Top OS/400 Stories from Around the Web

(IT Jungle) You can argue that unified computing is the goal. In other words, creating servers, storage, and networking that spans all architectures, all switch products, and all storage. But who is going to take us there? Now that Cisco Systems is in the server business, it could be leading a charge toward a brave new data center vision. READ MORE >

(InformationWeek) Few people would bet their morning donut that Cisco Systems is the only player in the unified computing game. Some would say they aren't even one of the stars on that team, despite the recent media attention. Furthermore, the use of the word "team" may be a misnomer, because every IT superstar on this team wants to hog the headlines, making this more about me, me, me than we, we, we. Unified? Ha! READ MORE >

(CNET) The Wall Street Journal's report that IBM is in talks to buy Sun Microsystems had IT industry watchers slack-jawed yesterday. But that was only momentary. After a brief pause, the clatter began based on all sorts of "what if" scenarios. How does this pencil out after you break it down into hardware, software, and intangibles? And does any of that matter as long as IBM can remove one major competitor from the market? READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Would you like to supersize those chips? If that means an extra helping of processing power, added functionality, and lower power consumption, IBM's answer is yes. And if that means pouring more research and development money into creating chips, IBM's answer is yes, again. But if you are talking about getting more processing power for less money, the answer is: Are you kidding me? READ MORE >

(ZDNet) As consumers of enterprise IT hardware and software, you might equate the regimen of upgrades and enhancements to being held at gunpoint. If you even so much as flinch, the gun goes off. In other cases, you might have research and development budgets being trimmed at your IT vendors and your favorite products losing the wind in their sails. Too fast or too slow is in the eye of the beholder, but in this author's view one of the ERP giants seems to be getting it just about right. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) As recently as 2007, the number of college graduates with computer science degrees was down 32 percent. This was not an anomaly. It was a snapshot in a downward trend. But it may also have been the lowest of low tides. The importance of IT is rebounding as our economic future becomes more technology dependent and college students see where IT fits into the plan. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Heads are rolling. IBM isn't the only IT company cutting personnel, and its tactics may not be any worse than any of its corporate bedfellows. But that doesn't make it right. Questions need to be asked about the demographics of those losing jobs and whether corporate citizenship exists in any way, shape, or form. READ MORE >

Vendor Announcements, Promotions, and Deals

(IT Jungle) Some of you know what 20-year-old code looks like. It's not pretty and it tends to be high maintenance. Over time it can get extremely convoluted and difficult to interpret. If this sounds just like your spouse, I can't help you. But here's help if your IT budget is being eaten alive by high application maintenance costs. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Although it may be true that the finest filter provides the tightest security, sometimes you can almost drown in the amount of security information that gets caught in your sieve. A concise summary of System i security settings and an overall compliance score is all that's needed in some cases and too much information brings the burden of sorting through it to find what you're looking for. Here's how you keep it simple and get what you need. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) When the IT department is its own little island that functions independently from the rest of the organization, there's bound to be trouble. The same can be said about other departments as well, but in most organizations every employee is a consumer of IT. Everyone is your customer. Getting some customer input makes IT better, and it may be most apparent when your IT customers work on the help desk. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Tape backup is like an old pickup truck. It's not too flashy. It's pretty darn dependable. And, for a lot of folks, it feels good to stick with the horse you rode in on. But what happens to your data when something goes wrong between tape backups? A better question might be: How much data can you stand to lose? READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Earthbound AS/400 users have a free ticket to the clouds courtesy of a beta program for two cloud computing CL commands. It seems the sky is the limit for the adventuresome who can easily connect their IBM i boxes to cloud/network services operated by your friends at Amazon and Google. No need for special tools, languages, or network programming skills. READ MORE >

Redbooks, White Papers, and Other OS/400 Resources

(Patrick Townsend Security Solutions) Several white papers on the topic of security techniques on the IBM System i are available on this site. The topics include AES encryption, regulatory compliance, FTP transfers, XML Web services, salesforce integration, AS2 over the Internet, TCP sockets, and encryption key management. READ MORE >

(SafeData) This report examines backup and recovery options available for the IBM iSeries platform and the value of virtualized recovery. It compares the benefits of virtualized recovery to traditional solutions for protecting the IBM iSeries and it discusses the cost differentiators as well as the risk and challenges of traditional methods. READ MORE >

(ARCAD) An archive of Webinars pertaining to topics such as testing productivity and automation, change management for application modernization, multi-platform deployments, managing ILE development, application analysis, and WDSc and RSE are available for viewing in exchange for your e-mail address. These recorded sessions are presented by well known experts Ray Bernardi and Trevor Perry. READ MORE >

(Vision Solutions) The risks of downtime and data loss pose risks to productivity and profitability. This white paper provides a road map to the effective strategies and technologies to protect data and provide fast recovery should data be lost or corrupted due to accident or malicious action. 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 19 -- Webinar - This online technical session examines the key features of BCD's query and reporting tool, Clover. Attendees get a product demo that includes creating Web reports, drill-downs, graphs, and dashboards. This Webinar is geared to anyone considering a real-time System i query and reporting tool. The session begins at 12:30 p.m. EDT. LEARN MORE >

March 19 -- Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada - The Toronto Users Group's annual Technical Education Conference and Vendor Showcase will be held at the Sheraton Parkway Toronto North hotel and conference center. A preliminary agenda is available on the TUG Web site. LEARN MORE >

March 24 -- Norwalk, Connecticut - The Fairfield AS/400 Users Group monthly meeting topic is making the move from green-screen development to RDi/WDSc. This session examines our old comfort-zone friend STRDBG and shows the similarities, differences, and productivity improvements in this new world of application development with an emphasis on debugging. Guest speaker is Charles Guarino, president and founder of Central Park Data Systems. He is also a director of the Long Island System i User Group. FASUG meetings are held at the Norwalk Inn, 99 East Avenue, and begin at 5:30 p.m. LEARN MORE >

March 24 -- Webcast - Best practices for managing resiliency and disaster recovery concerns will be the focus of this online session. Topics of discussion will include IBM's Dynamic Infrastructure/Smarter Planet Initiative, market intelligence/research on mid-market customer concerns, IBM purchase incentives, and the PowerPack solution offerings from IBM and Vision Solutions. This one-hour presentation begins at 11 a.m. EST. LEARN MORE >

March 24 -- Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois - The featured topic at the monthly meeting of the OMNI User Group will be the iSeries Navigator monitoring feature called Management Central. This session will describe how users can control System i failure and outage events. OMNI president Tom Duncan, who is also a member of the COMMON Americas Advisory Council, will be the guest speaker. The meeting begins at 5 p.m. LEARN MORE >

March 25 -- Woodbury, New York - The Long Island Systems Users Group monthly meeting topic is making the move from green-screen development to RDi/WDSc. This session examines our old comfort-zone friend STRDBG and shows the similarities, differences, and productivity improvements in this new world of application development with an emphasis on debugging. Guest speaker is Charles Guarino, president and founder of Central Park Data Systems. He is also a director of the Long Island System i User Group. LISUG meetings are held at the Fox Hollow Inn and begin at 6 p.m. LEARN MORE >

March 25 -- Webinar - An online System i compliance session concerning log monitoring will be presented by Patrick Townsend Security Solutions and Solutionary, one of the PTSS business partners. The session begins at 10 a.m. CST. LEARN MORE >

March 25 -- Atlanta, Georgia - Enterprise Generation Language and Rational Business Developer will be featured at the Atlanta Mid-range Computer Users monthly meeting. The agenda includes a review of JEE Web application architecture, Java Server Faces, EGL syntax, generating code for runtime, and creating Web applications. The event is scheduled from noon until 4 p.m. It will be held at the Brio's Tuscan Grille located at 700 Ashwood Parkway. LEARN MORE >

March 26 -- Webinar - Automated report and document distribution is the focus of this technical session featuring the BCD product called Catapult. It includes a product demonstration of how to distribute a report as a PDF. It also covers the topics of splitting reports, how to archive reports to the Web and how to convert them to spreadsheets. The event begins at 1 p.m. EDT. LEARN MORE >

March 26 -- Webinar - An online System i compliance session concerning log monitoring will be presented by Patrick Townsend Security Solutions and Solutionary, one of the PTSS business partners. The session begins at 2 p.m. CST. LEARN MORE >

March 26 -- Fairfield, New Jersey - Guest speaker Charles Guarino will discuss making the move from green-screen development to RDi/WDSc at the regular monthly meeting of the North Eastern Systems Technology Users (NESTU) meeting. Topics will include our old comfort-zone friend STRDBG and Guarino will show the similarities, differences, and productivity improvements in this new world of application development with an emphasis on debugging. The event begins at 5:30 p.m. and will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. LEARN MORE >

March 31 -- Webinar - Knowing your ERP vendor and solution provider is the focus of this online session. An emphasis will be placed on product and company resiliency. Joseph Debella, an executive with software vendor VAI, covers the topics related to getting the most out of vendor relationships. VAI develops ERP software primarily for the manufacturing, distribution, retail, and food service industries. The session begins at 2 p.m. EST. LEARN MORE >

March 31-April 2 -- Delavan, Wisconsin - The 24th annual Wisconsin Midrange Computer Professionals Association (WMCPA) Spring Technical Conference will be held at the Lakelawn Resort. It begins Tuesday night at 6 p.m. with an experts' roundtable discussion titled "The System i; IBM's best kept secret. Will it survive in a changing IT world?" Sessions and labs are scheduled from 8:30 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday. A sample of the educational topics that will be presented by some of the System i community's top experts include: security, backup and recovery, RPG, PHP, XML, CL, and SQL. A tentative agenda featuring these and more topics can be found online. Registration fees for WMCPA members are $350 for one day and $425 for two days. For non-members, the fees are $475 for one day and $550 for two days. LEARN MORE >