BIM-Epic® lets you take full advantage of VSE/ESA & VSE. In addition to the BIM-Epic® Catalog used for DASD and Tape DSN definitions, a secondary catalog is used for common work files (compiler work files and SORTWK areas) and user-designated temporary files. This secondary catalog can reside on virtual disk or on a different DASD from the main catalog, which alleviates unnecessary catalog overhead and gives you improved overall system performance. Also, BIM-Epic allows you to redirect temporary datasets to a virtual disk, which saves time and reduces I/O.

To relieve below-the-32bit-line-SVA storage constraints, BIM-Epic has moved several phases and control blocks into 32-bit SVA space.

For quick and easy catalog management, BIM-Epic® has an Online BIM-Epic® Catalog Management system. With this facility, you can:

• Display and manage the BIM-Epic® catalog

• Define BIM-Epic® dataset definitions

• Maintain the BIM-Epic® system configuration

• Maintain BIM-Epic® on-line user profiles

• Display BIM-Epic® catalog statistics

BIM-Epic® provides user-definable, what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) displays in its online interface, so you can customize screens to suit your needs. Also, the online facility offers a comprehensive help system at both the function and field levels, to give you flexibility, superior functionality, and ease of use.

In addition to the Online Catalog management, BIM-Epic® offers a batch utility that lets you create a dataset, automatically catalog it, and modify the catalog.

BIM-Epic® lets you control tape drives under VM without having to manually attach and detach them when you use more than one VSE/ESA or VSE virtual machine. You can control ASCII and unlabeled tapes the same way you control tapes with standard labels. BIM-Epic®'s VM support includes automatic ATTACH/DETACH of tape drives and submission of CP commands through JCL. No modification of the CP Nucleus is required.

BIM-Epic® manages, secures, and reports on all aspects of a system's storage resources. Its auditing features include:

• Dataset status and usage reports

• Basic job accounting

• Activity logging by programs and partition

• Tape exception reports

Other BIM-Epic® optional security features include:

• Dataset lock, unlock and release

• Password security protection

• Data encryption

• Emergency recovery

Through its many automation features, BIM-Epic® lets you control the allocation, use, and release of DASD and Tape resources with maximum accuracy and efficiency. These features include:

• Automatic allocation of work files on tape or disk, for immediate recovery of the work area, once it is no longer needed

• Automatic volume recognition

• Automatic logical unit allocation, making JCL assign statements unnecessary

• Automatic dataset cataloging--BIM-EPIC can automatically catalog datasets that are created under its control. It also logs all activity of these datasets. You specify how long datasets should be retained and BIM-EPIC takes care of scratching them at the appropriate time.

• Job scheduling--BIM-EPIC's Job Management and Control Language (JMCL) helps you create a job control environment for your applications that can monitor itself and eliminate wasted processing time. You can easily implement conditional execution based on date, time, job completion, and condition codes. Job scheduling and intelligent JCL features include:

• Conditional job execution

• Conditional step execution

• Symbolic JCL replacement

• Job duration control

• Automatic job release

• DOS DD statements

BIM-Epic®'s tape facilities are designed to improve response at the operator console while increasing tape drive utilization. They include:

• Early tape drive release

• Multiple file and reel support

• Vault management subsystem

• Unlabeled tape support

• ASCII tape label support

• Tape label print support

BIM-Epic®'s disk facilities dramatically improve DASD space and channel utilization. They include:

• Automatic location of space--VSE/ESA or VSE EXTENT statements are no longer required.

• Rapid dataset allocation using BIM-EPIC's Quick Disk Allocation System

• Allocation by logical records

• Automatic secondary allocations

• Automatic equal file deletion

• Automatic file truncation

• DASD device independence

• File fragmentation

• Generation datasets

Full support for the following ACLs:

• IBM 3494

• IBM VTS

• STK Silo

• Sutmyn (Formerly Memorex)

Other tape products supported as ACLs:

• Barnard Systems OPTI-TAPE™

• BUSTECH MAS™

• FSI FakeTape™

• IBM VTAPE ( VSAM and Virtual Tape Server)

• Universal Software Virtual Tape Appliance (VTA)

BIM-Epic® runs faster than any other tape and disk manager. Other products constantly trap supervisor calls (SVCs), seize control, determine that no function is required and release control, only to repeat the process. BIM-Epic, on the other hand, gets control only when it is needed, which frees your CPU to do the work it was purchased for.

BIM-Epic® controls the allocation of tape drives and DASD, so they are not assigned to a job until actually needed. This leaves drives free for other partitions and CPUs. BIM-Epic® also offers:

• Offload/Onload functionality, to help manage disk space by migrating unused dataset versions to tape

• Automatic attach and detach, so drives can be shared among CPUs

• Disk pooling, to optimize disk device use

• Disk device independence, so jobs can run on both fixed block architecture (FBA) devices and count key data (CKD) devices without program or JCL modifications

Other BIM-Epic® performance optimization features include:

• Shared resources between partitions and real and virtual machines

• A catalog that can be shared across machines, real or virtual, and shared across operating systems with CA-EPIC/CMS

• Data record reblocking, without requiring changes to an application program

• Creation, retention, or elimination of multiple versions of a dataset

• Master index cataloging for large sites

• Interchangeable tape and disk storage media, without program recompilation or JCL changes

• Access to several files with a single program OPEN, as in MVS (concatenation)

• Automatic (real-time) purge of disk generations, based on cycle retention only

• Catalog report generation from catalog backups

• Less I/0 to Recorder File

• The catalog master index, which reduces read hit I/0 activities 30 to 80 percent, to provide greater access to data and more efficient CPU utilization

• A direct interface to SYNCSORT™ and IBM DFSORT

• Cartridge drive Fast Block Locate support