SHARE’s John R. Ehrman Award for Sustained Excellence is awarded to members who have made outstanding contributions to SHARE’s technical program through high quality presentations and white papers, as well as championing technical activities and participating in task forces. Members who receive the award have made contributions to SHARE for between five and 10 years and are nominated by their peers. Jim Elliott, senior IT consultant for IBM Z and IBM LinuxONE at GlassHouse Systems Inc., received the award at SHARE Kansas City and shares his mainframe stories and advice.

SHARE HQ: What’s your mainframe story? How did you come to the platform?

Jim Elliott (JE): At my high school, Don Mills Collegiate in Toronto, Canada, we had access to an IBM S/360-75 mainframe housed at the IBM Toronto Lab near my school. Of course, in those days we had to use coding templates and keypunch machines to build the decks of cards, which were then taken to IBM. As a result, the turn-around was a couple of days.

In college at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, I studied data processing (management science), and we used an IBM S/360-30. Shortly after graduation in 1973, I joined IBM at the IBM Vancouver Computing Centre, which had an IBM S/360-40 and an IBM S/360-67, in operation. I then moved into systems programming supporting IBM Data Centre Services and the IBM Vancouver Lab when they replaced the S/360 machines with an IBM S/370-145 and an IBM S/370-158MP.

The S/360-67 was running as OS/MVT as a S/360-65. As we were getting the S/370-145 to run VM/370, I was able to install CP-67 (predecessor to VM/370) on the S/360-67 on weekends to get some experience before the new machine arrived.

I was also the sysprog for three other IBM sites in Western Canada (IBM S/370-115 in Edmonton, IBM S/370-125 in Regina, and IBM S/370-135 in Winnipeg). Since networking in those days was via dial-up connections using IBM 2741 terminals, this meant a lot of travel across western Canada. The three smaller machines were all running DOS/VS and the same applications. The S/370-145 ran VM/370 and DOS/VS, while the S/370-158MP ran OS/VS2. It was a great environment to learn.

The rest, as they say, is history.

SHARE HQ: How did you first learn about SHARE?

JE: In 1975, my management team sent me off to SHARE to get some Multiple Virtual Storage (MVS) education. I was a VM/VSE sysprog, and from then on, I was hooked.

What stood out for me about SHARE from the beginning was the networking. Being able to meet your peers and all the IBM development people was, and continues to be, the best part of SHARE. I am not sure who coined this expression, but “SHARE, it is not an acronym but what we do” was true then, and it is still true today.

SHARE HQ: What drew you to joining SHARE?

JE: I have attended SHARE off and on since 1975, but pretty consistently since 1998 when I became an IBM representative to what was then-called the VM project at SHARE. As an IBM representative, you showcase your company’s products to SHARE. During that period, I frequently presented at SHARE on various topics related to VM and Linux. I have also presented several times at SHARE on the History and Evolution of IBM Mainframes and z/VM. I have spent a lot of time over the years mentoring people, and SHARE is part of that process.

At the time, I was product manager for VM/ESA and VSE/ESA at IBM Americas, but I had responsibility for launching Linux on S/390 across the Americas.

When I retired at the start of 2016, I had my new employer, GlassHouse Systems, Inc., join SHARE. I’d let the GlassHouse management team know that SHARE was an important part of my work experience, and they agreed that I should keep that up.

SHARE HQ: As a 2024 recipient of the John R. Ehrman Award for Sustained Excellence in Technical Education, what did the award mean to you?

JE: This award was a wonderful and pleasant surprise to me. John Ehrman was one of my heroes and an incredible teacher. Cheryl Watson, Melinda Varian, Glenn Anderson, Harv Emery, Riaz Ahmad, and Frank Kyne are all people I have worked with for years and have a great respect for. Receiving the award means a lot to me personally as recognition of my years evangelizing the platform.

My first presentation at SHARE (on CMS Pipelines) was in 1993 after years of just attending. Melinda Varian was the person who pushed me to start presenting, and I am grateful to her for that.

SHARE HQ: What advice would you give to other SHARE members about volunteering and providing technical education to members?

JE: Easy, get involved! Not just in SHARE, but in any other IT groups like Computer Measurement Group (CMG) and the International Db2 Users Group (IDUG).

The VM community has the “Knights of VM,” and I was honored to be knighted at the 30^th anniversary of the announcement of VM/370 in 2002 as “Sir Jim the Evangelist,” which describes my view well.

Also, work with your local schools to talk to computer science clubs and classes about mainframes. My experience is that students really want to learn about our platform.

I was lucky that my role at IBM had me speaking on technology to customers, user groups around the world, and at schools. For a few years I was also a part-time instructor at IBM Education (now IBM Training), as well as teaching IBM top gun classes on the mainframe across the world.

And last, I would suggest volunteering for an IBM Redbooks residency, which is a great experience and one way to become a published author.

SHARE HQ: What’s one piece of technology or technology news you are excited about and why? 

JE: What excites me about working in IT is constant change. Most recently, we have seen big growth in artificial intelligence (AI) and the new function in the z16 Telum chip brings that innovative technology to our platform.

I spend at least four hours per week attending webinars on the latest technology to keep my knowledge current.

SHARE HQ: What are you passionate about at work? What are you passionate about outside of work?

JE: At work, I am passionate about helping my customers provide the best service possible to their users.

Outside of work, I have two passions. First, I love to hike both locally and in my travels around the world. Second, it would have to be Walt Disney World (WDW) as I am a “Disney adult.” I go to WDW three or four times a year and have for over 25 years.

SHARE HQ: Tell us something about yourself that SHARE members may not already know.

JE: My love of the platform and my love of all things Disney is well known (I use a Walt Disney World backpack).

Jim Elliott graduated in 1973 from the British Columbia Institute of Technology in Vancouver where he studied data processing on an IBM S/360-30. He spent much of his career in technical roles at IBM, becoming a mainframe product manager for IBM Americas where he led the launch of Linux on the mainframe. Later, he became the Linux and Open-Source leader for IBM Canada and entered mainframe sales before retiring in 2016. He has also co-authored several IBM Redbooks and speaks about information technology across the United States and Canada. Elliott splits his time between Toronto, Ontario and Vittoria, Ontario.