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CA 2E r8.1 SP2 Is Now Available
This new update includes a number of key product fixes as well as additional enhancements such as:

• Default Prototype Functions
• Trigger Externalization
• New YRUNSQL command in the CA 2E 400 Toolkit
• Enhancements to the 400 Toolkit Compile Preprocessor utility
• User Defined Macros and Playback Recording for the CA 2E Web Option
• More...

There is detailed information on CA Support Online, where you can also download the product. The support compatibility matrix is also available at:
support.ca.com/irj/portal/anonymous/phpdocs?filePath=0/1631/1631_compmatrix.html.

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CA Repository for Distributed Systems r2.3 Beta Is On the Way Soon!
We encourage all CA Repository for Distributed Systems customers to take part in the Beta program for the highly anticipated r2.3. Beta programs provide you with the opportunity to use our latest planned product features first hand, plus they help us enhance the quality of new product releases.

CA Repository for Distributed Systems r2.3 beta is planned to contain the following exciting new features:

• Universal XML Exchange - Will add the support for metadata that is in an XML format file. This will enhance the extensibility of CA Repository for Distributed Systems for any XML formatted metadata.
• Updated Models - A new software model and a new web services model will be added. The ability to load meta data from a web service definition or a Visual Studio 2005 C++ project file into the repository for SOA support will be present. These new models can be used in conjunction with the new Universal XML Exchange.
• Updated Object-Oriented Objects Model - An updated repository model will enable metadata in OO languages such as Java, C# and C++ to be better described.
• Oracle 11g Support - CA plans to support hosting the database on Oracle 11g.

We are planning to begin this beta program soon, specific dates will be announced shortly. In the meantime, please send any questions on how to register to William.Hunt@ca.com or Susan.Heath@ca.com. Your consideration is highly appreciated!

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Enhancement Request Priority Voting for CA Repository PLC Members
Don't miss your opportunity to let us know what product enhancements are most important to you! We are currently running a program that provides a list of submitted product enhancement requests that we have determined to possibly provide more research into as we continually strive to serve our customer needs for future releases.

The polls are open for both CA Repository for z/OS and CA Repository for Distributed Systems. You must be a member of the CA Repository Product Line Community (PLC) to be able to submit your vote.

The PLC helps the user community stay networked and is a unified voice to CA, offering significant programs and focused web broadcasts. Best of all, it's free to members and it takes only a minute to register.

Go to causergroups.ca.com
Click "Join Today"
Choose "PLC - CA Repository (ARUG)" from the drop down box
Fill in the other required information

Please send an e-mail to William.Hunt@ca.com if you have questions. We are happy to make this program available to the CA Repository user community and look forward to your participation.

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CA Repository for Distributed Systems r2.2 SP4 Is GA
CA Repository for Distributed Systems r2.2 SP4 is now GA and electronically available from the Download Center located at the left navigation menu on CA Support Online. This Service Pack includes Certification of IPV6 and Erwin r7.2 on CA Repository for Distributed Systems r2.2 SP4.

See this Announcement for details.

To obtain a copy of CA Repository for Distributed Systems r2.2 SP4 in North America, please call 1-800-841-8743 or contact your local account representative. If you are outside of North America, please call your local account representative or the local CA office.

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CA Repository r7 SP1 for z/OS Is GA
CA Repository r7 SP1 for z/OS is now Generally Available.

The CA Repository for z/OS r7 SP1 can be used to install a new repository, upgrade from the previous release (r4) or to apply the latest maintenance on top of r7.

Click here for more details.

Stay tuned for more CA Repository products news this year, for questions or more information please contact William Hunt at William.Hunt@ca.com.

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CA SymDump® Batch r8 Is GA
The CA Application Quality and Testing Tools product team is pleased to announce the General Availability (GA) of CA SymDump Batch r8. CA SymDump Batch r8 includes numerous customer-requested enhancements, as well as new integration with CA File Master™ Plus and new dynamic symbolic support for CA Endevor® Change Manager. For more information, visit the CA SymDump Batch product page on CA Support Online.

The CA Application Quality and Testing Tools product team wishes to thank our beta sites for your participation in the beta testing of CA SymDump Batch r8 and for helping us develop and enhance our products to meet your needs.

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CA File Master™ Plus for IMS r8 Is GA
The CA Application Quality and Testing Tools product team is pleased to announce that a new CA product - CA File Master Plus for IMS r8 - is now available.

CA File Master Plus for IMS is a robust z/OS data management product that provides enhanced capabilities for IBM's IMS Database Management System in both an online ISPF interface and through batch commands. CA File Master Plus for IMS provides a set of powerful and easy-to-use tools for manipulating IMS databases, including segment selection filtering as well as data display and modification using COBOL or PL/I layouts.

We encourage you to visit the CA File Master Plus for IMS product information page on CA Support Online to read more about it in the CA File Master Plus for IMS Product Brief.

To obtain your copy of CA File Master Plus for IMS in North America, please call 1-800-841-8743 or contact your local account representative. If you are outside of North America, please call your local account representative or the local CA office.

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CA InterTest™ Batch r8.5, CA InterTest™ for CICS r8.5 and CA SymDump® for CICS r8.5 Beta Information
The CA Application Quality and Testing Tools product team is now accepting beta sites for CA InterTest Batch r8.5, CA InterTest for CICS r8.5, and CA SymDump for CICS r8.5. The CA InterTest releases are planned to include a new graphical user interface (GUI) based on the Eclipse platform that will provide a common look and feel across the CA InterTest products. You can use this new GUI with or without Eclipse, giving you more flexibility and ease of use.

CA SymDump for CICS r8.5 is planned to include compatibility with CA InterTest for CICS r8.5 as well as a new CA SymDump for CICS utility program for performing PROTDMP file maintenance. This utility will provide batch reporting on application dumps captured by CA SymDump in your CICS regions.

For more information about CA InterTest Batch r8.5, CA InterTest for CICS r8.5, and CA SymDump for CICS r8.5, and the criteria for becoming a beta site, visit the CA Beta page. You will need your CA Support Online login and password to access this site.

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CA SymDump® System's Web Viewer Now Has Support For IPv6
CA SymDump System's Web Viewer, which can be used by System Programmers to resolve z/OS failures, now provides support for IPv6. The CA-SymDump System Web Viewer can be used to view captured dumps from your web browser and provides an alternate method for viewing your system dump content in a graphical environment. This support is available in a PTF and can be downloaded from CA Support Online.

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Testing Tools User Community
We invite you to join the CA Testing Tools User Community - PLC Testing Tools (International User Group for Testing Tools). This enables you to collaborate directly with the CA product team, offering you a voice into CA product development.

As a member of this virtual PLC you will have:

Access to information from CA via web casts.
Ability to vote on selected CA Testing Tools product enhancement requests.
An online forum to engage in peer networking and mutual support with other users of Testing Tools and their associated solutions
(please see directions below for how to join the forum)

Visit the community website for more information including scheduled meetings, community news and more.

Only members of the PLC Testing Tools are eligible to vote and prioritize the selected list of product enhancements. To become a member, please click on "Join PLC Testing Tools (International User Group for Testing Tools)" and follow the instructions on the page. You'll receive an email notification that your submission to join the PLC has been received and is being processed.

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Introducing - Online Discussion Forums for CA Customers Using Testing Tools
One of the main benefits of a user community is the ability to network with other users. Through online user community forums, members have a place to discuss CA Testing Tools solutions and related topics, share best practices, and exchange tips and tricks. Some notable features of the forums include request ranking and tagging, posting attachments, a powerful search feature, RSS notifications, profile preferences and private messaging.

Where are the forums?

The forums are located on the CA support site. Login to CA's Support site Support Online using your CA support login id. From the left side bar menu, select USER COMMUNITIES and then select PRODUCT FORUMS or CA USER COMMUNITY FORUMS. This will allow you to just browse the forums. Then, follow the instructions to create a screen name and request posting access to the new forum.

On your first visit to the forums be sure to familiarize yourself with both the forum Guidelines and Help sections with complete list of FAQs (located on the top menu bar). During the time that CA introduces these forums to our customers, please understand that as you browse the forums some will be more active than others.

Sign in today and get connected! For more information or any questions, email customerprograms@ca.com.

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Top Three Support FAQs for Testing Tools

1. How to install/apply Cumulative Maintenance for the Testing Tools products
   
   Information pertaining to the installation and maintenance of the Testing Tools products can be found on the Support.ca.com site.
   
   Step one is to review the UPGRAD solution and determine what the latest maintenance level is. For example, Intertest's UPGRAD solution is GI93444. After reviewing the UPGRAD solution you should visit the download center found on CA Support Online to download the cumulative PTFs mentioned on the UPGRAD solution. This maintenance is ONLY available on the download center.
   
   The instructions for applying the cumulative maintenance can be found on the Intertest for CICS page. Look at the Recommended Reading section - Technical document index. See TEC384903 "basic steps to installation cumulative maintenance".
   
   
2. How to install multiple Protsym files and why should I do so?
   
   First, you need to modify IN25OPTS. The SYMFIL parameter specifies the CICS file definition names for the CA InterTest for CISC symbolic files. Enter the DDnames for every symbolic file you wish to install.
   
   Refer to Step 12 in the installation process for creating the symbolic file(s). The step must be run for defined in IN25OPTS. This defines and initializes the file(s).
   
   Create an FCT entry for each symbolic file. The SYMFLE parameter defines the files to CA Intertest and determines search order of those file. It is also a good idea to install the demos into a separate file rather than mix them in with client application programs - this saves space in the client's protsym files for their own programs, and avoids having old copies of the demos in the client applications (leading to a possible date/time mismatch). Also, when installing a new release of CA Intertest, just create the new demo protsym file, unloading the new demo programs into it and carry the other application symbolic files over.
   
   
3. Multiple products use the TFMSYM component, if I install more then one product that uses it, do I need to install this component again?
   
   This component is shipped as part of five of the testing tools products. These products are CA Intertest™ for CICS, CA Symdump® for CICS, CA Intertest™ Batch Symdump Batch and Optimizer/II. If you are licensed for more than one of these products it is not necessary to install the TFMSYM component more than once. Installing it once eliminates the need to maintain multiple versions of the same component and the resulting redundant application of maintenance. A single installation also eliminates the possibility of running multiple maintenance levels of this component, which can lead to confusion and possible reporting of already known problems.

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White Paper: CA Opens the Black Box: Adding Mainframe Focus to End-to-End
Application Performance Management
Enterprise Mgmt. Assocs., April 02, 2008

CA Opens the Black Box: Adding Mainframe Focus to End-to-End Application Performance Management

This EMA analyst report on end-to-end application performance management highlights CA's Application Quality and Performance Management solutions for both Web and Mainframe applications, with particular focus on the integration of CA Wily with AQM Solutions' TRILOGexpert APC for TriTune with Performance Desktop. This combination opens up the "black box" of Web-to-main-frame transactions, providing visibility essential to effectively addressing end-to-end application performance management.

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White Paper: CA Application Quality Management and Testing Tools
Bloor Research, April 15, 2008

CA Application Quality Management and Testing Tools

Automated application quality assurance and testing are fundamental to the delivery of the service levels and managed risks that are essential to delivering business outcomes you can depend on. In this context, CA's mainframe Application Quality Management and Testing Tools send very strong messages: the tools are being actively developed and, where appropriate, integrated with equivalent tools on the distributed platforms, to help companies deliver holistic, automated, business services.

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Automated AQM - Automate Labor-Intensive Application Performance Tuning
Mission-critical mainframe applications are vital for many corporations. Constant growth in business volumes and the increasing contributions of Web-based systems are placing greater demands on mainframe resources and the skilled technicians who manage them. Millions of dollars are wasted each year by inefficient and poorly performing applications that consume more processing resources than necessary. Now, more than ever, there is heightened need to ensure that vital business applications operate at the highest levels of efficiency, not only to meet service objectives, but to control IT processing costs. Few IT organizations have enough technical resources or expertise to effectively manage the efficiency and performance of their entire production application workload. Most pay little attention to application efficiency until serious performance problems force them into action - an approach commonly referred to as "fire-fighting".

With Automated AQM by TRILOGexpert, which includes TRILOGexpert TriTune and TRILOGexpert APC for TriTune with Performance Desktop, CA provides an advanced solution for proactive Application Quality Management. Automated AQM helps you meet your IT goals and may achieve significant cost savings through an automated process for managing application quality and performance. The automated solution helps discover unnecessary resource consumption and concealed tuning opportunities before performance problems arise.

By pursuing a proactive strategy for optimizing application performance, you can improve customer service, facilitate service level agreements and save costs normally associated with hardware and software upgrades. Instead of just fighting the symptoms, Automated AQM helps you find the root cause for excessive resource demand of applications in production automatically and easily.

Automated AQM helps you to:

• Concentrate on Fire Prevention instead of Fire Fighting
• Find the root causes of resource demand instead of fighting the symptoms
• Obtain an integrated view on performance data vs. an isolated view
• Find concealed tuning opportunities instead of finding only what you know anyway
• Optimize mainframe application performance in production automatically instead of manually

We invite you to read more about Automated AQM in the following articles:

• Firefighting vs. Fire Prevention: The Benefits of Automated Application Quality Management (217 KB PDF)
• The Genius of Automated Application Quality Management (268 KB PDF)
• Top Ten Reasons to Implement Automated Application Quality Management (27 KB PDF)

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Top Ten Reasons to Implement Automated Application Quality Management By Osman Aykut
Automated application quality management (AQM) is a collection of processes and tools designed to enable predictable, measurable, and - perhaps most important - optimal application performance and availability. AQM came about when it was recognized no single management product, or suite of products could solely assure application quality. A different approach emerged as a combination of precisely-engineered processes and the deliberate deployment of suites of critical application tools. Evolving alongside other IT disciplines - including infrastructure quality management (IQM) and data quality management (DQM) - AQM is an emerging approach geared towards the next-generation IT initiatives. This article explores 10 reasons why companies should consider implementing AQM in their IT environments.

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CA Enterprise Tester™ Now Has a New Documentation Set With a Searchable Index
CA is pleased to announce that the new CA Enterprise Tester documentation set has a bookshelf and a searchable index that helps you locate information across the documentation set faster. You can download this set of searchable PDF files from support.ca.com today.

The updated documentation set was added in direct response to customer requests, and the searchable index gives you additional functionality. The original documentation set for CA Enterprise Tester was created when there was no technology supporting searchable indexes so, before this offering, these guides were only available in hardcopy or as scanned PDF files with no indexing.

CA has converted the existing manuals to PDF files with a full-text index. This index gives you the capability of searching for words and phrases so you can quickly locate the information you need regardless of which guide it is in. If you do not want to use the full-text index, you can now search through an individual guide to locate information in it.

Check out the new PDFs and the searchable index on CA Support Online. You can find them in the Download Center. Select Documentation/Manuals as the type of download and then
CA Enterprise Tester as the product.

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Downloading Documentation On The New Online Support System
Documentation and Manuals are online in Adobe PDF format. To locate the guides, follow these instructions:

1. On the Web, go to ca.com/support. The CA Support page opens.
2. From the table of contents on the left, select Technical Support. The CA Support Online page opens.
3. Enter a CA Support Online user ID and password, and click Log in. The CA Support Online page re-opens, and you are logged in.
4. Scroll down and select Documentation from the Download Resources section. The Download Center page opens with Documentation/Manuals preselected.
5. Select the following options from the drop-down lists and click Go.
   • Product = <Product Name>
   • Language = <Language>
   • Release = <release-number>

The Documentation & Manual Downloads page opens.

The Documentation & Manual Downloads page displays all of the guides for the Product and Release you selected. You can open or download the most current version of each guide in the documentation set from this page.

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Find Quick Links to Popular Download Functions At The Download Resources Area
See Download Resources via the New Online Support System page for Quick Links to popular download functions:

• Published Solutions
• Documentation
• Products
• Virus Signatures
• Product Trials

For all download options, visit the Download Center.

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Contact and Support Essentials On The New Online Support System
Visit the Contact and Support Essentials page located at the left navigation menu on the CA Support Online System for information regarding Contacting Technical Support, Technical Support Policies and Additional Support Resources including CA Education, CA Technology Services™ Extended Support (formerly known as Lifeline), Enhanced Beta Program and FTP Server Login.

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Open a Case or View Your Cases
You can open a case or view cases by simply clicking on the Open a Case link or View Cases link at the left navigation menu on the CA Support Online System.

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Automatic Notification of Hyper Solutions
Use this page to request automatic notification of hyper solutions that are considered critical for the proper operation of your CA product. The component list that is displayed represents the components and/or products for all of the licensed products for your site. You may request notifications for all components/products you are licensed for or only for selected ones.

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CA's Official Statement Regarding the New Daylight Saving Time Change
(Last Updated: February 27, 2008)
For Daylight Saving Time (DST) information with respect to CA's products, please choose the option based on your Maintenance Status with CA.

Subscribers with a CA Maintenance Agreement. (Last Updated: February 27, 2008)
Note: Subscribers with a CA Maintenance Agreement will need to logon to support.ca.com to view the latest DST information.

Subscribers without a current CA Maintenance Agreement. (Last Updated: February 27, 2008)

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Join Us at CA World® 2008
Registration is now open for CA World 2008, taking place November 16 - 20, 2008 at the Venetian Las Vegas and Sands Expo and Convention Center. CA World is the largest gathering of CA customers and partners globally, all focused on the effective and efficient management of the IT environment. This year we continue our drive to deliver the promise of IT management to the business from a strategic, managerial and technical perspective.

The CA Application Quality and Testing Tools team is planning many sessions. Just a sampling of the topics includes the following:

• Our product line opening session, where the development team provides insight on our recent releases and our roadmap for the future.
• Tips and tricks to maximize your use of CA InterTest™, CA SymDump®, CA File Master™ Plus and CA File Master™ Plus for IMS.
• A customer session about the benefits and productivity improvements experienced by using the integration between the CA Application Quality and Testing Tools and CA Software Change Manager for Mainframe (formerly known as CA Endevor® Change Manager).
• Customer sessions about the return on investment (ROI) gained through the use of TRILOGexpert TriTune and TRILOGexpert APC for TriTune with Performance Desktop.
• An interactive customer panel about their conversion experiences from other vendor testing tools to CA. If you have just a few of the CA Application Quality and Testing Tools and are thinking of switching from other vendors and consolidating to the CA mainframe quality and testing solutions, you will not want to miss this session.

CA World 2008 promises to deliver tangible business value and technical training that you can use long after the event. Early bird registration discounts, as well as discounts for Testing Tools PLC members, are available. Register today.

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CA Application Quality and Testing Tools at the IBM Impact 2008 Conference
If you had the opportunity to attend the IBM IMPACT 2008 conference - IBM's annual conference for service oriented architecture (SOA) - from April 6 -10, 2008, you may have seen CA in the solution center or attended our testing tools session, "Managing Application Quality in Today's SOA World."

The CA "Managing Application Quality in Today's SOA World" session focused on how the mainframe is evolving to support today's IT changes and complexities and how you can use CA Application Quality and Testing Solutions as you extend your applications to Web Services and SOA.

If you would like to know more about how our tools are helping you extend your mainframe applications to Web Services and SOA, please see our product roadmaps on the CA Support Online web site.

You will need your login and password to access the roadmaps, which can be found on the individual product pages such as CA InterTest™, CA SymDump®, CA File Master™ Plus, CA File Master™ Plus for IMS, CA Verify®, and others.

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CA Application Quality and Testing Tools At The SHARE Fall 2008 Conference
We invite you to join CA at the SHARE Fall 2008 Conference, August 10 - 15, 2008, in San Jose, California.

Visit the CA Application Quality and Testing Tools in the CA booth to learn about our new releases of CA InterTest™, CA SymDump® and CA File Master™ Plus for IMS, as well as the recent additions to the testing tools product line that focus on application performance management - TRILOGexpert TriTune and TRILOGexpert APC for TriTune with Performance Desktop. We will be available for one-on-ones, demos and open discussions.

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On-Demand Webcast - Optimizing Web-to-Mainframe Performance of Critical Business Services
IT organizations today must provide optimum performance of their critical business services, many of which encompass multiple systems and technologies - everything from mainframes to J2EE and .NET to Web services. Dealing with application components in isolation rarely allows organizations to take full advantage of their existing investments, and may result in unacceptable delays in executing business. Moreover, when there is a problem, the business cannot determine which customers, users and businesses are being impacted, while IT struggles to identify and resolve the problem.

This webcast will explain how end-to-end transaction visibility and proactive monitoring can enable you to detect and remediate issues quickly and collaboratively in order to achieve a competitive edge in customer satisfaction with higher ROI. You'll see how integrating J2EE, .NET, and SOA performance monitoring capabilities with deep mainframe performance insight can help you achieve the optimum performance that your customers demand.

Discover how organizations like yours have been able to:

• Predict performance problems before customers are affected
• Achieve deep visibility into complex SOA Web environments
• Achieve a single point of visibility into all relevant performance metrics
• Correlate web performance metrics with mainframe performance metrics
• Improve performance tuning through sophisticated automation

Sign up today for this valuable on-demand webcast to learn how integrated web-to-mainframe performance management can help you achieve higher levels of availability, performance and customer success rates.

We also encourage you to learn more about Automated Quality Management by reading the Product Brief.

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On-Demand Webcast Replay for: CA InterTest™ Batch r8, CA InterTest™ for CICS r8 and CA SymDump®
Click here to register for the Webcast replay.

This Webcast includes a review of the new features in CA InterTest Batch r8, CA InterTest for CICS r8 and CA SymDump® for CICS r8, including:

• Support for IBM CICS Transaction Server 3.2
• Exploitation of Web-enablement application and services features found in IBM CICS Transaction Server 3.1
• Nested DB2 stored procedure debugging
• Enhanced trace capability, enabling viewing of historical values of COBOL variables
• "After" breakpoint support
• 64-bit support
• Dynamic symbolic support for CA Software Change Manager for Mainframe

Additionally, this webcast includes a discussion of the new features found in IBM CICS Transaction Server 3.2 and the use of IBM CICS Transaction Server 3.2 with the following CA Application Quality and Testing Tools:

• CA InterTest for CICS
• CA SymDump for CICS
• CA Verify® for CICS
• CA SymDump System
• CA Date Simulator
• CA FileSave™ RCS Automated Recovery
• CA DADS™ Plus for CICS

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Webcast: CA File Master™ Plus for IMS: Managing your IMS Data just got Easier
June 12, 2008
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. EDT
Duration 60 min.

Come and learn about how you can use CA File Master Plus for IMS - CA's new data management tool for IMS - to effectively and easily browse, edit and update your test and production data. Powerful features include support for IMS Version 10, robust online and batch segment selection and filtering, standard and custom record layouts, a change log feature, and a graphical database chart - enabling you to more easily view and understand your data segment hierarchy. Don't miss your chance to see CA's new product for yourself.

Register now.

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