Top OS/400 Stories from Around the Web

(IT Jungle) IBM's Power7 processor development is on track to jack up performance in a manner to which we've become accustomed. As the information is parceled out, we now know there will be several Power7 variants. We also know per-core performance will increase roughly 20 percent, with much of that attributable to multithreading rather than increased clock speeds. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Counting boxes and comparing server sales from quarter to quarter is a bit like walking the high wire. Things are always thrilling until the wind blows too hard. Well, a hard wind is blowing now and the box counters at IDC and Gartner have put together their estimates of how the business did in Q2. Their reports are anything but thrilling. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) We're all pretty smart when it comes to describing the IT education of the past. But what does it take to make it in today's world? And what skills will be important in the future? Unfortunately my crystal ball is on the fritz, but the ability to manage an energy efficient data center looks like a good career direction to me. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) I'd call it reasonable suspicion, but then I'm suspicious of most everything and that seems reasonable to me. The suspicion, in this case, is directed at IBM, which is also suspicious about how customers might interpret its Power Systems First-in-Location Rebate. Read this and become suspicious, too. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) It's been a hard year in the conference business. Tight budgets haven't been kind to training and education line items, and most conferences have suffered through steep attendance declines--some in the range of 50 percent or more. So now we're seeing an increase in virtual conferences. How do they compare to the real thing? Less expensive for certain. READ MORE >

(System iNetwork) Last time we heard about the iManifest rebellion, it had seemingly taken root in the Asia Pacific region and there was an attempt to carry the seeds halfway around the world to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). Martin Fincham, EMEA general manager of the IBM i independent software vendor, LANSA, is the man with the bull horn, and he's building some momentum. READ MORE >

(IBM Systems Magazine) In his blog, Craig Johnson, product manager for IBM i for the Power Systems platform, says companies are indeed turning to i-based solutions to satisfy their business requirements and that many of these "new to the i" customers are small to mid size companies. Anyone who wants to discuss new customer growth in more detail, please contact Craig. READ MORE >

Vendor Announcements, Promotions, and Deals

(IT Jungle) Application development in the IBM i world, for some people, means the IBM software tool known as Rational Developer for i. If you are of the Eclipse persuasion, you probably know RDi well. You may have noticed that Eclipse is an open source framework and that IBM Rational sells tools. There are open source tools, however. One of them is an RPG editor that runs under Linux. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Bruce Vining doesn't admit to playing with matches. But someone is about to start a fire in the control language wood pile and there's smoke coming from Vining's office. His new product brings direct database access for CL commands, and also adds support for accessing both display files and print files. For application developers using CL, this is great news. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) When IBM bought Cognos almost two years ago, mid market companies weren't expecting any of the expensive business intelligence technology to filter down into the affordable category. But here we have another example of why you shouldn't necessarily judge a book by its cover thanks to in-memory OLAP and Web-based interfaces. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Extreme Makeover: IT Edition, in reality, isn't all that extreme for most AS/400 shops. The truth of the matter is that a lot of companies would just like to take their green-screen apps to the Web. The faster and easier this conversion can be done, the better for everyone involved. But don't forget about Web app performance or you'll end up riding a mule instead of a race horse. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) You can have security without compliance, but you sure as the devil can't have regulatory compliance without security. There's a new security company in the IBM AS/400 market--one that offers a range of products from a variety of security software vendors. And the guy at the wheel is no stranger to AS/400 security and regulatory compliance issues. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Automating AS/400 operations is a useful way to simplify the IT complexity that hangs like a storm cloud over many data centers. If you are being deluged by server-generated messages and logs--and particularly if you have multiple AS/400s--here's a bit of sunshine to brighten your day. READ MORE >

Redbooks, White Papers, and Other OS/400 Resources

(Vision Solutions) IT managers and operators of IBM i and AIX environments will get plenty of heft with this 29-page paper that compares protection and recovery technologies in terms of recovery time and recovery points. The paper covers both single-system and multiple-system technologies/strategies. READ MORE >

(LANSA) This white paper discusses developing real world IBM i applications using Microsoft's .NET Framework. Topics include how .NET can be used to integrate the IBM i with other enterprise platforms like Microsoft SQL Server and SharePoint, the requirements for developing and running .NET applications connected to the IBM i and the most critical enterprise level development issues faced by IBM i .NET applications. READ MORE >

(ECC) Desktop computing expenses have received a lot of attention as IT departments are being required to help organizations reduce costs. This paper reveals how some forays into virtualization are masking problems rather than eliminating them. It focuses on a strategy that separates the applications from the desktops. READ MORE >

(Linoma Software) "Beyond FTP: Securing and Managing File Transfers" is a white paper that elaborates on increasing IT manageability, decreasing security exposures, and adhering to compliance and auditing requirements. READ MORE >

(Raz-Lee) Guidelines for best security practices related to PCI compliance and the IBM Power i are covered in this report. Of particular note are vulnerabilities related to system exit points and the lack of application data trails. Either one can allow data to be exposed. READ MORE >

Chats, Webinars, Seminars, Shows, and Other Happenings

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

September 17-- Fairfield, New Jersey - Guest speaker Steve Fier will discuss topics that include the Power 6+ servers, the SQL storage engine for PHP, and DB2 Web Query at the regular monthly meeting of the North Eastern Systems Technology Users (NESTU) meeting. Fier is the Power platform leader for the Northeast U.S. region. His areas of expertise include application development, DB2 for i, Windows integration, and server consolidation. The event begins at 5:30 p.m. and will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. LEARN MORE >

September 21-25 -- Orlando, Florida - The IBM Power Systems Technical University features more than 250 sessions tackling topics such as blade servers, Power VM, DB2, PHP, and MySQL, workload consolidation, high availability, and security. A special focus will be on making data centers greener by delivering more capability with less energy consumption and fewer footprints. LEARN MORE >

September 23 -- Webinar - This session emphasizes the creation of cost-effective projects that Web enable green-screen applications using BCD's Presto software. Guest speakers Craig Pelkie and Duncan Kenzie will discuss the benefits and the obstacles of these projects while using Presto to modernize applications and extend functionality. The session begins at 12:30 p.m. EDT. LEARN MORE >

September 23 -- Mississauga, Ontario, Canada - Roger Singh, CTO and lead architect for grid computing at Scalar Decisions, will present a session on virtualization at 5 p.m. and Dale Perkins, a consulting IT specialist with IBM, will present a session on Power VM at 7 p.m. at the monthly meeting of the Toronto User Group. The meeting will be held at the Living Arts Cenre located at 4141 Living Arts Drive. LEARN MORE >

September 23 -- Webinar - The benefits of converting green-screen applications to Web pages don't come without obstacles. In this online session, application development expert Craig Pelkie and BCD's technical guru Duncan Kenzie will discuss overcoming obstacles and modernizing applications to extend functionality. The event begins at 12:30 p.m. EDT. LEARN MORE >

September 23 -- Webinar - The designing and printing of bar code labels, RFID tags, and plain paper laser forms will be featured in this online session that features CYBRA's MarkMagic 7 Enterprise. This product demo will also highlight the FormComposer report writer and PrintTransformer conditional print and dynamic formatting capability. The session begins at 11 a.m. EDT. LEARN MORE >

September 24 -- Webinar - Creating IBM System i Web applications using BCD WebSmart PHP is the focus of this online technical session. The presentation includes how to create an application, change the HTML, and call an RPG program. The session begins at 1:30 p.m. EDT. LEARN MORE >

September 29 -- Lombard, Illinois - The featured topics at the monthly meeting of the OMNI User Group will be PHP on IBM i. A getting started session on PHP will be presented by Mike Pavlak, a solutions consultant with Zend, beginning at 4 p.m. A second session on the Zend application development framework will be presented by Alan Seiden, a senior developer at Strategic Business Systems, at 6:15 p.m. In between is a pizza dinner. The meeting will be held at IBM's Oak Brook Terrace offices. LEARN MORE >