Top OS/400 Stories from Around the Web

(IT Jungle) Even though the warden up in the executive suite has told all the IT inmates they're on bread and water, there's still one area of the budget that is crying out for more moolah: storage. The appetite for data keeps gnawing away at the capacity to store it. IBM has some new storage options for the Power Systems users, and you may have heard about them, but here's the steak to go along with the sizzle. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) The 80-20 Rule for the IBM i customer base means that 80 percent of the revenue comes from 20 percent of the customers. That 20 percent are the big dogs, also known as the Large User Group. IBM is known to toss them a few bones from time to time. Right now it's time to discount some of the big boxes--the 570s and 595s. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) It used to be that the two things you could count on were death and taxes. You might as well add IT complexity and mergers and acquisitions to that short list. Micro Focus just bought itself a big piece of the application testing tools market because it sees automated software quality tools as strategically important in the battle against IT complexity. READ MORE >

(TechTarget) If posters were printed for IBM i shops that have achieved superstar status, here's one that Big Blue would like to see on the walls of data centers from Wisconsin to Texas and Oregon to Tennessee. Picture blade servers, virtualization, significant energy savings, and an IT staff soaring above the rim for a slam dunk. READ MORE >

(CIO) The description of Oracle as benevolent dictator fits like a cheap suit on Larry Ellison. That's to say neither fits well. Oracle would like to see itself as lending a helping hand to some of its enterprise software customers after announcing a 10 percent fee reduction for some users of vintage ERP and CRM apps. Sorry, not good enough. Better put a hold on those St. Larry plastic statues. READ MORE >

(Business Week) Where's the sense in a situation that has a great number of unemployed workers while positions go unfilled? Companies say they can't find candidates with the skills to fill the job openings. Is that why training budgets are running on empty and attendance at conferences with a heavy emphasis on education are cut in half? It looks like "offboarding" jobs to save money on labor costs is more important than getting the right skills. READ MORE >

Vendor Announcements, Promotions, and Deals

(IT Jungle) For retailers using the i OS-based Merchandise Management System from JDA, the idea that it's never too late for an ERP program to become what it might have been has almost arrived. In this case, it's a graphical user interface replacing a green screen. JDA says it is committed to supporting its IBM Power Systems i products through at least 2015. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Open systems means platform interoperability and no more IT silos. It's not here yet, but changes are happening every day. Application developers have one foot on the platform and the other on the train as it's leaving the station. There are so many development environments and they all must be able to work with one another. Sounds like we're talking about world peace. But this is harder. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) The use of high availability software has been gradually increasing as companies find the traditional planned downtime unacceptable and unplanned downtime unfathomable in a business world that runs 24x7x365. Like nearly every other type of enterprise software you can name, HA would benefit from more autonomics. Opportunity knocks. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) When you think of all the things that IBM AS/400 can do better than other platforms, does business intelligence come to mind? Well, noodle this for a minute or two. BI does not have to be as costly and complex as some solutions make it out to be. Here's a way to executive dashboards and mobile access that may change your mind about BI on i. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) JD Edwards users seem to often get the red-headed stepchild treatment from Oracle, but new versions of World and EnterpriseOne show the R&D investment tap has not been turned off. With the high price of maintenance and support, there might have been expectations for more enhancements than what was delivered, but the price of progress isn't cheap, right? READ MORE >

Redbooks, White Papers, and Other OS/400 Resources

(Aberdeen) This analyst report on ERP in manufacturing quantifies ERP usage, identifies preferences, and measures total cost of ownership as well as the business benefits derived from best-in-class implementations. Access to the full benchmark report, including advice on best practices and maximizing business value from ERP (as soon as it is published) is offered to all those participating in the survey. Individual responses will be kept strictly confidential and data will only be used in aggregate. To participate, follow this link. READ MORE >

(YiPs) The Young i Professionals are an international group of business-quality techno-geeks interested in the modern capabilities offered on the IBM Power Systems i. One thing you'll find on the YiP Website is a sandbox where you can test Sugar CRM, one of the most widely used open source business applications. No one checks ID. So even if you are not so young, have some of what these "kids" are drinking. READ MORE >

(Halcyon Software) This is an attention-grabbing name for a white paper: "51 Things You Can Automate on Your System i and Prove Return on Investment." The report includes a list of common principles and discusses how good systems management practices can lead to significant cost reductions for companies. READ MORE >

(HiT Software) This report examines the synchronizing of data between heterogenous databases with an emphasis on integrating IBM i DB2 with Microsoft SQL Server 2008. Data security and cost effectiveness are major topics. READ MORE >

Chats, Webinars, Seminars, Shows, and Other Happenings

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

May 14 -- Milwaukee, Wisconsin - PHP on the IBM i will be presented in a two sessions at the monthly meeting of the Wisconsin Midrange Computer Professional Association. Guest speaker is Chris Anderson, who will present his first session at 4:30 p.m. and his second session at 7:30 p.m. In between is dinner and networking with the members. The meeting will be held at Klemmer's Banquet Center located at 10401 West Oklahoma Avenue. LEARN MORE >

May 18 -- Lancaster, Pennsylvania - Frank Soltis, former chief scientist for IBM i and the father of the AS/400, will be the guest speaker at an event hosted by the infrastructure consulting firm, Essextec. Soltis will discuss the history of the IBM AS/400, its evolution into IBM Power Systems, as well as a glimpse into its future. The event will take place at the Eden Resort and Suites, and is scheduled for 3 to 6 p.m. LEARN MORE >

May 19 -- Costa Mesa, California - Presentations on Web 2.0 with AJAX and RPG, and XIV storage virtualization and Protec-TIER de-duplication are both on the agenda at the regular monthly meeting of the OCEAN User Group. The RPG-related session, presented by Craig Pelkie, is aimed at Power i users. The storage virtualization session, presented by Brian Knight and Don Caronna, is aimed at Power AIX users. The dinner meeting begins at 6 p.m. and both sessions will be presented at 7. Meetings are held at the IBM offices located at 3545 Harbor Boulevard. LEARN MORE >

May 19 -- Oak Brook Terrace, Illinois - Two topics will be at the monthly meeting of the OMNI User Group. The first session, beginning at 4 p.m., will be data transfer tips and techniques. The second session, beginning at 7 p.m., will be System i engineering. Both sessions will be presented by Larry Bolhuis, an IBM i professional with extensive experience with System i partitioning, the Hardware Management Console, system design, configuration, migration, and administration. Larry also has significant networking experience most recently with high speed Ethernet networks, 802.11 wireless networks, and TCP/IP. In between the two sessions will be dinner and networking. LEARN MORE >

May 19 -- Webinar - New functions and programming techniques for increasing SQL PL programming efficiency will be the focus of this session presented by Jarek Miszczyk, an IBM senior software engineer at the ISV SolutionsEnablement organization in Rochester, Minnesota. Topics on the agenda include faster execution, nested compound statement handlers, name and authority resolution in SQL statements, and performance tips and techniques. The presentation begins at noon CDT. You must be a COMMON member to attend. LEARN MORE >

May 19 -- Plymouth, Pennsylvania - Frank Soltis, former chief scientist for IBM i and the father of the AS/400, will be the guest speaker at an event hosted by the infrastructure consulting firm, Essextec. Soltis will discuss the history of the IBM AS/400, its evolution into IBM Power Systems, as well as a glimpse into its future. The event will take place at the Plymouth Country Club, and is scheduled for 3 to 6 p.m. LEARN MORE >

May 19 -- Norwalk, Connecticut - The Fairfield AS/400 Users Group monthly meeting will be featuring a number of RPG topics including RPG and the Web, accessing external databases, and consuming Web services. Guest speaker is Scott Klement, one of the best-known RPG experts in the training and education field. The topics will be covered in three sessions. The first at 2 p.m., the second at 3:30, and the third after dinner. FASUG meetings are held at the Norwalk Inn, 99 East Avenue. LEARN MORE >

May 19 -- Atlanta, Georgia - WebSphere Development Studio, now rebranded and incorporated into the IBM Rational brand, is the showcased topic at the Atlanta Mid-range Computer Users monthly meeting. The agenda includes insights into planning and performing an installation, locating and working with Remote Systems Explorer, managing and sharing code, performing builds with the IDE, and modernization of existing applications. The event is scheduled from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. It will be held at the Cobb Galleria. LEARN MORE >

May 20 -- Melville, New York - The annual May Education Day event sponsored by the Long Island Systems Users Group will feature 20 sessions and a vendor expo during its all-day training opportunity. Sessions are divided into four tracks: System i, Web Technologies, Project Management, and Career Advancement. The event will be held at the Melville Marriott. LEARN MORE >

May 20 -- Melville, New York - Frank Soltis, former chief scientist for IBM I and the father of the AS/400, will be the guest speaker at an event hosted by the infrastructure consulting firm, Essextec. Soltis will discuss the history of the IBM AS/400, its evolution into IBM Power Systems, as well as a glimpse into its future. The event will take place at the Melville Marriott and is scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. LEARN MORE >

May 20 -- Seekonk, Massachusetts - The RPG enhancements in IBM i 6.1 will be the featured topic at the monthly meeting of the New England Midrange Users Group. Guest speaker is Barbara Morris, the lead developer for the WDS compilers in the IBM Toronto Lab. Among the topics she will discuss are files defined in subprocedures, passing files as parameters, and running RPG in multiple threads. The meeting is held at the Ramada Inn and begins at 5:15 p.m. LEARN MORE >

May 20 -- Mississauga, Ontario, Canada - Barry John de Roos, a partner solutions architect at Research in Motion, will present two sessions at the monthly meeting of the Toronto User Group. His 5 p.m. session will cover the integration of Blackberry Mobile Devices into IT infrastructure from an architectural and operational perspective. His second session, at 7 p.m., will explore the development of Blackberry applications on Power Systems. The meeting will be held at the Living Arts Centre located at 4141 Living Arts Drive. LEARN MORE >

May 21 -- Parsippany, New Jersey - Frank Soltis, former chief scientist for IBM i and the father of the AS/400, will be the guest speaker at an event hosted by the infrastructure consulting firm, Essextec. Soltis will discuss the history of the IBM AS/400, its evolution into IBM Power Systems, as well as a glimpse into its future. The event will take place at the Hilton Hotel, and is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. LEARN MORE >

May 21 -- Madison, Wisconsin - A presentation on IBM i 6.1 upgrade planning will be presented at the meeting of the Madison Area Midrange Systems Users Group. Guest speaker is Gerri Passe, a senior IT specialist at IBM Rochester. The discussion will include topics such as the necessary program conversions involved with the upgrade, use of the pre-upgrade verification tool, and the Top Ten Keys for a smooth upgrade. The meeting is held at Fiskers, where coffee and donuts will be served at 8 a.m. LEARN MORE >

May 21 -- Fairfield, New Jersey - the North Eastern Systems Technology Users (NESTU) meeting will be featuring a number of RPG topics including RPGLE and the IFS system, crating Excel spreadsheets from RPG using Java POI, accessing external databases, and RPGLE and TCP/IP. Guest speaker is Scott Klement, one of the best-known RPG experts in the training and education field. The topics will be covered in four sessions. The first begins at 8:30 a.m., the second later in the morning, and sessions three and four after lunch. The event will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. LEARN MORE >