February 9 -- Wauwatosa, Wisconsin - Guest speaker David Gibbs will be presenting two sessions at the monthly meeting of the Wisconsin Midrange Computer Professional Association. Gibbs, the owner and administrator of the well-known email-based discussion forum called midrange.com, will talk about email security in a session beginning at 4:30 p.m. and at 7:30 p.m. will discuss RPG and Java integration. In between his sessions there will be dinner and networking. The meeting will be held at Alioto's Restaurant located at 3041 North Mayfair Road. LEARN MORE >

February 9 -- Ft. Lauderdale, Florida - This free educational workshop on RPG application modernization relies on hands-on experience working with RPG applications running on an IBM i. It features Open Access RPG--which means all RPG programming logic and file I/O remains on the IBM i--and ASNA Wings, a tool for converting green screens into browser-based replacements. ASNA plans on taking this workshop on a tour of U.S. cities. It calls it the "No Stinkin' Screen Scrapers Here Tour," and promises more than a PowerPoint presentation with a donut and a cup of coffee. The session will cover the basics of IBM Rational Open Access, an introduction to Microsoft's Visual Studio, how to use Wings to import and create browser-based alternatives to your green-screen display files, and ways to enhance the user experience. The workshop is scheduled from 9:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. LEARN MORE >

February 9 - Webinar - Web-enabling quotes, orders, and human resources documents that integrate with your ERP system for one-time data capture and entry gets the attention in this online session hosted by RJS Software and featuring that company's software of data collection and workflow. The use of digital signatures and routing forms through business processes are also on the agenda. The session begins at 11 a.m. CST. LEARN MORE >

February 9 -- Maryland Heights, Missouri - Craig Pelke, producer of training and instructional materials for IBM i developers, will discuss Microsoft SQL Server features that can be used with the IBM i platform at the monthly meeting of the Gateway/400 Group, a System i user group serving the greater St. Louis area. Topics will include replicating data from IBM i to SQL Server or from SQL Server to the IBM i, components of IBM i Access for Windows that are used to connect to SQL Server, how to define and use a Linked Server, how to run SQL commands using the Linked Server, how to use the SQL Server Agent and the SQLCMD command. SQL Server Reporting Services and SQL Server Integration Services are also on the agenda. Included with the session is a PDF that illustrates the steps used to create a Linked Server and run SQL commands over it. This lunch meeting at Spazio Westport will start promptly at noon, with the meeting starting at 1 p.m. RSVP by noon on Monday, February 6. LEARN MORE >

February 14 -- Fort Wayne, Indiana - This meeting of the Status Midrange User Group will feature a presentation on getting started with PHP on IBM i. Guest speaker is Mike Pavlak, a solutions consultant at Zend Technologies. Topics include software installation, configuration, troubleshooting, and basic PHP script creation. Participants will learn how to enable DB2 content quickly and easily using PHP, the world's most popular Web scripting language. The meeting (morning rather than evening) will be held at Don Halls' Guesthouse located at 1313 West Washington Center Road. It begins at 7:30 a.m. LEARN MORE >

February 15 -- Webinar - Warehouse operations and inventory management using VAI S2K software is the topic of this online session. Topics included in this presentation include: greater control, increased accuracy, reduced costs, boosting productivity and enhanced security. The session begins at 2 p.m. EST. LEARN MORE >

February 16 -- Webinar - Business analytics software is one of the most talked about areas in IT. Connecting people with information in an easy-to-use way and gaining more value form enterprise data leads to better business decisions. In this session, VAI S2K Analytics software is featured. The presentation begins at 2 p.m. EST. LEARN MORE >

February 20 -- Norwalk, Connecticut - At the Fairfield AS/400 Users Group monthly meeting this month guest speaker Walden Leverich explores the Web beginning with what initiates a request to the communications that occur between the browser and the Web server. His session topics include what happens when users complete a form, how cookies are passed, the inner workings of secure HTTPS, and what goes into writing stable, high performance Web applications. Leverich is president and CEO of a software development and consulting company. FASUG meetings are held at the Norwalk Inn, 99 East Avenue, and begin at 5 p.m. LEARN MORE >

February 21 -- Irving, Texas - Using RPG open access to extend applications is on the agenda during the monthly meeting of the Metro Midrange Systems Association, a user group for the Dallas and Fort Worth metro areas. Guest speaker Barbara Morris is the lead developer for the RPG compiler in the IBM Toronto Lab. Her presentation will include the basic concepts of RPG OA, how it can be used to modernize existing applications and how it can simplify writing new applications to work with new resources and devices. Morris will also show the various stages of development starting from a trivial one-liner that always returns the same result, to an open access "handler" that can be used to access data returned by the Web service. The event begins at 5:30 p.m. with dinner at 6 and Morris' presentation at 7. MMSA meetings are held at the Dallas - IBM Innovation Center located at 13800 Diplomat Drive. LEARN MORE >

February 21 -- Costa Mesa, California - Two presentations are featured at the regular monthly meeting of the OCEAN User Group. Beginning at 5:15 p.m., toolkits for PHP Web application development will be covered by PHP specialist Mike Pavlak of Zend Technologies. At 7:30, electronic data management gets the spotlight with Lori Johnston of S4i Systems leading the discussion. Dinner and networking is scheduled between the presentations. The meeting location is the IBM South Coast Office located at 600 Anton Boulevard. LEARN MORE >

February 21 -- Southfield, Michigan - An Identifying the causes of stress and using several practical tools to avoid and manage it both on and off the job will be on the agenda at the regularly scheduled local user group meeting of the Southeast Michigan iSeries User Group. Guest speaker is stress management counselor Donna May. The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. and will be held at IBM Southfield offices located at 18000 West Nine Mile Road. LEARN MORE >

February 21 -- Atlanta, Georgia - A discussion of IBM ILE and open source toolkits are on the agenda at the Atlanta Mid-range Computer Users monthly meeting. Throstur Gudmundsson, the AMCU vice president of education, will present his views about the merits of open Web technologies, and how they can help transform the ILE environment into the modern world. He will also demonstrate practical examples using some of the same Web technologies that IBM has chosen for Websphere Application Servers. But instead of using WebSphere, this method connects directly to ILE programs through the Apache Web Server that is included in the basic IBM i software licenses. This session will be presented twice: one at noon and the other at 6 p.m. Both sessions will take place at Brio Tuscan Grille located at 700 Ashwood Parkway. LEARN MORE >

February 22 -- Webinar - RPG Open Access is widely recognized as one of many application modernization technologies. But what is it exactly? This presentation by IBM and application tool vendor Profound Logic takes on some of the myths and misconceptions about RPG OA. The presentation begins at 10 a.m. PST. LEARN MORE >

February 22 -- Webinar - Planning a green screen to Web modernization project means having some well-defined goals. In this session, RPG expert Bob Cozzi discusses five key decisions that have a substantial impact on modernization success. Cozzi will emphasize defining the scope of the project along with determining a timeline, budget, and staffing. The session begins at 1 p.m. EST. LEARN MORE >

February 22 -- Webinar - Overcoming serious security issues involving standard FTP gets the attention in this online session that discusses alternatives to FTP that will protect data transfers with strong encryption and modern authentication methods. Topics include meeting privacy policies and compliance requirements like PCI DSS, SOX, and HIPAA; the advantages and differences between FTPS and SFTP secure protocols; authenticating servers using passwords, keys and certificates; and using Open PGP to encrypt files at rest and on the move. Recommendations and tips for implementation of Linoma Software will also be included. The presentation begins at noon CST. LEARN MORE >

February 22 -- Woodbury, New York - The Long Island Systems Users Group monthly meeting includes two presentations. The first is a session on mobile application development that covers the tools and skills required to develop a native application as well as techniques for incorporating remote data into the application, whether it is from an IBM i or another platform. David Weissman, a programmer and analyst, is the speaker. His presentation begins at 5 p.m. The second session dives into writing stable, high performance Web applications. It includes topics such as what happens when users complete an online form, how cookies are passed, and the inner workings of secure HTTPS. This session is presented by Walden Leverich, president and CEO of a software development and consulting company. Between the two sessions is dinner and networking time. LISUG meetings are held at the Fox Hollow Inn located at 7725 Jericho Turnpike. LEARN MORE >

February 23 -- Webinar - Managed file transfer (MFT) solutions that help AIX shops move beyond the many problems of scripting are the focus of this session hosted by Linoma Software. Topics of discussion include knowing when the AIX shell script fails, ensuring that files and passwords are secure, providing audit trails, and adhering to regulatory compliance mandates. The session begins at noon CST. LEARN MORE >

February 24 -- Las Vegas, Nevada - This free educational workshop on RPG application modernization relies on hands-on experience working with RPG applications running on an IBM i. It features Open Access RPG--which means all RPG programming logic and file I/O remains on the IBM i--and ASNA Wings, a tool for converting green screens into browser-based replacements. ASNA plans on taking this workshop on a tour of U.S. cities. It calls it the "No Stinkin' Screen Scrapers Here Tour," and promises more than a PowerPoint presentation with a donut and a cup of coffee. The session will cover the basics of IBM Rational Open Access, an introduction to Microsoft's Visual Studio, how to use Wings to import and create browser-based alternatives to your green-screen display files, and ways to enhance the user experience. The workshop is scheduled from 9:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. LEARN MORE >

February 23 -- Webinar - Providing a sales team with real-time access to customer and product information, anytime and anywhere they need it is a priority IT agenda item for many companies. This session covers topics such as product catalog searches, checking price and availability, viewing related products, new products, and current promotions. Also covered are tracking quotes, customer orders, and reviewing a customer's order status. VAI S2K Sales Force software and S2K Enterprise software are featured in this event, which begins at 2 p.m. EST. LEARN MORE >

March 7 -- Webinar - This online session details how an ERP software company transformed its application to meet the requirements of an evolving customer base. It specifically address three key challenges facing all IBM i users: transforming green-screen applications to browser-based applications with a graphical user interface quickly and on budget, escaping the limitations of 5250 screens, and bringing these projects to a successful completion. The session begins at 2 p.m. EST. LEARN MORE >

March 12-14 -- Orlando, Florida - At the Gartner Portals, Content and Collaboration Summit you'll find plenty of attention given to the mobile workforce, social networking, and the increasing reliance on the Web for nearly every kind of interaction and transaction. Topics on the agenda include improving the user experience, managing content, launching social initiatives, transitioning to mobile environments, and understanding cloud and SaaS options. The full agenda can be found online. LEARN MORE >

March 26-28 -- Fort Worth, Texas - The RPG & DB2 Summit focuses on the skills needed for daily work such as RPG IV, SQL, DB2, ILE, PHP, Web-enablement techniques, and new sessions on mobilizing RPG apps. Optional half-day Headstart Seminars are available March 25 with intensive concentration on four topics. Early registration pricing of $1,095 extends through February 10. Headstart seminars are priced at $215 for one, or $295 for two. Instructors include Jon Paris, Susan Gantner, Paul Tuohy, Skip Marchesani, Scott Klement, Kent Milligan, Mike Cain, Barbara Morris, Mike Pavlak and Aaron Bartell. LEARN MORE >

April 4 & 5 -- Chicago, Illinois - The Aberdeen Supply Chain Management Summit presents best practices, strategic processes, and business improvements as well as a product and service exhibition area. In many companies, senior management is looking for the supply chain organization to deliver more than efficiency. It is being asked to deliver innovative cost reduction strategies to promote growth and present a market strategy differentiator. A session agenda including sessions, keynote addresses, and executive panel discussions is available online. LEARN MORE >

April 10 -- Fort Wayne, Indiana - A one-day workshop focused on Rational Developer for Power Systems and Remote System Explorer is being presented by RPG experts Jon Paris and Susan Gantner. The agenda will include an emphasis on productivity features for developing RPG code, tips for getting started, keyboard shortcuts, debugging, RPD installation, and lab exercises for hands-on experience. LEARN MORE >

April 23 & 24, 2012 -- San Antonio, Texas - ASNApalooza is an ASNA software user event primarily aimed at application development for IBM i environments transitioning to browser-based apps in .NET Windows and Web environments. The main focus is providing guidance for ASNA's AVR Classic and Visual RPG customers who have green-screen applications and are looking for tips and techniques for designing and implementing browser-based apps. Additional ASNA technology and Microsoft Windows 8 will be on the agenda, too. Expect to find multiple sessions on core construction techniques, Web enablement, and client-side Web work with JavaScript. Early registration discounts are in effect until December 31. LEARN MORE >

May 5-9, 2012 -- Anaheim, California - The COMMON 2012 Annual Meeting and Exposition features four days of in-depth IBM i-, AIX-, and Linux-related education that includes all-day pre-conference workshops, open labs, and a wide variety of regular-length sessions. More than 500 educational sessions are structured by major topic area (Courses of Study). Experts with hands-on experience teach all sessions. Preconference workshops are scheduled for May 5, with the main conference running May 6-9. The Power Systems expo area is expected to include 80 vendors, including IBM. The COMMON IT Executive Conference schedule begins May 6 and concludes May 8. Early registration discounts for either conference are available through December 31. The Disneyland Resort is the host hotel. LEARN MORE >