Top OS/400 Stories from Around the Web

(IT Jungle) With a 40 percent slice of the server market revenue pie on IBM's plate, Big Blue is enjoying its seat at the table. But the forks and knives of worthy competitors are always looking to steal from that plate. What will IBM do to maintain its advantage? The plan is in place to create an adjacent, custom systems market that other vendors can't easily replicate. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) WebSphere Development Studio Client (WDSc) version 7.0 has a list of features that can put the glide in the stride of many RPG, COBOL, and CL programmers. But before you decide to pick up the newly released WDSc and run with it, make sure you understand the difference between Standard Edition and Advanced Edition. Otherwise you might be reaching for something and not finding anything there. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) What would you do in this situation? You have an AS/400 Model 720 running V5R1. Based on projected disk space growth, the machine will not be squeezed for disk capacity for another couple of years. However, you are coming to a dead end on the upgrade path for the 720. Would you move to a new box and upgrade software or would you stay put and spend your money on other things? READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) PureXML, IBMspeak for native XML, allows XML documents to be stored without losing the hierarchical information and allows the elements of the XML documents to be queried. This technology was first offered in the DB2 V9 releases for Windows, Unix, and Linux in July 2006. You may be familiar with DB2 XML Extender, a tool for grafting XML support onto DB2/400, but where is the support for PureXML on DB2/400? READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) It's not exactly like the Farm Services Administration is plowing its data center fields with mules, but it does rely on more than 2,000 AS/400 Model 170s and S/36-style applications to harvest critical information while newer technology offers substantial advantages. How this plays out in a Windows versus i5/OS competition should prove interesting. READ MORE >

(System iNetwork) The Eclipse open-development platform is based on a Java IDE and supported by an open-source community that last week convened for its fourth educational conference and expo. How does IBM and, in particular, the System i crowd, mesh with the Eclipse professionals? Not very well according to this author who was surveying the landscape. READ MORE >

(Search400) The story is a familiar one. A company struggles with the dilemma of presenting green-screen applications to customers that are not of the green-screen world. Creating new applications is ruled out as too costly and would be tossing out perfectly good applications. There are many ways a story like this can end. I'll only say that a new on-line ordering system is in place today. READ MORE >

Vendor Announcements, Promotions, and Deals

(IT Jungle) What SOA is not has become a bigger issue than what it is. SOA, the acronym for service oriented architecture, is one of the most talked about topics in the IT industry. As such, everything but the kitchen sink gets painted with the SOA brush in order to be part of "the buzz." Let's just talk about cracking the application integration nut, OK? READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Some people juggle bowling pins. Some people juggle swords or flaming torches. If you work for an organization that has iSeries servers in multiple locations, you might be a juggler of remote tape backup devices. As you know, this job can be the most dangerous of the above mentioned feats. Here's a way to reduce (maybe even eliminate) your chances of being responsible for a costly screw-up. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Lawson Software has more than 1,200 customers running its RPG-based ERP software and about 500 customers running its Java-based ERP suite. More than a few ERP software vendors are wrestling with similar dual application development programs and a goal of uniting them on one development path. New product developments reveal more than statements of direction and a user conference is often the best opportunity to talk with vendors about the nuts and bolts. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Composite applications unite the functions of two or more existing applications and often introduce functionality from new sources as well. Most times they are created with cross-platform capability in mind and, therefore, levels of integration that previously were unattainable. When companies merge, as in this story, application bridge building becomes a priority. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) The System i vendor community continues to upgrade its traditional green-screen software products by adding graphical user interfaces. As in the case of the network security software noted here, the green-screen version is not entirely replaced by the GUI. Both options are available so that customer preference is not lost along the way. READ MORE >

Redbooks, White Papers, and Other OS/400 Resources

(IBM) Sam Palmisano, IBM's CEO, talks about his view of globally integrating economic, political, and cultural systems in the light of the changing, modern corporation. Palmisano describes the current circumstances as a "crossroads in business history" and puts the issue of corporate trust at the foundation of our future. READ MORE >

(IBM) This analysis of the business impact of outsourcing is based on investigations by the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center conducted between 1998 and 2002. It concludes that companies that outsourced IT responsibilities outperformed those that did not in several key business metrics. READ MORE >

(IBM & Zend) This technical report will help you install, configure, and become productive with PHP on System i using Zend Core for i5/OS and Zend Platform for i5/OS. If you are evaluating PHP, this book will also help by providing background information and comparisons with other tools. READ MORE >

(Bytware) The Integrated File System is one of the most ignored parts of the system, yet it enables many of the most powerful and most used features on OS/400. Most people don't realize that even if they are not using their system as a Web server or a network file server, they should have concerns about the IFS because what you don't know could weaken the security of your system. This white paper is authored by security expert Carol Woodbury. READ MORE >

Chats, Webinars, Seminars, Shows, and Other Happenings

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

March 20 -- Webinar - This one-hour Webcast, hosted by looksoftware, is focused on trends in enterprise modernization. It examines topics such as RPG support for Web services and service oriented architecture; Java and .NET working together; smart client versus browser-based user interfaces; and extending the life of legacy applications. This event begins at 1 p.m. EST. LEARN MORE >

March 20-22 -- Las Vegas, Nevada - Building on the skills of RPG and DB2 database developers is the focus of the RPG and DB2 Summit, a three-day conference organized by a consortium of some of the leading independent System i gurus. Educational sessions will be presented by Susan Gantner, Jon Paris, Paul Touhy and Skip Marchesani. The guest speaker lineup includes George Farr, Shantan Kethireddy, Tom McKinley, and Scott Klement. Session topics include: new RPG skills, AJAX and XML for RPG programmers, iSeries Navigator, Remote Systems Explorer, creating and managing database objects using SQL, query optimizer, database engines, stored procedures, and triggers. For a list of important RPG- and DB2-related topic areas, check out the sessions link on the event home page where a link to registration information can also be found. LEARN MORE >

March 20 -- Madison, Wisconsin - The Madison Area Midrange Systems Users Group meeting will feature a presentation on data analysis and systems automation by Tom Huntington, vice president of technical services with Systems i vendor Help/Systems. The event begins at 8 a.m. and is scheduled to conclude by 11 a.m. LEARN MORE >

March 20 -- Costa Mesa, California - The OCEAN User Group meeting will feature two guest speakers at this meeting. Richard Shoen, president of RJS Software, will discuss .NET for System i developers, and Randall Munson will make a presentation called the "Magic of System i." The OCEAN User Group serves the greater Orange County, California, area. This meeting will begin at 5 p.m. and is scheduled to conclude by 8:30. LEARN MORE >

March 20 -- Lombard, Illinois - The featured topic at the monthly meeting of the OMNI User Group will be service oriented architecture on the System i. This session will examine the starting points for implementing SOA and address leveraging SOA standards for reusing existing applications, connecting these assets more efficiently, how to interface with the people inside and outside your organization, and how to apply these standards with business process management. The guest speaker is IBM's WebSphere Product Manager, Al Grega. The meeting begins at 5 p.m. LEARN MORE >

March 20 -- Norwalk, Connecticut - The Fairfield AS/400 Users Group monthly meeting topic is DB2 for i5/OS presented by Mark Anderson, IBM's Chief Architect for DB2 for i5/OS. The session includes Anderson's insights on performance analysis and tuning tools provided in DB2 for i5/OS V5R4. FASUG meetings are held at the Norwalk Inn and begin at 5:30 p.m. LEARN MORE >

March 20 -- Bloomington, Minnesota - A session on Qshell and openSSH is on the agenda at the regularly scheduled Minneapolis/St. Paul local user group meeting. Guest speaker is Bob Bittner. Bittner has worked for IBM for 10 years helping Independent Software Vendors migrate applications from Unix, Windows, and a variety of other platforms to OS/400 and i5/OS. The event begins at 2 p.m. at the Comfort Inn located at 1321 East 78th Street. LEARN MORE >

March 21 -- Independence, Ohio - Radio frequency identification will be the highlighted topic during the Application Systems Users Group of Greater Cleveland meeting, which begins at 5:30 p.m. and takes place at Harry's Steakhouse. Topics on the agenda include the basics of RFID, tag types, readers, antennas, closed-loop systems, compliancy issues, and Gen 2 standards. LEARN MORE >

March 21 -- Woodbury, New York - The Long Island Systems Users Group monthly meeting topic is DB2 for i5/OS presented by Mark Anderson, IBM's Chief Architect for DB2 for i5/OS. The session includes Anderson's insights on performance analysis and tuning tools provided in DB2 for i5/OS V5R4. LISUG meetings are held at the Fox Hollow Inn and begin at 6 p.m. LEARN MORE >

March 21 -- Webinar - Session three of a five-session Webcast on open-source software solutions for System i presented by Jim Mason of ebt-now is being hosted by the COMMON user group. The discussion focuses on ways to maximize the return on investment on the System i technology without the need for additional software by using proven, open-source solutions. The agenda includes sessions on Web workspaces, Office integration, Web database applications, and Web reports. The sessions will be presented on consecutive Wednesdays in March, from noon until 1:15 p.m. CT. LEARN MORE >

March 21 -- Webinar - Manufacturers and distributors of medical equipment and supplies are specifically highlighted in this session that focuses on managing and tracking inventory, FDA regulations, tracking serial numbers, lots, expirations dates and vendor rebates. Emphasis will be placed on improving operations processes, creating efficiencies throughout the organization, expanding relationships with suppliers and improving customer satisfaction. The event, presented by the software vendor VAI, begins at 2 p.m. EDT. LEARN MORE >

March 22 -- Chat Session - An online presentation featuring topics ranging from RPG, ILE, SQL, DB2, and WDSc and featuring experts Susan Gantner, Skip Marchesani, Paul Tuohy and Jon Paris will be presented live from Las Vegas, where a conference on these topics--the RPG & DB2 Summit--is taking place. The event, which will be conducted in a question and answer format, begins at 12:30 PDT. LEARN MORE >

March 22 -- Webcast - This 60-minute session presented by Tim Rowe of IBM demonstrates two recently added features to the IBM Web Administration for i5/OS console: Web performance advisor and Web performance monitor. Rowe will cover how to easily measure and analyze performance on WebSphere Application Server-based solutions running on System i. Details on WebSphere Application Server performance monitoring capabilities that have been recently added to i5/OS Collection Services will also be discussed. Registration is free to both COMMON user group members and nonmembers. The event begins at noon CDT. LEARN MORE >