Letter from our CEO

August 2019

It is summer time here in the Northern Hemisphere. The temperature is hot, the humidity is high, and things are as busy as ever in and around Rocket. Some notable coming attractions:

Our newly renovated headquarters facility in Waltham, MA is coming online at the end of August. We have been opening our new space in phases, but the entire project will be completed in just a few weeks. All Rocketeers based in Waltham will be able to enjoy our new open and collaborative space then.

Even more exciting is the opening of our Executive Briefing Center. We have held three major internal events over the past few weeks, which allowed us to work out all of the bugs and become fluent in our new space and with our new technology. Our EBC was home to over 200 Rocket.Build attendees back in June. It then hosted over 150 Rocketeers for our mid-year sales summit. And in between we broadcast our CEO Town Hall to 1,400 Rocketeers around the world. I hope to see you at an event in our new EBC soon!

We are going to be at SHARE in Pittsburgh beginning August 4. You can meet us there at our booth in the expo hall. And we hope to see you in one of our conference sessions. Similar to last year, Rocketeers will be there to show you and talk about Zowe, the first open source platform for IBM zSystems/OS.

In line with our mission to put customers and partners first, we are also preparing for our upcoming Rocket President’s Advisory Council (RPAC) events in Japan, London, and Paris. These RPAC events are small, intimate gatherings where you set the agenda with Rocket leaders and help direct our R&D investments. Earlier this year, we held a RPAC event where we had the chance to listen to our customers’ issues and offer insight about our latest releases. It was a great day full of open communication and information sharing. Building on that success, we are especially excited to be bringing RPAC to Asia and Europe, where we can gather people from across the globe to talk about the trends and topics that matter most to them right now. I have found that the simple act of making time to engage face to face has resulted in some amazing opportunities and discoveries. In fact, some of our best ideas have come out of the experiences at RPAC events. We look forward to starting more conversations and sparking new, great ideas with you in Japan, London, and Paris. Let us know if you are interested in participating at an RPAC event and having a voice in setting our technology direction.

Andrew J. Youniss
President and CEO, Rocket Software, Inc.

Here are a few songs that capture the energy of summer as we look forward to connecting with our customers abroad:

“Summer Breeze,” The Isley Brothers A cover of the Seals and Crofts original, this version by The Isley Brothers brings a soul-rock edge that features a standout guitar solo and perfectly blends the group’s harmonies.

“Rockaway Beach,” Ramones Written by bassist Dee Dee Ramone, “Rockaway Beach” takes the surf song genre and turns it on its head, injecting the band’s signature punk energy into an infectious tune.

“A Hazy Shade of Winter,” The Bangles For our friends in the southern hemisphere, who are in the middle of winter, this rocked up version of Simon & Garfunkel’s 1966 song has a summery feel that’s driven by giant riffs and an insistent beat.

“Summer In The City,” Lovin’ Spoonful Released on the 4th of July in 1966, this instant hit captures the energy of the city in the summer with the incorporation of car horns and traffic sounds.