Xpediter vs. Intertest
KEN JOHNSTON
earlier but since we had Intertest and didn't look like we were thinking about
switching, I didn't read 100% of the posts.
Now we get a call from Compuware about Xpediter (mgmt got the call, not me)
and saying that alot of folks out there are switching from Intertest to
their Xpediter product.
My question, then, is how many of you out there made this switch? Is
Xpediter that much better than Intertest? Do you/should you get the
other prodcuts that go with it, e.g. Abend-aid.
Any help would be greatly appreciated and most likeky time saving!
Ken
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KEN JOHNSTON BITNET: SSVKJ@TJUVM
CICS SOFTWARE ANALYST INTERNET: SS...@TJUVM.TJU.EDU
THOMAS JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY ATTNET: (215) 955-2569
PHILADELPHIA, PA FAXNET: (215) 955-4336
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Phillip L. Jones
>Xpediter that much better than Intertest? Do you/should you get the
We switched a couple years ago, it was almost a no-brainer. We wanted
something for batch after having Intertest for CICS for many years and
Xpediter just blew the doors off of Intertest. I installed both the batch and
CICS Xpediter products and told the programmers to use them and let me know.
No one wanted Intertest after using Xpediter, and this included many
Intertest-fluent people. The main reasons were: 1) ease-of-use 2)similarity
of the CICS and batch products interfaces and commands. About the time we
were doing this, we got demo disks from Online Software demoing the new
Intertest-Batch. Just pitiful. We also looked at Debug-Aid and didn't even
want to trial that, Xpediter was just too good.
But, not all good things last.
Centura Software (the Xpediter vendor) was gobbled up by Compuware and ever
since, things have just gone downhill. Compuware is a mini-CA. They are
killing the original Xpediter, replacing it with Debug-Aid under the guise of
the Xpediter name. Its NOT what we wanted, but its what we ended up with.
We are running the last true Centura versions of Xpediter/TSO/CICS. The newer
versions of both products NO LONGER HAVE THE SAME INTERFACE! The main reason
we bought the products in the first place! What I mean by this is the CICS
product no longer uses the same commands/look-and-feel as the TSO piece.
We have the newer stuff installed but not in a production mode.
Yeah, I have griped about it but was told it was an executive-type decision to
kill off Xpediter. (If you can't beat 'em, buy 'em, then kill 'em).
Our marketingperson has told me that sometime in the future the two products
will get back to using a similar interface but it will take a while. The
grand scheme is to incorporate the best features of Debug-Aid and Xpediter
into one product. Privately, I was told they know Xpediter is/was a better
product but since Compuware swallowed Centura and not the other way round,
this is the way things worked out. GRRRRR!
So, now we are running back-level versions of the two with little hope of
things getting better. We are also Abend-Aid customers, batch and CICS, and
having been the sysprog for them for over eight years, I can say that the
level of tech-support help I have gotten from Compuware in the last several
years is not what it was early on. In fact, I had one problem with CICS
Abendaid open FOR SIX MONTHS! (I still have the problem number on that one).
They were causing storage violations and I sent dump after dump and they sat
on them. Like I said, a mini-CA.
I will say that AbendAid is a good product that really performs a needed
service well. And, since I only have contact with the old Centura people on
Xpediter problems (because we run back-level), they are very helpful and I
have only good things to say about their work.
My opinions alone,
-Phil Jones/CICS Sysprog/Reynolds Metals Co, Richmond, VA.
Currently running Xpediter/TSO 5.2 and Xpediter/CICS 3.1
Michael Niehaus
Date: 05/23/94
From: Michael T. Niehaus FWH - DOMESTIC
To: CICS-L List I1010839 - IBMMAIL
Subject: Re: Xpediter vs. Intertest
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We recently evaluated Xpediter, and were very close to pulling the plug on
Intertest and buying it. Due to budgeting constraints, we didn't (and
even more -- we cancelled maintenance on Intertest) due to the fact that
we only had a handfull of people using the product on our large machine
(hence expensive software).
Compuware ensured us that installation would be easy (it was) and that we
would have few problems. Well, we did have several problems, but a small
army of technical support people worked on them. If they respond this well
to paying customers, I would say that their technical support is excellent.
Xpediter was weak with PL/1 support (a newer, more capable version should
be out now), and had some problems with storage protection (it isn't quite
as complete as Intertest, especially when turned on region-wide --
Compuware seems puzzled when they hear people want to do this).
Overall, though, Xpediter's easy-to-use interface, system administration
capabilities, along with the extra bells and whistles (browsing temp
storage lists and the actual queues, VSAM files cmini-File Aid!, system
programmer facilities, etc.) made it an easy winner.
Our programmers were sold on it quickly, claiming that they achieved
noticeable productivity gains when using it. We (systems programmers)
liked the "toys" that came with it.
It bothers me that Intertest seems to be "cruising". They haven't made
any significant enhancements to the product in some time. Xpediter is
evolving. The batch product (which we didn't evaluate) still appears to
have a little catching up to do (it seems to be a version behind the CICS
product, interface and feature-wise), but it too looked like an excellent
product.
-Michael Niehaus
IT Specialist
Marathon Oil Company
Sorrel Jakins
>
> Centura Software (the Xpediter vendor) was gobbled up by Compuware
and ever
> since, things have just gone downhill. Compuware is a mini-CA.
They are
> killing the original Xpediter, replacing it with Debug-Aid under
the guise of
> the Xpediter name. Its NOT what we wanted, but its what we ended
up with.
>
>
said it again ;-)
Let's not confuse Compuware and CA.
CA is a marketing organization. As such, they'll buy up a product,
suck the lifetime dollars out of it, then go on to look for newer
pastures with yet more products to buy up. Thus, they will tolerate,
and even encourage limited competition.
Compuware, on the other hand, buys up products in order to gain a
monopolistic stranglehold over the competition. They kill products.
I'm still sulking because they bought up IBM's CICS debugger as well
as Landmark's Eyewitness, just so's their <inferior> product CICS
abend-aid could be number 1 by default. At ground zero, no-one can
hear you scream. Maybe Canter and See-gel could get into the
antitrust business....
api...@hursley.ibm.com
>
>We switched a couple years ago, it was almost a no-brainer. We wanted
>something for batch after having Intertest for CICS for many years and
>Xpediter just blew the doors off of Intertest.
I'm interested in learning about the batch capabilities of these products.
When you say 'batch', are you talking about JES batch, or CICS ATI tasks running
without a terminal? In the case of JES batch, how is the debug information presented
to the user... is it interactive, or does it work on some sort of commands-file/report
mechanism?
Tony Piner.