The Evolution of CICS

The Evolution of CICS: CICS - State of the Art (1976)

Preface: With each new version and release of the Customer Information Control System (CICS), the product introduced support of new or improved technologies. When reviewing the evolution of CICS, one has to remember the date of the product enhancement, and then consider the nature of the enhancement and why it was important at the time. This article examines the CICS "State of the Art" relevant in 1976.

CICS/VS 1.2 was both good news and bad news. With IBM's accelerated announcement and delivery of new technologies, such as virtual storage systems and the IBM 3270 Display Systems, IBM also moved aggressively to introduce support for System Network Architecture (SNA) and new terminal devices which utilized Synchronous Data Link Communication (SDLC). It was naturally expected that the CICS family of products (CICS/OS/VS and CICS/DOS/VS) would support these new advances.

CICS/VS 1.2 was announced in early 1976 and delivered in mid-year. It is worth noting that the 1.2 release was the last CICS release designed and devloped by CICS Development in Palo Alto, California, but delivered and supported by the IBM Lab at Hursley, England. IBM reorganized the missions of its various programming centers, sending VTAM support to Raliegh and PL/I support to Santa Teresa, both previous done at Hursley. In exchange, Hursley was given the CICS mission. A significant event in the history of CICS.

If a given account were very agressive and anxious to exploit the new SNA and SDLC support, then the content of the CICS/VS release was favorably received. For many accounts, however, their rapid movement through the CICS/VS Version 1 Releases 1.0, 1.0.1 and 1.1.1 left them hoping for a period of stability, and the skewed support of SNA and SLDC represented by 1.2 was not something that those customers were ready for.

CICS/VS 1.2 was a not a widely installed release. Many CICS accounts stabilized on CICS/VS 1.1.1 and did not move forward until the CICS/VS 1.3 product was announced and delivered. That is not so say that CICS/VS 1.2 was inferior in any way, but simply support that was way ahead of its time for most users. On receipt of the CICS mission, the Hursley Lab (Malcolm Beaver) promised never again would CICS ship a skewed release but instead each new CICS versin or release should contain balanced support across functional lines. With rare exception, this proved to be the case from 1976 to the present time.

CICS/VS 1.2 brought support of SNA networks and devices which used the new SDLC protocols. This new support represented numerous advantages to the user. Batch-like devices could be intermixed with interactive terminals on the same line. With new intelligent terminals such as the 3600, more work could be done at the device location, reducing processing load at the main processor. Communication line cost should be less given that more work could be done at the intelligent work station. Availability to the end user should improved given a local processing capability during periods when the communication line or mainframe was unavailable. Response time should also increase because of local device processing.

The CICS/VS 1.2 release was not all SNA/SDLC oriented. Other enhancements included in the release were such things as PA/PF keys for page retrieval, and chain assembly and logical record presentation for VTAM terminal.

A new CICS formatted dump capability assisted users with problem determination, and a new sample Node Error Program helped users determine what processing they wanted should a network error occur.

The support for new devices was extensive in the CICS/VS 1.2 release. CICS provided support for the 3767 (a keyboard/printer device), the 3770 (a batch or online device), the 3600 (a financial system) and the 3650 (a retail store system).

As comprehensive as the CICS/VS 1.2 release may have been, it was more a matter of too much too soon. The evolution of CICS would have to wait until the following year when CICS/VS 1.3 became available.

CICS - State of the Art (1976) Preface: With each new version and release of the Customer Information Control System (CICS), the product introduced support of new or improved technologies. When reviewing the evolution of CICS, one has to remember the date of the product enhancement, and then consider the nature of the enhancement and why it was important at the time. This article examines the CICS "State of the Art" relevant in 1976.

A new CICS formatted dump capability assisted users with problem determination, and a new sample Node Error Program helped users determine what processing they wanted should a network error occur.