is in town – the man is so passionate he could talk about a paint drying process and I’d still be riveted!
It’s a VNUG tradition to have some sort of group activity on the evening of day two. This year’s was kept under secret until they’d got everyone herded into a large empty conference room: line dancing! I won’t deny that my heart sank when they first announced it, but I don’t mind admitting it was actually great fun – never thought I’d find myself saying that! I’ll also admit that it’s far more difficult than it looks!
The event drew to a close at around 3.30pm on day three, giving us time to reflect on a well attended and very friendly VNUG event. Our thanks to Tommy and the rest of the VNUG board for putting on another great conference. With 2011 being the tenth anniversary, they’ve promised us an even more memorable event next year – we’re looking forward to it already.
www.vnug.biz
http://blog.xypro.com/
Dan Lewis
XYPRO European Marketing Manager
Register today for the Global HP NonStop Symposium & Expo, 26-29th September - www.NonStopSymposium.com
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
In Memoriam: Lauren Uroff
- Sheila Johnson, CEO
When professionals join XYPRO, we like to think that they are joining more than just a software corporation; they are joining a close-knit family. To be sure, it’s close to impossible not to get incredibly attached to the wonderful, talented people that comprise the XYPRO family. So, it is with great sadness that we had to say goodbye to one of our long-time XYPRO family members, Lauren Uroff. We are indeed in deep mourning, but at the same time, trying to celebrate the wonderful and rich life Lauren led. Over the past few weeks, we have heard so many touching and uplifting stories about Lauren—she simply made a positive, lasting impact on everyone she knew.
Kristie Rusk is one of the many people who Lauren deeply touched.
Below, Kristie offers her memories and tribute to our Lauren.
I’ve been an employee of XYPRO since 1987. I’ve been here longer than any other XYPRO employee, except for Sheila Johnson, our CEO. When I look back at these past 23 years, each year has it’s own “memorable moment” associated with it, some of them good and some of them bad. In 1994, we had the infamous Northridge earthquake and I have memories of us all ducking under the conference room table during aftershocks. In 2001, it was the 9/11 attacks while the ITUG conference was being held in Anaheim. We scrambled to find places for our customers to stay who were unable to fly home. In 2006, we had two “XY-babies” born within a few weeks of each other and two more babies were born in 2008. This year promises to have its share of good memories for XYPRO. But sadly, the one event that I will remember 2010 for is the loss of my co-worker and friend, Lauren Uroff.
Lauren joined XYPRO in 1992 as a QA Analyst and later that year, her husband Scott also joined XYPRO. They quickly became vital members of the XYPRO team. Together, they helped build the XYPRO Security products to become the leading edge products they are today. Lauren was intensely proud of her work. When we began to offer XYGATE classes here at the XYPRO offices, Lauren was key to the building and teaching of those class materials. She loved working with customers and if she met you, either on the phone or in person, she never forgot your name! As valuable an asset Lauren was to XYPRO, for me, she was one of my closest friends here at the office. Lauren and I shared many things over the years. We held down the fort by ourselves at the office while everyone was attending ITUG Conferences, we laughed in the lunchroom about the latest “news of the day”. Lauren was bright, witty, an avid reader, a seeker of knowledge – from the silly to the sublime. Our conversations ranged from deep and philosophical to arguments about who we liked better on “Top Chef”.
As proud as Lauren was of her work, her greatest pride was her family, her husband Scott and her son James. After James was born, she changed her status at XYPRO from full-time employee to that of an independent contractor, so that she could have the flexibility in her schedule to play an active role in his life. She spent many hours volunteering at his school and never missed a concert or karate practice. She was determined that he be a well-rounded and polite young man.
In 2009, Lauren was diagnosed with cancer. She worked from home as often as she could, but her presence at the office became less and less. In December, while preparing to come back to the office on a regular basis, we got the devastating news that the cancer had spread. Three months later in March 2010, we lost her.
It is sad to think that the newer employees here at XYPRO will never get the opportunity to know or work with Lauren. But, it helps to know that Lauren’s legacy will live on in the quality of the XYPRO products that she helped build, the customers who she helped support and most importantly in the lives of her family.
Kristie Rusk
-Vice President of Finance
When professionals join XYPRO, we like to think that they are joining more than just a software corporation; they are joining a close-knit family. To be sure, it’s close to impossible not to get incredibly attached to the wonderful, talented people that comprise the XYPRO family. So, it is with great sadness that we had to say goodbye to one of our long-time XYPRO family members, Lauren Uroff. We are indeed in deep mourning, but at the same time, trying to celebrate the wonderful and rich life Lauren led. Over the past few weeks, we have heard so many touching and uplifting stories about Lauren—she simply made a positive, lasting impact on everyone she knew.
Kristie Rusk is one of the many people who Lauren deeply touched.
Below, Kristie offers her memories and tribute to our Lauren.
I’ve been an employee of XYPRO since 1987. I’ve been here longer than any other XYPRO employee, except for Sheila Johnson, our CEO. When I look back at these past 23 years, each year has it’s own “memorable moment” associated with it, some of them good and some of them bad. In 1994, we had the infamous Northridge earthquake and I have memories of us all ducking under the conference room table during aftershocks. In 2001, it was the 9/11 attacks while the ITUG conference was being held in Anaheim. We scrambled to find places for our customers to stay who were unable to fly home. In 2006, we had two “XY-babies” born within a few weeks of each other and two more babies were born in 2008. This year promises to have its share of good memories for XYPRO. But sadly, the one event that I will remember 2010 for is the loss of my co-worker and friend, Lauren Uroff.
Lauren joined XYPRO in 1992 as a QA Analyst and later that year, her husband Scott also joined XYPRO. They quickly became vital members of the XYPRO team. Together, they helped build the XYPRO Security products to become the leading edge products they are today. Lauren was intensely proud of her work. When we began to offer XYGATE classes here at the XYPRO offices, Lauren was key to the building and teaching of those class materials. She loved working with customers and if she met you, either on the phone or in person, she never forgot your name! As valuable an asset Lauren was to XYPRO, for me, she was one of my closest friends here at the office. Lauren and I shared many things over the years. We held down the fort by ourselves at the office while everyone was attending ITUG Conferences, we laughed in the lunchroom about the latest “news of the day”. Lauren was bright, witty, an avid reader, a seeker of knowledge – from the silly to the sublime. Our conversations ranged from deep and philosophical to arguments about who we liked better on “Top Chef”.
As proud as Lauren was of her work, her greatest pride was her family, her husband Scott and her son James. After James was born, she changed her status at XYPRO from full-time employee to that of an independent contractor, so that she could have the flexibility in her schedule to play an active role in his life. She spent many hours volunteering at his school and never missed a concert or karate practice. She was determined that he be a well-rounded and polite young man.
In 2009, Lauren was diagnosed with cancer. She worked from home as often as she could, but her presence at the office became less and less. In December, while preparing to come back to the office on a regular basis, we got the devastating news that the cancer had spread. Three months later in March 2010, we lost her.
It is sad to think that the newer employees here at XYPRO will never get the opportunity to know or work with Lauren. But, it helps to know that Lauren’s legacy will live on in the quality of the XYPRO products that she helped build, the customers who she helped support and most importantly in the lives of her family.
Kristie Rusk
-Vice President of Finance
Monday, May 10, 2010
Flat Screens, Light Bulbs and IBM, Oh My……
For me personally, EBUG (European BASE24 User Group) is quite a significant event for two reasons. Firstly it’s EMEA’s premier gathering for anyone with an interest in BASE24 and other related ACI products. And secondly, because it marks my first year of involvement/employment in the HP NonStop field – the 2009 EBUG in Prague last year was my first day on the job!
The big talking point from last year was ACI’s announcement that BASE24 ‘classic’ would be phased out within a couple of years and its new collaboration with IBM. It’s safe to say that this announcement wasn’t greeted with the warmth that ACI had expected.
A year later, we’re in Madrid, Spain, and there was far less controversy. ACI had obviously taken its customer’s feedback on board and stances have changed and relaxed. Deadlines for BASE24’s ‘sun-setting’ have been extended and it’s now talked about as the end of ‘support’ for BASE24 classic, as opposed to the product itself. It’s no huge surprise that ACI was still keen for as many of its customers as possible to migrate to BASE24-eps, pointing out that over 20 customers have now made the switch.
From what I gather, the IBM situation hasn’t seen the exodus from HP NonStop that certain parties might have been hoping for – I may be wrong, but I don’t know of any HP NonStop users who have jumped ship to IBM. In fact, I dare say that ACI/IBM bringing hardware to the fore has actually resulted in a few NonStop Blade upgrades for existing HP customers. I can only see that as a good thing. But don’t go thinking that IBM has admitted defeat, would there have been a ‘stand of the show’ award, IBM would have won it with ease...
In the XYPRO booth there were less plasma TVs and halogen light bulbs, but that didn’t mean there was any less activity. Many thanks to all those who dropped by for a chat, to pick up product info and to enter their business card to win an HP Netbook. The drawing was held at the gala evening meal and was won by Attila Biro of Comparex, so congratulations to him!
Overall it was another successful EBUG event and we look forward to next year’s, which we hear will be taking place in Germany.
XYPRO’s next few European events are a one day BITUG SIG on 19th May in London and a much larger Viking NonStop User Group (VNUG) annual meeting in Stockholm during the last week the month. If you’re going to either, we look forward to saying hi and perhaps sharing a beer or two in the bar...
Dan Lewis
European Marketing Manager
The big talking point from last year was ACI’s announcement that BASE24 ‘classic’ would be phased out within a couple of years and its new collaboration with IBM. It’s safe to say that this announcement wasn’t greeted with the warmth that ACI had expected.
A year later, we’re in Madrid, Spain, and there was far less controversy. ACI had obviously taken its customer’s feedback on board and stances have changed and relaxed. Deadlines for BASE24’s ‘sun-setting’ have been extended and it’s now talked about as the end of ‘support’ for BASE24 classic, as opposed to the product itself. It’s no huge surprise that ACI was still keen for as many of its customers as possible to migrate to BASE24-eps, pointing out that over 20 customers have now made the switch.
From what I gather, the IBM situation hasn’t seen the exodus from HP NonStop that certain parties might have been hoping for – I may be wrong, but I don’t know of any HP NonStop users who have jumped ship to IBM. In fact, I dare say that ACI/IBM bringing hardware to the fore has actually resulted in a few NonStop Blade upgrades for existing HP customers. I can only see that as a good thing. But don’t go thinking that IBM has admitted defeat, would there have been a ‘stand of the show’ award, IBM would have won it with ease...
In the XYPRO booth there were less plasma TVs and halogen light bulbs, but that didn’t mean there was any less activity. Many thanks to all those who dropped by for a chat, to pick up product info and to enter their business card to win an HP Netbook. The drawing was held at the gala evening meal and was won by Attila Biro of Comparex, so congratulations to him!
Overall it was another successful EBUG event and we look forward to next year’s, which we hear will be taking place in Germany.
XYPRO’s next few European events are a one day BITUG SIG on 19th May in London and a much larger Viking NonStop User Group (VNUG) annual meeting in Stockholm during the last week the month. If you’re going to either, we look forward to saying hi and perhaps sharing a beer or two in the bar...
Dan Lewis
European Marketing Manager
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Product Spotlight:SQLXPress
SQLXPress Can Help You Manage Your HP NonStop SQL Databases
In November, 2009, we announced our strategic partnership with Merlon. Since that time, we have really enjoyed educating our customers about the beneficial tools Merlon offers.
In today’s blog, we’d like to highlight a tool that provides comprehensive support for managing large, complex database environments. The solution, SQLXPress, is an essential companion product for SQL/MX and SQL/MP.
Simplify with SQLXPress
SQLXPress supports all standard DDL operations, and offers several advanced features that are not available with the command line interface, such as compare data definition language (DDL), two-way object relationship browsing, multi-object commands and partition key data analysis.
SQLXPress offers benefits database administrators, software developers, quality assurance analysts and technical support staff. With SQLXPress, users can benefit from the following:
• Simplified Database Administration
• Improved Application Performance
• Increased Productivity
• Easy-to-use Modern Graphical User Interface
• Simplified Data Browsing
• Easy Statistics Management
To learn more about this sophisticated database management tool click here.
Or look for our upcoming webcasts that feature all of our database and security tools.
In November, 2009, we announced our strategic partnership with Merlon. Since that time, we have really enjoyed educating our customers about the beneficial tools Merlon offers.
In today’s blog, we’d like to highlight a tool that provides comprehensive support for managing large, complex database environments. The solution, SQLXPress, is an essential companion product for SQL/MX and SQL/MP.
Simplify with SQLXPress
SQLXPress supports all standard DDL operations, and offers several advanced features that are not available with the command line interface, such as compare data definition language (DDL), two-way object relationship browsing, multi-object commands and partition key data analysis.
SQLXPress offers benefits database administrators, software developers, quality assurance analysts and technical support staff. With SQLXPress, users can benefit from the following:
• Simplified Database Administration
• Improved Application Performance
• Increased Productivity
• Easy-to-use Modern Graphical User Interface
• Simplified Data Browsing
• Easy Statistics Management
To learn more about this sophisticated database management tool click here.
Or look for our upcoming webcasts that feature all of our database and security tools.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
And the Winner is….
The winner of XYPRO’s Events survey drawing is:
Michael Crispyn, Vice President
Group Manager, Tandem Online Systems
Fifth Third Processing Solutions, LLC
Scott won the $100 Gift Card drawing for filling out our recent survey.
As promised, here are the results of XYPRO's Survey about which upcoming shows our customers/prospects will be attending.
75% of those who responded are going to the NonStop Summit in San Jose
25% of those who responded are going to HP Tech Forum - Las Vegas
Anastasia Valentine asked: Lisa-how many in total responded?
Lisa Responded:
48 people replied, about which show they or people from their company would be attending, speaking on behalf of about 60 individual attendees.
6 additional responders didn't say which show because they weren't sure yet.
3 said they no plans to attend either show.
We had several international "Yes" answers - which is also encouraging.
A couple of interesting comments in the "free form" field - 3 people said they weren't aware that the NonStop event in September was happening due to the lack of marketing,
but they were all aware that HPTF was happening.
So those percentages match up with Ernie Guerrera's poll of his customer base, if I recall correctly.
So if roughly 70-75% of those going to a show are coming to San Jose, we just have to make sure enough people know about the NonStop event to consider it. So please pass the word around!
Michael Crispyn, Vice President
Group Manager, Tandem Online Systems
Fifth Third Processing Solutions, LLC
Scott won the $100 Gift Card drawing for filling out our recent survey.
As promised, here are the results of XYPRO's Survey about which upcoming shows our customers/prospects will be attending.
75% of those who responded are going to the NonStop Summit in San Jose
25% of those who responded are going to HP Tech Forum - Las Vegas
Anastasia Valentine asked: Lisa-how many in total responded?
Lisa Responded:
48 people replied, about which show they or people from their company would be attending, speaking on behalf of about 60 individual attendees.
6 additional responders didn't say which show because they weren't sure yet.
3 said they no plans to attend either show.
We had several international "Yes" answers - which is also encouraging.
A couple of interesting comments in the "free form" field - 3 people said they weren't aware that the NonStop event in September was happening due to the lack of marketing,
but they were all aware that HPTF was happening.
So those percentages match up with Ernie Guerrera's poll of his customer base, if I recall correctly.
So if roughly 70-75% of those going to a show are coming to San Jose, we just have to make sure enough people know about the NonStop event to consider it. So please pass the word around!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Product Spotlight:Encryption PRO
Don’t Let this Be You!
As you’ve probably already heard, a hacker was able to break into the database of RockYou, which provides applications and services for social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. This hacker obtained 32 million clear-text passwords! For whatever reason, the passwords of RockYou’s customers were not encrypted and were an easy target. RockYou is now encrypting all passwords and reviewing their current data security features to ensure that they meet industry standards and best practices. Of course, they’re undoubtedly wishing they would have taken this approach 32 million passwords sooner.
Protect Passwords with Encryption PRO
XYGATE Encryption PRO provides encryption for just about any type of communications between computer systems. These components enable you to encrypt interactive sessions, transaction sessions, file transfer sessions and databases or fields. Using software-based mechanisms, XYGATE provides encryption for not only HP NonStop servers and PC workstations, but also Unix, IBM OS390 and Z/OS, and many more....
XYGATE Encryption is the ideal solution set for protecting data in transit. A variety of components provide privacy for many types of sessions:
• Between your HP NonStop servers,
• Between HP NonStop servers and your PC workstations
• Many other platforms.
Protecting the privacy of data at rest is achieved via encrypting files and databases. XYGATE makes it practical to encrypt files for online storage, entire databases, or just selected fields that contain sensitive information. Learn more at www.xypro.com
As you’ve probably already heard, a hacker was able to break into the database of RockYou, which provides applications and services for social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. This hacker obtained 32 million clear-text passwords! For whatever reason, the passwords of RockYou’s customers were not encrypted and were an easy target. RockYou is now encrypting all passwords and reviewing their current data security features to ensure that they meet industry standards and best practices. Of course, they’re undoubtedly wishing they would have taken this approach 32 million passwords sooner.
Protect Passwords with Encryption PRO
XYGATE Encryption PRO provides encryption for just about any type of communications between computer systems. These components enable you to encrypt interactive sessions, transaction sessions, file transfer sessions and databases or fields. Using software-based mechanisms, XYGATE provides encryption for not only HP NonStop servers and PC workstations, but also Unix, IBM OS390 and Z/OS, and many more....
XYGATE Encryption is the ideal solution set for protecting data in transit. A variety of components provide privacy for many types of sessions:
• Between your HP NonStop servers,
• Between HP NonStop servers and your PC workstations
• Many other platforms.
Protecting the privacy of data at rest is achieved via encrypting files and databases. XYGATE makes it practical to encrypt files for online storage, entire databases, or just selected fields that contain sensitive information. Learn more at www.xypro.com
Thursday, March 18, 2010
XYPRO Recognized for Outstanding Support with Two Awards
Thank you to everyone we visited at the recent SATUG. It was a pleasure to meet with all of you and we look forward to our future partnerships. We are honored to announce that XYPRO received two awards at the event. The first was for Outstanding Support of SATUG and the second was presented to our regional representative, Morne Conradie. Morne received an individual recognition award for his Outstanding Contributions over the years. Thank you to everyone involved, as we continually strive to exceed your NonStop security, compliance and encryption needs.
See you in the SUN!
Please visit us at the Sunshine Summit in Tampa, Florida.
SUNTUG Conference- Friday, 19 March 2010 at Embassy Suites
Tampa - Airport/Westshore - 555 N. Westshore Blvd. - Tampa Florida 33609 - 813-875-1555
See you in the SUN!
Please visit us at the Sunshine Summit in Tampa, Florida.
SUNTUG Conference- Friday, 19 March 2010 at Embassy Suites
Tampa - Airport/Westshore - 555 N. Westshore Blvd. - Tampa Florida 33609 - 813-875-1555
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