Top OS/400 Stories from Around the Web

(IT Jungle) Somebody must have taken a page out of IBM's play book, because the one that involves migrations from X64 iron to Power-i/OS is missing. If, in fact, there is a strategy to put more X64 workloads on Power i, let's hope it actually gets talked about in more than backroom whispers. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) While Big Blue publicly revved its Power System engines in recent weeks, it also showed its skill at muffling talk that doesn't fit in well with the marketing roar. Not only did it do a magnificent job of downplaying its i operating system, it also skirted all mention of how the new hardware has outpaced the available software. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) As you probably know, a big portion of the Power7 herd is still in the barn. Although nothing official has passed through the lips of IBM's horn blowers on the topic of clustering. So as a prelude to what's to come, here are some ideas based on clustered Power7 architectures designed for scalability, disaster recovery, and fault tolerance. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) An i/OS shop without Windows somewhere in the soup is a rare broth indeed. And those that have gotten their hands around partitioning in the name of higher utilization are way ahead of the virtualization trend now under way in the Windows world. This is technology that a budget cruncher can really love. READ MORE >

(RedMonk) The ultimate success of the Power7 chip is whether it can capture more DB2 workloads. For all that IBM has done with its Power Systems in terms of mid to high end online transaction processing and decision support systems, it has not put a dent in Oracle database market share. Yes, DB2 rules the high-end market, but take a look at what it will take to maintain dominance. READ MORE >

(JD Edwards Advisor) The key points in IBM's Power7 delivery are distilled into another reduction of hardware with an increase in capacity, capability, and speed. The rest of the under the covers stuff is esoteric jargon. Oh, and don't forget, "the i-specific portion of the operating system has nearly ground to a halt." READ MORE >

(IBM Systems Magazine) IBM has Power7-ed its way to some hearty performances gains in its SAP Business Intelligence Mixed Load (BI-MXL) Standard Application Benchmark tests using i/OS. Keep your eye on the number of query navigation steps/hour, which is a measurement of overall throughput. READ MORE >

Vendor Announcements, Promotions, and Deals

(IT Jungle) The clock is ticking for companies that have IT interoperability issues. Where heterogeneous platforms and multiple databases are commonplace, the efforts to pull it all together can be a bang-your-head-on-the-wall frustration. You have a killer DB2 database and applications that are fortified with business logic playing a key role in your organization. Now, what about the other pieces? READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Information-manipulation capabilities come in handy in your line of work. Take, for example, working with DB2/400 data in Excel spreadsheets. But anything that's done in this area requires a hard look at topics such as security and performance. If browsing DB2/400 records, editing stored procedures, building custom reports, and converting spool files to PDF are things that matter to you, follow this link. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) There's good reason for companies to run ERP systems on IBM i hardware. That hardware-software combination has an unmatched reputation for quality. And as the hardware has evolved to what is now Power Systems, the advancements on the software side have modernized as well and are no longer dependent on green screen interfaces. Here's a good example from the manufacturing and distribution industry. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) For reasons frequently unearthed by conspiracy theorists, IBM never saw the need to give its OS/400 (now officially called the IBM i) operating system a graphical user interface. Maybe, I will theorize, Big Blue was waiting for an independent software vendor to do it. If that's the case, IBM got its wish. If it's your wish, too, here's how you can get this feature. And it won't cost even a penny. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) The distance between replicating DB2/400 data and having high availability is considerable. In between are features such as automated synchronization, auditing, user profile replication, automated role-swaps, support for independent auxiliary storage pools (iASPs), and automation of object replication. This could be your budget-priced HA. READ MORE >

Redbooks, White Papers, and Other OS/400 Resources

(Vision Solutions) IT systems downtime challenges manufacturing and supply chain operations by adding costs, eroding productivity, and reducing profits. This white paper covers points that will help minimize downtime and build value within business processes. READ MORE >

(LANSA) Overcoming application development complexity is directly tied to development standards, modularized code, and avoiding a skills crisis instigated by technology overload. How these things relate to developer productivity and cost efficiencies are the focus of this white paper. READ MORE >

(IBM) This guide covers the IBM Power 750 and Power 755 servers that support IBM i, AIX, and Linux operating systems. It includes a technical overview of the architecture, virtualization, plus continuous availability and manageability. READ MORE >

(ITG) The economy and efficiency of deploying Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne on IBM Power servers running i/OS is brought into focus in this comparison with Windows servers and SQL Server databases and Linux servers and Oracle databases. Lower costs associated with downtime, an integrated database, and capabilities related to logical partitioning are emphasized. READ MORE >

(IBM) The energy required to power and cool computers can be a significant cost to a business. This paper, for IBM Power7 Systems users, covers topics such as facility planning, peak energy usage control, and system availability. All this is explained within the context of the IBM-developed EnergyScale technology. READ MORE >

Chats, Webinars, Seminars, Shows, and Other Happenings

See our full calendar of events at
http://www.itjungle.com/fhm/fhm-calendar.html

February 25 -- Webinar - The top five tasks facing security administrators in 2010 will be discussed during this online session presented by Carol Woodbury, former chief security architect of the OS/400 operating system and president of SkyView Partners. Woodbury will use SkyView software to demonstrate how it can reduce the time it takes to perform these tasks. The presentation begins at 8 a.m. PST. LEARN MORE >

March 2 -- Webinar - Identifying operations most likely to yield financial as well as environmental results will be highlighted in this online session with a focus on eliminating paper, improving processes, and increasing ERP system benefits. Topics built in to this presentation include calculating the cost of paper in your company, the likely ROI from a paperless effort, and comparing your operations against industry benchmarks. The session begins at 3 p.m. EST. LEARN MORE >

March 10 -- Fort Wayne, Indiana - This meeting of the Status Midrange User Group will feature a presentation on the recent IBM product announcements. The meeting will be held at Goegleins restaurant located at 7311 Maysville Road. It begins at 5:30 p.m. LEARN MORE >

March 11 -- Webinar - Rapidly advancing technologies and increasing pressure for better return on investments are the driving forces behind terminal emulation standardization projects. Managing these projects using products from Open Text will be highlighted in this session presented by Open Text enterprise connectivity experts. The Web event begins at 11 a.m. EST. LEARN MORE >

March 11 -- Maryland Heights, Missouri - Carol Woodbury, former chief security architect of the OS/400 operating system and currently president of SkyView Partners, will make a presentation on step-by-step procedures to object level security at the monthly meeting of the Gateway/400 Group, a System i user group serving the greater St. Louis area. The meeting begins with lunch at noon and the presentation following lunch. RSVP no later than Monday before the meeting date. LEARN MORE >

March 12 -- St. Louis, Missouri - Pat Botz, president of Botz & Associates and formerly the team lead for IBM Lab Services Security Consulting, will discuss object level security, one of the most powerful security features of the IBM i OS, i5/OS and its predecessor operating systems. The meeting begins with lunch at noon and the presentation following lunch. The meeting will be held at Spazios restaurant located at 12031 Lackland Road. RSVP no later than Monday before the meeting date. LEARN MORE >

March 12 -- Conference Call - The Young i Professionals, a group of progressive, career-oriented IT workers interested in the modern business computing work-world and IBM i and Power Systems, will have a conference call discussion on new sandbox applications, open source development, and the upcoming conference season. The call is open to all interested individuals and begins at 1 p.m. CST. LEARN MORE >