Top OS/400 Stories from Around the Web

(IT Jungle) IBM has always had an "ask and you shall receive" policy with its AS/400, iSeries, and System i customers. Well, maybe not always. More like sometimes or occasionally. Anyway, here's a product enhancement idea--support for a native, open source GNU g++ compiler--that would be quite handy for running C and C++ programs. If we ask for it, who knows, maybe we shall receive. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Let's try this again. If there's one thing IBM truly understands, it's the midrange development community. No, that's not quite accurate. Look at what Big Blue stepped in after the midrange developers saw WDSc version 7 and its exclusion of Screen Designer and Application Diagram in the Standard Edition. IBM says it's going to "fix" this situation, but something still stinks. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) There's really no disputing that a decline in server sales--now and several years into the future--is, and will be, affected by the surging interest in server virtualization. But there is some, shall we say, "clarification" that the analysts at Gartner would like to make about what they knew and when they knew it. READ MORE >

(InternetNews) What's going on at Lotus? The old dog not only has learned some new tricks, but it keeps on surprising people with its rapid-fire release of social networking tools specifically aimed at enterprise customers. A person could easily get the idea that Lotus intends to be the leader in social networking software. Check out where Big Blue is taking this collaboration train in areas such as business intelligence, application integration, and information sharing. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) If you know anything about workforce management software, you've likely heard of Kronos, a software company that dominates in this niche. It has a large i5/OS customer base, but its software also supports Windows, Unix, and Linux systems. They are a big fish and last week they were reeled in by one of the large private equity firms that troll the IT waters. The bait? $1.8 billion. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Outsourcing services has yet to become a popular business strategy in midrange shops, but that could be changing. Based on an in-depth survey completed by a small number of midrange firms, comes a report that indicates smaller companies have the greatest potential for increasing outsourcing services, but are more inclined to nearshore and onshore services. READ MORE >

(System iNetwork) Mark Shearer, general manager for IBM System i, has frequently said he expects IP telephony to be a big deal for the customer base. I don't know when that's going to happen, but there's rumor of one really big deal lurking in the shadows. READ MORE >

(MCPress) Would you think twice about sending Microsoft $9 million for a software upgrade? I think there's only one answer to that question, and--believe it or not--there are decision-makers in our government who got it right. Actually, that's not 100 percent accurate. What they have done is paused to consider whether that's the best use of our tax money. I have to give them some credit just for that. READ MORE >

Vendor Announcements, Promotions, and Deals

(IT Jungle) The pot of gold at the end of the RFID rainbow holds the promise of supply chain tracking efficiencies and cost reductions relating to labor, shipping errors, and administration. For those exploring RFID, incorporating this technology into existing applications will be part of your objective. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Just like auto pilot does not mean there's no longer a need for pilots, autonomic computing has not put computer operators in the unemployment line. Autonomic features that are built into software, however, do take care of a lot of things that provide the operators with more time to devote to more important tasks. This is particularly true in the high availability environment. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) I'm not quite through with the topic of automation. Let's think of it applied to software testing. Most organizations do all their testing manually. However, some have the testing process highly automated. No one reaches 100 percent automation. That's unrealistic. So why automate at all if it's only going to rely on manual processes at some point anyway? Two words: reusing code. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Before I beat this automation topic to death, let me say that the more servers you have to take care of the more you can appreciate the benefits of autonomic computing. Pity those who labor day in and day out on the server farms. Things are much better in the iSeries world, but systems management, even on multiple machines, is being improved through automation that can't be found in distributed computing environments. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) As IBM widens the scope of products that come under the huge WebSphere umbrella, it has not ignored RFID. The degree of integrating data collected by RFID into business applications--both yours and your supply chain partners--will mark the difference between a well-planned RFID project and one that doesn't get the most out of its investment. READ MORE >

Redbooks, White Papers, and Other OS/400 Resources

(BCD) Portals are being used to access enterprise information, applications, and documents through web browsers. It's a way to organize content and consolidate security and user information. For those who are exploring portal technology, this beta program featuring BCD's Nexus would be a good way to become familiar with the landscape. READ MORE >

(Maximum Availability) This report covers key business issues that revolve around the concept of business continuity. Among the issues it touches upon are: data volume and complexity, data loss, downtime, high availability, and disaster recovery. READ MORE >

(MKS) With the increase in application modernization efforts, IT organizations accustomed to a single platform world are finding the need for new tools to help them coordinate related development activities and ensure accurate and timely roll out of these systems. This white paper explores the management issues surrounding application modernization and offers ways to aid IT organizations in minimizing the impact on the organization and its IT infrastructure. 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 >

Chats, Webinars, Seminars, Shows, and Other Happenings

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

April 10 -- Beaverton, Oregon - A presentation on IP telephony, data and voice convergence, and how System i can help lower costs and provide greater functionality to telephone users is the highlight of the regular monthly meeting of the Cascade iSeries User Group. Guest speaker is Fant Steele from the IBM Rochester Lab, an expert in IP Telephony (and Linux). The Cascade User Group serves the greater Portland, Oregon, area and meets the second Tuesday of each month. Meetings are held at the IBM offices, 15400 S.W. Koll Parkway between 1 and 3 p.m. LEARN MORE >

April 10 -- Milwaukee, Wisconsin - The Wisconsin Midrange Computer Professional Association meeting features two educational sessions this month. The first, beginning at 4:30 p.m., focuses on tools other than Query/400 for creating end user reports. The second session, which begins at 7:30 p.m., examines iSeries Navigator, a built-in tool that helps administer, analyze, and tune the DB2 database. Guest speaker is Jackie Jansen, a senior certified consulting IT specialist with IBM. LEARN MORE >

April 11 -- Seekonk, Massachusetts - Getting started with the CODE component of WebSphere Development Studio will be the featured topic at the monthly meeting of the New England Midrange Users Group. Guest speaker Tim Eagan, from Aurora Technologies, plans to introduce attendees to the basics of installing and using the IBM WebSphere Studio's CODE editor and CODE designer. The meeting is held at the Ramada Inn and begins at 5:15 p.m. LEARN MORE >

April 11 -- Webcast - System i developers interested in service oriented architecture should find this session useful when it comes to how applications are being redesigned and implemented. An emphasis will be placed on making Web services a first priority and following that with a transition into SOA plans. Trevor Perry, technical director at KMR Systems, and David Brault, product marketing manager at LANSA, will lead this presentation. Perry provides an overview of SOA and Web services implementation issues on the System i. Brault will focus on LANSA's integration technology that generates native System i Web services and provide examples of customer implementations. The session begins at noon EDT. LEARN MORE >

April 12 -- Kent, Washington - The Pacific Midrange Systems Association meeting features a session on tape backup alternatives this month. Guest speakers are IBM's Mark Ruberry and Joe Lampitt, and they will be discussing the virtual tape capability of i5/OS V5R4, which supports heterogeneous systems and includes encryption. The meeting begins at 11:30 a.m. LEARN MORE >

April 12 -- Wauwatosa, Wisconsin - The Wisconsin Midrange Computer Professional Association monthly meeting includes two presentations this month. The first session on tuning performance for DB2 UDB for the System I is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. The second session on Query and SQL performance monitoring will take place at 7:30 p.m. The meeting takes place at Alioto's Restaurant located at 3041 N. Mayfair Road. LEARN MORE >

April 12 -- Maryland Heights, Missouri - The Gateway/400 Group monthly meeting topic is WebSphere Development Studio Client presented by IBM's George Farr. Meetings are held at the Graphic Communication Banquet Facility located at 105 Progress Parkway and get under way at 11:30 a.m. LEARN MORE >

April 12 -- Toronto, Ontario - This workshop focuses on modernizing System i applications using a business application framework for improved extendibility, navigation and presentation, including isolating and reusing the best parts of legacy applications. It is hosted by LANSA, one of the leading vendors of application development, modernization, and integration software for the System i market. The session is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. and conclude at 1 p.m. LEARN MORE >

April 12-15 -- Las Vegas, Nevada - The i5/OS Hartley Racing Team--headed by Allen Hartley, owner of ProData Computer Services--will be lining up their 330-mph pro fuel dragster at the SummitRacing.com Nationals. Allen's son, Joe, will be at the wheel and competing against the fastest, quarter-mile race cars in the world. Time trials are run Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The final round of the 16 fastest cars compete on Sunday. For more information on the racing Hartleys, go to the iDigDrags Web site where you can also find a link to the National Hot Rod Association and info about the Las Vegas racing event. LEARN MORE >

April 17-19 -- Toronto, Ontario - The Toronto Users Group Technical Conference includes sessions for RPG programmers, operations staff, and project managers covering topics such as RPG, ILE, SQL, DB2, Web services, disaster recovery, Linux, security, PHP, business continuity planning, and supply chain management. A vendor showcase area is free without registering for the conference. The keynote speaker is the RPG expert, Paul Tuohy. Guest speaker at the executive breakfast is John Pratt, the business unit executive for the System i division in Canada. LEARN MORE >

April 17 -- Norwalk, Connecticut - The Fairfield AS/400 Users Group monthly meeting features two topics. The first session, from 4:30 to 5:45p.m., pertains to managing Windows servers using iSCSI and VMware technology. The second session, from 7:15 to 8:45 p.m., takes a look at PHP Web Scripting Language. Andy Chung, an IBM Field Technical Sales Specialist, is the speaker for both sessions. FASUG meetings are held at the Norwalk Inn and dinner is served between the two sessions. LEARN MORE >

April 17 -- Lombard, Illinois - Rusty Edmister--one of the experts at the IBM Research Facility in Raleigh, North Carolina--will present an overview of the WebFacing Deployment Tool with Host Access Transformation Services Technology (WDHT V7) at the OMNI user group meeting. WDHT V7 intercepts a 5250 data stream on its way out of an executing program, transforms it into a graphical interface, and displays that interface on a browser or on a personal computer attached to a System i. Another feature of WDHT is that it allows screens to be combined or skipped and also allows multiple programs to be combined. The user group meeting begins at 5 p.m. LEARN MORE >

April 18 -- Independence, Ohio - Building iSeries Web Applications 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. This presentation will cover tools, techniques, and experiences related to development of iSeries Web applications. Topics on the agenda include: SQL, WebSphere and Tomcat application servers, dynamic JDBC, using Java with Eclipse/WebSphere Studio for custom business logic programming, techniques for creating self-service Web applications for B2B, security considerations on the iSeries, good and bad experiences with WebSphere, Tomcat, WebSphere Studio, HATS, and Java. Guest speaker is Paul Holm, a certified AS/400, DB2, Java, and WebSphere instructor. LEARN MORE >

April 18 -- Research Triangle Park, North Carolina - Attendees of this workshop have an opportunity to learn about System i application modernization alternatives presented by LANSA, one of the most recognized vendors of application development, modernization, and integration software for the System i market. The session is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. and conclude at 11:30 a.m. LEARN MORE >